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POLAND 
 
 THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
NICHOLAS COPERNICUS THE FATHER OF MODERN 
 ASTRONOMY. 
 
 (This view of tiie Polish astronomer, (who was the 
 first to propound the theory that the earth moves around 
 the sun) surrounded by the scientists and other worthies 
 of his time, is reproduced from a rare old steel engrav- 
 ing made in 1843, at the celebration of the three- 
 hundredth anniversary of his death.) 
 
POLAND 
 
 THE KNIGHT 
 AMONG NATIONS 
 
 By 
 
 LOUIS E. VAN NORMAN 
 
 With an Introduction by 
 Helena Modjeska 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
 Nirw York Chicago Toho»to 
 
 Fleming H. Re veil Company 
 
 London a»d Edinburgh 
 
Copyright. 1909, by 
 FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY 
 
 A II rights reserved 
 
 %c^,^y 
 
 THIRD EDITION 
 
 New York! 158 Fifth Avenue 
 Chicago: 80 Wabash Avenue 
 Toronto: 25 Richmond St.. W. 
 London: 21 Paternoster Square 
 Edinburgh: 100 Princes Street 
 
TO MT WIFE 
 
 who taught me all the noble qualities of the Poles and 
 
 made me very hopeful of their 
 
 national destiny 
 
INTRODUCTORY 
 
 OXE fine characteristic I have especially 
 noted in the American people. As a gen- 
 eral rule, they are not led to an opinion 
 by the verdict of any other nation. Of recent 
 years, particularly, their popular verdicts have 
 been based upon their own independent judg- 
 ment, and some of these verdicts have afterwards 
 been accepted by the whole world. They were 
 the first to " discover " Sienkiewicz. They did 
 not accept him on the claims of French, or Ger- 
 man, or English criticism. By their own native 
 perception they knew he was great, and now the 
 whole world has accepted their judgment. 
 
 Therefore, I think it is particularly appropri- 
 ate that it should be an American who now, for 
 the first time, presents the true Poland, the coun- 
 try of Sienkiewicz, to the American people. 
 
 I must confess that I am usually frightened 
 when I begin to read anything foreigners write 
 about Poland and us Poles. So much has ap- 
 peared that was untrue and distorted and ridic- 
 ulous. But these " impressions " are so sympa- 
 thetically written, so discerning, and, at the 
 same time, so generally impartial and just, that 
 
 7 
 
INTRODUCTORY 
 
 I am glad to recommend the volume to the dear 
 land of my adoption as the best I know of about 
 modern Poland by an outsider. It is so clear, 
 so interesting, so pleasantly written, that one 
 does not want to put it down before reading the 
 entire book. I was especially pleased with the 
 chapter on " Polish Music and the Slav Temper- 
 ament." It is so fair and discriminating. Most 
 of the names mentioned in this chapter are well 
 known to me, are personal friends, and I can 
 recognise the faithful portrayal of these artists, 
 who, like myself, were contemporaneous with 
 the first stages of development in the great art 
 movement in Poland. Several of them, includ- 
 ing Mr. Sienkiewicz himself, were with my hus- 
 band and myself in our little colony in Cali- 
 fornia. 
 
 Americans know very little of the real Poland. 
 Most of them have read " Thaddeus of Warsaw," 
 but this Thaddeus was not the real Kosciuszko. 
 He was not even a real Pole — only a creature 
 of the author's imagination. Since Sienkiewicz 
 wrote his Trilogy, Americans have known more. 
 They have much still to learn, for with all her 
 faults, there is much in Poland, with her history, 
 her literature, her art, and her unfortunate peo- 
 ple, which Americans ought to know. I am glad 
 this excellent book has been written. 
 
 Helena Modjeska. 
 
 8 
 
A FOREWORD 
 
 AN" impression " comes so perilously near 
 /-\ being a judgment that the author of this 
 volume feels called upon to offer a few 
 words of explanation. 
 
 In the following pages no attempt is made to 
 write a history of Poland, or to present a com- 
 prehensive study of the Polish national psychol- 
 ogy. To sound the depths of racial character 
 would require many years of actual life near the 
 heart of the people, and elaborate historical re- 
 search. Nor has the writer ventured to prophesy 
 the political future of the Poles. Nor, finally, 
 has he attempted to describe the condition of 
 Russian Polish cities during the reign of terror 
 of the past two years. The following chapters, 
 many of which have already appeared as maga- 
 zine articles in this country and in England, 
 are no more than the first-hand impressions of 
 an American journalist who has been permitted 
 to spend a year in the former Polish Common- 
 wealth, visiting almost all the important his- 
 toric points. Being the first American ever to 
 visit all sections of old Poland for the express 
 purpose of writing about it, he was accorded ex- 
 ceptional facilities for observation and study. 
 The result is a collection of honest impressions of 
 a remarkable people, presented as an humble con- 
 
 9 
 
A FOREWORD 
 
 tribution to race psychology. To make the pic- 
 ture more complete, it has seemed worth while 
 to summon back from the past some of the more 
 potent personalities of Polish history. 
 
 Here is the home of a downtrodden people, 
 in which there is being enacted a century-long 
 drama worthy of a Homer or a Tacitus. Forty- 
 four years ago, in the middle of our Civil War, 
 the Poles had their last uprising against Russian 
 rule. Ten years of " reconstruction " for our 
 South seemed an age. Mutinies, riots, and revo- 
 lutionary outbreaks, all suppressed in blood and 
 fire, show the world that, after nearly half a 
 century, Poland is not yet fully " reconstructed." 
 Politically, there is no Poland, but a distinct, in- 
 dividual, resistant people, who are no more con- 
 quered and absorbed by the partitioning powers 
 than the Hungarians are assimilated by Austria. 
 The Poles remain a persistent national type, and 
 the " Polish question '' is an ever-present " ghost 
 that troubles at every European Council." 
 
 And yet, up to the time when the Trilogy of 
 historical works by Henryk Sienkiewicz ap- 
 peared, Poland was, of all civilised geographical 
 entities, the least known to Americans. It is in 
 the belief that the country of Kosciuszko and 
 Pulaski, of Copernicus and Sobieski, of Chopin 
 and Paderewski, deserves better of the land of 
 Washington that this book is written. 
 
 There are so many striking contrasts — and 
 startling similarities — between Poland and these 
 
 10 
 
A FOREWORD 
 
 United States of America, that a study of Polish 
 history and conditions ought to be of peculiar 
 interest to us. We Americans are citizens of a 
 young, powerful, active country, which is the 
 bulwark of freedom and the refuge of oppressed 
 peoples. Poland — if one may still speak of her 
 as a nation — is very old. For a century and 
 more she has been in chains, with no chance for 
 activity, save in her spasms of revolution. Yet 
 how much alike are the two peoples. Both are 
 brave to a fault. Both live in a country which 
 is a confederation. The union, in 1569, of Po- 
 land, Lithuania, and Ruthenia, was the first vol- 
 untary confederation of independent powers in 
 Europe. Both peoples incline to elective gov- 
 ernments; both, while religious themselves, have 
 ever been tolerant to all other creeds. Both love 
 liberty better than life. And finally, the greatest 
 soldier heroes of both — Washington and Kosci- 
 uszko — fought side by side for American inde- 
 pendence. But there is a vital present signifi- 
 cance also to Americans in the psychology of the 
 Pole. Almost three millions of this highly de- 
 veloped Slav race are now settled in this coun- 
 try, rapidly becoming bone and sinew of Ameri- 
 can national life. A study of the temperament 
 and genius of this sturdy stock will help us in 
 understanding more than one factor in our own 
 pressing problems. 
 
 Of modern books on Poland, available to the 
 general reader, there are very few. Those inter- 
 
 H 
 
A FOREWORD 
 
 ested in following up some of the facts and allu- 
 sions in this book should, first of all, read the 
 immortal Trilogy of Sienkiewicz, as well as 
 " Children of the Soil," " Hania," " Knights of 
 the Cross,"' and " On the Field of Glory," by the 
 same author. Georg Brandes' " Poland, a Study 
 of the Land, People, and Literature," will also 
 prove of value. W. R. Morfill's " Story of Po- 
 land " is a good brief reference history, while 
 Herman Rosenthal's article on " Poland " in the 
 Jewish Encyclopaedia is an excellent rfeume of 
 the Polish Jews' part in history. 
 
 The list of those who have aided the author in 
 the preparation of this book is so large that it 
 includes practically everyone he met in Poland, 
 and many others in this country. It is impos- 
 sible to render adequate thanks to all, but the 
 author wishes to express grateful acknowledg- 
 ment, particularly to the patriotic Poles who 
 have read the manuscript and have made many 
 valuable suggestions. He also desires to ac- 
 knowledge courteous permission to reproduce 
 articles from The Bookman, The Outlook, The 
 Chautauquan, The Cosmopolitan, Brush and 
 Pencil, The Booklover's, and other magazines. 
 
 The author's opinions, of course, are his own, 
 and Madame Modjeska's sympathetic introduc- 
 tion does not indicate, necessarily, her agree- 
 ment, in detail, with these opinions. 
 
 Louis E. Van Norman. 
 
 Wyckoff, New Jerset, August 1, 1907, 
 \9. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGB 
 
 I. Poland's Eole in History . . 17 
 
 II. Polish Autonomy — Under Austria 
 
 III. Cracow: the Heart of Poland 
 
 IV. The Poles and Germany's World 
 
 Dreaii .... 
 
 V. Russia's European Door . 
 
 VI. The Geographical Centre of EU' 
 
 ROPE ..... 
 
 VII. How Vienna Escaped the Turk 
 
 VIII. The Eeal " Thaddeus of Warsaw " 
 
 IX. On the Field of Glory . 
 
 X. The Mecca of the Poles . 
 
 XI. A Voyage Over the Steppes 
 
 XII. What Poland Owes to Her Women 
 
 13 
 
 30 
 
 44 
 
 70 
 99 
 
 123 
 138 
 153 
 181 
 192 
 207 
 221 
 
14 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTEB PAGE 
 
 XIII. The Polish Peasant and the Putdke 
 
 OF Poland 332 
 
 XIV. The Pathetic Outcast of the Ages , 248 
 
 XV. Polish Music and the Slav Tempera- 
 
 ment 265 
 
 XVI. A Eace of Artists bt Birth . . 274 
 
 XVII. The Geographer of the Heavens . 287 
 
 XVIII. Polish Country Life and Customs . 294 
 
 XIX. Poland's Modern Interpreter . . 313 
 
 XX. The Poles in America . . .326 
 
 XoTE on Pronunciation of Polish . 348 
 
 Index 355 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 FACING PAGE 
 
 Nicholas Copeexicus ..... Title 
 
 The Sckiexxice op Ceacow ... 52 
 
 The Westjiixster Abbey of Poland . . 56 
 
 The Old Eotal Palace ix Warsaw . . 130 
 
 Palace ix the Laziexki Park ix Warsaw . 130 
 
 The Eeal " Thaddeus of Warsaw " . . 156 
 
 The Kosciuszeo Mocxd ..... 178 
 
 " Matka BosKA Czexstochowska " . . 200 
 
 The Old Fort ix' Kamiexiec . . . 214 
 
 Blessix'g the Harvest .... 234 
 Types of Polish Mocxtaix Peasants . .236 
 
 The Peasaxt : the Hope op Poland . . 240 
 
 The Eeligiox of the Peasant Is His Life . 246 
 
 " The Pathetic Outcast of the Ages " . . 254 
 
 Polish Art axd Artists .... 272 
 
 The Prcssiaxs Bkixging Teibctb . . . 276 
 
 SlENKIEWICZ, PoLAJN-d's MoDERN INTERPRETER . 314 
 
 Map of Poland 352 
 
 15 
 
POLAND 
 
 THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 I 
 
 POLAND'S EOLE IN HISTORY 
 
 IN an age which is, beyond all else, material- 
 istic, what can better entitle a people to dis- 
 tinction and homage than the facts that it 
 worships the ideal, that its heroes are personifi- 
 cations of aspiration, and that its very faults are, 
 in large measure, directly traceable to " vision- 
 ary patriotism" and "artistic preoccupation"? 
 It is the glory of the Polish people to hold 
 aloft the torch of idealism in a materialistic age. 
 While many a western nation is going to war 
 over commerce; while the ears of the chancel- 
 leries are tuned to the tones of the stock-ticker, 
 and the ambitions of the day run to the men who 
 can amass the most gigantic fortunes, the Poles 
 lavish all their national affections on a living 
 word-master. In the national Sienkiewicz jubi- 
 lee a couple of years ago they did for a mere 
 creator of literature what the rest of the world 
 is wont to reserve for " Napoleons of finance " ; 
 
 17 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 for men who have defeated others with great 
 slaughter, and for colossuses who have moulded 
 empires out of the patrimony of other peoples. 
 
 For four centuries Poland was the bulwark of 
 Europe against the floods of barbarism from the 
 East. That mysterious, fecund East, from which 
 countless human hives have swarmed out over 
 Europe, gave out these swarms in myriad, piti- 
 less numbers, at frequent intervals from the 13th 
 to the 17th century. Impelled by some unex- 
 plainable ethnic force, the barbarian tribes 
 moved ever westward, until, on the banks of the 
 Dwina, the Dniester, and the Vistula, they met 
 the swords of the Poles. But for Polish valour, 
 Western civilisation would have been blighted; 
 Christianity itself, perhaps, engulfed. Poland 
 was the sentinel who kept watch on the eastern 
 gate of Europe, while Latin civilisation, in the 
 person of Prance, flowered and taught the world. 
 " While my own dear France was the missionary 
 of civilisation," said Victor Hugo, " Poland was 
 its knight." 
 
 The eastern frontier of the Commonwealth 
 was, by its low, level, natural formation, partic- 
 ularly open to attack. Poland was essentially 
 a land of plains, which, for centuries, were swept 
 and desolated by vast, contending armies. Time 
 and again the Mongols completely overran the 
 Commonwealth. Twice these fierce nomads 
 rolled in great waves over the entire country, and 
 
 18 
 
POLAND'S ROLE IN HISTORY 
 
 were checked only on the banks of the Vistuhi, 
 beneath the very walls of Cracow. 
 
 For this defence of Europe against the bar- 
 barism of the non-Christian East, Poland asked 
 no contributions of troops, or money. She asked 
 no thanks. The treatment she has actually re- 
 ceived from Europe is one of the crimes of the 
 ages. 
 
 Poland upheld the Christian faith when most 
 of the rest of Europe was sunk in petty wars and 
 struggles for greed. She received the poor Jew 
 when all the rest of the Christian world would 
 have none of him. Her bosom was a refuge for 
 the Hussites and emigrants of the Thirty Years' 
 War. She has always accepted this as her role 
 — to be the champion of the West against the 
 East ; of culture against barbarism. With a reli- 
 gion and civilisation based on those of Rome, and 
 a language strongly modified by Latin influences, 
 she has been the outpost of Occidentalism against 
 even the great mass of the Slav race itself, which 
 is cast in a Byzantine mould. 
 
 It must be admitted that this attitude was 
 more the result of an impulsive generosity than 
 the development of a conscious, logical will. It 
 was a great virtue, but a virtue, alas, singularly 
 favoured by the recklessness and love of glory 
 characteristic of the national spirit. This Avas 
 admitted in an eloquent memorial published by 
 the Poles of this country at the time of the con- 
 
 19 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 vocation of the first Hapie Peace Conference. 
 This document, however, rightlv gloried in the 
 " improvident generosity " of Poland. It said : 
 
 " History proves that the Polish people were 
 not believers in force or the use of destructive 
 weapons to vindicate their rights. To the last 
 moment of their political existence they looked 
 with contempt upon all destructive weapons. 
 They prized individual courage much higher. 
 They attacked the enemy with sword in hand, 
 abhorring those who hid in trenches under the 
 protection of batteries. When the other nations 
 of Europe relied mainly upon powerful artil- 
 leries for the success of their troops, Poland, 
 too proud, and placing too high the honour of 
 the military calling, looked with disdain upon 
 those who were willing to kill and dared not 
 expose themselves. In view of the greed of the 
 neighbouring powers, this characteristic trait of 
 our nation did not redound to our advantage. 
 Nevertheless it existed, and was one of the 
 brightest features of our history."' 
 
 Poland is, or rather was. a large and power- 
 ful nation with a territory greater than that 
 of modern Germany, and for nearly a century 
 her voice was authoritative in the councils of 
 the continent. Take down the map of Europe, 
 Draw a line from Riga, on the Baltic Sea. to 
 Dresden in Saxony. Draw another line from 
 Dresden to the mouth of the Dniester Eiver, on 
 
 20 
 
POLAND'S r6lE in HISTORY 
 
 the Black Sea; another from the mouth of the 
 Dniester to Smolensk, Russia, and a fourth 
 from Smolensk back to Riga. You have en- 
 closed the Commonwealth of Poland at its 
 greatest extent — the country of Sienkiewicz. 
 Before the partitions Posen, West Prussia, 
 Galicia, Lithuania, Volhj-nia, Podolia, and 
 Kiev were Polish. In still earlier times, Bes- 
 sarabia, Moldavia, Silesia, and Livonia belonged 
 to the Polish crown. Even as late as 1772 Dan- 
 zig (Gdansk) was a Polish seaport, and Kam- 
 ieniec (near the modern Kishinev) the Polish 
 defence against the Turks, while to the north 
 and west Poland's frontier extended almost to 
 the walls of Riga and to within the shadow of 
 the Kremlin at Moscow. To-day Poland is a 
 portion of three great European states, Rus- 
 sia, Austria, and Germany. She has long ceased 
 to have a separate political existence, but her 
 sons remain a distinct, individual and resistant 
 people. 
 
 No doubt the ultimate aim of Polish activity 
 everywhere is the re-establishment of Poland as 
 a national and political entity. The dream of 
 every Polish patriot is to see a Poland arise, on 
 the ashes of the past, stretching from the Baltic 
 to the Black Sea — a country 750 miles in length 
 and almost as much in width, comprising 
 400,000 square miles, and with a population 
 of sixty millions. This would embrace the 
 
 21 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 modern Polish provinces of Prussia, up to -n-itliin 
 a short distance of Berlin, with half the Prussian 
 shore of the Baltic, Galicia in Austria, and the 
 whole of that portion of Russia which at one 
 time, some of it three hundred years ago, formed 
 a part of Poland at her greatest extent. 
 
 Like all Slav peoples, the Poles are extreme 
 in temperament. They are apt to be emotional, 
 over sentimental, perhaps. With them, tliere is 
 no mean in emotion, intellect, or society. They 
 love or hate. They are brilliant or slow. They 
 are nobles or peasants. Ancient Poland had 
 no middle class, no bourgeoisie, — except the 
 Jews — a class so necessary for the perpetuity of 
 a nation. It was in consequence of this inequal- 
 ity in the national character, and as a result 
 of certain fatal diplomatic misrala's, and a false 
 political method, that Poland was reduced to 
 a state of internal anarchy in the IStli century. 
 She then easily fell a prey to the three neigh- 
 bouring monarchies. Poland was an elective 
 kingdom, with almost all the civil rights in the 
 hands of some two hundred thousand nobles. 
 The mass of the peasantry, numbering eight or 
 ten millions, was excluded from all political 
 rights. With no middle class to fall back upon, 
 with more than one foreigner on the throne, and 
 with no sort of unity among themselves, what 
 could these two hundred thousand nobles do 
 against the armies of their enemies? 
 
 22 
 
POLAND'S r6lE in HISTORY 
 
 For centuries Poland was known as a repub- 
 lic. In reality, the Polish state was a consti- 
 tutional monarchy, in an age when the rest of 
 Europe never even dreamed of constitutions. 
 There was great liberty in Poland, but liberty 
 jealously guarded by one single social class, the 
 nobility, for itself. Peasant and burgher Avere 
 thrown absolutely upon the mercy of the noble. 
 The strength and character of the army de- 
 pended on the vote of the Diet, which always 
 kept down the number of the national forces. 
 At the same time each magnate had his own 
 retinue, often more numerous than the national 
 army. Many such magnates opposed the King 
 with force of arms, and even conspired with 
 foreigTi powers to further their own selfish am- 
 bitions. This not only weakened the power of 
 the state against outside aggression : it also 
 produced a condition of internal anarchy which 
 almost invited the spoiler from without. 
 
 Every noble was virtually a king, under a 
 constitution surviving from feudalism. Each 
 had the right of Jihentm veto, that is, the right 
 to forbid, by his single vote, any measure in 
 the Diet. Each noble was a law unto himself, 
 and the country suffered. Sobieski, who had 
 saved Vienna for the Austrians, could not keep 
 Kiev and Little Eussia for the Poles. " Poland 
 has no right to proclaim herself innocent of all 
 her calamities; she has herself contributed to 
 
 23 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 them ; she went to sleep upon a volcano ; she was 
 guilty of a marwellous inertia, of a frivolous im- 
 providence, of an incomprehensible torpidity." 
 The Poles tried to reform these abuses by the 
 famous constitution of May 3, 1791. This his- 
 toric document admitted the citizens of the 
 towns to the representative body of the people, 
 ameliorated somewhat the condition of the peas- 
 antry, decided the question of succession by he- 
 redity, and provided for the creation of a stand- 
 ing army of regular troops. Although all this 
 came too late, and could not prevent the fall of 
 the Kingdom, it was the first thoroughly na- 
 tional movement in the history of Poland. It 
 did not come about by an oppressed class vio- 
 lently overturning society to obtain its rights. 
 It was the voluntary renunciation, from patri- 
 otic motives, of exclusive privileges by a power- 
 ful class of nobles. But it was then too late, 
 despite the heroism of Kosciuszko. One par- 
 tition had already been consummated. The two 
 others followed rapidly, the last King went as 
 a salaried functionary to St. Petersburg, and 
 Poland was no more as an independent state. 
 
 While the partition of Poland cannot be jus- 
 tified by any possible standard of ethics, the 
 political downfall of the Polish Commonwealth 
 must be charged also against the Polish char- 
 acter. Since Sienkiewicz himself admits this, 
 an outsider may be pardoned for repeating it. 
 
 24 
 
POLAND'S r6lE in HISTORY 
 
 The Polish author makes* one of his characters, 
 a typical Pole, say: 
 
 " We Slavs have too much of that restless 
 Aryan spirit, in consequence of which neither 
 our mind nor our heart has ever been perfect, 
 has ever been balanced. . . . And what 
 strange, peculiar natures ! The German students, 
 for instance, drink, and this is not, in any shape 
 or form, detrimental to their work, nor does 
 it prevent them from becoming sober, practical 
 men. But let a Slav acquire the habit, and he 
 will drink himself into an early grave. A Ger- 
 man will be a pessimist; will write volumes on 
 the subject whether life is or is not mere de- 
 spair, and will continue to drink beer, bring up 
 children, hoard money, water flowers, and sleep 
 under thick covers. Under similar circum- 
 stances, the Slav will hang himself, or throw 
 himself to the dogs, leading a wild life of dis- 
 sipation and license, and perish and choke in 
 the mire into which he voluntarily sank. In- 
 deed, ours are strange natures — sincere, sensi- 
 tive, sympathetic, and, at the same time, fraud- 
 ulent and actor-like." 
 
 Unity is not a Polish virtue. Neither is sub- 
 ordination for the common weal. Every one 
 must lead. There have always been plenty of 
 princes, marshals, and generals in Poland; of 
 obedient privates, very few. The term " a Polish 
 gentleman," in the words of a clever novel 
 
 25 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 writer, implies " so much of tact, versatility, toI- 
 atilitj, nobility, and futility." 
 
 Turn the shield and one becomes positively 
 exasperated at the Poles for permitting one 
 fault, the lack of one quality, to nullify almost 
 completely the rest of their magnificent heritage. 
 A record of gallantry and chivalry in war so 
 splendid and untarnished that the world knows 
 not its equal; an idealism and a subtle grasp 
 of the fundamentals of the human heart, with 
 all its actions and desire, that has made them 
 such wonderful artists in tone and colour; a 
 keen, brilliant, intellectual versatility; a bound- 
 less hospitality and courtesy; beautiful, fasci- 
 nating family and social life; a sympathetic, 
 poetic responsiveness that makes them irresist- 
 ible; all these the Poles have to-day and in like 
 measure as in the days of the Sienkiewicz heroes, 
 when, before Zbaraz, the gallant Podbipienta 
 yielded up his soul " as an offering to the Queen 
 of Heaven," and as when Kmicic performed his 
 prodigies of valour to win Olenka. 
 
 The impatience of necessary restraint and 
 fatal lack of cohesion between classes that has 
 marked the suicidal policy of so many Polish 
 campaigns in the past, has, to a certain extent, 
 however, been conquered to-day. The patience 
 and self-restraint of the Poles during the Eus- 
 sian social and political crises has been really 
 remai'kable. Kace consciousness, religion, and 
 
 26 
 
POLAND'S R6lE in HISTORY 
 
 strenuous modern competition are mighty im- 
 pelling and controlling forces. When fostered 
 and assisted by such an organisation as the 
 Catholic church, there is scarcely a limit to what 
 racial impulse will do for a people. To the Poles 
 it is bringing not only cohesion and even the 
 spirit of self-sacrifice for the common good, but 
 an indomitable earnestness in perfecting them- 
 selves for the struggle of modern life. It has 
 enabled them to preserve, and even intensify, 
 their native strength and charm and at the 
 same time to add a touch of Anglo-Saxon prac- 
 ticality. In industry, in agriculture, in the arts 
 and sciences, in education, in wealth and num- 
 bers the Poles are progressing. It is impossible 
 to kill a people that has a will to live. The 
 commercial spirit has touched them, and they 
 have adapted themselves to it as one more 
 weapon wherewith to preserve their sense of ra- 
 cial unity and improve their condition and pros- 
 pects. A strong middle class is developing 
 among them. Up to about twenty-five years ago 
 the small middle class to be met with in Polish 
 towns and cities was composed almost wholly of 
 Germans and Jews. To-day the young and well- 
 educated generation of Poles have largely re- 
 placed them. Polish merchants, bankers, shop- 
 keepers, mechanics, artisans, physicians, law- 
 yers, and engineers are now in the majority. 
 In the words of a famous Polish historian : " In 
 
 27 
 
POLAND: THE KXIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 1800 we prayed to be allowed to live. In 1900 
 we know that we shall live." 
 
 The chief reason alleged for the dismember- 
 ment of Poland by the three adjoining empires 
 was that the ruling classes in those empires 
 feared to have so near them the influence of a 
 national unit so democratic as Poland. Now 
 conditions are changed. The times point to a 
 considerable democratising of Russia, Germany, 
 and Austria. The democratic influences, how- 
 ever, that the despotisms sought to avoid by the 
 dismemberment of Poland have, after all, per- 
 meated their peoples from French, British, and 
 American as well as Polish sources. The old 
 object for partitioning Poland is no more. In 
 fact, dismembered Poland presents much more 
 of a problem than independent Poland possibly 
 could, on account of its revolutionary propa- 
 ganda. Not merely in the present Russian rev- 
 olution, but in the entire European revolution- 
 ary movement has Poland a leading part to play. 
 Her role with regard not only to Russia, Ger- 
 many, and Austria, but also with regard to all 
 Europe, is no more a thing of the past. The 
 proletariat of all Russia has become the cham- 
 pion of the revolutionary struggle of Europe, 
 and Poland has become the natural intermediary 
 between the East and the West. 
 
 There is a beautiful legend current among 
 the mountain peasants of the Carpathians. One 
 
 28 
 
POLAND'S r6LE in HISTORY 
 
 of tLe Polish poets has put it into verse and it 
 has been played on the stage. Many, many years 
 ago — so runs the legend — the King (meaning the 
 King of the Poles), seeing that the all-mother 
 (Poland) was grievously ill, consulted with 
 the doctors, but all to no purpose. A cer- 
 tain prophetess, however, declared that three 
 brothers, to each of whom she gave a portion 
 of a flute, must travel together over seven moun- 
 tains and seven rivers, until they came to a cer- 
 tain peak in the Carpathians. Then they must 
 put the pieces together and blow. In response, 
 King Boleslaw, surnamed the Brave, and his ar- 
 moured knights would wake from their sleep; 
 would once more come forth to conquer, and the 
 land would be restored to its ancient splendour. 
 But the brothers could not agree upon the one 
 to blow the flute. Each thought himself entitled 
 to that honour. So the cure was not effected; 
 and so the knights sleep on. 
 
 The legend is symbolic of Polish character 
 and history, and the playwright so represents it 
 on the stage. The three brothers are Aristoc- 
 racy, Bourgeoisie, and Peasantry. When these 
 three come together in perfect accord, — when 
 the national character rings as pure melody as 
 the music of Poland's artists, — then, from the 
 fastnesses of the Carpathians will arise King 
 Boleslaw, and his knights, and Poland will once 
 more be an independent nation. 
 
 29 
 
II 
 
 POLISH AUTOXOMY— UNDER AUSTRIA 
 
 THE " Polish Question "' is the political and 
 economic problem presented br the oppo- 
 sition of two apparently irreconcilable 
 facts. Three of the great powers of Europe be- 
 lieve it necessary for their national existence as 
 world states to keep in subjection, without na- 
 tional rights, twenty-five millions of a highly 
 sensitive, highly cultured, patriotic race, which 
 refuses to be assimilated and which is increasing 
 more rapidly than the dominant nations. The 
 problem concerns all Europe. It is of vital im- 
 portance to Russia, Germany, and Austria. 
 
 How does injustice to the Poles affect the na- 
 tional aims and complicate the national prob- 
 lems of Russia, of Germany, of Austria? 
 
 If Polish nationality is ever again triumphant, 
 the triumph will come, not through the efforts 
 of the Poles, but out of the necessity and peril 
 of their oppressors. The Poles have learned by 
 the bitterest and most terrible of experiences 
 that, unaided, they are not strong enough to re- 
 gain their lost independence, and that they can- 
 not hope for foreign intervention. The ascend- 
 
 30 
 
POLISH AUTONO?iIY— UNDER AUSTRIA 
 
 ancy of materialism and political " expediency " 
 is too complete to-day for any nation or nations 
 to assume the r61e of liberator of Poland. But 
 Russia, Prussia, and Austria, it is easily con- 
 ceivable, may be forced, by pressure of problems 
 more vital to their own nationalities, to loosen 
 their grip on their prey. 
 
 The Poles are grateful to Austria, not for 
 what she has done, but for what she has re- 
 frained from doing. Galicia (Austrian Poland) 
 is to-day the only portion of the old Common- 
 wealth in which Poles can breathe freely, think 
 and speak in their own tongue, and develop them- 
 selves. It is true that Austria was one of the 
 partitioning powers. But Poles will not forget 
 that Austria, under Maria Theresa, was the only 
 one of the three which hesitated before yielding 
 to the political pressure which resulted in the 
 dismemberment. 
 
