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Nick Short, Sara Lomasz Flesch and 3 others

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Pierre Gilliard

 Alexander Palace, Tsarskoye Selo, Russian Empire

After his return from G.H.Q. the Czar had remained at Tsarskoie-Selo for the months of January and February. He felt that the political situation was more and more strained, but he had not yet lost all hope. The country was suffering: it was tired of the war and anxiously longing for peace. The opposition was growing from day to day, and the storm was threatening, but in spite of everything Nicholas II. hoped that patriotic feeling would carry the day against the pessimism which the trials and worries of the moment made general, and that no one would risk compromising the results of a war which had cost the nation so much by rash and imprudent action. His faith in his army was also unshaken. He knew that the material sent from France and England was arriving satisfactorily and would improve the conditions under which it had to fight. He had the greatest hopes of the new formations which had been created in the course of the winter.  He was certain that his army would be ready in the spring to join in that great offensive of the Allies which would deal Germany her death-blow and thus save Russia: a few weeks more and victory would be his.

Nick Short

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Harrisburg telegraph

A Russian Finn applying to a judge in Jersey City for final citizenship papers was asked:

- What is the Constitution of the United States?

- Rugged and healthy, I should say, - was the reply.

Whereupon the judge gave him five days in the jug to think it over, and canceled his preliminary papers. Considering the time our Constitution has spent on the sick list since the Democrats came into power, the penalty imposed on such ignorance was eminently proper.

Nils Eivind Bjørnerud, Matt Kosko and 1 other

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Sergey Prokofiev

 Apartment house, 122, Fontanka embankment, Petrograd, Russian Empire

I decided to take a break from my own work and give myself some leisure time. I have no desire to become a slave to my own compositions. And recently I have quite worn myself out with my music, anyway. So I decided to make myself a free man for a while, not to compose anything, not to study anything and not to worry about anything.

But of course, I was unable to do without music, and soon I began to make some very good progress with the Violin Concerto; I drafted a scherzo (which will be a scherzo to end all scherzos) from existing notes, and wrote something for the final movement. The first part of the exposition was already complete last year. Alongside that, I had some ideas for about half a dozen “doggies” for Op. 22. So despite my rule of idleness, contrary to my expectations, something got written after all.

Nils Eivind Bjørnerud, Rafael Padial and 10 others

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Harrisburg telegraph

Hollidaysburg, Pa. Feb. 27

The will of Randolph McMullen, a wealthy farmer of Tyrone township, probated here today, directs that his estate be divided under the supervision of three trustees to be appointed by the Court, consisting of a Protestant clergyman, a Catholic priest and a Jewish rabbi. The reason expressed in the will for this unique request is that each trustee will watch the other and that every cent given to charity will be rightly applied. The estate, estimated to be worth $100,000, will lie divided among the poor of Blair, Huntingdon and Cambria counties.

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Vladimir Korolenko

 1, Malo-Sadovaya st., Poltava, Russian Empire

I have the feeling that not only Russia but all of Europe is spinning out of control. It is as if the forces of traditional inertia have suddenly ceased to function. It is as if the locomotive of Europe has gone off the rails, is careening into a ditch, has burst into flames, and yet, and herein is the joke, the engine-driver keeps shovelling in coal completely unawares.

Carol Mann, Ge Hailun and 1 other

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Maurice Tourneur

Premiere of the comedy "A Girl’s Folly"

 Hollywood, USA

Nils Eivind Bjørnerud, Ge Hailun and 1 other

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Leonide Massine

 Corso Umberto street, Rome, Italy

I have noticed that Picasso exhibits a surprising and rather unusual interest in a picture which hangs above the bed In Diaghilev’s apartments on the Via del Corso. The picture is a stolidly unremarkable and hackneyed piece of Italian 18th-century court art. “Pablo, what can it be in that picture that has piqued your interest so?” asked Diaghilev. “I’m studying it thoroughly”, answered Picasso, “in order to learn better how not to paint”.

Stephan Wintner, Maria V. Zolotukhina

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Konstantin Somov

 Petrograd, Russian Empire

The opening of the Duma, riots are “promised”.

Taco Tichelaar, Maria V. Zolotukhina

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Elizaveta Naryshkina

 Tsarskoye Selo, Russian Empire

The people are becoming increasingly discontented. The situation is very threatening.

Jernej Komac, Maria V. Zolotukhina

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Mikhail Rodzianko

 32, Kirochnaya street, Petrograd, Russian Empire

The opening of the Duma went off quite peacefully. There were no workers in evidence, only a huge number of policemen posted in all the courtyards round about. In order not to fan the flames, or to make an already tense atmosphere worse, I restricted my address to comments about the army, which I praised for its uncomplaining fulfilment of its duty. Instead of more general political disputes, the session was devoted to the question of food supplies, as the agricultural minister, Rittich wanted to talk on the subject, and made a very long speech. See more

Taco Tichelaar, Nick Short and 1 other

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Vasily Kravkov

 7th Siberian army corps

Soldiers are busy bartering with the local civilians: a piece of sugar gets them straw for bedding, and for one more they get not only a woman to lie in it with, but also venereal disease and syphilis.

Nils Eivind Bjørnerud, Sebastian Clare and 1 other

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26 February

Pasternak is seized with inspiration

Picasso on prostitutes in Rome

Trotsky: “Those most responsible for accelerating our plunge into war were, as always, the pacifists”

Anna Vyrubova

 Alexander Palace, Tsarskoye Selo, Russian Empire

All has been quiet on the front since mid-December, and the Tsar has felt his presence at headquarters to be superfluous. Each day he has received news over the direct line in the evening. The Tsar’s snooker room is full of military maps, so that no one, not the children, not the servants and not even the Empress, has dared enter for fear of disturbing them. The keys were last seen with the Tsar. The recent snowstorms and the danger they represent to the supply question in the capital have given Their Majesties great cause for concern.

Nick Short, Nathan Wood

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Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich

 Gatchina, Russian Empire

We went to the Imperial Porcelain Factory, where we bought a few things.

Taco Tichelaar, Nick Short and 3 others

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Boris Pasternak

 Ushakovs' chemical plant, Tykhie Gory, Vyatsk guberniya, Russian Empire

Had some difficulties, and a terrible period of melancholy. On finally sitting down to get on with my previously started “prose”, I was struck by something I would now struggle to clearly describe, and driven by this strange mood I began to feverishly churn out something of real significance in verse. I say something, because I cannot for the life of me make out how exactly this new “Poem on One Dear” will work out.