Jasper County Democrat, Volume 22, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 May 1919 — NOTED PORT OF WANDERERS [ARTICLE]

NOTED PORT OF WANDERERS

Samara, on the Volga, Long the Lure of Nomadic People—lto Past History. Ramara, the Volga port, seems to offer a peculiar significance for tho wanderers of the world. Through the years, says The Villager, the district has been an especial lure for nomadic peoples; the fierce tribe of Bulgars occupied It until the thirteenth century and were followed by the Mongols, and when the power of the (Solden Horde had waned the Volga bank was still ravaged by Bashkirs, Kalmucks and Nogal Tartars; the Institution of the city of Samara itself was for the protection of the Russian empire’s frontiers against the depredations of these nomadic marauders from the steppes. In the effort to stabltse this border region and make it a solid bulwark, Catherine II offered Germans of Wuertemburg and Baden special privileges for settlement here; today as much German as Russian may be heard in the streets of Samara. Yet. after all the centuries of effort, the city is again swept by wanderers, fighting hordes who know no military "base,” gypsy warriors who have traversed the Siberian expanse without baggage and without plan of campaign, with no orders save their own Impulse, with no responsibilities save their own purpose; their exploit will go down Into history with full as much picturesquencM as that of Genghis Kahn's followers and with far more honor.