 Compared with the position of their brethren 
 in Russia and Prussia, the lot of the Austrian 
 Poles to-day is certainly an easy one. Their 
 status is entirely different from that under 
 which both the " Kingdom " and Posen are made 
 to " lie quiet." The Galician Poles are not op- 
 pressed at all. They have autonomy, they are 
 not molested in the use of their language, they 
 publish their newspapers without let or hin- 
 drance, they have their representatives in the 
 national Reichsrath, and one of them (Count 
 
 31 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 Badeni) has even been Premier of the entire 
 Empire, while another (Count Goluchowski) 
 was for a decade imperial foreign minister. 
 Warsaw shopkeepers are compelled to hire at 
 least one Eussian clerk, but Austria does not 
 pursue a like policy in Galicia. Nor does she 
 interfere with Polish schools, or refuse to for- 
 ward letters bearing Polish titles, as is done in 
 Posen by Prussia. There are no overt acts in 
 Galicia by the Austrian government toward 
 making life hard for the Poles (at any rate, 
 if there are, it takes a long sojourn in the coun- 
 try to notice them). Russia and Prussia do not 
 officially recognise the existence of the Poles. 
 There are, in Eussia, inhabitants of the govern- 
 ments of the Vistula who were formerly Polish. 
 There are German subjects in the East Mark 
 of Prussia who happen to prefer to speak the 
 Polish language. Austria, however, does not 
 thus wilfully shut her eyes to the painfully 
 evident truth. She frankly admits that the 
 Poles are not Austrians, not Germans, but Poles, 
 wholly, irreclaimably, often resentfully, Poles. 
 She permits them to sell openly all kinds of 
 books, for and against the Austrian government, 
 or any other existing or conceivable form of gov- 
 ernment. The court at Vienna does not claim 
 that Kosciuszko was an Austrian, as Prassia 
 claims Copernicus. She admits that he was a 
 Pole of the Poles. She does not forbid monu- 
 
 33 
 
POLISH AUTONOMY— UNDER AUSTRIA 
 
 ments being erected to him, nor tear down those 
 already erected. The Viennese idea is of the eco- 
 nomical order. The Austrians use the Kosciuszko 
 memorial in Cracow as a military garrison. On 
 the whole, however, the Poles have a good deal of 
 sympathy politically for the Hapsburg Empire, 
 and a real affection for the person of the aged 
 Austrian Kaiser. 
 
 Commercially, Austrian Poland has little for 
 which to thank Vienna. Galicia, a province 
 containing 30,000 square miles (it is about the 
 .size of the State of South Carolina), with a pop- 
 ulation of eight millions, and a provincial gov- 
 ernment of her own, is yet very backward eco- 
 nomically. Galicia is miserably poor, thanks 
 to the exhaustion of generations of war which 
 the present system of taxation does not improve. 
 There is another cause for her poverty, in the 
 natural antipathy of the race of landed propri- 
 etors to trade and industry. This prejudice is, 
 however, fast dying out. Nature has endowed 
 Galicia with a rich, fertile soil and a fair share 
 of mineral wealth. The country is pleasantly 
 diversified, from the level plain region about 
 Cracow and Lemberg even to the summits of 
 the Carpathians. All kinds of grain and veg- 
 etables grow magnificently. As the country dips 
 and then rises again to the foothills of the Car- 
 pathians, traces of iron and copper appear, and 
 westward, in the region of Schodnica, are to be 
 
 33 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 found the richest naphtha wells in the world. 
 The province also has generous supplies of salt. 
 The famous old salt mines of Wieliczka, a few 
 miles from Cracow, have been worked for nearly 
 800 years, and still yield abundantly. But salt 
 is a government monopoly in Austria, and the 
 Galicians have to pay, in consequence, about six 
 times as much for it as we do in America. 
 
 Business is not good in Galicia. Everything 
 is taxed to the breaking point. New enterprises 
 must pay such enormous assessments for the 
 privilege of beginning that their future for a 
 dozen years is often mortgaged before they begin. 
 As for the taxes on many of the estates, it is as 
 much as the poor proprietor can do to satisfy 
 the government and at the same time provide 
 himself with the necessaries of life. At one time 
 the Poles were the most extravagant and osten- 
 tatious people in Europe. Now they are even 
 frugal, simple, and saving. Perhaps they will 
 some day thank Austria for teaching them the 
 lesson of frugality, just as they are beginning 
 to recognise the benefits of the rigorous but or- 
 derly regime of Prussia. 
 
 The Prussian Pole has benefited to a certain 
 extent by the progressive commercial policy of 
 the German government, and so also, though to 
 a less extent, has the Russian Pole from Eus- 
 sia. But the Pole in Austria has not had this 
 stimulus, and he is still a good deal wedded to 
 
 3i 
 
POLISH AUTONOMY— UNDER AUSTRIA 
 
 his old-fashioned ideas of the degrading nature 
 of trade and work in general ; that is, work other 
 than on an estate. He labours hard enough on 
 his farm to satisfy even the American notion of 
 work, but that is because he must. All his his- 
 tory shows this distaste for commerce. From 
 the early Middle Ages, so Voltaire tells us, al- 
 most all the commerce and trade of Poland was 
 in the hands of Scotchmen, Germans, and Jews. 
 The great natural wealth of the country and the 
 constant and immense stream of plunder coming 
 in from the generations of usually successful 
 war built up an enormously rich class of landed 
 proprietors whose pride and luxuriousness was 
 long the envy and wonder of the rest of Europe. 
 Naturally such a wealthy class soon learned to 
 regard traffic and work in general with contempt 
 and as only fit for peasants and slaves. It is 
 more than the aristocrats can stand even to-day 
 to barter and sell goods. Anything, even pov- 
 erty and actual want, is preferable to trade, and 
 what at first seems utterly inexplicable to an 
 American, soon becomes perfectly intelligible 
 when the history of Poland is studied sociologic- 
 ally. 
 
 Besides this deeply ingrained prejudice, it 
 must not be forgotten that the Pole has had but 
 little training for business and is generally no 
 match for the Jew with his natural cunning for 
 barter, or the German, who has had the benefit 
 
 35 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 of a commercial education and who often has the 
 business aptitude in his blood. Much of the 
 trade in the large cities of Galicia is in the 
 hands of Germans or of Poles with German 
 names, Poles in spirit it is true, but coming by 
 their commercial proclivities from their foreign 
 ancestry. This can be seen by walking through 
 the principal streets in Cracow and Lemberg 
 and noting the names on the signs. The younger 
 generation of Poles in Galicia is indeed begin- 
 ning to look at this matter in a new light and 
 is going into business in increasing numbers. 
 If they were only permitted liberty of initiative 
 and freed from some of the ruinous taxation 
 which now grinds them down, they would suc- 
 ceed to-day. 
 
 Yet, withal, the Galician Pole seems fairly 
 contented. He tills his land in patience (a qual- 
 ity he is beginning to show to a degree which 
 would have considerably astonished his fiery and 
 unruly ancestor), sells some of his farm produce, 
 and hopes. He is beginning to look almost long- 
 ingly toward Russia, where, despite political 
 oppression, a fairly liberal commercial policy 
 makes life offer new and attractive possibilities. 
 
 The Poles form but one of the many diverse 
 elements — although an important one — in that 
 geographical expression which we know as Aus- 
 tria. What a mosaic is the Hapsburg Empire- 
 Kingdom! The traveller through this land sees 
 
 36 
 
POLISH AUT0N0:MY— UNDER AUSTRIA 
 
 so much diversity of tongue and religion in a 
 ride of a few liours tliat lie is bewildered. 
 
 Four persons shared the railway carriage with 
 me on the train from Vienna to Cracow, a lady 
 and three gentlemen. A stout, dignified look- 
 ing man with olive complexion and black hair 
 that almost curled, sat directly opposite. He 
 ■wore ordinary dress except that his modern suit 
 was covered by a splendid cloak drawn partly 
 together with a gorgeous sash. A Magyar mag- 
 nate, but, as political geography goes, an Aus- 
 trian subject. Next him sat the lady, whose 
 delicately chiselled Latin features and general 
 slender brunette type were very southern, quite 
 Italian. Xo, she was Istrian — and Austrian. 
 At her side was a powerfully built man with a 
 haughty patrician face, small nose, and a great 
 thick neck — the type of which Napoleon said, 
 " Put him on a horse and you have a devil." A 
 Pole, yes. but officially an Austrian. Next to me 
 and opposite these three sat a little slim lieu- 
 tenant with an air of suave dignity about him. 
 A real Austrian, an Austrian of the Austrians, 
 who said " Bitte pardon "' or " Bitte schon " on 
 every possible occasion, with a soft accent such 
 as no one but a Viennese can master. At a 
 small station near the famous field of Auster- 
 litz a sixth passenger entered and made our 
 coupe " complet." He was a " jager." The 
 knee-breeches, mountain hat with jaunty feather 
 
 37 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT A.MONG NATIONS 
 
 in it, and the breezy honest politeness, all plainly 
 said Tyrol. Yes, but an Austrian. As the guard 
 ran along banging closed the doors of the car- 
 riages, I caught a glimpse of a party being hus- 
 tled into a third-class compartment. They were 
 mostly women, and evidently peasants in holi- 
 day attire. The gaily decorated bodice, large 
 hat, wide flaring short skirt on the muscular 
 frame, the clui.isy top boots with dainty French 
 heels, indicated Moravian peasants, — but Aus- 
 trians. The train glided out of the station and 
 there was a snap-shot view of a big fellow in 
 white kilts and red tunic, wearing a fez. A 
 Turk? Very nearly. He comes from the bor- 
 ders of Dalmatia — and is an Austrian. If only 
 a Czech, a Croat, a Slovak, and a Jew had been 
 present, I might have received an idea of the 
 heterogeneous population that owes allegiance 
 to Kaiser Franz Joseph and calls itself Aus- 
 trian. 
 
 There is no Austrian language, no Austrian 
 literature or patriotism or nationality, nothing 
 the congeries of races have in common except 
 the Emperor, the army, and the Eeichsrath. 
 What will happen when the object of their per- 
 sonal allegiance has passed away? The empire 
 of the Hapsburgs is the keystone of the European 
 arch, and the continent dreads few things so 
 much as its displacement. Eighteen million 
 Hungarians, nine and one-half million Germans, 
 
 38 
 
POLISH AUTONOMY— UNDER AUSTRI 
 
 eight million Poles and Euthenians, six mill 
 Czechs, t'wo or three million Servians, Croi 
 and Slovenians, about a million Italians, i 
 nearly a million Jews — with as many tong 
 and religions as there are nationalities — if 
 more — what a marvellous but artificial st] 
 ture it is! 
 
 In the matter of religion, also, the Dual 3J 
 archy is a mosaic. In the first place, it is 
 greatest Eoman Catholic power in the wo: 
 By its constitution, the ruling dynasty m 
 profess the Catholic faith. Vast property is 
 the ecclesiastical hand, and the church enj 
 cordial recognition from the government. ] 
 mate and priest are among the largest Ian 
 proprietors. Along the banks of the Danube 
 greater part of the soil is owned by the chui 
 The Archbishop of Gran, who is Primate of H 
 gary, has an annual income of 1,000,000 flor 
 or more than .f 400,000; enough to support ei 
 such mighty individuals as the American Pr 
 dent. About two per cent, of all the territory 
 Hungary belongs to the church. Every yeat 
 Easter " His Apostolic Majesty," as the Empe 
 is called, and his Empress wash the feet of p 
 beggars. 
 
 Austria is not all Catholic, however, nor ^ 
 she always a Catholic country. John Huss i 
 Jerome of Prague were, in the geograph; 
 sense, Austrians; and Moravia, which is a w 
 
 39 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 almost synonymous with Protestantism, is in 
 Austria. Transylvania, of which Hungary is 
 suzerain, is to-day perhaps the most remark- 
 able conglomeration of religions known to 
 history. Jew, Armenian, Eusso-Greek, Latin- 
 Greek, Nazarene, Eoman Catholic, Lutheran, 
 Calvinist, and Uniate have dwelt there in close 
 proximity for centuries, but seldom in Christian 
 harmony. 
 
 For hundreds of years the many different 
 races of the Empire have jostled and fought, and 
 yet they have never mingled. Each has lived 
 its own life and made its own history, jealous 
 of its national individuality. While in Buda- 
 pest I spoke to a Hungarian gentleman about 
 the differences between the Magyars and their 
 Emperor. But he replied decidedly, giving the 
 keynote to the racial independence: '' Es giebt 
 keinen Kaiser in Budapest, nur einen Konig von 
 Ungarn." 
 
 What would happen if the Empire should fall 
 to pieces? Europe has not forgotten the one 
 war over the Austrian succession, and fears that 
 the death of the present Kaiser, loved and re- 
 spected as he is throughout the continent, would 
 precipitate the great European conflict which 
 is the nightmare of all the chancelleries. Eu- 
 rope feels that, in the word of a Czech states- 
 man, " if Austria did not exist, she would have 
 to be invented," in view of the political necessity 
 
 40 
 
POLISH AUTONOMY— UNDER AUSTRIA 
 
 for a strong grip on the jarring nationalities of 
 the " central European lumber room." 
 
 It follows as a corollary of her geographical 
 position and her ethnological composition, that 
 the Dual Monarchy desires nothing so much as 
 to maintain the political status quo in central 
 Europe. Any change in southeastern Europe 
 is likely to disturb the internal equilibrium. 
 Hence the anxiety with which Vienna watches 
 developments in the Balkans and Turkey, and 
 shudders at the possibility of Hungarian defec- 
 tion or Bohemian linguistic patriotism unset- 
 tling the balance of power within her borders 
 and thus weakening the hold of the imperial 
 capital. Put concretely, the two great spectres 
 which haunt the dreams of the aged Austrian 
 Kaiser are Pan-Slavism and Pan-Germanism. 
 Russian propaganda in the Balkans and Ger- 
 man influence in Austria proper must be 
 watched continually, and these are the factors 
 in Austria's foreign policy. Both of these fac- 
 tors are growing more impressive and signifi- 
 cant. Muscovite intrigue precipitates Bulgaria 
 and Servia into a customs union which threat- 
 ens to destroy completely Austrian para- 
 mountcy in the Balkans. As for the influence 
 of Germanism, the road to Constantinople long 
 ago ceased to travel through Vienna. It now 
 goes by way of Berlin. 
 
 There is one factor, however, in her national 
 41 
 
rOLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 life which Austria apparently slights or the im- 
 portance of which she minimises, and that is 
 her relation to the section of the ancient Polish 
 Commonwealth, which is now a portion of the 
 Dual Monarchy. Having a large amount of 
 freedom and local self-government, the Austrian 
 Poles are not the constant thorn in the flesh that 
 their brethren are in Russia and Prussia. But 
 as far as assimilation is concerned they are just 
 as irreconcilable. No prescription has yet been 
 offered, nor is any likely to be, for making a Rus- 
 sian, a German, or an Austrian out of a Pole. 
 
 The Poles of Galicia are more than half the 
 population of that province, and their represent- 
 atives in the Reichsrath at Vienna form the larg- 
 est, best organised, and most influential group 
 in that body. They hold the balance of power: 
 with their eighty votes (1907) they are the 
 determining party, and their views, in conse- 
 quence, cannot be wholly disregarded by the 
 Austrian government. On the subjc^ct of the 
 treatment of their compatriots by Prussia they 
 hold very strong views. They are satisfied with 
 their own condition, and they see in it a proof 
 that it is perfectly possible so to govern the Poles 
 as not to keep them seething in discontent. The 
 only way in which they cau give effect to this 
 feeling is to press upon their government the 
 duty of making occasional representations to 
 Germany in favor of the Polish subjects of that 
 
 43 
 
POLISH AUTONOMY— UNDER AUSTRl 
 
 empire. This they are constantly trying to 
 and at times they succeed in placing Empe 
 Francis Joseph in something of a quandf 
 He cannot well offend his ally by mention 
 the matter, and he cannot afford altogether 
 alienate the parliamentary support of the G 
 cian Poles. Nor is this all. The Austrian £ 
 emment, as such, is not anxious to take si 
 in the undying conflict between Teuton ; 
 Slav, which has begun, of late years, to assi 
 such grave proportions. 
 
 Few travellers can resist the charm of Vien 
 Is there, in any other city in the world, s 
 a happy combination of German solidity, ^\ 
 French chic, Teutonic warmth and thoroughr 
 without a bit of Prussian arrogance, Gallic lii 
 ness and taste, but not a trace of the stacc 
 pertness of the Frenchman, all welded int( 
 delightful whole by a cement of quiet good t£ 
 and picturesque abandon which is distinc 
 Viennese? It is the polite art -loving cap: 
 of a courteous, artistic people. 
 
 The charming capital on the Danube, h- 
 ever, has a short memory. She has found it 
 easy to forget that, but for a certain chivalrc 
 art-loving, whole-souled, and warrior Pol 
 king, she might even now be only the " hi 
 town ■ ' of a Turkish vilayet. What would Viei 
 be to-day but for John Sobieski? 
 
 43 
 
Ill 
 
 CRACOW: THE HEART OF POLAND 
 
 LEGEND has it that Lech, the mythical 
 founder of the Polish people, was once 
 attacked in his cradle by a three-headed 
 dragon. The cradle of Lech was Cracow, and 
 Cracow was the last resting-place of Polish inde- 
 pendence. The free city and republic of Cracow 
 lived till 1846, and was the last rallying point 
 of Polish independent existence. Here the three- 
 headed dragon, or the three partitioning nations, 
 descended for the last attack on prostrate Po- 
 land. Cracow, therefore, is, for the best of rea- 
 sons, the point from which to begin a study of 
 Polish life as it is found to-day. 
 
 Cracow is the most characteristically Polish 
 city of the present. The visitor wnll find more 
 life and progress in Warsaw, but life of a cos- 
 mopolitan, European kind. The traveller who 
 wishes to see a real Polish city must see and 
 study Cracow. This city is, undoubtedly, the 
 real centre of the Polish nation, the point toward 
 which the affection of the Poles turns as the 
 most dignified, precious memento of their past 
 glory. 
 
 44 
 
CRACOW: THE HEART OF POLAND 
 
 My first impressions of this quaint old Polish 
 city were received under very characteristic and 
 fortunate circumstances. The University of 
 Cracow was about to celebrate the 500th anni- 
 versary of its foundation. Was it not Matthew 
 Arnold who, in speaking of the 500th anniver- 
 sary of Oxford, remarked that a university does 
 not come of age till it has attained its demi-mil- 
 lennium? 
 
 The coming of age of the Polish seat of learn- 
 ing at Cracow gave the Poles an opportunity 
 such as they have seldom had during the century 
 just closed, an opportunity for showing to the 
 world the love and mastery of picturesqueness, 
 symbolism, hospitality, ceremony, and good 
 cheeE which is so characteristic of them as a 
 people. 
 
 The University of Cracow is a monument to 
 the statesmanship and liberality of the early 
 Polish kings. In the latter half of the four- 
 teenth century — in 1364, to be precise — Kazi- 
 mierz the Great decided to commemorate his ac- 
 cession to the thrones of Poland and Lithuania 
 by founding a library. This he endowed with all 
 the magnificence and generosity of his age and 
 line, and it soon became the centre of Polish 
 culture. In two decades it had evolved a uni- 
 versity, and had become the intellectual poiiit 
 d'appui of the kingdom. For a few years, owing 
 to religious wars, the university was forced to 
 
 45 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 close its doors. In the Christmas season of 1400, 
 however, Jagiello, founder of his house, re-en- 
 dowed and reoi'ganised the institution, and 
 from that day to this its work has never lapsed. 
 
 The occasion of the celebration of its 500th 
 birthday was a national event with the Poles, 
 and the national pride came out strongly in the 
 reception of visiting delegations from institu- 
 tions all over the world. Impressive exercises, 
 speeches, processions, and the presentation (jf 
 gifts and souvenirs from sister universities, 
 made up the celebration. The American dele- 
 gation of professors commissioned the writer to 
 lay on the tomb of Tadeusz (Thaddeus) Koscius- 
 zko a wreath, as a token of grateful remembrance 
 from America. 
 
 On that memorable Sunday morning in June 
 the sun shone brightly, and the pious peasant 
 trudged to church to the sound of the solemn 
 bell. Far down in the cathedral crypt, in the 
 Wawel — the Westminster Abbey of Poland — by 
 the fitful, subdued light of lanterns the writer 
 reverently made his way through the aisles of 
 sarcophagi in which slumber all of Poland's 
 great dead. There lie Jagiello, Jadwiga, Kazi- 
 mierz the Great, Zygmunt the Great, Stefan Bat- 
 ory, John Sobieski, aul Joseph Poniatowski. 
 By the side of the sarcophagus of the great So- 
 bieski is a massive stone coffin in which lies all 
 that was once mortal of Tadeusz Kosciuszko. Al- 
 
 46 
 
CRACOW: THE HEART OF POLANE 
 
 most religously laying the bit of laurel, ■« 
 the inscription, " In the name of America, 
 the memory of Kosciuszko," on the pile of c 
 stone, I withdrew. 
 
 The Poles owe the careers and great achi( 
 ments of many of their foremost men to 
 venerable Jagiellonian University. One of 
 graduates — " the most illustrious in half a th 
 sand years " — belongs to the world. Niche 
 Copernicus, ^^■hen quite a youth, spent tL 
 years at the University, and it seemed fitt 
 that the celebration should have been closed 
 the unveiling of a monument to the great mai 
 matician and cosmographer. 
 
 Cracow is a sort of " half-way house " betw 
 Vienna and Warsaw. Commercially, it depe 
 on the former; politically (speaking from a 
 lish standpoint), on the latter. As long as 
 railroad connects Warsaw, Cracow, and Pos 
 Polish national life will not cease to be. 
 the military scheme of the Austrian Emj 
 Cracow is a very important place. Within e 
 driving distance of the Russian frontier, 1 
 former capital and royal residence of Polai 
 kings has become one of the chief Austr 
 strongholds. The empire of the Hapsburgs 
 made it one of the strongest outposts of the 
 ceding Teutonic power before the advance 
 the Slav. 
 
 A denationalised people will always cl 
 47 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AIMONG NATIONS 
 
 fondly to the past, and its monuments of former 
 glories will constitute its chief claim to the in- 
 terest of the rest of the world. With no polit- 
 ical or military life of their own to-day, except as 
 parts of the nations which hold them subject, 
 the Poles point with most pride to the evidences 
 of their former greatness. The traveller will be 
 charmed by the hospitality and sympathetic 
 character of the people themselves, and the stu- 
 dent will be thrilled by the tragic interest of the 
 drama of denationalisation which is still being 
 enacted. Aside from her artists, musicians, 
 and writers, the great things of Poland are 
 chiefly those that have already had their day 
 and their history. Cracow actually lives in the 
 traditions of her great past. With 90,000 inhab- 
 itants and many of the artistic, social and polit- 
 ical characteristics of modern Europe, she is 
 essentially a city of the past. An air of delight- 
 fully picturesque somnolence hangs over her 
 streets, even in the business quarter. Antiquity 
 and historical recollections — these are the dis- 
 tinctions of Cracow. They are her boast. How 
 old these Poles are! Speak of your material 
 progress, and the Cracovian replies that he has 
 real, unadulterated antiquity. When you come 
 to Cracow they show you the Wawel, the ancient 
 fortress-castle, where, for 600 years and more, 
 have slumbered the greatest of Poland's great 
 dead. Through the court-yard, where many a 
 
 48 
 
CRACOAV: THE HEART OF POLANE 
 
 tournament and joust has been held in spleudc 
 the passing centuries have seen Bohemian, Pi 
 sian, Mongol, Swede, Tartar, Russian, and A 
 trian ride, rough-shod, in triumph, over a pre 
 and sensitive prostrate nation, laden with si 
 so rich that the mere description sounds 1 
 romance. 
 
 Cracow was the second capital of the Pol 
 kings. About the year 5G0 A. D., say the ] 
 ends, in the Carpathian Mountains there li 
 a petty chief or '• leader of the province " nan 
 Xrakus. He was a strong man and well 
 loved. On the hill Wawel he built a fortri 
 now known as the Wawel, overlooking the Ri 
 Vistula. This was a great task, as he had f 
 to kill the dragon which dwelt on the hill. '! 
 cavern in which this Polish St. George met 
 foe is still pointed out to the visitor. At pres( 
 however, the entrance is closed with an i: 
 trap door, heavily padlocked, and no one ( 
 what reason it is not stated) is permitted 
 view the interior. Perhaps closer inspect 
 might tend to lessen the belief in the old legei 
 we moderns are so sceptical. 
 
 But to return to Krakus. We are told t 
 his rule was wise and good, and that when 
 died there was general mourning. His dau 
 ter Wanda was elected "over lady." N( 
 Wanda was very beautiful, and this fact s( 
 made trouble for her and Poland. Before 1( 
 
 49 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 her beauty attracted the attention of a German 
 prince named Evtrger, who fell in love with her 
 and began violent suit for her hand. Wanda, 
 however, did not return his affection and 
 promptly refused him. The gallant lover wrote 
 her an angry letter, threatening to invade her 
 domain and make her his wife by force. But 
 Wanda was not of the submissive kind. She 
 gathered a great army and marched out and de- 
 feated the Germans with great slaughter. Then, 
 fearing that her beauty might cause further trou- 
 ble to her country, tradition tells us that she 
 deliberately drowned herself in the Vistula. I 
 will not vouch for the truth of this story, but 
 I have seen the kopiec, or mound, which has 
 been erected to her memory. 
 
 Stormy times, pagan wars, and long stretches 
 of obscure history follow. Polish history turns 
 to the north, to Gniezno (Gnesen), where be- 
 gan the dynasty of Piasts, of legendary origin, 
 which gave so many kings to Poland. From this 
 time until the beginning of the last century 
 Cracow had as stormy a history as is ascribed to 
 any European city. Four times it was in the 
 hands of a foreign invader. For three centuries 
 it was the capital of Poland, and the kings were 
 crowned there until 1764. When Poland was 
 first dismembered Cracow fell to Austria, to be 
 appropriated later by Napoleon, and then by 
 Alexander of Kussia. The congress of Vienna 
 
 50 
 
CRACOW: THE HEART OF POLAND 
 
 declared it "for ever a free, independent, and 
 neutral city, under the protection of Russia, 
 Austria, and Prussia." " For ever " was the way 
 it read in the treaty. Thirty-one brief j'ears, 
 however, was the length of the republic's life. 
 The social ferment of the middle of the past cen- 
 tury, culminating in the " terrible "iS," began in 
 Cracow in the summer of 184:6. As a pretext for 
 extinguishing a free commonwealth, what was 
 easier for the emissaries of absolutism than to 
 incite the peasants to revolt against " the op- 
 pression of the aristocracy"? The insurrection 
 spread over all Galicia. The privileged classes 
 could remember the French Revolution, and to- 
 day the aristocrats do not like to be reminded of 
 this terrible summer, more than sixty years ago, 
 when whole families died on their estates at the 
 hands of peasants carrying scythes. Of course, 
 this was not the proper way for a free common- 
 wealth to behave, and the three powers directly 
 concerned insisted on a " friendly meeting " at 
 Vienna, at which they decided to incorporate the 
 " Free State " of Cracow with the Austrian 
 Empire. 
 
 As with most European cities that date back 
 more than a century, the radiating point, the 
 central square of Cracow, is the market-place, or 
 rynek, as the Poles call it, a picturesque old place, 
 with the church of Panna Marya (Virgin Mary) 
 on one side, the Cloth Hall, or Sukiennice, in the 
 
 51 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMOyiG NATIONS 
 
 centre, flanked br the ancient City Hall, the 
 chapel of St. Wojciech, and the noble monument 
 to the poet Mickiewicz. Every Tuesday and 
 Friday, from time immemorial, the venders 
 of produce of all sorts have gathered on the 
 rynek. 
 
 The open market is a very pretty sight. The 
 variety offered and the picturesqueness of the 
 trade is very interesting. Here, the gaily dressed 
 peasant woman brings her wares: chickens and 
 ducks, alive and remonstrating volubly, vegeta- 
 bles, fruits, bread, small cakes, poziomki (wild 
 strawberries), and knickknacks of every imag- 
 inable kind. Here, also, may be seen the gar- 
 dener or factor of the landed estate, selling his 
 fruit and vegetables to help out the revenue of 
 the proprietor. 
 
 The favourite spot for the exhibition of these 
 wares seems to be in front of the ancient castle 
 of the Potockis, known as Pud Barauami, '* Un- 
 der the Eams' Heads."' When the Emperor visits 
 Cracow he usually stays at this castle, having 
 first informed the family that they may leave, 
 although occasionally, during his stay, they re- 
 turn to visit. 
 
 The cabmen love to congregate before the little 
 chapel of St. Wojciech, where, tradition has it, 
 the Czech missionaries first preached the Gospel 
 to the then heathen Poles. From this spot the 
 cabbies can gaze reverently at the stone tablet 
 
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CRACOW: THE HEART OF POLAND 
 
 which is set in the square near by, declaring that 
 here, on March 24, 1794, Kosciuszko took the 
 oath as commander of the Polish army, before 
 that memorable campaign against the Russians 
 — the famous campaign of Raclawice. 
 
 In the very centre of the rynek is the Sukien- 
 nice, the most impressiye and perhaps the most 
 interesting building in the city. In the early 
 Middle Ages this now ancient edifice began its 
 career as Cloth Hall, or place of exhibition for 
 merchandise, principally dress-stuffs, hence its 
 name. 
 
 The Sukiennice is now used as a gallery for 
 the exhibition of paintings, a reception hall, 
 and a museum. A long arcade, fitted up as a 
 market and panelled at regular interyals with the 
 different national and local Polish coats of arms, 
 pierces the building and giyes it a yery pictur- 
 esque and busy air. 
 
 Outside, except on market days, the old square 
 suns itself in dignified repose, the quiet broken 
 only by an unusually expeditious cabman, or by 
 the deep-toned bell from the tower of Panna 
 Marya. Eyery hour the clear musical note of 
 the hejnal comes from the church tower. I haye 
 taken down the notes of this trumpet call, which 
 is regularly sounded from the three corners of 
 the tower of Panna Marya, but there is no in- 
 strument which can fully reproduce its liquid 
 melody. The " colour " of the notes seems just 
 
 53 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 between that of the cornet and that of the mili- 
 tary bugle. 
 
