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A.Gwen Jones’ radiobroadcast on her experiences in Hughesovka from
1889 to 1892. Recorded 9/12/43.
Gwen Jones was the
daughter of Esther Jones, neé George daughter of Philip and Gwenllian
George of Mvddfai and Aberhenwenfach.
"Stalino has been
recaptured by the Russians!" These words by the B.B.C. announcer
thrilled many millions, but they gave me a special thrill, for it took
me back more than fifty years, for I had lived there for three years,
when it was called Hughesovka. Mr. John Hughes had died in the summer of
1889 a few months before I arrived in the town as tutor to two daughters
of Mr. Arthur Hughes, the second of John Hughes’ four sons.
I
vividly recall arriving at Charsisky in October 1889, after a leisurely
journey through Holland, Germany and Poland with Mr. and Mrs. Arthur
Hughes and family. We stopped at Berlin, at Warsaw, at Kiev with its
hundreds of gilded domes and spires and Charkov with its splendid
University and renowned Fairs, until we finally reached Charsisky where
carriages were waiting to take us to Hughesovka I shall never forget the
feeling of utter loneliness which filled me as we drove over the flat
dreary treeless steppes. Little wonder that hiraeth for Wales almost
overpowered me!
Hughesovka at that time was just a small industria1 town, which
nevertheless was growing rapidly. It was connected. by rail with
Taganrog and Mariupol on the Sea of Azov, and. the nearest station was
Charsisky, twelve to fourteen miles away (or the Karkov). The standard.
of life of the peasants in the town was low and they lived in small,
wooden, one-floor houses, with mud floors, devoid of sanitation and
amenities. The people were mostly illiterate and I remember one thing
which struck me very much at the time that was the signs above the shops
of the town. Above the butcher’s shop, for example, you would find the
picture of a pig or a cow, and above the others, suitable drawings to
give an indication of the commodities on sale there. This, of course,
was due to the fact that the majority of the peasants could
not read.
We lived in a large
one-storied house in the town, a short distance from the works. It had
spacious grounds with high walls for protection, guarded by watchmen.
The country house and estate were some miles away.
Life
in Hughesovka was by no means monotonous. We were kept in touch with the
world by letters and papers from home, which took eleven days to reach
us and were often censored before we received them. Then there were the
visitors of all nationalities, engineers and students from Petersburg
and Moscow and even from Siberia who came to view the new works. Once
the Governor of Ekaterinis arrived in state escorted by a company of
Cossack Cavalry. From these visitors we heard the most exciting tales,
tales of the Cossacks, of political prisoners escaping from confinement,
all very exciting and exhilarating to a young girl. Besides, there was
music; I shall never forget how those Russians could sing! We had weekly
musical evenings, and I was privileged to hear Madame Yancharsky play
the piano-she bad been a pupil of Rubenstein and a personal friend of
Paderewsky. Our favourite recreation was hunting foxes and hares. We
were occasionally joined by the Cossacks stationed in the town. The
hounds had been brought over from the Court Estate, Merthyr Tydfil, and
as I had been a pupil at the Court School, you can well imagine that I
had a fellow feeling for those hounds! I shall never forget, either, the
frill of drives in sledges over the sparkling frozen snow, the bells of
the free horses ringing in the clean dry air. There was a touch of
adventure in sledging over the steppes as we were often followed by
packs of wolfish-looking dogs, and Ivan the coachman had to use his whip
to frighten them away. I retain memories of evening drives when the
silence would be broken by the singing of folk songs in the distance,
mournful melodies in the minor key. These songs haunted me and sent my
thoughts back to Wales. Most of the Welsh workers hailed from Dowlais,
Merthyr and Rhymney, and I used to enjoy talking to them in our native
tongue. Their names still come to mind, John John of Dowlais, Mr.
Watkins of Rhymney, Mr. Holland, a chemist at the Dowlais works and
others. The workmen were paid once a month and the wages were brought
from Taganrog under an armed escort. I recall a visit to the quarries of
the iron-ore mines of Krivoi-Rog and the extremes of heat and cold, also
the free weeks when we were cut off from the rest of the world because
of the snow, and the anxious moments like the bursting of the works dam.
I remember especially when we had to escape because of the Cholera
Riots. I felt sad to leave friends from whom I had received many
kindnesses and I retain much affection for the great land and people of
Russia and I rejoice in their triumphs.
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