Many of us who have lived for one, two, or as some, for more than three decades in this country have failed to take any interest in the social and political life of our community. It has remained concealed from our view by some mysterious screen. We have felt as if we were guests in America, despite the fact that many of us have for a long time been citizens of the country, and have accepted all the duties and obligations of the new allegiance.

Despite all this, we have not for a moment relinquished our ardent dreams of returning to our native land and spending there the remaining years of our lives. But fate has destroyed those dreams. In our native country conditions have become such that our going back to the old domicile has become altogether impossible. Many years have gone by. Our dreams of returning home have been incapable of realization. Life has proceeded in its own way. Russian colonists began to arrange their lives for permanent residence here, acquired 2real estate and became family men. Their children have grown up, and a new generation of Russians has appeared, brought up more in accordance with American ways of life than with those of old Russia.

This has happened because the parents did not in due time pay enough attention to bringing up their children in the proper spirit, did not even attempt to give them a Russian education. American schools and the street have done their work.

The elders began to realize their mistake--that they, because of their own passivity and indifference, had lost control of their own offspring. The young generation is shunning Russian ways of life. It seeks companionship in the young life of the entire community, Many of the children, in fact, have left the Russian colony and lost every contact with the people of their origin. In general, a great tragedy has taken place in many Russian families. Many mothers can hardly understand what their children try to tell them; and the children cannot understand the language of their parents.