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 Cracow is a grey city. The buildings are quite 
 generally of that soft, artistic grey tint which 
 improves with age in the stone or stucco so com- 
 mon in old European cities. Cracow reminds 
 one of a well-bred woman who has begun to age 
 and to grow grey. It is not the greyness of de- 
 crepitude, but of well-seasoned middle age. Cra- 
 cow has seen so much of life that she knows its 
 varied experiences thoroughly. In her youth 
 her sons went forth to the Crusades. In the lith 
 century her people numbered nearly half a mil- 
 lion. She was full grown when the Thirty 
 Years' War broke out. She was developed, cul- 
 tured, and civilised long before the three-headed 
 dragon appeared, and she is weary of waiting for 
 her rather uncouth neighbours to catch up with 
 her intellectually, socially, and in almost all 
 the other arts of civilisation — the politer arts. 
 She has seen so much of strenuous life that she 
 is no longer surprised at anything. An air of 
 well-bred ease and nonchalance sits gracefully 
 on her. Even modern newspapers and the slowly 
 widening circle of " families in trade " cannot 
 conceal this air. Moreover, she has acquired all 
 
 54 
 
CRACOW: THE HEART OF POLAND 
 
 the arts of the mature coquette, the coquette who 
 is better educated than her neighbours, who has 
 some idle time on her hands, and who makes 
 sport, quietly, of her associates. One can almost 
 fancy that, at times, he detects her yawning be- 
 hind her fan. She is very diplomatic, with a 
 finesse all her own. It must be confessed that 
 she has many of the symptoms of a civilisation 
 just a bit effete. With her societies, her card- 
 playing parties, her ennui, her little contests for 
 social pre-eminence — in these she is irreproach- 
 ably fin (or commencement) de siecle. 
 
 Cracow is not married to the material, indus- 
 trial present, but she is betrothed to it. Her 
 engagement ring is the beautifully modern boule- 
 vard extending all around the city limits, known 
 as the Plante. Some years ago a wealthy gentle- 
 man had municipal pride enough to found this 
 beautiful adornment to the city. There are 
 other parks in the city, notably the beautiful 
 Jordan Park. The Plante, however, is unique. 
 A delightful, shaded walk, bordered with flower- 
 beds kept in the pink of condition, it affords 
 the Cracovian an hour's promenade, in the course 
 of which he can pass before almost all the fea- 
 tures of the city of which he is proud. The new 
 university, the new home of the Society of Fine 
 Arts, many handsome residences, and several of 
 the public buildings face on the Plante, which 
 is the favourite promenade ground of the whole 
 
 55 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 town. Here may be seen every grade and class 
 of life out on a holiday. All Cracow and his 
 wife, or sweetheart, are here. Slim, straight, 
 olive-complexioned Austrian army officers, the 
 politest military men in the world, but positively 
 radiating their own importance many feet before 
 them ; common soldiers in the eminently practical 
 but scarcely handsome Austrian uniform, slouch- 
 ing along by the side of their kitchen-maid sweet- 
 hearts; stooped, reverend university professors 
 and earnest-looking students ; Jews in long gaber- 
 dines, talking mongrel Polish in high, nasal 
 tones, and lovingly anointing their corkscrew 
 curls — you may see them all on almost any fine 
 afternoon. The Plants encircles the city outside 
 the old fortifications, and it is an interesting and 
 delightful contrast that is experienced when one 
 steps from this modern boulevard into the sally- 
 port of one of the ancient gates, such as the 
 Brama Floryanska (Florian gate), and, after 
 passing the shrine, with its ever-burning lamp, 
 emerges again into the open air in the old city 
 itself. 
 
 The stone in this engagement ring of Tracow Is 
 not modern. It is the heart of Poland, its in- 
 nermost shrine, the Wawel. But here the co- 
 quette simile must be stopped. It would seem 
 a bit flippant when referring to the ancient, 
 hoary, revered Wawel. 
 
 The Wawel is a collection of buildings, really 
 56 
 
CRACOW: THE HEART OF POLAND 
 
 a small fortified city — cathedral, chapels, bar- 
 racks, dwelling-houses, and court-yards — all sur- 
 rounded by a high wall, flanked at the corners 
 by towers. It was, indeed, a fortress independ- 
 ent of the city about it. The Vistula rolls 
 peacefully at its feet. 
 
 The chief interest attaching to the Wawel lies 
 in the fact that, in the crypt of its cathedral, are 
 buried most of the monarchs of Poland. Though 
 for many years ruin and neglect was the fate of 
 the Wawel, the ancient pile is now being restored. 
 The government at Vienna has consented to re- 
 move the arsenal and barracks if the city will 
 build other quarters for the troops. This trans- 
 formation has now almost been completed. 
 
 For richness and magnificence of artistic and 
 religious treatment, the Wawel cathedral is, per- 
 haps, unequalled in the world. The Pole is lav- 
 ish by nature, and, in matters that concern his 
 religion, he is prodigal of costly gifts. Gold, 
 silver, jewels, stained glass, rare marbles and 
 other stones, costly carved woods, pictures, heavy 
 stuffs in decoration, sculptures, beaten and car- 
 ven work in metals — these are all to be seen in 
 such profusion that description is at a loss where 
 to begin. The great altar is backed by four mas- 
 sive columns, heavily covered with gold, between 
 which, on either side, one may see the painted 
 imago Christi, in rich bejewelled colour folds, 
 smiling sadly and benignantly down on the wor- 
 
 57 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 shippers. To the right is the chapel and tomb 
 of St. Stanislaw, the patron saint of Poland. 
 The chapel of Zjgmunt (Sigismund) August is 
 the jewel of the coronet. This is said to be the 
 finest piece of Eenaissance work north of the 
 Alps. The lower section of the wall is finished 
 in the beautiful red-veined Italian marble, mar- 
 vellously carved into shapes as delicate as though 
 of wood. The upper portion of the circle and 
 tomb is finished in grey marble, and adorned with 
 beautiful designs, rosettes and cusps, so cun- 
 ningly cut that, although the whole presents the 
 appearance of uniformity, no two ornaments are 
 alike. The splendid tomb itself is thickly gilded 
 with solid gold on the outside. During the Swed- 
 ish invasions, in the 17th century, this tomb was 
 painted black, or the rapacious soldiers of 
 Gustavus would certainly have carried off the 
 whole thing. In the rear of the great altar may 
 be seen a large, almost life-size figure of the 
 Christ, wrought out of solid silver. This also 
 was blackened that it might escape the Swedes, 
 and it still stands, dark and sombre, against its 
 background of silver ornament, which, however, 
 has been brightened. 
 
 Memories of the, saintly Queen .Jadwiga hang 
 about the Wawel. In one of the palaces, known 
 as " The Chicken's Foot," tradition has it that 
 she used to meet her Austrian lover. Prince Wil- 
 liam, and it was from here that she went forth to 
 
 58 
 
CRACOW: THE HEART OF POLAND 
 
 marry the barbarian Duke Jagiello, of Lithu- 
 ania, for the glory of God and the extension of 
 Poland. 
 
 One of the most picturesque customs that sur- 
 vives in this land of beautiful and picturesque 
 traditions, is the celebration of the Wianki 
 (wreaths) on the eve of St. John's night (June 
 24). The great feature is the casting of wreaths 
 on the waters of the Vistula, just below the walls 
 of the Wawel. The legend of St. John's night 
 tells of the wonderful fern blossom which blooms 
 only at midnight, the flower disappearing almost 
 immediately. The girl who has courage enough 
 to penetrate into the depths of the wood at this 
 hour may find this blossom, and if she succeeds 
 in picking it, she holds in her hand lifelong hap- 
 piness. But she must be unusually brave to 
 face and pass the many dangers which await her 
 on the way. The night is full of horror. Elves 
 and spirits of the forests lurk among the trees, 
 witch wolves and monsters lie in wait in pits and 
 ravines, and many other frightful perils must 
 be faced. Indeed, she cannot even be certain 
 where this delicate plant grows. But one thing 
 she does know : the deeper she penetrates into 
 the forest the more certain she is of finding it. 
 This legend has a pretty origin, with a lovely 
 princess and a handsome prince in it, and, some- 
 how, the legend and Wanda, who, it will be re- 
 membered, threw herself into the Vistula to 
 
 59 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 escape the attentions of unwelcome admirers, all, 
 in some way, became connected. On tbi- beauti- 
 ful evening in June, amid fireworks, music, and 
 general festivities, wreaths are cast on tlic river 
 from the walls of the Wawel. They arc of vari- 
 ous colours. Set on fire, they float down the 
 river. A picture of Wanda about to throw her- 
 self into the river, surrounded by festoons, is 
 one of the features of the celebration observed by 
 great crowds from the parapets of the ancient 
 fortress. 
 
 A volume could be written on the churches of 
 Cracow alone. There are thirty-six of them, to 
 about 90,000 inhabitants. The whole story of 
 Polish religious fervour, of all the ecclesiastical 
 pageantry and devotional symbolism of this 
 devout people, may be seen in ( 'raiow. Age, tra- 
 dition, form — these are the things one notes when 
 he enters one of these churches of Cracow. The 
 church of Panna Marya is one of the oldest and 
 most interesting of these temples. It is of pure 
 Gothic architecture, but with Byzantine ett'ect. 
 The interior is thickly covered with gold, silver, 
 and jewels. The walls of the great nave are 
 covered with paintings of golden angels on a blue 
 background. There must be 300 of them, but 
 the painter, -Jan Matejko, who restored this in- 
 terior, has not repeated himself. No two are 
 alike. Everything likely to impress a sensuous, 
 poetic, religiously inclined temperament is in this 
 
 60 
 
CRACOW: THE HEART OF POLAND 
 
 church. Great stained windows, through which 
 the sunlight filters in a perfect riot of splendid 
 colour, make all the vaulted chamber look like 
 a kaleidoscope. On one side is a chapel of the 
 Madonna, literally blazing with jewels. At the 
 entrance, thickly placarded with sombre death 
 notices,* the beggars sit and quaveringly ask for 
 dole. 
 
 The great religious pageant of the year, a spec- 
 tacle unique in the world and this age, is the 
 procession of Boze Cialo, or Corpus Christi. One 
 may see very picturesque processions of Corpus 
 Christi in Italy, in Spain, in Mexico, in Canada. 
 But for impressive pageantry, flood of colour, 
 devotion and form that make you rub your eyes 
 and wonder if you are not back in the Middle 
 Ages, you must see Boze Cialo in Cracow. 
 
 It was a beautiful day in the early part of 
 June that I saw the procession from a window 
 overlooking the market place. Perhaps two thou- 
 sand persons participated in the ceremonies, Init 
 many more, probably, watched from the square. 
 The day is a national holiday, the ceremony being 
 observed throughout Austria, even " His Apos- 
 tolic Majesty," the Emperor, formerly joining the 
 procession in Vienna and carrying his lighted 
 candle. In Poland, however, the ceremony is 
 most strictly and picturesquely observed. By 
 * When anyone dies in Craco-w a black printed notice is 
 posted on the church door. 
 
 61 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 law, the military must be represented. This 
 morning one regiment marched with the wor- 
 shippers, its fine band (and the Austrian military 
 music is the finest in the world) blending with 
 the sacred chorals of the singers and the mellow 
 notes of the hejnal from the towers of Panna 
 Marya. 
 
 The procession begins. The crowd removes 
 their hats. The march is to the church, around 
 the square, and back again to the church, halting 
 at the four corners of the rynek for the reading 
 of the Gospel by the Bishop, at four altars which 
 have been erected. It is a riot of colour. 
 Brotherhoods and other religious orders, wearing 
 distinctive colours, pass in groups, some all in 
 white with blue facings, some with greens, others 
 with reds, yellows, purples, but all brilliant. A 
 large proportion are women, some with little 
 children, in arms or led by the hand. The 
 little ones are bareheaded, and most of them are 
 garbed in white, but they have badges, patches, 
 ribbons, of other distinctive colours. The women 
 are like tropical birds of plumage — skirt, bodice, 
 headkerchief of vivid reds, vermilions, blues, 
 greens, yellows, orange. 
 
 While the reading of the Gospel is in progress 
 a choir of young men chants sacred music. The 
 Bishop elevates the Host, and a soft, mellow- 
 toned bell tinkles. Down on the cobbles, on 
 their knees, falls everyone, participants and on- 
 
 62 
 
CRACOW: THE HEART OF POLAND 
 
 lookers, and at the word of command, soldiers 
 also. As the Bishop finishes the rifles of the 
 military crash out, frightening the pigeons from 
 the eaves of the belfry of Panna ilarya in great 
 white clouds. Then he marches to the next can- 
 opy slowly, under his baldachin, preceded by the 
 thurifer swinging incense, while, in front, pat- 
 ter little girls and boys, some so young that they 
 must be guided by mother's hand — all robed in 
 white and crowned with wreaths. The toddlers 
 walk backward, bearing baskets of flowers, which 
 they scatter in the path of His Eeverence. This 
 is done at each of the four altars. 
 
 There are many banners. The Virgin and 
 Child, and the suffering Christ, appear, in picture 
 and image, in every conceivable material, in rich- 
 est panoply. Gold, silver, brocades heavy with 
 gilding — these represent the loving gifts of many 
 peasants for many years. Figures of the ago- 
 nising Christ, large and repellent, in brown wax, 
 standing upright or recumbent in great boxlike 
 structures, heavy and unwieldy, are borne by 
 gaily dressed peasant women, with proudly swell- 
 ing breasts. For this is the reward of virtue and 
 self-denial through the entire year, and the priest 
 has decided these women to be the worthy ones. 
 The banners are carried by men, but with diffi- 
 culty when the wind blows. The loose brown 
 coats, with leather supports for the banners about 
 the waists, make the bearers look like labourers 
 
 63 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 of the soil. But far from this. It is a reliijious 
 garb, and they are proud of it. It is the sign of 
 virtue attained. 
 
 As the eve wanders over the motley but super- 
 latively picturesque crowd, it notes, after an 
 effort, the individuals here and there, the types. 
 Here a peasant, in red jacket and big boots, kneels 
 on the cobbles in the middle of the road, facing 
 the altar. Here a woman in vivid colour pros- 
 trates herself on the stones, oblivious of her sur- 
 roundings. There an old man in patched. 
 threadbare, dirty garments, his hands calloused 
 and brown from the moil of the fields, bends his 
 head, a la Angelus, and blesses himself. There 
 little children, scarcely out of arms, kneel, and 
 their lips tell the prayers. A choir, under a 
 wide-spreading chestnut tree, chants ; the regi- 
 mental band plays martial music, while the 
 crowd, in its flashing attire, parasols as flaming 
 spots studding it at inteiwals, colours in '"im- 
 possible '■ but effective combinations, doses in 
 slowl.y behind. The mass eddies and ebbs and 
 flows. The colours move, change, dissolve, com- 
 bine, dissolve again, till the observer feels almost 
 the sensation of sea-sickness. The old square 
 is fairly planted with colour as a gorgeous flower- 
 bed, and studded with censer, monstrance, can- 
 opy, baldachin, iiuage, vestment. A row of 
 lighted candles, flickering weirdly in the bright 
 sunlight, fringes the procession, which slowly, 
 
 64 
 
CRACOW: THE HEART OF POLAND 
 
 gracefullv, undulatinglj, like a large, beautiful, 
 multicolored serpent, sparkles, crepusculates, 
 Termiculates back to the church. The architec- 
 ture of the surrounding buildings harmonises 
 completely with the scene. The ancient Sukien- 
 nice, with its dash of Orientalism — time-worn, 
 grey — fits in perfectly with the ceremony. What 
 a spectacle for an artist I 
 
 How the Poles love the drama! Even to those 
 who know the theatres of the large cities of 
 Europe, the Cracow playhouse is for its size one 
 of the bi'sr arranged and most artistic on the con- 
 tinent. Everything is in the exquisite taste 
 which the Poles always show in matters of art. 
 The architect was not hampered by enormously 
 high land values, and perspective is permitted to 
 display all its charms, landscape art all its beau- 
 ties. 
 
 From the finely proportioned stair and en- 
 trance to the splendid curtain painted by that 
 king of curtain-painters, Siemiradzki, everything 
 quite satisfies the eye and the testhetic taste. The 
 Polish school of art, which received its first im- 
 pulse from the Academy founded in Cracow by 
 the famous historical painter, Jan Matejko, can 
 have no nobler monument than this perfect little 
 playhouse. The Austrians have learned one les- 
 son. For some years they have thoroughly ap- 
 preciated the fact that subsidising a German 
 theatre in Cracow, where German plays are 
 
 65 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT A:\I0NG NATIONS 
 
 given which no one goes to see, is no more 
 efficacious as a Teutonising agency than subsidis- 
 ing a German newspaper in Posen, which no one 
 reads — which has been conclusively demonstrated 
 to the Prussian government. The Cracow thea- 
 tre gives Polish plays, and intensely Polish ones 
 at that. 
 
 It was under the most characteristic circum- 
 stances that I first witnessed a performance in 
 the Cracow theatre. Slowacki's intense, soul- 
 harrowing allegorical drama, " Kordjan,'' was 
 being given, at the special request of certain 
 patriotic citizens. Warsaw and the terrible 
 days of '30 and '31 were acted on the stage and 
 lived over again by the audience. Many of those 
 present had journeyed from the Polish metropolis 
 in the Russian Empire expressly to witness this 
 performance. Within the limits of the old repub- 
 lic, now under Eussian domination, it is not 
 permitted to play " Kordjan," or to render, by 
 voice or instrument, the splendid, sad dirge, 
 " Z Dymem Foiavow " — " With the Smoke of 
 Conflagrations." — one of the Polish national 
 hymns, composed in 1846 by Ujejski. Whenever 
 the Russian Poles come to Cracow this hymn is 
 played for them. It is seldom that the Yarso- 
 vians can hear, with unwet eyes, the solemn 
 strains which sum up Poland's agony and yearn- 
 ing. Are they not searchingly impressive? 
 
 66 
 
CRACOW: THE HEART OF POLAND 
 
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POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
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CRACOW: THE HEART OF POLAND 
 
 " Kordjan " is Polish life and history for the 
 past ceutiu'T sublimated to an essence, with none 
 of the struggle and agony omitted, and it was 
 plainly evident that the citizens of Cracow had 
 come to the play not to be entertained by strong, 
 good acting (although in that respect the most 
 exacting could not have been disappointed), but 
 to iiave their patriotism quickened by living over 
 again while the actors spouted, in the nervous, 
 resonant lines of the mystic poet, one of the stern- 
 est chapters in their national history. Cracow 
 is the only Polish city in which " Kordjan " could 
 be pi'esented, and to see this splendid, soul- 
 racking production in its theatre, is to come as 
 near to the heart of the Polish people as an alien 
 can ever hope to get. The majesty and intensity 
 of the poem goes straight to the patriotic con- 
 jiciousness of even a spectator who knows no 
 Polish. 
 
 69 
 
IV 
 
 THE POLES AXD GEEMANY'S WORLD 
 DEEAM 
 
 A S the " Battle Gallery " in the Palace of 
 /% Versailles was established to be " an il- 
 1 Ik luminative monument," '' d toutes les 
 gloires de Ja France." so the great series of his- 
 torical paintings which the celebrated Jan Ma- 
 tejko left as a patriotic legacy to his country are 
 really a splendid illustrated chronicle of the 
 glories of Poland. The Poles are immensely 
 proud of all these paintings, but not even the 
 magnificent " Sobieski before Vienna " gives 
 them such a sense of exultant satisfaction as the 
 two, " The Battle of Griinwald," and " The Prus- 
 sian Homage," both of which record triumphs 
 over the Teuton. These paintings now hang in 
 the Sukiennice at Cracow. The first shows the 
 Lithuanian prince, Witold, sharing with King 
 Wladyslaw (Ladislaus) of Poland the glory of 
 his tremendous victory over the Teutonic knights 
 (July 15, 1410). The second shows the envoys 
 of Prussia bending the knee before the Polish 
 king, Zygmunt I. (April 25, 1525). It recalls 
 the almost forgotten fact that Prussia was once 
 a fief of the Polish crown. 
 
 70 
 
POLES AND GERMANY'S WORLD DREAM 
 
 The traveller who visits the Grand Duchy of 
 Posen today, especially the cities of Posen and 
 the more ancient Gnesen (Polish, Gniezno), and 
 meets at all points the proud Prussian army 
 officer, and sees all about him the evidences of 
 Prussian power and progress, will, no doubt, 
 find it difficult to realise that, four centuries 
 ago, Poland was supreme in what is now Prussia, 
 Silesia, and Pomerania, and, going still further 
 back, that the now sleepy little town of Gnesen 
 was the first capital of Poland. 
 
 Of Gnesen itself, the oldest town of Poland, 
 there is very little to be said to-day. Take a 
 horse and ride for six hours to the northeast of 
 the city of Posen, through a pleasant rural 
 region, all of hills and lakes, and reminding one 
 of central New York, and you reach Gnesen, in 
 the Prussian " government " of Bromberg. About 
 30,000 people, nearly equally divided between 
 Poles and German Jews, make a living in Gnesen 
 by weaving linen, distilling brandy, and trading 
 horses and cattle. After seeing the cattle mar- 
 ket, which is interesting to an American as being 
 so very different from the ones he sees in his 
 own great West, the hunter after antiquities goes 
 at once to the Cathedral. Here one is ready to 
 begin Polish history, and to begin it at its most 
 characteristic and essential phase, the religious. 
 
 Swienty Wojciech (in English, St. Adalbert), 
 whose bones rest in the cathedral, was one of the 
 
 71 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 first to preach the Gospel to the then heathen 
 Poles and Prussians. It was he who really in- 
 troduced Christianity into what is now ( Jermany. 
 Toward the close of the 10th century he was 
 appointed Bishop of Prague, Bohemia beinu' then 
 part of the Empire. But it was no bed of roses 
 that had been provided for him. The Bohemians 
 had but recently been converted to the new re- 
 ligion, and the Czech blood was still warm with 
 paganism. St. Adalbert's holiness was alto- 
 gether too much for his flock. They objected to 
 his austere code, in general. But when he for- 
 bade polygamy, they felt that their personal 
 liberty was being infringed upon. So they drove 
 him out of the city. After ten years' absence in 
 Rome he returned to his flocl^, but found them 
 worse than ever. So he gave them up in despair, 
 and devoted his remaining years to missionary 
 labours, principally in Poland and northern 
 Germany. He became the " Apostle to the Prus- 
 sians," and first preached the Gospel to the Poles 
 from beneath a great tree in what is now the 
 market place of Cracow. Over this spot has been 
 erected a chapel chiefly supported by the volun- 
 tary contributions of the cabmen, who hold St. 
 Adalbert in particular reverence. The heathen 
 Prussians were no more appreciative of the 
 saintly Adalbert than the Czechs had been, and 
 they treated him far worse. While preaching in 
 Pomerania, near the modern city of Danzig, at 
 
 ■70 
 
POLES AND GER:MAXY'S WORLD DREAM 
 
 Easter, in the year 997, one of the heathen priests 
 speared him to death. Legend has it that the 
 Poles begged his body, but the Prussians de- 
 manded its weight in gold. The reckoning was 
 iuade, and, lo, a miracle! The sainfs body 
 weighed nothing at all — which was, indeed, a 
 miracle, for all representations show him to have 
 been of a very substantial build. 
 
 Gnesen was made the seat of an archbishop 
 in the beginning of the 11th century, and, 
 though it still has a cathedral chapter, the arch- 
 bishop now resides in Posen. It is to Posen, 
 therefore, rather than to Gnesen, despite the lat- 
 ter's longer history, that attention is to be di- 
 rected. Posen is one of the most strongly 
 fortified towns in the German Empire. It is 
 about fifty miles from the Russian border, and 
 counts, as the Germans put it, 150,000 inhabi- 
 tants. Its fortifications are of the first order, 
 and there are 60,000 men in the garrison. Posen 
 was for centuries a great depot on the overland 
 trade route between Asia and Europe. Like all 
 Polish cities, it formerly showed a semi-Eastern 
 cast of architecture and life, which, however, was 
 wiped out by the great fire in 1803. As rebuilt, 
 it looks very German. 
 
 It is as difficult to speak of the history of 
 Prussian Poland without bringing in the Teu- 
 tonic Knights, as it would be to treat of early 
 American history without mentioning the Indian. 
 
 73 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AIMONG NATIONS 
 
 There is the same bloody story of age-long strug- 
 gle to the death, of cunning, frightful cruelty, 
 broken faith, and shameless prostitution of the 
 Christian religion, in this case to further the 
 private ends of a corrupt, rapacious military 
 oligarchy. There was this important difference : 
 The Teutonic Knights were not the original pos- 
 sessors of the land, as were the American Indians. 
 Eight hundred years ago Conrad, Duke of Mazo- 
 via, sent an embassy to invite the Teutonic 
 Knights to occupy eastern Prussia, on certain 
 conditions (which they did not fulfil), and two 
 centuries later all Prussia called upon Poland 
 to deliver it from the bondage of the Knights. 
 Like all other organisations which began during 
 the Crusades as a militant religious order, the 
 Teutonic Knights gradually forgot their religion, 
 except as a convenient cloak, but retained the 
 militant side of their idea. They originated the 
 " for the good of the Order " slogan. To-day this 
 once powerful organisation is confined largely 
 to Bohemia and other portions of the Austrian 
 Empire. Many of its members have become ad- 
 herents of the University of Prague, where they 
 hold good " livings " as professorships. Take a 
 ten minutes' walk through the quaint capital of 
 Bohemia and you will see a number of reverend, 
 inoffensive individuals, wearing a badge which 
 consists of a red satin cross over a six-pointed 
 star. The Praguers, who have not forgotten 
 
 74 
 
POLES AND GERMANY'S WORLD DREAM 
 
 their Latin, call them Stelliferi. They are the 
 successors of the men who tormented Jurand, of 
 " The Knights of the Cross," and were defeated 
 at Griinwald, by the Lithuanians and Poles under 
 King TVladyslaw and Prince Witold. 
 
 From Gnesen as a centre the Polish Common- 
 wealth grew by conquest and marriage. The 
 histories of Poland tell us that the town became 
 great as a result of the marriage of ilieczyslaw 
 I. to Dombrowka, a Christian Bohemian prin- 
 cess who is to Polish history what Chlotild is to 
 French. Through her, Mieczyslaw was converted 
 to the Christian faith, and one of his successors, 
 Boleslaw L, known as the Great, was so powerful 
 and held such a splendid court that the Emperor 
 Otho determined to pay him a visit. Indeed, 
 there was good reason for an acquaintance to be 
 mutually desirable. The pagan Slavonians gave 
 the Emperor a good deal of trouble by their fre- 
 quent descents on his loyal province of Saxony. 
 He also had difficulties in Italy. So he was very 
 anxious for a treaty of peace and friendship with 
 Boleslaw. That monarch saw a chance of realis- 
 ing, through Otho, his great ambition — to gain 
 permission from the Pope, who then dispensed 
 all the crowns of the world, to be recognised as 
 King of Poland. Up to this time the Emperor 
 had looked upon Poland as a part of the German 
 Empire. Under pretext of making a pilgrimage 
 to the tomb of St. Adalbert, the Emperor paid a 
 
 75 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 visit to Boleslaw. So impressed was be with the 
 magnificence of the Polish court and the hivish 
 hospitality with which he was welcomed, that he 
 took the crown from his own head and placed it 
 on that of Boleslaw. He made a treaty with the 
 Polish monarch, and the Pope erected an Arch- 
 bishopric of Gnesen. 
 
 Centuries of war with Eussians, Swedes, Cos- 
 sacks, Tartars, and Germans, feats of national 
 chivalry followed by wild periods of bloodshed 
 and intrigue, bring Polish history down to the 
 time of the first partition in 1772. Since the 
 reign of Frederick the Great of Prussia a large 
 section of the old Polish Commonwealth has been 
 part of the Prussian realm. Meanwhile, Prussia 
 has risen to her present splendid altitude of 
 leader in the German Empire, and the strongest 
 military power in the world. What relation do 
 the Polish subjects of the Prussian crown bear to 
 the Empire in its national aims to-day? Let us 
 pause for a moment to consider the world dream 
 of the German people. 
 
 In this first decade of the 20th century, what is 
 Germany trying to do? What is the idea and 
 ideal which is engrossing all the energy and in- 
 tellect of the German people? A study of the 
 career of the German Emperor can scarcely fail 
 to show that Germany is aiming at nothing less 
 than the Germanisation of the world. 
 
 When the Kaiser "dropped the pilot over- 
 76 
 
POLES AND GER:MAXY'S WORLD DREAM 
 
 board " and determined to be his own steersman, 
 he took from the hands of Bismarck the main out- 
 lines of his chart of empire building. '' Germany,'' 
 said the greatest of Teutonic statesmen, " lies be- 
 tween two great military nations neither of which 
 bears her any good will: Russia on one side, 
 France on the other. With a revengeful power 
 on one side, and an ambitious one on the other, 
 Germans can hardly be either tranquil or con- 
 tent. Germany is not a match for both at the 
 same time, and, lest they join their forces [did 
 the keen statesman actually foresee the Franco- 
 Russian alliance?], the great defensive aim of 
 Germany should be to keep her two formidable 
 neighbours busy elsewhere." 
 
 This was the keynote of the Bismarckian sys- 
 tem of foreign politics. With this end in view, 
 the creator of modern Germany played " high 
 politics " till he had succeeded in getting France 
 busy opposing England in Egypt and in making 
 Russia " face the British lion all along the fron- 
 tiers of the world." By this policy he also 
 succeeded, to a certain degree, in distracting 
 England's attention from German commercial 
 development. 
 
 Secure for a long period from molestation by 
 her most feared neighbours, Germany is begin- 
 ning to show her hand in active policy. Her 
 wonderful industrial and commercial develop- 
 ment is leaving England behind, and she is now 
 
 It 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 reaching out in challenge to the other members 
 of the great Anglo-Saxon family. The rise of 
 united Germany, the tremendous start in the 
 world of politics, economics, and commerce given 
 her by the victory over France and the vast 
 money indemnity she wrung from her prostrate 
 foe, the far-seeing world policy of Bismarck, the 
 comprehensive schemes for domestic development 
 and foreign advancement which the present 
 Kaiser has inaugurated and is bringing to pass 
 — tlii'se, together with the acknowledged military 
 leadership of the world, a rapidly increasing 
 navy, a merchant marine whose sails whiten every 
 harbour of the globe, and an unrivalled system of 
 technical commercial education, have made the 
 comparatively short life of the new German 
 Empire unique in the history of nations. The 
 Kaiser is one of the most brilliant and fascinating 
 personalities of the day, undeniably of great 
 capacity for statesmanship. His ambition, more- 
 over, is boundless. Keen students of contem- 
 porary history believe that, in his famous phrase, 
 " Unsere Zitkiinft lief/t aiif dcm Wasser." which 
 was emblazoned on the German building at the 
 Paris Exposition, is to be found the latest 
 " feelei" '' of Germany in the direction of world 
 supremacy. 
 
 A number of nations have been possessed by 
 the ambition to become supreme on both land and 
 water. No nation has ever achieved this ambi- 
 
 78 
 
POLES AND GERMANY'S WORLD DREAM 
 
 tion, although France, under the tremendous 
 ideas of Colbert, came very near success. Eng- 
 land's supremacy on the sea is unchallenged, but 
 she does not claim, nor has she ever claimed, 
 hegemony on land. Will Germany wrest the 
 supremacy of the ocean from England? Only 
 the future can tell, but a comparison of the re- 
 spective growths of German and British merchant 
 marines during the past twenty-five years will 
 make historical students pause and think. 
 
