He traveled to a Russia as part of the YMCA. He was based in
Petrograd, hosted by the
Czech Legion, who were aligned to the
Russian Imperial Army. He witnessed the
Russian Revolution,
World War I. He had become acquainted with Vincent Pisek of
Malesov, an American Czech pastor who invited him to become the musical director of the
Jan Hus Presbyterian Church in
New York City. Atherton learned the Czech language and became a student of Czech and Slovak Folk Songs. He travelled to
Vladivostok in 1919 to encourage the evacuation of the
Czech Legion, who were stranded in
Siberia in the aftermath of the
First World War. Upon his return he published a book titled “Favorite songs of the Czech Slovak Army in Russia”. His elder brother,
Frank Peabody Atherton was a
Spanish–American War veteran and composer. Atherton continued to live in New York City during the 1920s undertaking a role as a social worker for Czechs and Bohemians through his church. He continued to travel back and forth the Atlantic, between New York and
Bremen, between 1928 on
SS America and 1934 on
SS Europa. He was very familiar with Central Europe and his books were published in Czech and included a collection of Czech and Slovak folk songs he had captured that were sung by soldiers during their time in Siberia. It was a time of political turmoil and he witnessed the
Nazis rise to power first hand. He documented each event in highly descriptive letters to his sister, Harriet, who he called Hattie. ==Death==