 If the headship of Europe is to be won on land, 
 it is evident that Germany must keep all the 
 Teutons together and create a greater Germany, 
 occupying the centre of the continent, to which 
 all men of German speech shall owe allegiance. 
 And here comes in Germany's interest in Aus- 
 trian politics. The Austrian Germans do not 
 hesitate to admit that they regard their ultimate 
 destiny as within the German Empire. If to the 
 sixty or more million inhabitants of the Father- 
 land are added the eight or ten million German- 
 speaking subjects of Franz Joseph, and if Hol- 
 land finally (as now seems possible, despite 
 Dutch patriotism) falls into the German basket, 
 we have the thrilling fact that between Hamburg 
 and Ti'iest there is a German empire numbering 
 seventy-five millions or more. Berlin is already 
 the dominating capital of the continent. It is no 
 longer asked what will Paris or Vienna think, 
 but what will Berlin do? Get just beyond the cen- 
 
 79 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT A:\I0NG NATIONS 
 
 tripetal influence of London and Paris, and all 
 roads lead to Berlin. At most of the railroad 
 stations in Austria, Russia, and Scandinavia, 
 and of course the less important countries, the 
 first item usually on the schedule boards is " nadi 
 Berlin:" The busy modern city on the Spree is 
 the great maelstrom of continental Europe. Her 
 policies challenge Japan at Pekin, and France in 
 Morocco. Nothing short of an alliance of all 
 western Europe is now considered adequate to 
 offset the influence of the Gennau capital. 
 
 While Englishmen and Americans are assert- 
 ing that the future will be divided between the 
 Anglo-Saxon and the Slav, the German believes 
 that the Germanic stock is the one that, in the 
 coming centuries, will contest world supremacy 
 with the Slav peoples. It is always admitted, 
 however, that despite his setbacks the Slav is 
 coming M'ithout a doubt. Even now, has not the 
 temporary effacement of Russia given to Ger- 
 many the undisputed leadership of the continent? 
 The German knows that his breed is much more 
 prolific than either member of the so-called 
 Anglo-Saxon family. Not only does he want ex- 
 pansion for political reasons — he must have it 
 for his surplus population. The programme of the 
 Pan-Germans has been definitely outlined by 
 one of the Young Czech leaders in the Austrian 
 Reichsrath. In reply to a hint from one of the 
 Pan-German members that Austria would be com- 
 
 80 
 
POLES AND GERMANY'S WORLD DREAIM 
 
 pelled to call in foreign assistance to subdue 
 Czech intransigentism, the Bohemian statesman 
 declared that his countrymen fully realise they 
 are only a small Slav outpost in the country of 
 the " Teutonic enemy." 
 
 The union of Austria's German provinces with 
 Germany would mean the creation of a German 
 empire possessing the heart of the continent, an 
 empire that would be the arbitress of Europe and 
 the greatest of the world powers. It would cer- 
 tainly give the Germans relief for years from 
 the pressure of their agrarian problem, and tre- 
 mendous impetus in their economic struggle wath 
 England and the United States. The Kaiser's 
 present comprehensive canal programme would 
 be a plaything compared with the grand scheme 
 of internal waterways which the Berlin govern- 
 ment would bring about by the union of the canals 
 of the Elbe, the Oder, and the Danube. Berlin 
 would become mistress of all the resources and 
 commercial legislation of central Europe, of all 
 the railroads, posts, telegraphs, . and telephones. 
 The Danube is really a German river from its 
 source in the Swiss mountains to the Iron Gate 
 on the Roumanian border. Sailing down the 
 lordly stream from the heart of Bavaria to Buda- 
 pest, the traveller passes through the homes of 
 German-speaking men all the way. 
 
 With the great Middle Empire an accomplished 
 fact, the Danube would become a German river 
 
 81 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 from its source to its mouth in the Black Sea. 
 It would be the uninterrupted water route by 
 which German stuffs would go direct to the 
 Orient. It would mean .commercial and indus- 
 trial supremacy in the Ballians and Asia Minor. 
 When the Kaiser sets out to claim this supremacy 
 he will find well-prepared soil. Railroad con- 
 cessions, colonial settlements, and other vested 
 interests in Syria and Asia Minor will give him 
 the position of the first " preferred creditor " 
 when the final liquidation of the debts of the 
 Porte is made. 
 
 Italy, although a little restive because of her 
 sympathy with France in the Moroccan problem, 
 yet remains loyal to the Drcibiind. Thus the 
 southwestern frontier of Germany is secure, for 
 Switzerland has, these many years, been circling 
 within the German orbit. 
 
 To the northward, in Denmark and across the 
 Baltic, are eleven million Scandinavians, all Teu- 
 tons, of a purer Teutonism than the Prussians 
 themselves. The northern peoples are impressed 
 by the splendour of German greatness and power. 
 One of the most serious of German journals, the 
 Deutsche Tages Zeitung, recently quoted a Stock- 
 holm review as declaring that there is only one 
 hope for the nations of the Nortli — an alliance 
 with Germany. " This is easy, for Germany does 
 not seek conquest, and is highly popular in Scan- 
 dinavia, as she aims only at a triumph of the 
 
 83 
 
POLES AND GER:MAXy'S WORLD DREA:\I 
 
 Gormanic nations in the work of civilisation."' 
 This review is quoted as favouring the entrance 
 of Sweden into tlie German union on tlie same 
 terms as Bavaria, Saxony, and Wurtemberg. 
 There is some popular agreement with this idea 
 in Scandinavia. " If Russian aggression be- 
 comes much more threatening,"' said a prosperous 
 Stockholm merchant to the writer several years 
 ago, " Sweden must look to western Europe to 
 guarantee its integrity, or go over to Germany." 
 
 Even the most distant outposts of the Germanic 
 race are not to be neglected in the great ingather- 
 ing. Therefore much active sympathy with the 
 Boers, and therefore half a dozen great steam- 
 ship lines, supported by the government, to bind 
 to the Fatherland the more than half a million 
 Germans and their increasing interests in South 
 America. 
 
 Now we begin to see the titanic stature of the 
 Germania of the future as German enthusiasts 
 tell us she haunts the dreams of the Kaiser. A 
 united empire of all the people of Teutonic blood 
 and speech, with the military leadership of the 
 world, a powerful and constantly expanding 
 navy, agricultural self-sufificiency (if the agrari- 
 ans can only be satisfied without incurring too 
 heavy tariff reprisals from foreign nations), 
 room and resource for industrial development^ 
 did ever Napoleon conjure up such an ambition 
 as this? 
 
 83 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 And what of the Poles in Prussia? nave rhoy 
 been Germanised? Have they been assimihitod? 
 Do they also dream this world dream? 
 
 Although it is more than a full century since 
 the last partition of Poland, there is still a " Po- 
 lish question "' to reckon with, and nowhere is 
 it more acute and clamorous for solution than in 
 Prussia, the country in which, numerically, 
 " Polonism " is weakest. There are only four 
 million Poles in the German Empire, yet the 
 Polish " danger " is one of the biggest bugliears 
 of the imperial government. Bismarck used to 
 insist that the only internal dangers which 
 threatened Germany were Polonismus and So- 
 cialismus. Both of these " dangers "' have in- 
 creased ominously of late. 
 
 The real " Polish danger "' to Prussia, stated in 
 its broad, general lines, arises nut of the fact that 
 the Poles are the advance guard of the great Sla- 
 vonic race, which is the latest swarm from the 
 East. It is the inevitable race antagonism which 
 seems to be one of the ordinations of nature. 
 The Poles have a proverb that never, while the 
 world lasts, will the (Jerman be a friend to the 
 Pole. The basic characteristics of the two peo- 
 ples are radically, irreconcilably different. The 
 German realises that the Slav is the coming 
 people. He fears that, perhaps, his own day 
 has arrived, that, perhaps even now, his sun is 
 slanting toward its western sky. He is in con- 
 
 84 
 
POLES AND GERIMANY'S WORLD DREAM 
 
 stant dread of a Catliolic Slav empire on Ms east- 
 ern frontier. Tlie Pole is the oldest, the most 
 finely organised, most highlv developed member 
 of the Slav family, and if he can be kept down 
 with a strong hand, perhaps the whole family 
 may be held in check. Therefore, the Poles must 
 be kept down. 
 
 All along his eastern frontier, from Lapland to 
 Transylvania, the Teuton touches the Slav, and, 
 where the two powerful, virile races meet, there 
 is the frayed edge of differing civilisations, the 
 fierce clash of race passions, the intense white 
 heat, not of fusion and welding, but of sputter- 
 ing, seething, spark-emitting contact. And the 
 Slav is gaining at every point. Indeed, it would 
 very much surprise the man who knows his 
 Europe only from the map were he to travel 
 through the eastern part of the kingdom of Prus- 
 sia and Austria and see how far westward the 
 boundary line of the Slavonic peoples has been 
 retraced during the past century. On the map, 
 provinces and cities are coloured as German, and 
 appear under German names. But walk the 
 streets of these cities, tramp through the country 
 districts of these same provinces, and you will 
 find that the people are Slavonic in characteris- 
 tics, and in speech even, and that there is only 
 a very thin veneer of " official "' Germanisation. 
 To the world, which sees only the map, it is Posen, 
 Danzig, Breslau, Krakau, Lemberg. Actually, 
 
 85 
 
rOLAXD : THE KNIGHT AMOXG NATIONS 
 
 to the people who live in thrse places, or who do 
 business in them, it is Poznan. <ldansk, Wroclaw, 
 Krakow, and Lwdw, as it was when Poland was 
 at the height of her power. The grand duchies 
 of Posen, East Prussia, and West Prussia are 
 Polish, Silesia is almost all Polish, and even the 
 Pomeranians and Brandenburgers speak a dia- 
 lect which betrays their Slavonic origin. 
 
 The great wedge of Polish territory which ex- 
 tends to within eighty mik-s of the capital of 
 Frederick the Great, and for the possession (jf 
 which he joined in the first partition, is still Po- 
 lish. Oflicially it is Teutonic, but actually it is 
 unmistakably, irreclaimably Slavonic. It elects 
 twenty Polish deputies to the Reichstag, who 
 represent Polish constituents. Across the east- 
 ern biirder of Prussia lies the largest section of 
 the former Commonwealth, now a portion of vast 
 Eussia. To the south is Galicia. Prussia's en- 
 tire eastern frontier and a good part of her 
 southern boundary line touch Slav peoples. 
 
 The Poles in Prussia coutintte to advance and 
 increase despite the best laid, most expensive, 
 even frantic schemes of the Prussian government 
 to keep them back. The plan of Germanisation 
 is twofold in scope : it is aimed against the Po- 
 lish landowners and against the Polish langttage. 
 
 The campaign gradually to acquire Polish 
 land and introduce German colonists on it is one 
 of the pet schemes of the Prussian government. 
 
 S6 
 
POLES AND GER.AIANY'S WORLD DREAM 
 
 This scheme was begun by Bismarck at the time 
 of the Kulturkampf, in the early 'seventies of 
 the past century. This Kulturkampf was anti- 
 Polish as well as anti-Catholic, in Prussian Po- 
 land, or, it should perhaps be put, anti-Polish 
 because anti-Catholic, for the close association 
 of creed and nationality among the Poles must 
 never be forgotten. It was Bismarck who 
 brought about the Germanisation of the schools 
 of the Empire, and the dismissal of all Poles from 
 governmental service, and compelled the vote 
 of a large sum of money to buy Polish lands and 
 introduce German colonists on it. This last ac- 
 complishment was the origin of the famous move- 
 ment now known as " Hakatism," from the 
 initials of the three leaders, Hannemann, Kenne- 
 mann, and Tiedemann. The fund has been 
 increased at various times, and now amounts to 
 a round four hundred and fifty million marks, 
 that is, one hundred and twelve million dollars. 
 The policy of Germanising Polish lands con- 
 sists in attempting to settle German peasants 
 in the districts where Poles are in the majority. 
 With the funds appropriated land belonging to 
 Polish landed proprietors and Polish peasants is 
 bought and the Poles are replaced by German 
 proprietors and German peasants. This measure 
 has proved a godsend to those Polish landed pro- 
 prietors whose estates were heavily encumbered, 
 for they were by this policy enabled to sell them 
 
 87 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 on very favourable terms. German buyers for 
 lands in this part of the Empire are rare, but 
 Poles are ever ready to buy, even at the highest 
 price. The large supply of gold which the coloni- 
 sation commission brought has raised the price 
 of land and increased the credit of the Poles, and 
 the value of their estates to-day is more than 
 twice as great as it was twenty years ago. They 
 have now an abundant business capital and are 
 increasingly prosperous economically; therefore, 
 they will pay any price to retain or acquire Polish 
 land. The Pole, indeed, must buy land, since he 
 is debarred from holding government office and 
 has no other means of making a living. 
 
 So far, about 6,000 families, or about 30,000 
 people, have thus been settled by the state among 
 the Poles, but in spite of all the government can 
 do, the Poles have not only held their ground in 
 the east of Germany, but they have apparently 
 even gained ground, partly because their national 
 instinct is strongly developed and because they 
 cling to their language ; partly also because they 
 are even more prolific than are the Germans. 
 Indeed, they are everywhere increasing faster 
 than the Germans. They are a prolific race and 
 are gradually pushing their oppressors out of 
 Poland by the simple, natural method of growing 
 more rapidly. Consequently, in the province of 
 Posen, where about 1,500,000 Poles and about 
 1,000,000 Germans are living side by side, the 
 
 88 
 
POLES AND GERMANY'S WORLD DREAM 
 
 Germans have increased by onlv 3f per cent, 
 between 1890 and 1900, while the Poles have in- 
 creased by about 10^ per cent, during the same 
 period. 
 
 The Colonisation Commission appointed by the 
 Prussian government to administer the large 
 sums voted for the purchase of Polish lands has 
 undoubtedly accomplished good results in the 
 way of bringing neglected and worn-out land 
 under modern methods of cultivation, and in 
 dividing up the large estates. In curbing the at 
 times arrogant attitude of the landed nobles, the 
 Commission has also brought about social and 
 economic benefit. But, politically, its work has 
 been a failure most dismal. The only lands it 
 has been able to buy are those of the Germans 
 anxious to withdraw from among a people that 
 dislike them. The Germans who are persuaded 
 to settle in the Polish land soon learn that they 
 are an alien people, disliked and distrusted. Ger- 
 man professional men who have tried to practise 
 in Posen complain that they cannot live for want 
 of patronage, and a German merchant is boy- 
 cotted if there is a Polish tradesman near. The 
 Poles simply will not sell their land except under 
 the severest need, and even then the sale of Polish 
 land to a German is regarded as a crime by the 
 Poles. I heard of more than one case in which 
 the entire family of an impecunious noble boy- 
 cotted and disinherited him for selling his estate 
 
 89 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT A.AIONG NATIONS 
 
 to a German, although he was in need to desti- 
 tution. 
 
 The " Hakatist " movement has had one result 
 not counted upon bv its projectors. It has 
 greatly intensified the Polish Nationalist idea, 
 and given it form and a distinct aim in 
 •Prussia. The Prussian Poles have an organisa- 
 tion which is a sort of " counter-irritant " to the 
 Hakatists. Its work consists in aiding poor 
 Polish nobles, who, without its assistance, might 
 be tempted to part with their lands to Germans. 
 The large landowners have endeavoured, by in- 
 dividual as well as organised effort, to colonise 
 on their own account by parcelling or sub-divid- 
 ing their lands and selling the parcels to Polish 
 peasants, who are only too willing to buy them. 
 The Pan-Polish movement in Prussia is vigorous 
 and well developed. It is even buying back a 
 good deal of the land already expatriated to 
 Germans. Most of the landowners who have 
 been bought off have gone into the towns and 
 entered commerce, forming an active bourgeoisie. 
 This is gradually weaning the Poles away from 
 their old prejudice against trade and furnishing 
 them with the nucleus of a sti'ong, patriotic, and 
 respected middle class, the lack of which has been 
 heretofore one of the weakest spots in Polish na- 
 tional life. 
 
 No more successful has been the campaign of 
 the Berlin government against the Polish lan- 
 
 90 
 
POLES AND GERMANY'S WORLD DREAM 
 
 guage. Br laT\-. all Polish children must attend 
 schools where only German is spoken, adult Poles 
 are forbidden the use of their native tongue in 
 any public proceedings, and letters which are ad- 
 dressed in Polish will not be delivered. German 
 officials only are appointed in Polish districts, 
 and, within the past few years, nearly every 
 Polish professor has been transferred to distant 
 German sections. In the schools for the past 
 few years even the prayers and catechism are 
 taught in German, despite the protests of the 
 Polish parents. This was the real cause of the 
 celebrated trial and punishment of the Polish 
 school children at Wreschen several years ago. 
 Yet it must be confessed that some headway in 
 the supplanting of the Polish language is notice- 
 able in Germany. In the technical, scientific, and 
 commercial subjects as taught in the schools of 
 these provinces, of course, only German is used. 
 The Polish children seldom use these expressions 
 at home, and consequently seldom learn the Po- 
 lish equivalents. Indeed, there are no Polish 
 equivalents for many such special terms, for the 
 very reason set forth above. The son of one of 
 these pupils may not learn Polish anywhere ex- 
 cept as an acquired study. In Germany all let- 
 ters must be addressed in German, and the time 
 will perhaps come when the young generation 
 will not know how to address a letter in Polish. 
 So far as the material development of her Po- 
 91 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT A:M0NG NATIONS 
 
 lisli provinces is roncernecl, it must be adinitted 
 Prussia has done excellently. " When they be- 
 came a part of the Prussian monarchy, tlie condi- 
 tion of these provinces was deplorable, due largely 
 to the weak, dissolute Saxon kin^s, it must be 
 confessed. Frederick the Great, with his charac- 
 teristic energy, at once devoted a consich'rable 
 portion of Prussia's meagre resources to improve- 
 ments of every kind. Whole villages and towns 
 were rebuilt. This was, of course, in the interest 
 of Germans, but the Poles also benefited. The 
 Impoverished peasantry was furnished with seed 
 corn, potatoes, and cattle, and taxes were remit- 
 ted for years. German colonies were established, 
 and for a long time the government aided them 
 in attaining a sound financial basis. The civil 
 administration, which had been in a chaotic state, 
 was put on a sound basis, and security of life and 
 property was rigidly enforced."' 
 
 Especially since ISGO has Polish Prussia pros- 
 pered economically. Agricultural methods have 
 been improved, mines developed, and manufac- 
 turing industries established. A prosperous 
 middle class has been growing up. Education 
 has made rapid strides, and the percentage of 
 Polish scholars at German universities has in- 
 creased tenfold since ISSO. 
 
 It is only politically that the Prussian gov- 
 ernment, totally misreading the Polish national 
 character, has utterly failed. Fair-minded stu- 
 
 93 
 
POLES AND GERMANY'S WORLD DREAM 
 
 dents of history will concede that the Polish 
 problem is one full of grave consequences for 
 the German Empire. Left to themselves, the 
 Poles would, beyond a doubt, defeat by force of 
 their rapid increase alone the programme of 
 Germanisation, the welding together of all parts 
 of the Empire into homogeneity. The very ma- 
 terial wealth of these provinces has made the 
 task of Germanising them all the harder — almost 
 impossible. The Poles refuse to be dominated 
 or cajoled, and exceptional laws, in view of the 
 liberty enjoyed by the Galician Poles under the 
 Austrian Emperor Francis -Joseph, and the con- 
 dition of Germany's internal and external poli- 
 tics, are difficult to enact. With an intellectual 
 training, the Poles who have been educated 
 in German universities are the leaders in the 
 movement to perpetuate the Polish race, lan- 
 guage, and mode of thought, and to put the 
 masses in a state of readiness for the independ- 
 ent Poland of the future. The problem is one of 
 the most serious which the Prussian monarchy 
 has to face. 
 
 In dealing with the Poles, however, the policy 
 of Germanisation seems to have duplicated all 
 the mistalces England has managed to make in 
 Ireland, and, in addition, all that the English 
 would no doubt have made if Ireland still spoke 
 Erse, and was located on a dangerous frontier. 
 In commenting on the futility of the policy of 
 
 93 
 
 / 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 repression, an eminent Prussian writer (Prof. 
 Hans Delbrueck, in the Preussischc Jahrhi'irliir) 
 recently contended that the danger from the Poles 
 to the German state is not in the fact that Polish 
 is spoken in the East Mark. " The danger is that 
 fully ten per cent, of the subjects of the Prussian 
 king, who sit together in compact masses on a 
 highly dangerous frontier, instead of feeling at- 
 tachment to Prussia, thoroughly hate the state." 
 
 The Prussian Poles have never made an at- 
 tempt to throw off their allegiance to Prussia. 
 The small insurrection in the province of Posen 
 in 18i8 was the outcropping of thi- Berlin revo- 
 lution of that year, and it had more the charac- 
 ter of a fight for constitutional than for national 
 rights. 
 
 It is only against Russian dominion that the 
 Poles have taken up arms. On the other hand, 
 how much Polish blood has been spilled for 
 Prussia in her late wars! The greatest enemy 
 of Poland can speak with enthusiasm of the 
 bravery displayed by the Polish contingents in 
 the Prussian armies. 
 
 Moreover, after the last division of Poland had 
 been sanctioned by the Congress of Vienna, the 
 Prussian king, in a royal manifesto which has 
 never been offlcially rescinded, guaranteed to the 
 Poles the free exercise of their national rights: 
 their religion, their language, their schools, and 
 a certain amount of local self-government. This 
 
 94 
 
POLES A\D GER.MANY'S WORLD DREA]M 
 
 royal manifesto contains the total of demands 
 on the part of the Polish subjects of the Prussian 
 crown. As citizens thov are entitled equally 
 with their fellow-subjects of German nationality 
 to the full protection of the law, and the good 
 will of the authorities. Instead of this, special 
 laws are constantly being framed, which injure 
 them morally or materially; existing laws are 
 stretched to their utmost, and sometimes even 
 overstepped for the same purpose. 
 
 It is a moral as well as a political score which 
 the Poles have to settle with Prussia. Treat- 
 ment, not so much with hostility as with con- 
 tempt, as if of an inferior race, is the reason 
 for the at first somewhat surprising fact that, 
 despite the greater cruelty of the •' Russifica- 
 tion " process, there is undoubtedly less common 
 feeling between Poles and Germans than be- 
 tween Poles and Russians. While Russia perse- 
 cutes the Poles, the latter feel that there is, after 
 all, a kinship of race which somehow maizes it 
 easier to forgive. During the Russian persecu- 
 tion, furthermore, the Poles have always had the 
 satisfaction of feeling that they were of a more 
 mature branch of the race, a more refined, more 
 subtle people than their oppressors. But the 
 Germans are thoroughly imbued with the idea 
 that German civilisation and German adminis- 
 tration are so manifestly superior to Polish that 
 for a Pole to become a German must, of course, 
 
 95 
 
POLAND: THE KXIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 be a promotion which he ought earnestly to de- 
 sire, and if he does not desire it, he ought to be 
 made to do so. The Poles must accept German 
 civilisation, because it is infinitely superior to 
 theirs. This brusque treatment of the Poles l^y 
 the Germans as a much inferior people who 
 " must be protected against themselves," is very 
 exasperating to a proud, sensitive nation that 
 had a university before Germany ever had one. 
 
 " How do the Poles live under the Prussian 
 government? " I asked a gentleman of Breslau. 
 " They work hard and defend themselves as best 
 they can against Germanisation," he replied. 
 " Sienkiewicz has certainly been a godsend to 
 us in these days of heaviness. His books keep 
 the national spirit from despondency. Written 
 as they are in the purest Polish, they comfort 
 the Polish hearts. He is a great moral asset, is 
 Sienkiewicz, almost a prophet. His writings 
 keep us from moral decline, from the injury of 
 hating even our oppressors." 
 
 The real danger for the Poles, Sienkiewicz has 
 written, is hatred against Germanism. No mat- 
 ter how harshly they may be treated, the Poles 
 must not get the fever of hatred. They must not 
 abate one jot of their patriotism. But hatred is 
 a disease. 
 
 " Hatred begets hatred. Protect the Polish 
 popular mind from hatred, in order not to be 
 poisoned. Protect it morally and politically. 
 
 96 
 
POLES AND GERMANY'S WORLD DREAM 
 
 Remember that only God knows what evolutions 
 are impending. . . . Whatever great changes 
 may come, you must always live with the Ger- 
 mans in the eastern provinces. Remember that 
 hatred is a fever. Whoever does not want to die 
 of fever must overcome it. . . . One must 
 be bereft of all political or historical perception 
 not to see that the treatment you are receiving 
 from your enemies not only lacks dignity, but the 
 equipoise and intelligence which characterise ac- 
 tions as reasonable. Intelligent Germans see 
 this. You, too, must feel that logic is lacking 
 in the measures applied against you, and that 
 the authorities themselves are not clear regard- 
 ing the success of those measures, and are tor- 
 menting you even against their own advantage. 
 Hold fast to your Polonism. Let no power on 
 earth tear it from you. But avoid hatred of the 
 present government's policy. It cannot prevail.'' 
 If the German is to expand and become master 
 of the world by conquest of the water, he must 
 do it at the expense of the Anglo-Saxon. If he is 
 to acquire world supremacy by consolidation of 
 all the men of his speech, and conquest of conti- 
 nental Europe, it must be done by elbowing out 
 the Slav. And he will have to settle first with 
 the Slav of his own household. When the war 
 breaks out between Russia and Germany (as 
 most Germans believe it some day must), then 
 will come the opportunity of the Poles. More 
 
 97 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT A.AIONG NATIONS 
 
 than two hundred thousand Russian troops are 
 always ready in Russian Poland •' for emer- 
 gency." The traveller at all familiar with the 
 Grand Duchy of Posen, and, indeed, all of Prus- 
 sia, finds it not difficult to prophesy what would 
 happen the moment a Russian army corps set 
 out from the erstwhile Polish capital bent on a 
 hostile errand toward Germany. All Slavonic 
 Germany (if I may use the expression i, meaning 
 all of the Empire east of a line drawn from the 
 mouth of the River Elbe to but a little east of 
 Dresden, would be tolerably certain to spring to 
 arms to join the invader. "If Prussia were 
 really shrewd and realised what is l)est for her,"' 
 said a Posen Pole to me, " she would quit tan- 
 talising the Poles by perfectly useless methods 
 of persecution, and would look to establishing a 
 butfer between herself and Russia against the 
 inevitable day of conflict. By her present meth- 
 ods, she only succeeds in making chronic a sore 
 point in the very body of the Empire." 
 
 98 
 
RUSSIA'S EimOPEAN DOOR* 
 
 1ESS than two hours' ride by a good train 
 from Posen brings the traveller to the 
 J line of bayonets which betokens the pa- 
 tient, untiring, ever watchful advance of the 
 mighty Slav race, Poland yet, but Poland under 
 the regis of the Russian eagles. This boundary 
 is not merely the dividing line between two geo- 
 graphical divisions; it is the picket line of two 
 ethnic units. The points of contact between 
 Teuton and Slav, from Lapland to Transylvania, 
 are the points of white heat conflict between two 
 powerful, radically different races and civilisa- 
 tions. It is at the point where she touches Teu- 
 tonic peoples, that is, on Polish soil, that Russia, 
 the leader of the Slav march, must be ap- 
 proached, because it is across the Polish thresh- 
 
 * This chapter was written before the Russo-Japanese 
 war and the political and economic crisis following that 
 conflict. My claims for Russia's potentialities may seem 
 contradicted by the apparent weakness of the present 
 situation. Are the Russian people able to even govern 
 themselves? The future is on the knees of the gods. I 
 claim no gift of prophecy, but there is something at the 
 back of my consciousness that makes me unwilling to re- 
 cast this chapter now. L. E. V. N. 
 
 99 
 
POLAND: THE KXIGHT AIMONG NATIONS 
 
 old that the world goes to Russia, and Russia 
 comes to the world. All the railroads that con- 
 nect the Tzar's empire with the rest of the world 
 (there are no exceptions worth mentioniu;:) 
 from Vienna, from Berlin, cross what was for- 
 merly the republic of Poland. The country of 
 Kosciuszko and Sienkiewicz, of Chopin and 
 Paderewski, is the European threshold of Kussia. 
 
 The Polish problem is of vital importance to 
 Eussia. When complications with the Teutonic 
 powers are threatened, it sends shivers down the 
 back of the war oifice in St. Petersburg. As 
 Captain Mahan has pointed out, Eussia is al- 
 ways menaced on the one Hank by Germany, and 
 on the other, 7,000 miles away, by Japan. Tlie 
 reality of danger from the latter has now been 
 pressed home to Eussia with terrible force. 
 What if, now or in the near future, the splendid 
 army of the Kaiser should be set in motion? Po- 
 land is Eussia's European door, and it would be 
 much better for the empire of the Tzar if that 
 door were not so willing to be opened. There 
 can be no questioning the truth of the statement 
 that, bound up in justice to Poland, is the safety, 
 the welfare, of the Eussian Empire, and the 
 speedy realisation of its vast ambitions in Asia 
 as well as in Europe. 
 
 The famous international compact of 1S15, 
 known as the Treaty of Vienna, settled the pres- 
 ent political divisions of the old Polish republic. 
 
 100 
 
RUSSIA'S EUROPEAN DOOR 
 
 By far the lari^est portion went to Russia. This 
 included the kingdom of Poland, which was to 
 be a separate state bound to the Empire bv a 
 personal union of sovereigns, and the provinces 
 comprising the old Lithuanian country united to 
 Poland in the 14th century, and the Ruthenian 
 country (now known as Little Russia). It 
 is " Krdlestwo Polskie," however, " the Kingdom 
 of the Congress," which is Poland to the general 
 reader to-day. The Tzar still bears the title of 
 King of Poland, but the constitutional kingdom 
 created at the great settlement of political ac- 
 counts in ISlo has been officially styled " The 
 Cis-Vistula Governments,"' ever since the abso- 
 lute incorporation with the Russian Empire in 
 1868. 
 
 Russian Poland is almost exactly the size of 
 the State of Xew York, each geographical divi- 
 sion covering slightly more than 49,000 square 
 miles. It comprises ten " governments," and is 
 the most densely populated portion of the entire 
 Empire. In the chapter on Warsaw the writer 
 has endeavoured to set forth some of the most 
 striking indications of Poland's industrial and 
 economic progress. This growth has been phe- 
 nomenal. In 1870, almost before the nation had 
 begun to rouse itself from the terrible experi- 
 ences of "63, the value of Polish manufactured 
 products was about $30,000,000. When the 
 Russo-Japanese war broke out it had attained 
 
 101 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AJMONG NATIONS 
 
 the total of |250,000,000. In this period the 
 number of factory hands had iuoroased from 
 65,000 to 245,000. Industrial development has 
 made the urban population 27 per cent, of the 
 whole. Persecution has certainly developed the 
 resources of the Pole. The energy -which is de- 
 nied outlet into politics and public life is de- 
 voted to trade, manufacture, science, art, and 
 literature, in all of which the Poles excel to-day. 
 Though Poles are denied many of the rights 
 accorded to other subjects of the Empire, and, as 
 Poles, are not permitted to rise higher than a 
 certain rank in the army, the influence of Polish 
 thought and enterprise is stamped ineffaceably 
 on Russia. In his first book on Siberia, George 
 Kennan praised the Tzar for the progress and 
 development he found in the southern part of 
 that vast Asiatic realm. He did not then know 
 that most of the civilising work he saw was due 
 to the industry and culture of the Polish exiles 
 sent across the Urals in the reign of the Empress 
 Catherine. Poles have everywhere contributed 
 to the advance of Eussia. To serve the Empire 
 officially in Poland would compromise a Pole's 
 patriotism. But outside of the kingdom many 
 Poles are in high positions. The vice-president 
 of the Manchurian Railroad is a Pole. The lead- 
 ing civil and military engineers on the Siberian 
 and Manchurian Railroads are Poles, as are also 
 most of the directors of these roads. The direct- 
 ion 
 
RUSSIA'S EUROPEAN DOOR 
 
 ors of the Russo-Cbinese Bank are Poles. Coal 
 for the whole Siberian and Mancburian Railroad 
 is furnished by Poles, who are owners of immense 
 coal mines near Irkutsk. The chief of motive 
 power of the railroad in Irkutsk is a Pole. The 
 chief of the railroad works in Irkutsk also is a 
 Pole. The Russians are wont to call Poland a 
 burden, but it is a burden that has meant riches 
 and industrial expansion to the Empire. 
 
 It must be admitted that the imperial gov- 
 ernment is very liberal and progressive in its 
 commercial policy when this is for the benefit of 
 the entire Empire. Xew businesses are often ex- 
 empted from taxation till they are on their feet, 
 and everything is done to build up trade possi- 
 bilities. And, despite the discriminations against 
 them, up to the breaking out of the war with 
 Japan the Poles were thriving commercially. 
 They are increasing faster than the Russians. 
 Towns that thirty years ago had a Russian 
 population of 20,000 and a Polish population of 
 10,000, now number 50,000 Poles and 30,000 
 Russians. 
 
 Even to-day most of the Russian Poles date 
 everything back to 1863, that terrible year when 
 50,000 of the best of the nation perished on the 
 scaffold or were deported. After such a blood- 
 letting, the nation sank into a sort of moral stu- 
 por which lasted until the "nineties of the past 
 century. 
 
 103 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT A3I0NG NATIONS 
 
 Oppressed and persecuted at every step by the 
 Eussification policy of the reactionaries, dis- 
 heartened by disaster, and having lost the very 
 flower of its manhood, the Polish people became 
 filled with an apathy amounting to a complete 
 political indifference. With the emigration after 
 the uprising, it left but little hope among the 
 Poles. 
 
 Realising their utter hopelessness, " disillu- 
 sioned and exhausted, the intelligentcya of 
 Russian Poland broke away from its old ideals," 
 and began gradually to work out a new political 
 creed, a new set of ideals, better suited to the 
 material interests of the bourgeois class, which 
 had now become predominant. 
 
 The landless proletariat of the rural districts 
 began to concentrate in the large cities. War- 
 saw, Lodz, Czenstochowa, and other cities be- 
 came the centres of important industrial devel- 
 opment. Their population increased rapidly, 
 almost in American fashion, and at the end of 
 the 'seventies the Socialist movement began in 
 Poland. 
 
 Meanwhile the Eussification process contin- 
 ued. The bureaucratic ideal, which mistakes a 
 dead uniformity for unity, went on its stupid 
 way, trying to mould every subject of the Empire 
 upon one pattern. " It is a sign of an evil and 
 rebellious nature if he happens to speak a lan- 
 guage or profess a religious creed different from 
 
 104 
 
RUSSIA'S EUROPEAN DOOR 
 
 those of the ruling caste." The Polish insurrec- 
 tion had crystallised this dream of a Katkov, and 
 a PobTedonostzev, into the brutal policy of a 
 Plehve. The Poles were suppressed in 1863. So 
 also were the hopes of the Russian liberals in 
 that rear. In the name of patriotism, they 
 forgot their liberalism and crushed Polish 
 liberty. 
 
 The Russification process, in its two phases of 
 mechanically crowding out Poles with Russians, 
 and in attempting to kill the Polish language, 
 has had some " by products," probably not looked 
 for even by its advocates. The legal immunity 
 of the Russian element in Poland from abuses of 
 governmental and social rights has brought about 
 a complicity between police and wrongdoers of 
 all kinds which is almost incredible. It has, 
 moreover, made " everything in Poland which is 
 worth while doing an evasion." Of course, the 
 Poles teach their children Polish, despite the 
 law. " We study with a Russian book on top 
 of the desk and a Polish book beneath." And 
 so, also, with the other regulations looking 
 toward Russification. The Poles naturally vio- 
 late them all when they can do so undetected. It 
 is at the point of attempted forcible conversion 
 by the Orthodox Church, however, that Russifi- 
 cation arouses the hostility of the Polish peas- 
 ant. The proselyting activities of the Russian 
 Church are slowly but surely converting the Po- 
 
 105 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT A.AIONG NATIONS 
 
 lish peasant into an active anti-Russian political 
 element. 
 
 The Polish peasant, thanks to the efforts of the 
 native Pioman Catholic clergj and the numerous 
 patriotic associations of to-day, is coming to read 
 and viTite his own language with ease. There 
 are many newspapers and books in Polish, but 
 these, of coui'se, have a nationalistic tone. 
 Booksellers, however, who venture to sell Polish 
 literature are " discouraged " by the Russian 
 police, who fear — not, perhaps, without reason 
 — that Polish works will tend to foster the 
 nationalist sentiment. The result is that for 
 years practically the only reading matter within 
 the reach of the masses in Poland has been those 
 revolutionary and socialistic pamphlets, books 
 and papers printed in Polish, with which the rev- 
 olutionary and socialist committees manage to 
 flood the country. More than once it has been 
 suggested to the Imperial Department of Educa- 
 tion that great advantage would be derived from 
 the establishment in Poland of a system of public 
 libraries filled with serious " innocuous '' works 
 printed in Polish, with means of circulating the 
 books, not only in the industrial centres, but also 
 in the villages. In this way the labouring man 
 and the peasant might have been weaned from 
 revolutionary literature, which now constitutes 
 their chief mental food. This might have been 
 done at a relatively small cost, especially if the 
 
 lOG 
 
RUSSIA'S EUROPEAN DOOR 
 
 co-operation of the Catholic clergy had been ob- 
 tained. But, like many other excellent sugges- 
 tions, this remained hidden away in some pigeon- 
 hole at St. Petersburg. Now the Poles have won 
 in the language fight, and it is too late. The 
 Polish labouring classes, also, are rapidly ma- 
 turing politically, and they are among the most 
 radical antagonists of the bureaucratic regime. 
 The labour laws in force in " the Kingdom " 
 were devised by Russians to meet the require- 
 ments of labour in Russia proper, which are 
 entirely distinct and different from those in Po- 
 land. In Russia strikes have heretofore consti- 
 tuted a crime, and concerted action on the part 
 of labour against capital is called conspiracy. 
 Labour unions, such as we understand them here, 
 are compelled in Russia to take the form of ille- 
 gal secret societies, and these naturally develop 
 revolutionary tendencies. In fact, the relations 
 between labour in western Europe and in Poland 
 have become so close that the Polish working 
 classes have determined to submit no longer to 
 what they describe as the intolerable tyranny of 
 Russia's labour laws, which leave them com- 
 pletely at the mercy of their employers. This is 
 the chief cause of the recent labour riots at War- 
 saw, and in most of the industrial centres of Po- 
 land. The growth of socialism, moreover, has 
 given rise to incessant conflicts between Polish 
 workingmen and Russian police. Since ISTS 
 
 107 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 workingmen in Warsaw have been arrested so 
 frequently that this has seemed to be the normal 
 activity of city life. 
 
 The Polish Nationalist movement was born in 
 the later 'eighties of the past century. It has set 
 a definite political programme. Then came the 
 National Democracy, at first revolutionary in 
 character, but latterly only extremely national- 
 istic. The National Democracy admits that it 
 cannot decide now on a definite programme look- 
 ing toward independence. Its immediate aim is 
 " the guidance of the people toward political ac- 
 tivity under the governmental conditions of the 
 three empires which divided the Polish Common- 
 wealth," and " the encouragement of the many- 
 sided achievement of the inner life of the Polish 
 people," a movement in which the church would 
 no doubt join. 
 
 You cannot emancipate yourself from politics 
 in Poland. It is a country forcibly subjected, and 
 you feel it when walking in the streets and in 
 the fashionable hotels. As soon as the language 
 edict was passed, the Poles began to study Polish 
 as never before. This edict they resisted pas- 
 sively until the Tzar ordered its repeal (May 16, 
 1905) in Lithuania. Several months later it 
 was announced that, under orders from St. 
 Petersburg, the Inspector of Schools would there- 
 after permit the use of Polish as the language of 
 instruction in all the schools and universities of 
 
 108 
 
RUSSIA'S EUROPEAN DOOR 
 
 Poland. In the six months following the edict of 
 religious toleration, more than 20,000 members 
 of the Orthodox Church, who had been made Or- 
 thodox by law, returned to the fold of the Roman 
 Church. 
 
 What do the Russian Poles want? There are 
 several political parties among them, with vary- 
 ing programmes and demands, from reconcilia- 
 tion, on the best terms possible, with the impe- 
 rial government and the Russian people, to ab- 
 solute complete independence. 
 
 The great mass of the people, however, would 
 probably be contented if governed constitution- 
 ally. The Pole is not submissive by nature, like 
 the Russian. He is a democrat, and believes 
 thoroughly in representative government. By 
 the terms of the Treaty of Vienna, in 1815, which 
 gave Russia her largest share of Poland, the 
 Tzar promised Europe to give the Poles a consti- 
 tution (in place of the one Suwarrow deposited 
 in the Kremlin as " a trophy taken from the 
 enemy"). He did, but when the Poles revolted 
 against the oppression of 1831, it was abolished. 
 
 All Poles dream of a future independence. 
 For the present, most of those living in the Rus- 
 sian Empire demand the recognition of national 
 rights, while remaining within the Empire. They 
 accept such concessions as they can get, but feel 
 that they cannot afford to antagonise the Rus- 
 sian government, The National Democracy, 
 
 109 
 
rOLAXD: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 while counselling moderation and discouraging 
 attempts at revolution, refuses to recognise the 
 right of the three partitioning powers to sepa- 
 rate loyalty. The Polish people are one, it in- 
 sists, since, in the words of a Prussian Pole, 
 " fancy lines on a geographical map do not de- 
 stroy the unity of a people." Some day, it is not 
 inconceivable, there may be a union of all Poles 
 in a separate state like Hungary, under Russian 
 suzerainty. It is held by the advocates of this 
 idea that the balm of kinship of race and that 
 underlying fellowship of temperament between 
 the Slav peoples would dull the memory of past 
 severity, and if Eussia would but say the word, 
 would restore Polish autonomy and govern Po- 
 land according ta a constitution, as she solemnly 
 bound herself to da by the Treaty of Vienna, the 
 German powers would have difficulty in holding 
 their Polish provinces. Prussian rule is harder 
 than Muscovite for the Pole, and Austria's sys- 
 tem of taxation makes Russia's liberal commer- 
 cial policy seem very alluring. 
 
 What the Polish patriots want just now, how- 
 ever, is a few years of peace under at least a 
 European government — even though it be such 
 as that under which they live in Prussian Poland 
 — in order to educate all their countrymen up to 
 a national consciousness. Then will the Polish 
 people present the solid front of an enlightened, 
 homogeneous, patriotic race, and Europe will 
 
 110 
 
RUSSIA'S EUROPEAN DOOR 
 
 see its value as a buffer between Teuton and 
 Slav. 
 
 In the long-heralded Russian Parliament, the 
 first and second Duma, there were many ad- 
 vocates of granting autonomy to Poland. The 
 Polish group itself has held the balance of power. 
 The Russian intdliijentcya is overwhelmingly 
 in favour of this. The extreme liberals go even 
 farther, many of them favouring a Polish Parlia- 
 ment, or Sejm, at Warsaw. The Russian peas- 
 ant has just begun to understand the character 
 and aims of his Polish brother, and Russian 
 Socialists and Constitutional Democrats have 
 begun to urge that, in the New Russia, Poland 
 must be autonomous. The old bureaucratic con- 
 ception of the Russian state in which the Great 
 Russians, or Muscovites, should be supreme, in 
 order that, with the ideal of " one church, one 
 state, one law," Russia might make her contri- 
 bution to civilisation as a homogeneous nation, 
 is slowly giving way to the new idea of the 
 " United Nations of Russia," with autonomy for 
 the different peoples, in place of the loyalty im- 
 posed — or attempted — by the police and the 
 army. 
 
 But, say the bureaucrats, if Polish becomes the 
 language in Poland, if it is taught in the schools, 
 by Poles, then there will be no places for Rus- 
 sians in Poland. So be it, reply the Poles. Let 
 us manage our own affairs. Let us have our 
 
 111 
 
POLAND : THE KNIGHT A^IONG NATIONS 
 
 Parliament in Warsaw, with Poles in the public 
 offices. Only Poles can understand Poles. With 
 a Polish Parliament in Warsaw, and Polish rep- 
 resentation in the Imperial Duma in St. Peters- 
 burg, most of the bitter resentment would die out 
 of the Polish heart, and Poland would become in 
 fact, what she has so far been only in name, an 
 integral part of the Russian Empire. Separatist 
 tendencies would disappear. Poland's commer- 
 cial interests bind her to Russia. More than one 
 prominent German and Russian writer has, dur- 
 ing recent years, declared, in the reviews of 
 both countries, that an autonomous Poland 
 could not, in any way, menace German or Rus- 
 sian national aims. A most vigorous article on 
 this subject recently appeared in the St. Peters- 
 burg Tjjedomosti, from the pen of Professor Sobo- 
 lewski, a member of the Academy of the Capital. 
 The Japanese War, and the consequent weak- 
 ening of the bureaucratic regime, was highly sig- 
 nificant in Poland. By the peace of Portsmouth 
 an impetus was given to the revolutionary move- 
 ment. In Warsaw, then in a state of siege, the 
 famous manifesto of October 30, 1905, was hailed 
 as a positive assurance of the entrance of the 
 Polish people upon a new era of peaceful devel- 
 opment. " All Poland was seized with a single 
 aspiration — to begin a new life on the ruins of 
 the old regime. No one thought of separation." 
 The watchword of the great majority was: 
 
 113 
 
RUSSIA'S EUROPEAN DOOR 
 
 " Autonomr, on the foundation created by the 
 Constitutional Assembly at Warsaw." This 
 watchword became the minimum upon which all 
 the serious factors in Polish life were willing to 
 unite. What will Russia's answer be? The re- 
 sponsibility must rest with the Duma. 
 
 The attitude of the Poles during Russia's war 
 with Japan was absolutely correct. They rioted 
 against mobilisation. But so did Russians. The 
 Poles had no greater dislike for the war than the 
 Russians themselves, although their industries 
 suffered more by it. The recent sanguinary 
 riots in Warsaw, in L(5dz, and elsewhere through- 
 out " the Kingdom " were economic and indus- 
 trial — not political. The war between Russia 
 and Japan wrought untold injury to Poland. As 
 the great working section of the Empire, Poland 
 was almost prostrated, not only by the stoppage 
 of trade, but by the loss of the productive labour 
 of her sons, who were gone to fight Russia's bat- 
 tles. As long as they wore the uniform and be- 
 longed to the army of the Tzar, to whom they had 
 sworn to be faithful, they passively fulfilled their 
 duties, but not one of them, even though he might 
 have the opportunity by rank or chance, ever 
 presented any individual ideas which could suc- 
 cessfully be put in practice by the army. They 
 only obeyed orders. A few of them deserted, just 
 as the Russians, Kurds, Cossacks, Finns, and 
 Jews deserted. 
 
 113 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AJMONG NATIONS 
 
 He has been but a dull reader of the world's 
 history who looks upon autocracy's recent fail- 
 ure in the Far East as a defeat, or even a serious 
 check, for the Russian people. The failure in 
 Manchuria was inevitable. Flogging and ban- 
 ishing the thoughtful students of yesterday who 
 are the officials of to-day, ignoring or imprison- 
 ing the best brains of the Empire and submitting 
 to a horde of self-seeking, dissolute place-hunters 
 — this is not the proper preparation for gTeat na- 
 tional expansion. But the Russian people, or, 
 rather, Russian society, and the Russian chinov- 
 nik are not identical. Look at Russia's history 
 for a moment. 
 
 One hot day in August, three hundred and 
 twenty-two years ago, a Tartar freebooter, 
 searching for grass for his horse along the banks 
 of the River Irtish, saw in the shallows the 
 corpse of a warrior, clad in a rich coat of mail, 
 with a golden eagle on its breast. He bore it to 
 the captain of the nearest military post, and then 
 found that it was the body of the famous and 
 terrible ataman Yermak, the Volga robber 
 and pirate, Hetman or Chief of the Don Cos- 
 sacks, who became the founder of Russia's Asiatic 
 empire, the man who first crossed the Urals to 
 take Siberia, who first saw the potential destiny 
 of the Slav race, and led it out on its great east- 
 ern exodus. 
 
 Russia is the •' biggest fact " (after the United 
 114 
 
RUSSLVS EUROPEAN DOOR 
 
 States) with which the Europe of to-day has to 
 reckon, and that fact is becoming more momen- 
 tous every year. Russia is the only country in 
 moribund old Europe that is growing and ex- 
 panding. If ever the word " coming " could be 
 justly applied to a country, it can be so applied 
 to her. 
 
 Russia is the modern example of a country ex- 
 panding eastward, and she did so only because 
 she was effectually blocked from going farther 
 west. For years Peter the Great sought to obtain 
 "a window open toward Europe,"' but Europe 
 kept him back with the strength of desperation. 
 Russia will yet have her window. On ground 
 torn from Sweden, the imperial city of Peter 
 looks with steady, relentless eyes over Scandi- 
 navia to an ice-free port on the coast of Norway, 
 and smooths out the way by swallowing and di- 
 gesting the Finns. She has not forgotten the 
 wonderful City of Constantine in the south. But 
 for the combined might of the West, long ago the 
 Russian eagles would have floated from the 
 mosques of the Golden Horn. But, in the words 
 of a Russian diplomat, " When a pear is ready 
 and ripe, it falls of its own accord. Why spend 
 energy in attempting to hasten the inevitable? " 
 
 While she waits, with century-long patience, 
 for Constantinople to fall at her feet, the Mus- 
 covite empire keeps a tireless eye sweeping her 
 vast European frontier — from where she touches 
 
 115 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT A:\I0NG NATIONS 
 
 Sweden on the frozen Arctic to the Iron Gates 
 of the Danube, scarcely six hours, as the swuIIoav 
 flies, from the sentinel on the Yildiz Kioslc. On 
 all points of the dike which western Europe has 
 built against her, Russia presses like a mighty 
 flood. Every year she moves a little forward, 
 now baffled, retiring a little, now advancing, mov- 
 ing along the lines of least resistance, like water 
 turned back at one point, at last inevitably find- 
 ing its level. More and more Scandinavian 
 names appear on the map of " Eussian territory "' 
 at the far north, while Pan-Slavism is the solvent 
 for the widely-differing, hostile, ethnic elements 
 of the Balkans. 
 
 Temporarily turned back on the west, the Mus- 
 covite went eastward and found his destiny, in 
 accordance with that blind racial impulse which 
 makes him kin to the Oriental peoples. " After 
 all,'' confessed the editor nf one of the great 
 dailies of the Eussian capital, •' after all, we 
 Eussians are more than half a y(>llow people our- 
 selves. Our destiny is in Asia." 
 
 The story of Eussian expansion is one of the 
 most wonderful in the history of nations. The 
 long march of the Eussian from the Urals 
 toward the rising sun is even more soul-stirring 
 and full of romance than the American pilgrim- 
 age to the setting sun ; more wonderful, perhaps, 
 because it was made before the advent of steam 
 and the telegraph. 
 
 116 
 
RUSSIA'S EUROPEAN DOOR 
 
 It would not be easy to condense the history 
 of any western European nation into a para- 
 graph; but with Russia it is not so difficult. 
 The centuries of Mongol domination, of Norman 
 ascendency, and those of subjection to the petty 
 princelets and grand dukes of Muscovy, seem 
 blind, but they prepared the people for their mis- 
 sion. From the days of Peter, when the peasant 
 soldiers fell over their long cloaks in battle with 
 the Swedes, and were driven back with the 
 knouts of their king to crush their conquerors, to 
 the humbling of China, the defiance of combined 
 Europe, and the " penetration " of Manchuria, it 
 is but two hundred years. 
 
 Over all Russia is stamped a purpose. One 
 sees it the first hour over the frontier. It is a 
 purpose to conquer nature and to build up a 
 powerful and homogeneous people. The present 
 political and social crisis will pass. The Rus- 
 sian people will remain. 
 
 In the Russia of to-day, vast and amoeba-like 
 as she yet is, two powerful influences, aside from 
 conscious political effort, are at work. These are 
 the country estate (the peasant farm), and the 
 railroad — the first two representing the old order, 
 and uncouth, protoplasmic Russia of the cen- 
 turies gone; the third standing for progress, and 
 slowly but inevitably binding the empire of the 
 Tzar to the world and life of our day. There are, 
 in fact, two distinct Russias — the Russia of the 
 
 117 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 estate and the Russia of the towns, which means 
 the Eussia of the railroad and its influences. The 
 tourist rarely sees the Eussia of the estates. The 
 Eussian is not proud of being an agriculturist, 
 and very seldom refers to his country place. Per- 
 haps he does not care to acknowledge how hard 
 he has to work, or to admit the difficulties with 
 which he has to contend. A whole chapter can 
 be read out of the fact that the Eussian word for 
 the labour of the farmer, especially during har- 
 vest, is strada — from the verb stradat, to suffer 
 pain or anguish. 
 
 Life on a country estate or in a peasant vil- 
 lage is still patriarchal, the form of life so deeply 
 implanted in all the original Slav and Turanian 
 races. The large estate was, and still continues 
 to be, in certain sections of the Empire, a world 
 in itself. Its immense size is only equalled by 
 its almost pitiful isolation. The peasant vil- 
 lage is even more isolated. 
 
 Near the borders of Courland I visited an 
 estate of seventy thousand acres, the next house 
 being three miles away, and the house in ques- 
 tion thirty-eight miles from the railroad. The 
 aristocratic feudal idea and regime cannot but 
 obtain under such conditions. Much of modern 
 comfort — indeed, a surprising amount — is to be 
 found on this place, but the life of to-day touches 
 it at but very few points, and at very wide inter- 
 vals. Contentment with more or less primitive 
 
 118 
 
RUSSIA'S EUROPEAN DOOR 
 
 methods (because no others are accessible), fall- 
 ing into the ruts of tradition and the stereotyped 
 way of doing things, virtual imprisonment afar 
 from the restless, curious, inyentive life of the 
 rest of the world, opposition to material prog- 
 ress, which, while depriving it of some of its an- 
 cient privileges, confers no adequate return — 
 because not ready to receive it — this life must 
 needs become stereotyped. It is so difficult to 
 travel that provincialism in life and thought is 
 inevitable. 
 
 The railroad comes along and upsets all this. 
 Originally a military necessity, it is fast becom- 
 ing the artery of trade. It brings the latest in- 
 vention; it makes travel easy; it broadens the 
 view. The estate uses the railroad to send its 
 surplus to market, and the estate people must be 
 up to date in general, because of the stern rivalry 
 of life which is now brought to their very doors. 
 New social problems based on hitherto unimag- 
 ined congestion of population come up ; military 
 operations are made easier; the telegraph tells 
 what the rest of the world is doing and say- 
 ing, to a simple folk which scarcely knew of 
 the existence of a world outside of their 
 fields. 
 
 Conceived and brought forth in the heart of a 
 continent, surrounded on every side by other and 
 generally hostile states, the age-long struggle of 
 the Russian Empire has been to secure an outlet 
 
 119 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 and water-front. It is that for which she fought 
 Japan. Shut out from the possibility of it in 
 Europe, she is now actually succeeding in Asia. 
 Vladivostolc, literally " the Dominator of the 
 East," is the extreme monument-stone of the tre- 
 mendous migration, the epic of which will have 
 for its heroes the pioneer chieftain Yermak and 
 the great iluravieT. These two names sum up 
 the history of the Russian conquest of Siberia. 
 
 The country estate and the railroad in Russia 
 are coming together. The latter is bringing the 
 former to the world of to-day. The railroad has 
 already taken the Russian flag from the Neva to 
 the Pacific and it will lead the expansion still 
 further. 
 
 The Russian believes in his mission, and 
 holds that to be the possession or control of 
 all Asia. If his diplomacy is more subtle and 
 less scrupulous than that of other nations, his 
 large ambitions are natural, and, in a certain 
 sense, legitimate. One may doubt whether their 
 scale is not too colossal for the welfare of the 
 world. 
 
 The desire of Russia, as the political leader of 
 the Slav peoples, for a warm water port is, how- 
 ever, instinctive. It is the keynote of Russian 
 foreign policy and has been for more than two 
 centuries. The substitution of a constitutional 
 government for the autocracy would not change 
 this policy. On the contrary, the more efficient 
 
 120 
 
RUSSIA'S EUROPEAN DOOR 
 
 the government of Russia may become in the 
 future, the more certain is she to attain the object 
 of her ambition in the end. It malces no material 
 difference whether the warm water port be in the 
 Dardanelles, the Persian Gulf, or the China Seas. 
 The united aim of one hundred and fifty millions 
 of white people of the North is bound to be real- 
 ised some day. 
 
 And the new, young Russia of the future, what 
 of her? When she emerges in the greatness of 
 a gigantic world-task accomplished, when she ap- 
 pears in the beauty of suffering endured — as the 
 Poles have endured for generations — for the sake 
 of the highest human ideals, the brightest hope 
 the world can have for her is that she may real- 
 ise the Anglo-Saxon ideal of a free state within 
 which many tongues, many creeds, many races, 
 shall dwell in harmony and with full liberty of 
 thought and action. 
 
 The more liberal and democratic Russia be- 
 comes the more reactionary her neighbouring 
 nations will show themselves, and the less will 
 be the tendency of Poland to separate from Rus- 
 sia. The ties that unite the two peoples will be 
 the closer the more Poland begins to look upon 
 democratic Russia as her defender. But, neces- 
 sary as Russia is to Poland for her defence, still 
 more necessary is Poland to Russia for the lat- 
 ter's protection against Germany. The larger 
 the amount of autonomy Russia grants her Polish 
 
 121 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 subjects the greater their gratitude and the bet- 
 ter they will serve as a buffer against the Teuton. 
 A free, rejuvenated " United Nations of Eussia " 
 would be most likely to find a reunified and 
 happy Poland ready to enter. 
 
 123 
 
,vi 
 
 THE GEOGRAPHICAL CENTRE OP 
 EUROPE 
 
 WARSZAWA!" shouted the guard 
 at half-past nine one evening in 
 August, as we steamed into a beau- 
 tiful white city, splendidly lit by electricity and 
 gridironed closely by tram lines. '' Are all large 
 Russian cities as handsome as this? " I asked 
 my seat companion, a gentleman whose French 
 was Parisian, — or Slavonic, for all Slavs speak 
 nearly perfect French. He looked at me in 
 surprise. "This is not Russia,"' he said; "this 
 is Poland." And there you have the whole mat- 
 ter, after nearly two centuries of the " benevolent 
 assimilation " of Pan-Slavism. Warsaw is Po- 
 land, and Russia is a foreign country, off at a 
 distance. Approaching Warsaw from the Vis- 
 tula, one may see where the city has built its 
 defences, — toward the East. Thence came the 
 enemy, the Mongol, the Russian. Moscow is Rus- 
 sia, Kiev is Russia. Odessa and St. Petersburg 
 are Europe. But Warsaw is not in Russia; it 
 is in Poland. The government on the Neva may 
 designate "■ Krolestwo Polskie," the old kingdom 
 
 123 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 of Poland, as the governments of the YistuUi, and 
 deny that the Poles exist as a national force, but 
 this same government finds it necessary to Iceep 
 ready a garrison of 200,000 troops to overawe a 
 city of 900,000 people, and, somehow, the guns 
 of the citadel are turned, not toward the German 
 frontier, the only point from which a foreign 
 enemy could be expected to come, but toward the 
 streets and shops of the third most populous town 
 of the Empire. Poland does not exist officially, 
 but it is. if dead, certainly a very lively corpse. 
 
 If you draw a circle about the entire continent 
 you will find that the former Polish capital is the 
 geographical centre of Europe. It is uoav one 
 of the busiest, liveliest of European cities, and it 
 is destined in the future to become one of the 
 great world-centres of population. The comple- 
 tion of the Trans-Siberian Railroad brings Asia 
 to the very door of Europe, and Warsaw is that 
 door. The newly constructed line ends at Mos- 
 cow, but Warsaw is the real western terminus. 
 Moscow, more than half Asiatic, belongs to an 
 Eastern, Byzantine civilisation. Warsaw is 
 Latin, Occidental, the first great really European 
 city on the steel arteries of trade that throb be- 
 tween Berlin and Vienna, St. Petersburg and 
 Moscow. Besides being a distributing point for 
 what Asia wants to send to Europe, she is a great 
 manufacturing centre. Her factories supply all 
 of Russia. She is the Birmingham and Sheffield 
 
 124 
 
The GEOGRAPHICAL CENTRE of EUROPE 
 
 of the Empire. All the articles de Paris, all the 
 '' galanterie " and goods " made in Oermanv " 
 bought in Russia come from Warsaw. More- 
 over, she is now making a bid for the trade of 
 the Far East. She makes sugar, leather, cotton, 
 wool, iron, gold and silverware, and shoes for 
 the rest of the continent. She sends more than 
 half a million dollars' worth of beet sugar alone 
 every year to America. 
 
 The outlying neighbour of Warsaw, Lodz, 
 known as the Polish Manchester, is fast gaining 
 on its English rival. This great manufacturing 
 centre, which stepped from the rank of village to 
 that of city in two decades, has thousands of 
 spindles which turn out cotton for the world. 
 The boll comes on cars from north of Samarkand 
 — what Americans know as Siberia. Almost all 
 of Lodz's half million people help turn it into 
 useful fabrics for the Tzar's empire. The indus^ 
 trial and commercial impulse that has charac- 
 terised the Russia of the present, is perhaps, no- 
 where more strikingly evident than in what was 
 the old kingdom of Poland, and particularly in 
 Warsaw, still the capital, the head of the race, as 
 Cracow is the heart. Warsaw helps distribute 
 the overland trade from the East. In her shops, 
 whose clerks speak Polish, Russian, French, and 
 German, and sometimes English, is every variety 
 of product direct from the Orient. 
 
 In Warsaw the Pole is at home. He and he 
 125 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 alone is the citizen. In society, in life generally, 
 the Russian is nothing. He is bourgeois. The 
 Pole is the aristocrat. In Germany, and to a 
 degree in Austria, the Pole belongs to an imma- 
 ture stage of political civilisation. In Russia he 
 is the representative of culture, of the superior 
 race, and even his military master confesses it. 
 
 Within the Russian Empire dwells the marrow 
 of the Polish nation, the Polish aristocracy, and 
 that industrious middle class which has become 
 rich. There are twelve million Poles pinned to 
 Russia by bayonets, is the way a Warsaw Pole 
 recently summed up the so-called success of the 
 Russification process. 
 
 There are many traditions concerning the 
 origin of Warsaw. One of the oldest is the ac- 
 count which says that, in the year 1108, a Bo- 
 hemian family of the name of Varszovski, sus- 
 pected of treason to its king, was banished from 
 Bohemia. It settled on the banks of the River 
 Vistula, and the growth of centuries has made of 
 its little settlement the city of Warsaw. On the 
 north shore of the Vistula is the original seat of 
 this family, now a suburb of Warsaw, and known 
 as Praga, in memory of the Bohemian capital, 
 Prague. Then the princes of Mazovia took pos- 
 session of the growing town, and when the last 
 of this Mazovian line died, Zygmunt, the Polish 
 king, made Warsaw his fortified residence. 
 
 There is something in Warsaw that seems 
 126 
 
The GEOGRAPHICAL CENTRE of EUROPE 
 
 familiar to the traveller that knows western 
 Europe — ^at first he is at a loss to say just what. 
 Then it comes back — the touch of Paris, the 
 light gaiety and pleasure-seeking, the beautiful 
 parks and splendid drives, the fine theatres and 
 seemingly inexhaustible capacity of the people 
 for amusement — almost all that makes Paris 
 Paris is characteristic also of Warsaw. But 
 Warsaw has, in addition, a flavour all her 
 own. 
 
 Landmark hunting begins with the Stare 
 Miasto. This old city market is in much the 
 same condition as it was nearly four hundred 
 years ago. Every visitor pauses to examine No. 
 31 Wanski Dunajec Ulica (Narrow Danube) 
 Street. This is the oldest building in the city, 
 and its classical bay-window is one of the best 
 preserved specimens in Europe. Near here is the 
 wine-shop of Fouquier, where (so Sienkiewicz 
 tells us) Zagloba and Wolodyjowski drank the 
 mirfd (mead) so dear to the heart of the doughty 
 old knight. The visitor, of course, also drinks 
 miod at Fouquier's. 
 
 How much these Poles have suffered and are 
 suffering day by day I The old royal palace, in 
 front of which the recent massacres of strikers oc- 
 curred, is weighted down with tragic, agonising 
 memories. On the great balcony, to the right of 
 where the Russian sentinel now treads day and 
 night, Stanislaw Poniatowski, the last Polish 
 
 127 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT A:\I0NG NATIONS 
 
 kin,<:r, looked out upon the square along the Vis- 
 tula, and saw the soldiers of Marshal Suwarow 
 slaughter 14,000 Poles. Here, in 18G3, 50,000 
 Eussians camped and made " order " by firing 
 •with cannon on men and women who knelt in the 
 snow and sang the national hvmn. I tried to 
 enter and look over this palace, but found it so 
 full of Russian soldiers that visiting was exceed- 
 ingly difficult, even with an official pass. On 
 coming out of the court-yard I found my way 
 across the square barred. A Russian army corps, 
 including 4,000 Cossacks and the famous 
 mounted infantry regiment organised by Alex- 
 ander III., was returning from a review prepara- 
 tory to leaving for the seat of war in the East. 
 The force of Cossacks looked formidable. Each 
 man carried an 18-foot lance resembling one of 
 the celebrated Cromwellian pikes, a short sword 
 with a wicked, half-Turkish crook to the blade, 
 a long carbine, and the cruel Cossack whip, the 
 most terrible of the four. 
 
 The detachment stopped directly in front of 
 the monument in the palace square to the Polish 
 king, Zygmunt. This column, says the inscrip- 
 tion on its base, was erected to the memory of 
 Zygmunt III. by his son Wladyslaw IV. In Zyg- 
 munt's reign, the inscription says further, Mos- 
 cow was captured by the Poles and Prince 
 Wladyslaw proclaimed Tzar of Muscovy. The 
 inscription does not refer to the fact, but all this 
 
 128 
 
The GEOGRAPHICAL CENTRE of EUROPE 
 
 reminds one that Pbilaret, the father of the first 
 Romanov, was carried a prisoner to Poland and 
 kept there for nine years, for refusing to ac- 
 knowledge Wladyslaw as king. It was significant 
 to recall this fact again when, standing in the 
 Red Square, in fi-ont of the Kremlin, in Moscow, 
 I read beneath the great group of statuary in its 
 centre : " To the memory of the Aristocrat and 
 the Peasant who, in 1613, saved Russia from the 
 Poles." The Cossacks halted right beneath this 
 Zygmunt column, and the humble citizen of the 
 latter-day Warsaw stepped nervously aside. So 
 history mutates. 
 
 Warsaw is like Paris in one other respect. 
 Apparently it has '' no visible means of support." 
 The sole aim and occupation of its citizens seems 
 to be amusing themselves. Of course, this is only 
 in appearance, as it is in the case of Paris. " A 
 Tar^ovie," said the first Napoleon, in ISIO, '' le 
 mondc s'amuse toiijours, sans cesse. Varsovie 
 est unc petite Paris." To thoroughly enjoy War- 
 saw, understand it, and appreciate it, one must 
 enjoy good music, understand good painting and 
 good acting, and be able to appreciate fine public 
 gardens, splendid horsemanship, good eating, and 
 — and beautiful women. The subtle, cultured 
 taste of the Poles is especially conspicuous in 
 Warsaw in all of these: in the music they hear, 
 the painting and drama they see, the parks and 
 horses they enjoy, and the fascinating women 
 
 129 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AIMONG NATIONS 
 
 who make their streets and drawing-rooms so 
 alluring. 
 
 During the summer and fall months all War- 
 saw goes every day to the Saski Ogrdd — the 
 Saxon Gardens — which is complete as a park, 
 and has, besides, a summer theatre. In the win- 
 ter young Warsaw flocks to the Saski Ogrod to 
 skate. On Saturday afternoons, Sundays, and 
 holidays it is really diflScuIt to force one's way 
 through the moving mass of promenaders. If 
 the visitor is wise, he will go with the crowd, 
 which will, like as not, take him out to the other 
 park, Lazienki. This is a little Versailles, with 
 an exquisite palace formerly used as a bath by 
 the princes of Mazovia, the park being their hunt- 
 ing-ground. One of the later Polish kings re- 
 modelled the palace and the Tzar Alexander I. 
 redecorated it. It faces on a most beautiful little 
 lake, and near by is an open-air theatre with a 
 stone amphitheatre for more than a thousand 
 spectators. 
 
 When Sobieski returned from his triumph at 
 Vienna he brought with him a number of Turk- 
 ish prisoners, whom he set to work on the park 
 and palace, built by Queen Bona, which he was 
 rearranging for his French wife, Marysienka. 
 This is Willandw — Villa Nuova — just beyond the 
 limits of the present city. A great white quad- 
 rangle of stone with statues at every convenient 
 point and paintings on the outside walls — it is 
 
 130 
 
THE OLD ROYAL PALACE OF THE POLISH KINGS IN 
 WARSAW. 
 
 THE PALACE IN THE LAZIENKI PARK IN WARSAW- 
 
The GEOGRAPHICAL CENTRE of EUROPE 
 
 an impressive palace, and the park, wliicli is said 
 to have been laid out by Sobieski's own hand, is 
 kept like a drawing-room by the Countess Bran- 
 icka, who now occupies the palace. 
 
 One of the gayest corners of Warsaw is the 
 Krakowskie Przedmiescie — the Suburb of Cracow 
 Street — in front of the Hotel de Europe. Most 
 of the churches, newspaper offices, and public 
 buildings of the city are located on this busy 
 thoroughfare. At night it is a blaze of light 
 and a whirl of life and motion. Hundreds of 
 cabs dart about — and in Warsaw the cocher 
 drives as swiftly and recklessly as the swallow 
 flies — and the elegantly dressed throng passes 
 and repasses. The street is literally lined with 
 cukiernias — those attractive little tea and cake 
 houses which were originally an exclusively 
 Italian institution, but brought into Poland dur- 
 ing the Italian immigration. There the Varso- 
 vian sits and sips his glass of tea and munches 
 his bit of cake, while he skims the latest news- 
 paper from Paris, London, Berlin. The cukier- 
 nia is to him what the cafe is to the Parisian, 
 and more than the beer-garden is to the Ger- 
 man. 
 
 There is a nervous quickness about the Pole, a 
 staccato nimbleness of spirit, which makes him 
 again resemble the Frenchman. He is exceed- 
 ingly fond of light and sociability, and these little 
 tea-houses which line the streets of Warsaw are 
 
 131 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 immensely popular with him. Ther are scarcely 
 second to his home. 
 
 The Varsovian calls his boulevards '• aleja."" 
 and it is along the Aleja Ujazdowska and Jero- 
 zolimska that fashionable, pleasure-loving V\'ar- 
 saw comes out most strongh'. Here the eleuaat 
 equipages pass in one continuous stream, beauti- 
 ful women in dazzling costumes, handsome army 
 officers, aristocracy, bourgeoisie. demi-mondL' — 
 all dashing along these splendid avenues from 
 early afternoon till late into the night. Even 
 Paris cannot surpass the former Polish capital 
 in this respect. 
 
 Warsaw is more than a city of music and mu- 
 sicians. Every Varsovian is a musical connnis- 
 seur. Warsaw has been the home of Padercwski, 
 Sliwinski, and the Keszkes. Its cuuservatory is 
 world-famous. 
 
 The Poles are born actors. Even after Vi- 
 enna, Berlin, and Paris, one can find new beautiLS 
 and harmonies on the Warsaw stage. This static 
 is the place to see artistically perfect dancing. 
 The polonez, the mazur, and the krakowiak, the 
 three national Polish dances, are the race in 
 epitome. The polonez gives the colour, ceremony, 
 politeness, grace, suppleness, and rhythm of the 
 Polish lady and gentleman. It is the aristocracy 
 personified. The mazur gives the agility, sup- 
 pleness, almost recklessness, and, withal, the 
 gallantry of the szlachta, or lauded gentry. The 
 
The GEOGRAPHICAL CENTRE of EUROPE 
 
 krakowiak shows the quick, gush-, passionate al- 
 ternations between passivity and wild abandon, 
 so characteristic of the Polish peasant. The 
 music seems to be part and parcel, bone and 
 sinew, of the dance itself, and the colour of the 
 costumes is picturesquely and artistically perfect. 
 
 The art impulse of the past twenty-five 
 years that has resulted in the appearance of a 
 distinctively Polish school of painting, looks to 
 Warsaw as the home of many of its imitators. 
 
 The Sienkiewicz house, in Wspolna street, has 
 long been the shrine of literarj- Poland. War- 
 saw has been the home of Alexander ( Jlowacki 
 (better known by his nom dc phimc of " Boleslaw 
 Prus''), who has been captivating Germany by 
 his classical novels; of Waclaw Sieroszewski, the 
 Polish Pierre Loti ; of Maryan Gawalewicz, 
 author, and editor of the Kurjcr War>^zaic>iki, 
 and of Eliza Orzeszko, author of " The Argo- 
 nauts,"' recently translated into English. 
 
 The aristocracy of the old kingdom of Poland, 
 among the oldest and most blue-blooded of 
 Europe, takes an active interest in the social, 
 moral, and intellectual betterment of Warsaw. 
 The Lubomirskis, Potockis, Zamoyskis, and Rad- 
 ziwills, the oldest and most aristocratic families 
 of Poland, each has a representative in philan- 
 thropic and educational work in the city. 
 
 The P( los think very highly of their physicians, 
 and justly. The medical profession is unusually 
 
 133 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 well represented in all advancement and public 
 enterprise in Poland. One of the best known 
 presidents of the Warsaw Society of Fine Arts, 
 which numbers more than 5,000 members, was a 
 physician, Dr. Karol Benni. It was a physician, 
 Dr. Chalubinski, who founded the great Polish 
 health resort, Zakopane, in the Carpathian Moun- 
 tains. Dr. Jordan, who established the unique 
 park for children in Cracow, which bears his 
 name, was a citizen of the widest reputation. Dr. 
 Jakubowski, at one time Kector of the Cracow 
 University, founded a hospital for poor children 
 irrespective of their religion. 
 
 Two details of the vast scheme of the Russian 
 government to minify the evils of intemperance 
 are worked out very picturesquely in Warsaw. 
 Local temperance committees supervise a popular 
 theatre and a " sociological park," supported by 
 government subsidy. The theatre gives perform- 
 ances for merely nominal prices — the maximum 
 being sixty kopecks, about thirty cents. 
 
 Here to the accompaniment of an excellent or- 
 chestra, popular plays are given every night in 
 the year, all with temperance morals. The writer 
 attended one performance. The hall was 
 crowded with intelligent looking, fairly well 
 dressed people of the peasant and lower bour- 
 geois class. The play rendered was simply an- 
 other variety of the old story. The husband, led 
 away by jovial companions, spends all his money 
 
 134: 
 
f'he GEOGRAPHICAL CENTRE of EUROPE 
 
 for drink, even the little hoard the hard-working 
 mother has laid aside for her sick child. The 
 child is finally taken to a hospital, where the 
 parents cannot see it. Through the intervention 
 and good offices of a kind, temperance gentle- 
 man, the husband reforms, the child is restored 
 to its parents, and every one is happy. Of course, 
 all the scenery and accessories are Russian (or 
 Polish), and the people see before them a bit of 
 their own life, with its consequences. The act- 
 ing is excellent, and the audience in complete 
 sympathy with the performance. The state of- 
 ficial who is in charge of these plays declared to 
 me that they are growing in popularity every 
 year, and that a decided change for good is to 
 be noted since they were begun. These plays are 
 now given in Polish, but occasionally a Russian 
 play is presented. The radical Polish party fear 
 that these performances will be used to further 
 the Russification process. Consequently, the 
 local support is not as strong as it might be. 
 
 In Praga, one of the suburbs, the Sunday enter- 
 tainment is perhaps unique in the world. The 
 day I visited the park there were between 32,000 
 and 33,000 people enjoying its amusements. The 
 entrance fee is ten kopecks (about five American 
 cents), and for this sum one has the privilege of 
 every feature the park presents — music, side 
 shows. ' eatres, merry-go-rounds, swings, and a 
 
 number ui games especially arranged for the little 
 
 135 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 ones. All sorts of cakes and fruit are vended, as 
 well as a large variety of soft drinks, red lemon- 
 ade, " pop," etc. But not a drop of alcoholic 
 liquor is allowed. 
 
 It is an interesting sight to the student of 
 sociology to walk about the well-kept paths. 
 There are no " keep off the grass " signs in this 
 park. All the Slav love of colour, music, and 
 pleasure can be seen on every hand. There are 
 eijiht dancing pavilions, where the stout, healthy, 
 rosy-cheeked peasant girls dance the Polish 
 dances. One may see soldiers in white uniforms 
 and great black top-boots whirling around, often 
 two heavy fellows embracing each other and 
 fairly beaming with delight. At the accented 
 note of the music, all stamp vigorously on the 
 wooden floor, with a resounding noise. Acro- 
 batic shows. Punch and Judy pavilions, " post- 
 offlce," games whereby, for the extra sum of three 
 kopecks, the peasant lad may address a card to 
 an unknown girl, and, in the course of an hour, 
 be regularly presented to his partner for the 
 evening's festivities; fireworks, a kitchen spot- 
 lessly clean where, for a merely nominal sura, 
 you can get an excellent meal — these and other 
 features make an afternoon spent in the park 
 exceedingly interesting. The very little ones 
 have sections devoted to them exclusively, where 
 they play games, sing songs, make sandcakes, ac- 
 cording to model — all under the direction of a 
 
 136 
 
The GEOGRAPHICAL CENTRE of EUROPE 
 
 trained kindergartner. The parents must see 
 that the youngsters are clean and presentable; 
 must bring them and come for them when the 
 exercises are over. 
 
 Two thousand children, of twelve years or 
 under, were playing in the park on that Sunday. 
 An efficient tire department and ambulance serv- 
 ice complete the equipment of the park. These 
 two features — the theatre and the park — cost the 
 government §730,000 in one year. 
 
 This picture of the old Polish capital is the 
 one I prefer to have remain in my memory — 
 rather than that showing the great seething cen- 
 tre of industrial and social revolt which, during 
 the past two years, has suffered so much bloody, 
 vicarious agony for Russia's misadventure in the 
 Far East. 
 
 137 
 
yii 
 
 HOW VIENNA ESCAPED THE TUEK 
 
 FATHER WOJNOWSKI, the militant 
 priest, who is one of the most lovable 
 characters in Sienkiewicz's novel, " On 
 the Field of Glory," tells the voung men leaving 
 for the campaign : " War is abhorrent to Heaven, 
 a sin against mercv, a stain on Christian na- 
 tions." But a war against the Turks must be 
 excepted, "God put the Polish people on horse- 
 back, and turned their breasts eastward ; by that 
 same act He showed them His will and their 
 calling. He knew why He chose us for that posi- 
 tion, and put others behind our shoulders ; hence, 
 if we wish to fulfil His command and our mis- 
 sion with worthiness, we must face that vile sea, 
 and break its waves with our bosoms." 
 
 This is a Pole's conception of the national 
 mission of the Polish people. And no better il- 
 lustration of how ruler and people held to this 
 view can be found than the campaign of King 
 John III. Sobieski against the Turks, to rescue 
 Vienna, and gain a victory for the Cross over the 
 Crescent. It is a thrilling, dramatic story, be- 
 ginning with the election of a King of Poland. 
 
 Z38 
 
HOW VIENNA ESCAPED THE TURK 
 
 From the corner of one of the oldest buildings 
 off the Eynek of Cracow hang several ponderous 
 iron chains. I asked their history. " They are 
 a sign of one of the reasons that have contribu- 
 ted to our downfall as a nation," said a Polish 
 gentleman sadly. " Those chains used to be 
 stretched across the road when a Diet was con- 
 vened, lest the excitable populace break in upon 
 the deliberations, especially at an election, and 
 also lest the equally excitable deputies break out 
 and fight with the people. Alas for our turbu- 
 lence and unruliness! I almost wish the rever- 
 ence for tradition, which is so characteristic of 
 our people, did not demand that these unpleasant 
 mementos be kept here on public view." 
 
 One of the most turbulent Diets in Polish 
 history, the one that elected the Hetman John 
 Sobieski King of the Commonwealth, was held in 
 Warsaw in April, 1C74:. What was once the 
 throne room of the splendid palace at Willandw, 
 in the suburbs of Warsaw, the room in which 
 Sobieski died, is now a chapel, its walls covered 
 with relics of the mighty warrior. Near by is 
 a fine collection of books. From these, and with 
 the assistance of Count Ledochowski (whose 
 brother was then secretary of the Propaganda at 
 Rome), who has a splendid museum of antiqui- 
 ties, trappings, and documents of the days of 
 Poland's glory, I can perhaps paint a mind 
 picture of that memorable, extraordinary scene: 
 
 139 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 a Polish Diet electing a king. The event is so 
 dramatic that one can imagine it being actually 
 re-enacted before his eyes. 
 
 Eighty thousand people have come to Warsaw, 
 and are gathered on the plain of Wola. In the 
 city all the shops are closed, and many of the 
 houses have barred their doors. Great numbers 
 of Jews are moving to other parts of the country, 
 for they know how near to a battle a Polish elec- 
 tion is likely to come. The streets are full of 
 gorgeously uniformed troops, brilliant magnates, 
 palatines, castellans, dignitaries, and officials 
 from all portions of the Commonwealth. Foreign 
 ambassadors and members of a hundred different 
 ecclesiastical orders fairly blaze with decora- 
 tions. Twelve vast tents have been erected on 
 the plain, and 100,000 horses are stabled near by. 
 For six weeks the Diet deliberates, listening to 
 the claims of the foreign rulers who aspire to the 
 Polish crown. Intrigue and conspiracy are ram- 
 pant. It is Lithuania against Warsaw. In the 
 main tent, a vast circular canvas, supported by 
 a single pole, 6,000 persons sit and listen to the 
 orations delivered in favour of this monarch, that 
 great lord, the other famous general. Adjourn- 
 ments for prayers and for tournament and joust 
 are frequent. 
 
 At last the great moment comes. The Senators 
 and other delegates are weary of the long wait. 
 The principal candidates are Prince Charles of 
 
 140 
 
HOW VIENNA ESCAPED THE TURK 
 
 Lorraine, the Austrian candidate, Pliilip of Xeu- 
 burg, France's clioice, and the Prince of Conde, 
 the choice of the Poles. Austria and France are 
 in the heat of their great rivalry for European 
 leadership and the crown of Poland is one of the 
 pawns in the game. Ambassadors from Spain, 
 England, and Holland speak for Charles. More- 
 over, he is supported b}- Eleanor, widow of the 
 last Polish king. She openly declares in his 
 favour. If he is triumphant she will marry him 
 and once more be queen. 
 
 Presently there is a commotion among the 
 magnificent generals seated near the centre of the 
 assemblage. A stout man, in the resplendent 
 uniform of Hetman, arises and begins to address 
 the company — a strong, fine figure, with a clean, 
 powerful face and a voice of thunder. He sub- 
 mits the name of the Prince of Conde as candi- 
 date of the Opposition. In a short but vigorous 
 speech he completely demolishes the claims of 
 Xeuburg and Prince Charles, and declares that 
 Conde, and Conde only, shall be the choice of the 
 Diet. A Lithuanian noble in the rear of the hall 
 " calls for the question." The interest is intense. 
 It is like a modern political convention. The 
 voting is by wojewodztwos (electoral districts), 
 each delegation answering from beneath its own 
 banner. The spokesman for the first registers its 
 vote for Charles, then withdraws it. The speaker, 
 Stanislaus Jablonowski, Palatine of Podolia and 
 
 141 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 Ukraine, again springs to bis feet and shouts: 
 " No more foreigners. Give us a Polisli hero for 
 King."' " Speech ! " cry the delegates, and he 
 continues : 
 
 " Poland, the rampart of Christendom, must 
 have a glorious name to lead her armies. Conde 
 is the first captain of the age. I knelt before my 
 God this morning to ask for light on the discus- 
 sion which is to end the widowhood of my mother- 
 country. I know that in naming Conde I would 
 have no cause for remorse — his fame answers for 
 him. Nevertheless, neither this man nor his rivals 
 shall obtain my vote. I demand that a Pole 
 reign over Poland. If our ancestors sometimes 
 raised a foreign prince to our throne, it was be- 
 cause they feared the dangers of rivalry among 
 equals. We have not this danger to avoid now, 
 for the eyes and the thoughts of each and all of 
 you are fixed on one and only one among us. 
 
 " There is a man in our midst who, having 
 saved the Eepublic many times by his counsels 
 and his sword, and won for it the respect of the 
 world, is regarded by all the world, as well as by 
 ourselves, as the greatest, the first son of Poland. 
 
 " Poles, one final consideration determines 
 me! If we are deliberating here in peace over 
 the choice of a king; if the most illustrious dy- 
 nasties in the world are soliciting our suffrages ; 
 if our power has grown ; if our freedom has been 
 maintained; if, in short, we still have a country 
 
 U2 
 
HOW VIENNA ESCAPED THE TURK 
 
 — to whom are we indebted for it? Call to mind 
 the wonders of Slobodyszoze, Podhaice, Kalusz, 
 and above all, of Chocim I — those immortal monu- 
 ments of glory, and choose for King [and here he 
 raises his voice to a shout] — John Sobieski." 
 
 The foes of Sobieski, however, are obstinate, 
 and the decision wavers. The presiding officer 
 announces, " Xo election ; adjournment till to- 
 morrow." But the people are tired, and want an 
 end to the debates. "Vote, vote," cry the dele- 
 gates. To this, Sobieski himself objects. Rising 
 to his feet, he shouts : 
 
 " To this I am opposed. Remember the na- 
 tion for which you are about to choose a head — 
 the freest on the face of the earth. Such haste 
 would ill accord with liberty. God forbid that I 
 should accept a crown conferred at the expense 
 of a single infringement of the public right, or 
 by the constraint or suppression of a single vote. 
 I would rather remain a subject all my life, a 
 thousand times rather, than rule over one of my 
 fellow-citizens against his will. It would, in- 
 deed, be unworthy of me to ascend the throne in 
 this furtive manner, at nightfall, and before any 
 time had been granted for the reconsideration of 
 so sudden a resolution. I demand that no fur- 
 ther action be taken to-night, and in demanding 
 this I declare that should there be no other dis- 
 senting voice, I will oppose it with my VETO." 
 
 But his speech wins him the crown. The con- 
 
 143 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT A:\I0NG NATIONS 
 
 vention goes wild, and the stampede begins. 
 Lithuania goes over to Sobieski's side; other 
 delegations follow, and he is finally elected by 
 acclamation, as John III. 
 
 The new king greatly surprised the Diet by 
 informing it that he did not care for any formal 
 ceremony of coronation. It was too expensive, 
 he said, and would take too long, especially as 
 the Turks were already advancing toward the 
 Polish frontier. The Diet, accordingly, pro- 
 claimed him king from the moment of electing 
 him. 
 
 King John soon began to have considerabla 
 trouble with his wife, Marya Kazimiera, or ^lary- 
 sienka, as he called her. This lady was little 
 more than a fascinating adventuress. A French 
 protege of Marya Ludwika, one of the former 
 queens, to satisfy her ambition she married Count 
 Zamoyski. On his death she captured Sobieski, 
 the Hetman and Grand Marshal of Poland. The 
 refusal of Louis of France to make her family 
 peers of the realm incurred her bitter enmity and 
 caused much trouble for Poland. 
 
 Sobieski himself was devoted to science and 
 chivalry, and was really one of the most progres- 
 sive of Polish monarchs, but almost everything he 
 did his wife exerted her very best to undo. While 
 he was fighting Turk and Tartar, in defence of 
 the Commonwealth, she, ambitious and rapacious 
 by nature and training, was fostering discontent 
 
 144 
 
HOW VIENNA ESCAPED THE TURK 
 
 at home, and favouring everything reactionary 
 proposed by Sobieski's enemies. The cabinet 
 that she used is in the palace at Willan(5w, and 
 it shows her to have been an exceedingly vain 
 woman. One could imagine her sitting before it 
 and admiring her own portrait, which is set at 
 every convenient point. 
 
 Fate made Sobieski a foil for the ambition of 
 Louis XIV. of France, and the latter's hatred for 
 Austria kept Poland in constant war with all her 
 neighbours, particularly the Turks. But it gave 
 Sobieski the great triumph of his life. In the 
 .Vatican there is one of the greatest of historical 
 pictures, " John Sobieski before Vienna," painted 
 with wonderful fidelity to detail by Jan Matejko. 
 It shows Sobieski on horseback at the moment of 
 the Polish king's great glory, receiving the plaud- 
 its of the citizens and the army after his rescue 
 of Vienna from the Turks. 
 
 It had been a long Turkish triumph. The Sul- 
 tan of Turkey had been proclaimed King of Up- 
 per Hungary, and with his commander came the 
 Khan of Tartary, various Hungarian chiefs, 
 and the great horde. Kara Mustapha, the Mos- 
 lem general, had 300,000 men when he came to 
 besiege Vienna. The Austrian capital lay de- 
 fenceless. The Emperor Leopold fell back in 
 panic before the advancing host, and Europe be- 
 came alarmed. Not only the Empire, but Chris- 
 tianity itself was at stake. The Pope sent an 
 
 145 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 envoy calling upon Sobieski, in the name of 
 Christianity, to go against the Turks. Lorraine 
 returned to Vienna and let himself be shut in, 
 but Leopold fled and sent a frantic appeal to 
 Sobieski to come to his aid. All Europe, except 
 Louis of France, and his vassals, held its breath 
 with fear. France and her satellites waited in 
 eager hope that this might be the end of the hated 
 Hapsburg. 
 
 All eyes were turned to the court in Warsaw. 
 Should Vienna fall, Austria would fall with it. 
 Every day messengers arrived at the royal resi- 
 dence, imploring Sobieski to come to the aid of 
 the stricken empire. It was not so much the aid 
 of the Polish troops that was demanded; it was 
 the peerless leadership of the Polish king. So- 
 bieski would not go without a sufficient army, and 
 as his unhappy country was, as usual, rent by 
 factional troubles, his preparations went on very 
 slowly. Louis's resources in the way of finding 
 obstacles to his going seemed inexhaustible. It 
 was believed Sobieski could no longer bear the 
 hardships of campaigning. For several years the 
 Polish king had not seen active military service, 
 and rumour had it that court life and inactivity 
 had rendered him unfit for real leadership. 
 " Don't trouble yourself," wrote the French am- 
 bassador to King Louis, " Sobieski is too fat to 
 sit on a horse and fight." The Polish king heard 
 of this message. It settled the matter for him. 
 
 146 
 
HOW VIENNA ESCAPED THE TURK 
 
 He at once started for Warsaw, and, as be left, 
 he rode in full armour and equipment under the 
 window of the French embassy, and shouted as he 
 rode : '' Be kind enough to send another message 
 to your master in Paris. Tell him that I have 
 started for Vienna, on horseback, and to fight." 
 
 On the way out of the city he received two 
 messengers from the Emperor, begging him to 
 hasten, and offering him the command of all the 
 Christian forces, Germans included. These en- 
 voys fell on their knees before the Polish king. 
 *' Save Vienna, save Christianity," they cried. 
 '' It is our duty," replied the Polish king. 
 "Now," shouted Father Wojnowski (who was 
 with the Polish army), "now I know why this 
 Polish people was created 1 ... It is only when 
 the pagan sea swells, when that vile dragon opens 
 its jaws to devour Christianity and mankind, 
 when the Roman Caesar and all German lands 
 are shivering in front of this avalanche, that I 
 learn why God created us and imposed on us this 
 duty. The Turks themselves know this. Other 
 men may tremble, but we will not, as we have not 
 trembled thus far; so let our blood flow to the 
 very last drop, and let mine be mixed with the 
 rest of it. Amen." 
 
 In mid-August, with about 30,000 men (mostly 
 cavalry), a large portion raised and paid for by 
 himself, Sobieski began his long, slow march 
 through the German cities. There were a few 
 
 147 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AjNIONG NATIONS 
 
 representatives of every army in Christendom in 
 that small force of the Polish king, — men from 
 every country, except France — and Europe, from 
 Sweden to Italy, watched and waited and hoped. 
 
 It was a hard march over the Danube and 
 through the mountains. All the German artil- 
 lery had to be left behind, but the Poles dragged 
 28 pieces over the summits. Kara Mustapha had 
 300. Sobieski's famous Polish horse never failed 
 him. One of the battalions presented a very 
 ragged appearance, and a German general, whose 
 gold lace was brighter than his courage, com- 
 plained to Sobieski that it was a disgrace to the 
 others. " Wait,'' said the Polish king, " wait. 
 That battalion has sworn never to wear any 
 clothes but what it takes from the enemy. In 
 the last war the men all looked like Turks. They 
 will again. Wait." 
 
 By the middle of September the Christian 
 army, now swollen to 70,000 men, Poles and Ger- 
 mans, reached the top of the ridge and could see 
 Vienna surrounded on all sides by the Mussul- 
 man camps. It was a magnificent spectacle. As 
 far as the eye could reach the tabours of the 
 Mussulmans and Tartars stretched and glistened 
 in the sunlight. " Behold," says Coyer, Sobies- 
 ki's Boswell, " the immense plain and all the 
 islands of the Danube covered with pavilions 
 whose magnificence seemed rather calculated for 
 an encampment of pleasure than the hardships 
 
 148 
 
HOW VIENNA ESCAPED THE TURK 
 
 of war — horses, camels, buffaloes, 300,000 men 
 all in motion, swarms of Tartars dispersed in 
 their usual confusion ; the fire of the besiegers ter- 
 rible and incessant; the city only to be seen by 
 the top of the st^-eples, and the fire and smoke 
 that covered it."' " This man," said Sobieski 
 when he saw the Turkish lines, " is badly en- 
 camped. He knows nothing of war. We shall 
 certainly beat him."' 
 
 When Kara Mustapha beheld the Christian 
 forces descending the mountain he could scarcely 
 believe his eyes. Even when his enemy's army 
 had spread out upon the plain, he would not be- 
 lieve that the terrible Sobieski was leading. So 
 little did the Moslem general understand what 
 was coming against him, that he sent out only the 
 Tartars, some light cavalry and other irregulars, 
 to meet the Christians. He sat in his tent, sip- 
 ping his coffee, and consigning all Christians to 
 the Mussulman inferno. 
 
 It was Sunday morning, and the besieged in 
 Vienna were at church, but they saw their res- 
 cuers and took heart. Dashing down the moun- 
 tain, the Polish and German knights met the 
 Tartars full tilt, the Austrians and Saxons in the 
 left wing beginning the fight. The centre, which 
 was composed of Germans alone, and the right of 
 Poles alone, reached the field at noon, and, in a 
 few hours, the Moslem defence was broken at all 
 points. All day long they fought, and then an 
 
 149 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 eclipse of the moon completed the panic of the 
 Turks. " Look at the sky,"' shouted the Khan 
 of Tartary to Kara Mustapha. " Don't you see 
 that God is against us? It is the King of Po- 
 land." 
 
 Sobieski kept in the centre in the thickest of 
 the fight, and literally hewed his way to where the 
 Grand Vizier, on horseback, commanded his 
 corps. " God for Poland," shouted the Chris- 
 tians. " Not to us, not to us, Lord, but to Thy 
 name be the glory," cried Sobieski. When the 
 Mussulman chieftain realised that the Polish 
 king himself was before him, his bravery left him, 
 and he fled. Almost all the pashas followed his 
 example, and the flight became general. Lor- 
 raine and his little band of 10,000 hurried out of 
 the city to meet their deliverers. The town went 
 wild over Sobieski. The people fell on their faces 
 before his horse, kissed his dress and his boots, 
 and even the legs of his horse. The Te Dcum 
 was celebrated in St. Stephen's, and the preacher 
 chose for his text: " There was a man sent from 
 God, whose name was John." 
 
 They had been in sore straits, this little band, 
 and the good citizens from hunger and the ter- 
 rible plague. "• The grave continued open with- 
 out ever closing its mouth, and in three days 
 more we must have submitted," wept Lorraine 
 to his rescuer. Que brave Pole named Kulczycki, 
 who worked all through the mining and counter- 
 
 150 
 
HOW VIENNA ESCAPED THE TURK 
 
 mining, sallied out, made his way out through 
 the Moslem ranks and carried the news to So- 
 bieski. For this he received permission to set up 
 the first coffee-house in Vienna. This is how 
 Vienna rolls came to be crescent-shaped — as they 
 are to this day. And if you want to hear the story 
 for yourself, go into the coffee-house, kept by 
 the lineal successor of Kulczycki, on the Graben, 
 in Vienna. 
 
 The Vizier, the Moslem general, and sis of his 
 pashas died. The Sultan ordered Kara Mustapha 
 to be bowstrung. Then the Polish cavalry took 
 his head to Vienna on the end of a lance. They 
 show this skull in the Arsenal Museum to-day. 
 It is that of a brutal, blood-thirsty man. 
 
 The best account of the campaign and battle 
 can be gleaned from the letters that the warrior- 
 king wrote home to his wife, under whose thumb 
 he lived even when out of her sight. At the close 
 of the fighting he took one of the Vizier's finely 
 enamelled stirrups and gave it to an aide. " Take 
 it to the Queen," he commanded, " and tell her 
 that he to whom it belonged is defeated and 
 slain." 
 
 Looking over a collection of ancient parch- 
 ments and " letters patent," in possession of 
 Count Ledochowski in Warsaw, I noted that So- 
 bieski and Jan Kazimierz were the only two Po- 
 lish kings who signed official documents " Krol 
 Polski " (King of Poland) instead of " Rex Polo- 
 
 151 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 nise," as did all the others. Sobieski was the 
 last absolutely independent king of Poland. As 
 a general he was one of the greatest characters 
 in her annals. With all his eminence as a 
 soldier, however, it was Sobieski, who, beyond 
 a doubt, began the ruin of Poland. He ceded 
 Kiev to the father of Peter the Great, and in so 
 doing placed the keys of his house in the hands of 
 his most determined enemy. He also conceded 
 to Russia the protection of the Euthenians, Poles 
 of the Greek Catholic faith. This brought Mus- 
 covy across the Dnieper, and, a few years later, 
 when the Poles drove the Cossacks to seek Rus- 
 sian protection, they sealed their fate as a nation. 
 
 152 
 
VIII 
 THE REAL " THADDEUS OF WARSAW" 
 
 EVEN in the annals of the romantic, chival- 
 rous, patriotic Polish people, always so 
 given to idealistic conceptions, there are 
 but very few names (if there are any) about 
 which cluster so much romance, chivalry, and 
 patriotism as will keep ever green the memory 
 of the soldier-statesman who led Poland's 
 armies against her enemies of the third par- 
 tition. For Tadeusz Kosciuszko the world held 
 but one country — Poland. For her he bled and 
 sacrificed and suffered, and even when fate 
 seemed most against her he worked on and 
 hoped on, refusing to believe that his beloved 
 country could ever perish. 
 
 The famous Perroneta, who taught him engi- 
 neering in Paris, said of him " He is a fine fellow, 
 modest, manly, a noble character, and a splendid 
 soldier. He has all the liberal ideas of the day, 
 and yet he will not talk of anything but Poland 
 and her restoration. For him, there seems to be 
 no other country in the world." 
 
 There is a whole character sketch in these 
 words. One of the greatest soldiers of his time, 
 
 153 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 one of the noblest spirits of all times, a leader in 
 the great revolutionary period from 1790 to 1800, 
 in three prominent nations, Poland, France, and 
 the United States, an " inseparable part of two 
 ■worlds and all classes " — it is yet as the unselfish 
 lover of his country and a knight in her defence 
 that Kosciuszko will be known to history. 
 
 Kosciuszko had something greater and finer 
 in his soul than most of his compatriots. He re- 
 lied entirely on the resources of Poland. He 
 saw that Polish liberty could come only through 
 Polish effort, and he never looked to aliens for 
 help. Especially did he trust the peasants. When, 
 during the Cracow insurrection of 1794, the 
 faint-hearted ones asked, " Who are at our backs? 
 To -whom shall we look for help? " Kosciuszko 
 replied, " Here are the backs (striking his own). 
 Trust the Polish people. Let us recognise, in 
 the millions of peasants, our brothers, and we 
 shall then easily be able to throw off the yoke of 
 oppression, and to re-establish solidarity and 
 equality before God and the laws of our country." 
 
 The Kosciuszko family was of noble blood. It 
 was a very old family of Lithuania, which was 
 prominent in war and diplomacy in the time of 
 Prince Witold's wars against the Teutonic 
 Knights. But war, poverty, and family misfor- 
 tunes had brought many reverses and the imme- 
 diate family of Tadeusz was in poor circum- 
 stances. 
 
 154 
 
THE REAL " THADDEUS OF WARSAW" 
 
 Ludwik Kosciuszko, the father of Tadeusz, was 
 one of the landed proprietors of Lithuania, known 
 among the Poles as szlachta. He was a man of 
 unusual ability, and his public-spirited life in 
 these troubled times won for him the title which 
 his forebears had lost or forfeited. The elder 
 Kosc-iuszko, however, had a violent temper and 
 was very cruel to his peasant retainers. The son, 
 early in his life, learned the terrible consequences 
 of injustice. It is generally believed that Lud- 
 wik Kosciuszko was killed by his serfs for some 
 outrage on them. He did not realise that in that 
 fact of injustice and cruelty to the Polish peas- 
 ant lay one great cause of Poland's downfall. 
 But the son never forgot the lesson. 
 
 Tekla Ratomska, the mother, was one of those 
 strong yet beautifully womanly characters so 
 often found among Polish women. It was to her, 
 he always asserted, that Tadeusz owed his lofty 
 views and steadfastness of purpose. Young Kos- 
 ciuszko was a patriot from his cradle. He was 
 not an only child. There was another boy, 
 Joseph, whose character was not exemplary, and 
 two girls, Anna, the confidant as well as sister 
 of Tadeusz, and Katarzyna, both of whom mar- 
 ried soldiers with titles. 
 
 The early boyhood of Tadeusz was spent on 
 the paternal estate. The outdoor life and train- 
 ing in horsemanship, which was the birthright of 
 every Polish youth, fitted him for a course at the 
 
 155 
 
POLAND: THE KXIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 military school in Warsaw, from which he grad- 
 uated with high honours. He is said to have been 
 the most talented student who ever attended its 
 courses. The Polish king was so impressed with 
 his ability indeed that he is generally believed to 
 have given the young captain a stipend with 
 which to continue his studies abroad. He was 
 also befriended !>y an official in the War Depart- 
 ment, one Joseph Sosnowski. It is well to re- 
 member this name, since it played a prominent 
 part in the developments which turned the steps 
 of the young Kosciuszko to the United States of 
 America. 
 
 The class of 1766 at the Warsaw School of 
 Knights, in which young Kosciuszko was grad- 
 uated, was a bright but unruly one. Tadeusz 
 was the leader in both respects. This thickset 
 lad, with a rough, ugly face, but a distinguis^hed 
 military air, had inherited his father's stubborn- 
 ness and fiery disposition as well as his high 
 abilities. Kosciuszko was a hard student at this 
 school. One of his fellow-students used to tell 
 of his waking himself at three in the morning that 
 he might have more time for study. He accom- 
 plished this by the then original method of tying 
 a string to his left hand in such a way that the 
 servant, going through the hall early, in order 
 to light the fires, could pull it. On the other 
 hand, to keep awake late into the night he used 
 to sit with his feet in cold water. 
 
 156 
 
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 TADEUSZ KOSCIUSZKO— THE "REAL THADDEUS OF 
 WARSAW." 
 
 (From a pastel from life in 1790. The original is now in the 
 Ossolinski Museum in Lemberg.) 
 
THE REAL " THADDEUS OF WARSAW" 
 
 Five years spent in travelling: in western 
 Europe, particularly in France, which was then 
 looked upon as the world's mentor in the art of 
 war, fitted Kosciuszko to begin the strenuous ca- 
 reer that was in store for him. Full of honours 
 and the learning of the schools, the young soldier 
 found his country in need of stern, practical, ex- 
 perienced administrators and fighters. 
 
 It was one of the darkest hours of Polish his- 
 tory. One partition had been consummated, and 
 the unfortunate people, shorn of the greater part 
 of their national strength, governed by a weak 
 king and tyrannised over by a corrupt, effeminate 
 aristocracy, lay almost helpless, waiting for the 
 final descent of the vultures. Poland needed all 
 her sons to defend her, and a soldier with the 
 training and equipment which the great French 
 schools had given Kosciuszko was a godsend to 
 the distracted Commonwealth. He at once vol- 
 unteered for service, and was made a captain of 
 artillery. 
 
 At this point in his career the woman enters. 
 In order to increase his modest stipend as cap- 
 tain of the army, young Kosciuszko improved his 
 spare moments by giving history and drawing 
 lessons to Panna Ludwika Sosnowska, the 
 daughter of his old benefactor, who had now 
 become wojewoda, or judge of the community. 
 Panna Sosnowska was beautiful and clever, and, 
 of course, the inevitable happened. In a very 
 
 157 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 short time the impetuous young artillorv captain 
 fell desperately in love with his fair pupil. The 
 lady returned his affection. But the wooing was 
 carried on under great difficulties. All this, it 
 must not be forgotten, was in Poland, in the ISth 
 century, when social conventions were very rigor- 
 ous. Whenever the tutor came there was a chap- 
 eron present who remained all through the lesson. 
 This lady, Panna Karolina Zenowicz, was a rela- 
 tive, and not a dragon. But poor Kosciuszko 
 had to address to Karolina all the pretty speeches 
 he meant for Ludwika. It was embarrassing, 
 to say the very least. But more trouble was in 
 store for him. The young cavalier was poor. No 
 mere captain of artillery, whatever his ability or 
 prospects, could hope to win the hand of the 
 daughter of so exalted a dignitary as a wojewoda. 
 Kosciuszko, however, had unlimited enterprise 
 and energy. It was a matter largely of official- 
 dom and money, not of character or heart. Why 
 not go to the head of all things? Tadeusz 
 marched straight to the King and told him 
 frankly just how matters stood. He besought 
 the monarch to intercede for him with the 
 haughty parent of his Indy-love. Amazed at the 
 young man's impetuosity and audacity, the King 
 tried to dissuade him from the whole project. 
 But, after all, this last of the Polish kings, Stan- 
 islaw Poniatowski, was as easy-going and good- 
 natured as he was weak and vacillating. He 
 
 158 
 
THE REAL « THADDEUS OF WxYRSAW " 
 
 consented to help Kosciuszko. Then, quite char- 
 acteristically, he suddenly changed his mind and 
 sent a warning to the wojewoda of what was 
 likely to happen. The irate father was furious. 
 Soon afterward, when the tutor and suitor ar- 
 rived at the estate he found no one at home. 
 Parents and daughter had fled. 
 
 Ludwika, however, was faithful to him. 
 Though she afterward married Prince Lubo- 
 mirski, to save the falling fortunes of her father, 
 she never forgot her real love. When he returned 
 from the United States she interceded with the 
 King to give him a position in the army. She 
 even wrote to her former lover, giving him some 
 good advice. But they never met again. 
 
 It is to this first disappointment in love that 
 America owes Kosciuszko's first visit to her 
 shores. In despair, he determined to leave his 
 country and seek military glory in France. 
 When he arrived in Paris he heard of the patri- 
 otism and sufferings of the American colonies of 
 Great Britain, in their struggle for independ- 
 ence, and his soul was aroused. Benjamin 
 Franklin, then United States Envoy to France, 
 talked with the fiery young idealist, and declared 
 him to have been one of the noblest, most unself- 
 ish spirits he ever knew. Franklin gave Kosci- 
 uszko letters of introduction and recommenda- 
 tion to Washington, and in the summer of 1776 
 the young Pole reached the American camp. 
 
 159 
 
POLAND: THE KXIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 " What do you wish to do? "' asked Washington. 
 " I come to fight as a volunteer for American in- 
 dependence." " What can you do? " " Try me." 
 
 For eight years Kosciuszko's name was a part 
 of our strenuous history. He was one of the 
 noblest of the little band of European idealists 
 who, when liberty was defeated in their own 
 lands, transferred their zeal to our patriot cause, 
 and, sword in hand, fought for our independence. 
 France sent us Lafayette and Eochambeau ; Ger- 
 many, DeKalb and Steuben ; Poland, Kosciuszko 
 and Pulaski. Kosciuszko taught our army the 
 science of fort construction. He began his serv- 
 ice in the American army as a colonel of engi- 
 neers and a member of Washington's staff, but 
 he soon became the scientist of the army. It was 
 he who planned Gates' fortified camp at Bemis 
 Heights, and he was the principal engineer in 
 the work at West Point. All through Greene's 
 southern campaign, he was the inspiration and 
 executive of the scientific warfare. Congress 
 gave him a vote of thanks, brevetted him a briga- 
 dier-general, and made him a member of the 
 Order of the Cincinnati. And yet, up to very re- 
 cent years, when the Poles erected the statue in 
 Chicago, there was no monument in this country, 
 worth the name, to the gallant Kosciuszko, un- 
 less West Point itself be considered such a 
 monument. 
 
 When the Polish patriot came to America 
 160 
 
THE REAL " THADDEUS OF WARSAW" 
 
 a second time, after his Russian captivity, his 
 welcome was as enthusiastic as could be wished, 
 and all sorts of social demonstrations were made. 
 " I consider America my second fatherland," he 
 said, " and am exceedingly glad to be back 
 again." Congress caught the popular enthusi- 
 asm. Kosciuszko was voted a grant of land and 
 a pension. 
 
 It is not generally known how much the Polish 
 leader did for the United States, in other than 
 a military capacity. But his affection for Amer- 
 ica and his readiness to serve her in any and 
 every possible way deserve a dozen monuments. 
 When he reached Philadelphia, in 1797, there was 
 no more fighting to be done, but much diplomacy 
 was needed in our relations with Europe. Ultra- 
 republican France soon became irritated at our 
 " Alien and Sedition " laws, which were aimed, 
 chiefly, it was thought, against the Irish, then 
 the special proteges of France. There was also a 
 powerful though not generally recognised senti- 
 ment in this country in favour of establishing a 
 monarchy. France was much incensed over this 
 suspected lapse in the young republic which she 
 had just helped to its feet. Kosciuszko was in 
 full sympathy with the republicans of both coun- 
 tries, was popular with both peoples, and he suc- 
 ceeded in allaying, in large measure, the irrita- 
 tion of France. His services to this country did 
 not end here, however. France was then the first 
 
 161 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 military power in the world, and it was in her 
 artillery that she excelled. The American En- 
 voy to Paris requested General Kosciuszko, who 
 was master of the French system, to write a trea- 
 tise on the manoeuvres of " Horse Artillery," for 
 use in the armies of the United States. Kosci- 
 uszko's book, written in response to this request, 
 was a manual in great favour in this country for 
 many years, and at one time a text-book at West 
 Point. 
 
 A more intense, unselfish lover of liberty than 
 Kosciuszko, perhaps, never existed, and nothing 
 shows this more clearly than his last Will and 
 Testament, which was made in this country and 
 left with our own Thomas Jefferson. It runs: 
 
 " I, Tadeusz Kosciuszko, being just in my de- 
 parture from America, do hereby declare and 
 direct that, should I make no other testamentary 
 disposition of my property in the United States, 
 hereby authorise my friend, Thomas .Jefferson, 
 to employ the whole thereof in purchasing ne- 
 groes from among his own, or those of any other 
 gentleman, and giving them liberty in my name, 
 in giving them an education in trades or other- 
 wise, and in having them instructed for their 
 new condition in the duties of morality which 
 may make them good neighbours, good fathers or 
 mothers, good husbands or wives, and in their 
 duties as citizens, teaching them to be defenders 
 of their liberty and country, and of the good 
 
 162 
 
THE REAL " THADDEUS OF WARSAW" 
 
 order of society, and in whatsoever may make 
 them happy and useful, and I make the said 
 Thomas Jefferson my executor of this. T. Kos- 
 ciuszko, 5th day of May, 1798." 
 
 A strong friendship grew up between Kosci- 
 uszko and Jefferson. The Pole was clever with 
 his pencil, and always declared that one of the 
 best things he ever did was a pastel of his Ameri- 
 can friend. After the death of the Polish pa- 
 triot, the aged Jefferson, then in his 75th year, 
 stood before the court of Albemarle County, Vir- 
 ginia, and declared that, owing to the infirmity 
 of age, he could not carry out the provisions of 
 the testament, but desired that all Kosciuszko 
 had wished be done. The will of the Polish pa- 
 triot was in litigation for more than half a cen- 
 tury, both in this country and in Europe. 
 
 Kosciuszko's services to his country were pri- 
 marily those of the soldier, but the soldier com- 
 pletely dominated by the patriot. After our Rev- 
 olutionary War he returned to his native land 
 and his property at Siechnowice. The liberal 
 ideas of the times had fired his noble nature. 
 The dazzling ascendency of France, her cham- 
 pionship of republican principles, the successful 
 revolution of the former American colonies of 
 Great Britain, the social and political ferment 
 over all Europe that marked the close of the 
 18th century and the opening of the 19th with 
 
 163 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 so many triumphs of democracy and liberty — 
 all appealed powerfully to the young idealist re- 
 publican. He began at once to put his liberal 
 ideas into practice. By one act, he freed all the 
 peasants on his estate from serfdom. He then 
 went quietly to work to organise his own prov- 
 ince for defence against Poland's outside ene- 
 mies. Despite its warlike record, he saw that 
 the order of knights was not sufficient for na- 
 tional defence. The position of the Polish peas- 
 antry was then, in general, but little higher than 
 that of serfdom. Kosciuszko, however, saw that 
 it was necessary to make the whole nation homo- 
 geneous. Each and every class must have its 
 share, its privileges as well as its responsibili- 
 ties. The peasants must be called upon to de- 
 fend the fatherland. 
 
 This was a revolutionary idea. But the coun- 
 sels of Kosciuszko prevailed. At the sejm (par- 
 liament) called at Warsaw in 17SS the entire 
 plan of national defence was " overhauled."' 
 Kosciuszko, whose name was as yet compara- 
 tively unknown in Poland, but whose deeds in 
 America had begun to make him famous, was 
 suggested as general. The next year the reor- 
 ganisation of the army was complete, and Kos- 
 ciuszko was made major-general. 
 
 The air of Europe was full of liberalism, and 
 Poland was among the first of the nations to 
 transmute this into formulated safeguards for 
 
 I6i 
 
THE REAL " THADDEUS OF WARSAW" 
 
 popular liberties. The new Polish constitution 
 of the 3d of May (1791), liberal like the French 
 constitution of the same year, was full of 
 lofty idealism. Its chief purpose was to do 
 away with much of the political and social in- 
 equality of the day in Poland. Indeed, it bore 
 heavily on the privileges of the aristocracy. It 
 was the child of four years' travail of the Diet, 
 and was received with great enthusiasm by the 
 people. Austria, Russia, and Prussia, however, 
 objected to these proposed social and political 
 changes, marched immense armies into Poland, 
 and the second partition followed. 
 
 Most of the Polish officers fled abroad. They 
 were marked men. Kosciuszko resigned and 
 went to Warsaw. He was a dangerous man, and 
 Russia at once cast him out. These were bitter 
 moments for the patriot, but he refused to de- 
 spair. 
 
 He was known all over Russia as the most 
 patriotic of the Polish leaders, and absolutely 
 incorruptible. On his way to Russia an inci- 
 dent occurred which shows the power of his 
 name. Hearing that he was about to cross the 
 frontier, the colonel in command on the border 
 directed the whole regiment to be ready for emer- 
 gencies. The sentry was strictly enjoined not to 
 let Kosciuszko pass. It was a dark, stormy 
 night, and the sentry was nervous. Hearing a 
 slight noise, he challenged and fired into the 
 
 165 
 
 » 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 darkness. A cat from a neighbouring farmhouse 
 scampered off in a fright. Thereupon the whole 
 regiment rushed to the spot to listen, open- 
 mouthed, to the story of the shivering sentry. 
 The terrible Kosciuszko had appeared, he said, 
 he (the sentry) had fired, but a witch had at 
 once changed the Polish leader into a cat. This 
 story was widely repeated, and generally be- 
 lieved. Had not others of the regiment also seen 
 the cat scampering off? 
 
 The dramatic event of the patriot leader's life 
 was the " insurrection of Kosciuszko," and its 
 one decisive and fruitless victory of Raclawice. 
 France had proved a broken reed, England re- 
 fused to hear, and all the continent seemed 
 against unhappy Poland. It must be the Poles 
 themselves who would win liberty for Poland. 
 So Kosciuszko ventured alone. 
 
 It was a memorable journey, memorable in the 
 annals of patriotism, of war, of suffering, of in- 
 domitable heroism, that slow progress from Dres- 
 den to the frontiers of Poland. The gendarmes 
 of Austria, Russia, and Prussia heard he was 
 coming, and redoubled their vigilance. His coun- 
 trymen must have time to prepare for him. Kos- 
 ciuszko accordingly turned his course southward 
 to Florence, and so put the police off his track. 
 But he soon returned to Dresden, and, on Febru- 
 ary 12, 1794 (his 48th birthday), the two famous 
 emissaries, Karol Prozor and Francis Xavier. 
 
 166 
 
THE RE.\L "THADDEUS OF WARSAW" 
 
 Dmochowski, arrived from Cracow and an- 
 nounced that the time was ripe for action. 
 
 In the beginning of March these three heroic 
 men reached the Polish frontier, and waited for 
 the opportune moment to begin " Poland's last 
 stand.'' The Diet was still intriguing, and the 
 soldiers of General Madalinski in Cracow were 
 in revolt against the order to lay down their 
 arms. On March 23, 1794, while the Russians 
 left the city to look for Madalinski, who had fled, 
 Kosciuszko quietly entered. He was armed 
 with dictatorial power. The president of the 
 city, who supported the Russian faction, at first, 
 opposed him, but, with the help of General Wod- 
 zicki, a noble, unselfish patriot, he at last suc- 
 ceeded in bending the officials to his will. The 
 day after his arrival Wodzicki ordered his regi- 
 ment out on the rynek, the quaint old market 
 place of the city, to await the commander, who 
 was received with shouts of acclamation when 
 he appeared from Wodzicki's palace. 
 
 It was a beautiful morning, with a touch of 
 spring in the air, when the general stepped into 
 view of his enthusiastic troops, ill-equipped and 
 unwarlike in appearance, but full of determina- 
 tion and fire. The old square was packed with 
 spectators. It was the " forlorn hope " of the 
 nation. The ancient Sukiennice, or Cloth Hall, 
 time-worn and grey, and the hoary palaces flank- 
 ing it, were fit framing to the picture. When the 
 
 167 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 army had sworn allegiance, Kosciuszko, clad in 
 the peasant's dress which he afterward wore to 
 show his contempt for caste and his gratitude to 
 the peasants for their aid in the national defence, 
 stepped forward and cried in a loud voice: 
 
 " I, Tadeusz Kosciuszko, do swear before the 
 face of God, to the entire Polish nation, that I 
 will never use the power entrusted to me for pri- 
 vate oppression, but only for the defence of the 
 whole nation, and to establish universal liberty, 
 will I use it. So help me, God, and His Innocent 
 Passion." 
 
 A flat stone, with an appropriate inscription, 
 now marks the spot on which he stood, and the 
 cabmen of Cracow, to-day, point it out with rev- 
 erential awe. 
 
 After the oath, the proclamation of the new 
 insurrection was read, and the soldiers marched 
 to the Church of Panna Marya to celebrate mass. 
 This done, the officers, led by Kosciuszko, went 
 to the City Hall, a quaint, square building on the 
 market place (now used as an Austrian bar- 
 racks), from the towers of which Kosciuszko 
 called to the people of every class — nobles, 
 tradesmen, peasants, priests, and Jews — to rise 
 in defence of the country. The peasants, who 
 formed almost one-half of the entire army, were 
 serving for the first time as volunteers. The new 
 leader ordered them to be equipped with pikes 
 and scythes. They knew nothing of warfare, but 
 
 168 
 
THE REAL « THADDEUS OF WARSAW" 
 
 they understood the scythe, and these Kosyniery 
 (scythe-bearers) made a terrible arm of war. 
 
 The next day, before the force had started to 
 meet the Russian enemy, a little incident oc- 
 curred which showed Kosciuszko's love for the 
 masses, and illustrated, also, their own unselfish 
 patriotism. Three coal-heavers, who owned a 
 number of vessels transporting coal down the 
 Vistula, elbowed their way through the crowd 
 and presented themselves in the ante-room of the 
 palace to offer these barges to the general. Kos- 
 ciuszko went out personally to receive them. 
 " Come nearer," he said, calling them by name 
 (he seemed to know personally every man in his 
 army). "Come nearer. I want to thank you. 
 I am only sorry that at present I cannot accept 
 your offer. But if the war succeeds, then the 
 country will accept it.'' 
 
 " At least. Pan Commander, you must accept 
 the money intended to keep the men on these 
 barges." So saying, the leader unbuckled his 
 leather belt and shook out thirty ducats into his 
 sheepskin cap. The two others followed suit, and 
 offered the entire amount to Kosciuszko, saying, 
 with a smile, " We beg you to take these but 
 poorly-stuffed sheep." 
 
 Kosciuszko took the caps and handed them to 
 one of his aides. " I must have my hands free 
 that I may press you to my heart," he cried. It 
 was not by any means the first offering of these 
 
 169 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AJIONG NATIONS 
 
 three. They prostrated themselves and kissed 
 his hands. Kosciuszko cried aloud, but in a voice 
 choked with feeling, " Long live such citizens." 
 
 On the tirst dav of April, 1794, he left Cracow, 
 leading an army of 4,000 men, about half of which 
 were regular troops, and the rest unorganised 
 peasants. As a lion seeking his prey, the Polish 
 general directed his course straight for the Rus- 
 sian army, which occupied a strong position near 
 the village of Eaclawice. The Russian general, 
 Tormasow, had heavily fortified his mountain po- 
 sition at Kosciejow, and posted his 5,000 vet- 
 eran regulars. Under the protection of his guns 
 he waited the arrival of heavy reinforcements 
 which he expected by sunset. On April 4 the 
 famous battle of Raclawice, Kosciuszko's one 
 brilliant victory, was fought. Though not a de- 
 cisive battle in its results, it was a brilliant 
 stroke, which furnishes a conclusive proof of the 
 Polish general's ability as a strategist. 
 
 Tormasdw was not anxious to begin the fight- 
 ing. He preferred to wait till his reinforcements 
 came up. But the Polish commander success- 
 fully tempted attack at about three in the after- 
 noon. A sunken road, in a deep ravine connect- 
 ing two small villages about a mile apart, was 
 the axis upon which the Polish army turned. 
 The Poles were drawn up on the plain in three 
 divisions, and so disposed that, while two heavy 
 batteries would completely sweep the level 
 
 170 
 
THE REAL " THADDEUS OF WARSAW" 
 
 ground over which the Russians must advance to 
 the attack, a flanking column of Poles could pass 
 beneath the fire without harm, along the depths 
 of the sunken road. On a little hill, midway be- 
 tween his two wings, Kosciuszko stationed a 
 picked force of regulars, and, to support them, 
 behind a hill he arrayed the so-called " Craco- 
 vian Militia,"' or Kosyniery — peasants with their 
 terrible scythes. Kosciuszko took personal com- 
 mand of this corps. 
 
 A quarter of the Russian army was soon in 
 motion. Over the gently rising ground it came 
 and fell upon the Polish left wing. But the Poles 
 were ready for it, and the charge weakened. It 
 swung over to the centre. Kosciuszko's eyes 
 flashed with victory in sight. All his ten guns 
 opened on the demoralised Russians. Just at 
 that moment a second Russian column, artillery 
 and cavalry, debouched into the plain, and, at 
 almost the same instant, a third column was seen 
 advancing. An aide sped furiously to warn 
 Madalinski, who commanded the right, that the 
 third detachment was meant for him. Then the 
 Polish leader turned his attention to the first 
 column of Russians, which had partly extricated 
 itself from the ravine, and was deploying in line 
 of battle on the plain. 
 
 "Charge bayonets I" shouted Kosciuszko. 
 " Captain Xidecki, at the head of two companies, 
 will support the scythe-bearers while they take 
 
 171 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT A:\I0NG NATIONS 
 
 the Eussian batteries." Turning to the Kosy- 
 niery, and pointing to the Eussian cannon, he 
 shouted, " My brave boys, get me those guns ! 
 God and our country ! Forward, my boys 1 " 
 
 There was a shout that shook the plain : " Vic- 
 tory or death ! " Two thousand scythes beat the 
 air. Two thousand peasants, frantic with patri- 
 otic enthusiasm and love for their chief, swept 
 along the sunken road like a mountain freshet 
 in the spring. The white cloaks gleamed in the 
 sun, and the scythes flashed terribly. A sullen 
 roar arose from the thin column, as, in two divi- 
 sions, its beloved leader at its head, it raged 
 through the ravine. Spreading out into line upon 
 the plain, the Kosyniery fell upon the Eussians 
 with such rapidity and fury that, although the 
 charge covered more than a mile, the astonished 
 gunners had only time to fire twice before the 
 terrible reapers were at the mouths of the cannon. 
 Bartos Glowacki, a peasant innkeeper, was the 
 first to reach the Eussian batteries. With a fierce 
 shout, he jumped on one of the caissons and cov- 
 ered the mouth of the gun with his cap, while 
 several of his comrades drew it off toward the 
 Polish lines. This act made Glowacki famous. 
 He was created a standard-bearer, and he and all 
 his family were liberated forever from serfdom. 
 
 The Eussians broke and fled. Meanwhile, the 
 second division, not knowing the fate of the first, 
 had engaged the left wing of the Poles, and an 
 
 172 
 
THE REAL " THADDEUS OF WARSAW" 
 
 obstinate struggle was in progress, wLien Kosci- 
 uszlvo, liaving collected his forces somewhat, fell 
 upon the Russians like a whirlwind. They scat- 
 tered, and the third column lost heart and broke. 
 The entire Russian army turned and fled. 
 
 The Polish victory was complete. The Rus- 
 sians lost twenty guns. Upon the battlefield, 
 from his horse, Kosciuszko, still in his peasant 
 garb, shouted to his army, " Long live the na- 
 tion I Long live liberty ! " The troops shouted in 
 reply, "Long live Kosciuszko!" He rejoined, 
 " I am happy that I can sing the praises of your 
 valour, and I will lead you as long as heaven 
 permits me to live ! " A few days afterward he 
 issued a manifesto proclaiming freedom for every 
 serf who volunteered for the national defence. 
 
 The news of the victory of Raclawice electri- 
 fied Poland. Warsaw arose en masse and drove 
 out the Russians. The whole country seemed to 
 revive. The King wrote a personal, flattering 
 letter to Kosciuszko, promising all sorts of help. 
 The patriot leader at once instituted a new gov- 
 ernment, and went in further search of the Rus- 
 sian army. Then Prussia, trembling for the fate 
 of her own Polish lands, declared war, and a 
 great Prussian army marched against Warsaw. 
 Events moved rapidly. Kosciuszko was defeated 
 at Szezekocin by a foe greatly outnumbering him. 
 He retreated and defended Warsaw so valiantly 
 that, after a few weeks' siege, the Prussians gave 
 
 173 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 up and retired. But two immense Russian armies 
 were advancing against tlie Polish capital. At 
 Maciejowice, on the banks of the Vistula, Kos- 
 ciuszko again suffered defeat, himself falling 
 wounded. It was at this battle that, according 
 to the time-honoured lines of the poet Campbell, 
 " Freedom shrieked when Kosciuszko fell."' 
 Poetry, however, has gone too far in asserting 
 that the Polish leader, as he fell, cried: •'Finis 
 PoJoniwl" Kosciuszko himself vehemently de- 
 nied the truth of this. He called it a " blasphemy 
 against which I protest from the depths of my 
 soul." * 
 
 For two years Kosciuszko languished in a dun- 
 geon in the Eussian capital. His most bitter 
 moments there were cheered by the presence of 
 his friend, the famous poet-soldier, Niemcewicz. 
 When the Emperor Paul came to the throne he 
 
 * In a letter written to the French Count Segnr years 
 after Maciejowice (October 31, 1S03) the Polish leader said: 
 
 " When the Polish nation called upon me for the defence 
 of the territorial unity, the dignity, the glory, and the free- 
 dom of the fatherland, it knew well that I was not the last 
 Pole, and that with my death on the field of battle, or else- 
 where, Poland cannot and shall not end. All that the Poles 
 have done since in the glory-covered Polish legions, and 
 all that they will still do in the future for the reeonstitu- 
 tion of their fatherland, is sufficient proof that if we, the 
 devoted champions of that country, are mortal, Poland her- 
 self remains immortal, and that it is not permitted to 
 anybody to repeat the grossly insulting words: 'Finis 
 Polonice.' 
 
 " What would the French say if, in the disastrous battle 
 of Rossbach, in 1757, Marshal Charles de Rohan, Prince of 
 
 17-1 
 
THE REAL " THADDEUS OF WxVRSAW " 
 
 not only liberated Kosciuszko, but treated him 
 veiT generously, and made him many presents, 
 including furniture, paintings, and bric-a-brac, 
 from the private rooms of his deceased prede- 
 cessor, Catherine. He and his son, Alexander, 
 even visited the fallen Polish leader, who was 
 lodged in one of the palaces in St. Petersburg. 
 " I have come, my general, to return to you 
 your liberty," Paul said. " I know how harshly 
 you have been treated. But, during the last 
 reign, all honest people — myself especially — 
 were so dealt with." ( Referring to the fact that 
 Catherine kept him in durance as being noii com- 
 j}os mentis.) He continued : " They tried to lead 
 all honest folk by the nose — even me. But they 
 couldn't do it with me." Here he brushed his 
 hand downward over his face significantly, and 
 made a comical grimace. Paul had no nose, or 
 only an apology for one, so that it would afford 
 absolutely no hold or handle by which to lead 
 him. "You are free, but promise me that you 
 will remain quiet. It is the best thing for you." 
 To another Polish prisoner then present, Ignacy 
 
 Soubise, had exclaimed: 'Finis GalUw'? or if this cruel 
 utterance had been attributed to him in the descriptions of 
 his life? 
 
 " I would, therefore, feel obliged to you if, in the new 
 edition of your work, you would not any longer speak of 
 this 'Finis Polonice'; and I hope that the great influence 
 of your name will make a commanding impression among 
 all those who in future would repeat these words and 
 attribute to me a blasphemy against which I raise a protest 
 from the very depth of my soul." 
 
 175 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 Potocki, the Emperor Paul continued : " I will 
 say that I was always opposed to the partitions 
 of Poland; I considered them unjust and 
 Impolitic. But now, to restore Poland, we must 
 needs have the consent of three powers. Do you 
 think that Austria would consent, or, much less, 
 Prussia? Or must I, for Poland, declare war on 
 these, my neighbours? Russia needs peace. 
 You must, my dear Kosciuszko, submit to the sad 
 necessity." " I have never pitied my own fate," 
 replied Kosciuszko, " but I shall never cease 
 pitying the fate of my country." To show his 
 good will further Tzar Paul, at Kosciuszko's re- 
 quest, liberated 13,000 Polish prisoners then 
 languishing in Siberian prisons. 
 
 Kosciuszko then determined to make a second 
 visit to the United States. Before leaving Eus- 
 sia, however, he went to the Winter Palace, and 
 thanked the Emperor Paul for his kindness. The 
 Polish hero was dressed in an American army 
 uniform on this occasion. Being still so ill and 
 weak from his wounds that he could scarcely 
 walk, he was relieved when he came to the great 
 stairway to find a chair waiting for him. Two 
 grenadiers bore him to the room in which the 
 Emperor received him most graciously. The en- 
 tire imperial family was present. They inquired 
 after his health, and begged him to write them 
 from America. The Tzaritsza, Marya Fedorovna, 
 asked him to send her flower-seeds from the 
 
 176 
 
THE REAL " THADDEUS OF WARSAW 
 
 United States, and insisted upon taking from 
 him, as a souvenir, his famous peasant coat. In 
 excliange. she presented him with a poelcetbook, 
 embroidered by her own hand, and a collection 
 of cameo miniatures of the whole royal family. 
 In this pocketbook he afterwards found a check 
 on the Bank of England for .3,000 ducats (nearly 
 $7,000). Paul beamed with delight, and offered 
 him 100 serfs, as a slight token of esteem. Kos- 
 ciuszko asked that, instead of this, he might have 
 money to help his fellow-prisoners. Paul assented 
 and gave him .S30,000. lie also gave the Polish 
 leader a coachful of personal apparel and kitchen 
 utensils (most of them taken from Catherine's 
 private apartments), a sable coat, a cap, and a 
 number of pairs of shoes. " If you want any- 
 thing," were the parting words, " do not hesitate 
 to ask as you would from a friend, for I am your 
 true friend, and desire you to return my feelings." 
 The money Kosciuszko deposited in a bank and 
 never drew out for his own interests. Toward 
 the end of his life he made it over to several needy 
 Polish soldiers. 
 
 The progress of the defeated Polish leader to 
 the shores of this country was one continuous 
 ovation. At Stockholm, statesmen, ministers, 
 ambassadors came from all Europe to pay hom- 
 age to the patriot hero. In order not to disturb 
 him in his sick condition, they made the journey 
 on foot, lest their carriage wheels cause too much 
 
 177 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 noise. The English papers announced, " Kosci- 
 uszko, the hero of liberty, is coming," and when 
 he reached London, all the British worthies of 
 the time paid him their respects — Fox, Sheridan, 
 Grey, and nobles without number. The harbour 
 was gaily decorated with flowers and bunting 
 when he sailed, many admirers accompanying 
 the vessel in small boats for several miles out of 
 port. The defeated leader of Maciejowice left 
 Europe as only a conqueror might. 
 
 The mean, unscrupulous side of Napoleon's 
 character has, perhaps, never been displayed so 
 fully and unmistakably as in his relations with 
 the Poles, and particularly with Kosciuszko. 
 Poland never lost faith in the disinterestedness 
 of Napoleon's use of her sons in his armies. She 
 believed in him, even after the unsuspicious Kos- 
 ciuszko had seen through the selfishness and per- 
 fidy of the French dictator. Negotiation after 
 negotiation with French secret agents for active 
 help to the Poles resulted in nothing more than 
 wholesale enlistment by enthusiastic Poles in 
 Napoleon's cause, and the use of Polish soil as a 
 battlefield for French armies, or as so much boory 
 to be carved up and distributed as rewards to 
 various kinglets, princelings, and sycophants who 
 had been loyal to the schemes of Napoleon's am- 
 bition. The famous Polish legion, that played 
 such a conspicuous and brilliant part in almost 
 all the Napoleonic campaigns, under the leader- 
 
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THE REAL " THADDEUS OF WARSAW" 
 
 ship of Dombrowski, who believed that the tri- 
 umph of Napoleon meant, as a fulfilment of that 
 leader's promise, the re-establishment of his be- 
 loved country as an independent nation, was a 
 mere football in the Bonaparte ambitions. Na- 
 poleon tried to get Kosciuszko himself to enlist 
 in the French armv, and even called on him 
 personally, complimenting him as " the hero of 
 the North." " Tell your comrades in arms," said 
 the dictator, " that I always have them in mind, 
 that I count on them, that I appreciate their self- 
 sacrifice in the cause that we are protecting, and 
 that I will always be their friend and compan- 
 ion." But the Polish leader refused to be duped, 
 and he personally warned his soldiers against 
 the blandishments of the French emperor. 
 
 When the Napoleonic era was near its end 
 the Polish patriot began to again hope that, with 
 the readjustment of the map of Europe, some 
 measure of justice would come to his unfortu- 
 nate country. He again returned to France. 
 His arrival in the old world made Vienna, Ber- 
 lin, and St. Petersburg very uneasy. The Rus- 
 sian police searched all Lithuania for him, and 
 an unfortunate peasant, who resembled him 
 closely, was " investigated "■ so thoroughly that 
 he nearly died during the operation. 
 
 When the allies entered Paris, Kosciuszko had 
 a long talk with the Tzar Alexander, who had 
 promised to restore Poland to its ancient bound- 
 
 179 
 
POLAND: THE ICaGHT A3I0XG NATIONS 
 
 aries. But the odds were too great, and even 
 Alexander's generosity could not cope with them. 
 After a long illness in Vienna, Kosciuszko, now 
 a broken old man, retired to a little farm in 
 Solothurn, Switzerland, where, for two years, he 
 lived Terr quietly. He passed away from earth 
 on October 20, 1817. 
 
 The next year his remains were brought to 
 Cracow and placed in the Wawel, by the side of 
 those of Sobieski. The whole nation helped build 
 a monument to him. A great kopiec, or mound, 
 a favourite style of monument in Poland, was 
 erected on Bronislaw Hill, just outside the city 
 limits. One patriotic Pole, it is said, tore down 
 his house and gave the ground. The centre or 
 foundation was a small pile of earth from the 
 field of Eaolawice, and then came eartli from 
 other battlefields. All the nation — speaking al- 
 most literally — noble, merchant, peasant — each 
 brought a handful of earth and deposited it as a 
 testimonial of love and respect to the memory of 
 the beloved chieftain. A spiral pathway leads to 
 the top, now grass-grown and capped with a 
 block of Carpathian granite. Rising more than 
 400 feet above the level of the Vistula, from its 
 summit it affords a splendid view of the most 
 Polish of cities, and its peaceful, rural suburbs. 
 The patriot's heart was presented, a few years 
 ago, to the Polish National Museum at Eap- 
 perswyl, in Switzerland. 
 
 180 
 
IX 
 
 ON THE FIELD OF GLORY 
 
 IX its main traits, — those of devotion to an 
 ideal, moral and phj'sical heroism, and pas- 
 sionate patriotism, — Polish character was 
 developed completely four or five centuries ago. 
 It is for this reason chiefly that the works of 
 Sienkiewicz are so interesting and significant. 
 The men and women he describes are types 
 which can be seen to-day; therefore, the histori- 
 cal novels on Poland, the famous Trilogy, " The 
 Knights of the Cross," and " On the Field of 
 Glory,"' are epitomes of the national character. 
 
 What a vast canvas is that covered by the 
 scenes of the Trilogy ! The heroes of these three 
 romances have for their " stamping ground " al- 
 most the entire ancient Commonwealth. Three 
 places, however, stand out prominently, above 
 all others, one in each of the three volumes. In 
 " With Fire and Sword," the siege of Zbaraz, by 
 Chmielnicki and Tugai Boy and its heroic de- 
 fence by Prince -Jeremi (Jeremiah) Wis'nio- 
 wecki, is the pivot upon which the story turns. 
 In " The Deluge " there is another heroic defence, 
 of the Church of -Jasna Gdra, at Czenstochowa, 
 V, LLuiL' KordL'L-ki and Kmicic withstood the Swedes 
 
 181 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 under the redoubtable Miller. In the last of the 
 Trilogy — "Pan Michael" — the point d'appui of 
 the story is the siege of Kamieniec (a third gal- 
 lant defence), where the little Knight Wolodv- 
 jowski lost his life battling against the Turks. 
 The incidents connected with these places also 
 may be regarded as illustrating three of the 
 salient traits of the Polish national character: 
 at Zbaraz, military yalour; at Czenstochowa, re- 
 ligious deyotion ; at Kamieniec, self-sacrifice and 
 patriotism. 
 
 " With Fire and Sword '" is the thrilling story 
 of the wrong and disaffection of Chmielnicki and 
 his terrible warfare against the Commonwealth 
 from 1640 to 1650. The great waye of Cossack 
 and Tartar inundation — one of the many that 
 deyastated Poland during her four centuries as 
 the bulwark of Europe against Eastern barbar- 
 ism — gathered and broke on a small fortified town 
 called Zbaraz, in what is now Austrian Poland. 
 It was during the reign of King .Jan Kazimierz 
 II. (164S-GS) that Bogdan Chmielnicki, with his 
 Cossacks and his Tartar allies under Tugai Bey, 
 came against the little town made so famous by 
 Sienkiewicz's pen. 
 
 Zbaraz is situated at the first point on the 
 great plains — Podolia — where the land rolls, and 
 so, yery naturally, by its position it became a 
 rendezyous for the Christian knights and the first 
 point of attack for the Cossacks. 
 
 182 
 
ON THE FIELD OF GLORY 
 
 Climielnicki tried first to reach Zbaraz by way 
 of the modern city of Tarnopol, from which 
 Zbaraz is distant about seven miles. The Poles, 
 however, had strongly fortified the main road of 
 the town, and he was compelled to turn aside to a 
 hill opposite the old castle (this castle still 
 stands) and to cross the marsh which has now 
 shrunken to a small pond. Then it was a lake, 
 whose waters came up to the very walls of the 
 castle. It was in the month of July, 1649, that 
 his army of 100,000 men — about equal numbers 
 of Cossacks and Tartars — camped before the 
 walls, and at about the same time Prince Jeremi 
 came up with his 3,000 knights. When the Po- 
 lish leader took command in Zbaraz he had, all 
 told, a force of 9,000 men, picked warriors, it is 
 true, the fiower of European soldiery, but a mere 
 handful in the face of the host outside the 
 fortress. 
 
 With the idea of seeing how the country de- 
 scribed in " With Fire and Sword " looks to-day, 
 I accepted the invitation of a Polish gentleman, 
 who owns a large estate within a mile of Zbaraz, 
 and made his home my headquarters. The estate 
 is situated in the village of Ochrymowce, a vil- 
 lage less than half a mile distant from the little 
 wood in which Podbipienta met his death at the 
 hands of the Tartars. 
 
 The country about Zbaraz is a beautiful rural 
 one. It is at the break-up of the great fertile 
 
 183 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 plains of Podolia, which formed a portion of the 
 ancient Polish Commonwealth, but are now 
 partly in Austria, partly (and mostly) in Eussia. 
 The ground is that splendid black loam which 
 yields such generous harvests. Naturally a mag- 
 nificent land, it is now fertilised by heaven only 
 knows how much human blood and bones cast on 
 it during the centuries of almost ceaseless war- 
 fare waged on these plains. 
 
 A circuitous route leads through Zarudzie, 
 Wachldwka, and Stryjdwka — villages all referred 
 to in the Trilogy as having been burned by the 
 Cossacks, and still plodding along in the same 
 jicasant way under the same names. The first 
 thing to attract the attention on approaching the 
 town is a great hill which was thrown up by the 
 Tartars, from which to bombard the walls. Most 
 of the elevations in and about Zbaraz to-day, in- 
 deed, are the remains of military works. 
 
 From the ruins of the old wall I set out on 
 font to follow the route of Pan Longin, the gal- 
 lant Lithuanian, on his errand to King Jan Kazi- 
 mierz. On the grass-grown slope of the old luir- 
 tlements, a white-gowned, white-haired peasaui 
 was walking toward the town. He salute :1: 
 '' Xicch Tjcndzie pochxadony Jr~iis Chnjstiis" 
 (Blessed be the Lord Jesus Christ), he said 
 reverently. " Xa trir]:i iricl-oiv," (For Ages and 
 Ages), I replied, just as Podbipienta did, as mil- 
 lions of others have done and will continue to 
 
 is-i 
 
ON THE FIELD OF GLORY 
 
 do, " for ages and ages," in this venerable pictur- 
 esque land, among these tradition-loving people. 
 It took me an hour in the broad sunshine, over 
 what is now comparatively easy country, to reach 
 the wood where the Tartars caught the gallant 
 Podbipienta. He must have wandered for five 
 or six hours — all night, as Sienkiewicz puts it. 
 His martyrdom took place early in the morning. 
 How beautiful the end! " The angels of heaven 
 took his soul and laid it like a bright pearl at 
 the feet of the Queen of Heaven.'' 
 
 Many wayside shrines, in the forms of a figure 
 of the Virgin, the Christ, or some saint, were 
 passed on the road, their weather-stained grey 
 plaster masses looming up oddly from among the 
 blades of yellow grain, ready for the sickle, the 
 statues often garnished with wreaths or skulls. 
 A peasant might be seen now and then bowing 
 reverently before one of these figures. It is a 
 serious matter to these devout peasants, this wor- 
 ship at shrines, but it sometimes presents a 
 humorous side to the less religiously inclined. I 
 saw, for example, one plaster figure with a head 
 much too large for the body, and also set on at 
 an angle, and afterwards learned that a rich 
 peasant, desiring to make a thank offering for 
 some piece of good fortune, had placed this head, 
 regardless of its fitness, and no doubt blissfully 
 unconscious of any incongruity. 
 
 By a fortunate chance I arrived in Ochrzy- 
 
 185 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AilONG NATIONS 
 
 mowce on the 12tli of July, the night preceding 
 that night upon which, centuries before, the great 
 storm of nature and of war occurred. " It 
 seemed as though the vault of heaven burst, and 
 was about to fall on the heads of the combatants." 
 Thus the weather and other conditions were as 
 favourable as possible to realise what Sienkie- 
 wicz describes. The night of the 11th had experi- 
 enced a terribi downpour of rain, flooding the 
 whole region aud bringing vividly before the 
 imagination the great storm described in the 
 novel. The narrow village road was rough and 
 reeking with mud, the identical road through 
 which the Tartar horsemen had dashed to attack 
 Zbaraz. 
 
 There is a rare artistic quality to the air in 
 this region, particularly at the beginning of the 
 long twilight. It softens outlines, tones down 
 contrasts, yet brings out colour values in a mar- 
 vellously effective way. A red-gold shimmer 
 from the setting sun burnished all the landscape. 
 The wheat fields positively gleamed, and the 
 cherry-trees fringed the road like a hedge of bead- 
 ing. Off to the south the little stream widens 
 into a lake. From its banks behind the trees 
 came the soft, plaintive strains of a Euthenian 
 folksong, as the bare-legged peasant women beat 
 their linen into cleanliness. One of the peasant 
 men, a clean-limbed, clear-eyed fellow, came out 
 of a hut, and modestly, but with quiet dignity, 
 
 186 
 
ON THE FIELD OF GLORY 
 
 invited us to enter. He brought a great bowl of 
 cherries, some black bread, and a bottle of miod, 
 the honey drink the Poles love so well. We ate 
 and drank, and then, as his fathers and grand- 
 fathers did, and as he is teaching his children to 
 do, the entire family approached and respectfully 
 kissed our hands. 
 
 To-day the town of Zbaraz has from five to six 
 thousand inhabitants, mostly Jews. It contains 
 one long street, the greater portion of which is 
 in very bad condition and very dirty, and there 
 are, by actual measurement, just sixty-two feet 
 of sidewalk in the town. Zbaraz has begun to 
 realise the importance it has attained through 
 Sienkiewicz's novels, and it has now a Sienkie- 
 wiez Street (the one long, dirty road already re- 
 ferred to), a Sobieski Street, and also streets 
 named after Skrzetuski, Wisniowiecki, and Mic- 
 kiewicz. One of the first objects of interest is the 
 old church in which the Knights took the oath 
 of eternal fidelity. Here the body of Podbipienta 
 lay in state, after the Tartars had brought it to 
 Zbaraz. Report has it that the hero was buried 
 in the cemetery of the town, and that the soldiers 
 raised a great kopiec, or mound, over his body, by 
 despositing each a handful of earth as a testi- 
 monial of their affection and sorrow. 
 
 As were all churches in those troubled times, 
 this is surrounded by a half-ruined wall, pierced 
 by embrasures for cannon and also connected by 
 
 187 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AIMONG NATIONS 
 
 UDiIergTound passages with several of tlie bas- 
 tions on tlie great wall, so that, in ease of need, 
 the city's defenders might flee for refuge to the 
 house of God. It is a grey, time-worn struc- 
 ture, with two Oriental-looking towers. Two 
 great images of the Christ, erected in the early 
 years of the past century, stand in the space in 
 front. The church is now in charge of the Ber- 
 nardine monks, who have a school for the boys 
 of the town. In its crypt are the mummies of 
 twenty or thirty Cossacks and Tartars. From 
 the church it is but ten minutes' walk to the old 
 castle to which the Poles retired after the first 
 storm, after which began the regular siege. Al- 
 most entirely dismantled by time, the old ruin 
 still stands untouched by the desecrating hand of 
 " improvement," because the present owner of 
 the land will not permit the hoary relic to be re- 
 moved. 
 
 The Zbaraz of to-day has grown away from the 
 old town, and is, for the most part, built outside 
 the old walls, but toward the opposite side from 
 the old castle. A good piece of the wall still re- 
 mains, with the slope dry and grass-grown. Sit- 
 ting on the soft, green slopes, now so peaceful 
 and quiet, it was difficult to imagine the scene on 
 that terrible night, when the Tartar regiments 
 came up and died all through the long hours, 
 " filling the moat with corpses and making the 
 wall slippery with their blood." The venerable 
 
 188 
 
ON THE FIELD OF GLORY 
 
 building still stands guard at the southwest, as 
 it did when Chmielnicki and his legions came 
 down like a flood. Twenty times — as Skrzetuski 
 afterward told the king — did the terrible warrior 
 lead his fierce soldiery against the ramparts of 
 Zbaraz, each time to be repulsed with fearful 
 slaughter. Here it was also that Skrzetuski had 
 his single combat with Tugai Bey, and from this 
 spot it was that, when the Tartars began to flee, 
 " their white turbans making the fields look like 
 snow," he pursued with his dreaded hussars. 
 
 The castle is, or was, a practically square struc- 
 ture perched on an elevation with a wide moat 
 about it, and flanked by towers at the corners 
 of the walls, each, perhaps, fifty feet high. The 
 building itself was two stories in height, and 
 constructed of stone and brick, with stucco on 
 the outside. It is surmounted by a ridge-pole 
 roof, fashioned of rough, wooden joists bound to- 
 gether with rope and covered with cement. The 
 great keep still yawns to the left of the main hall, 
 and remains of secret passages may be seen at 
 every possible point. Surrounding the court 
 3'ard, under the walls, and looking out through 
 cannon holes on the moat, were the officers' quar- 
 ters. At one corner of the wall, where the turf 
 slopes rather abruptly down to the moat, there is 
 a narrow ridge, along which the Turks are said 
 to have attempted to enter on the night of the 
 great storm. Here it was that Podbipienta cut 
 
 189 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 off the heads of the three Turks at one blow, thus 
 fulfilling his vow, and winning the right to marry. 
 '' Wings seemed to sprout from his shoulders ; 
 choirs of angels sang in bis breast, as if he were 
 rising up to heaven. He fought as in a dream, 
 and every blow of his sword was like a prayer of 
 thanks."' 
 
 Off to the west, near where the manor-house 
 stands to-day, are the remains of the bastion or 
 fort, the point at which Skrzetuski climbed down 
 on his perilous mission to the king. Podbipienta 
 had failed, and the gallant Skrzetuski volunteered 
 to carry the message telling of Zbaraz's dire need. 
 At the time there was a great pond or staw, which 
 extended up to the very wall. At the present 
 time this has shrunk, so that it is but a widening 
 of the little stream that runs through it, but so 
 lazily that the pond is mostly stagnant water. 
 With a good road, a row of huts, and altogether 
 fully one hundred feet of dry earth between the 
 foot of the wall and the pond, I found it an ardu- 
 ous and even perilous undertaking to clamber 
 down the steep stone wall. The marsh looks in- 
 hospitable enough to-day, when there are no 
 corpses floating about in it, — at least, no human 
 corpses, — and no enemy worse than a mosquito 
 on watch for the unwary. Skrzetuski's heroism 
 can only be fully appreciated when one sees the 
 spot, knows somewhat of the characteristics of 
 the age, and then reads the novelist's vivid de- 
 
 190 
 
ON THE FIELD OF GLORY 
 
 scription. Sienkiewicz says that the wall was 
 not completed on the side of the ponds at the time 
 of the siege, and it was here that Burlai, the old 
 Cossack commander, almost succeeded in forc- 
 ing an entrance. The Hungarians were yielding 
 when the stout German mercenaries came up and 
 saved the day. In the darkness the besieged be- 
 gan to throw lighted tar down from the walls, 
 that the repulse might be complete. One could 
 almost fancy that he saw Zagloba before him, 
 trembling as he recognised the terrible Burlai, 
 the warrior who had just killed his tenth man. 
 The fright of the old Falstaff— " I shall die, I 
 and all my fleas with me," — his anger and his 
 triumph, as, in full view of both armies, he slew 
 Burlai with one stroke of the sword — all seemed 
 more vivid as one walked over the spot where it 
 actually happened. 
 
 The day was drawing to a close as I took my 
 last look from the battlements of Zbaraz — a beau- 
 tiful, clear July evening. To the west, the coun- 
 try stretched off to Russia, wave upon wave of 
 ripened grain, amid which gleamed and nodded in 
 the breeze hundreds of scarlet poppies, like the 
 red dragoons of Wolodyjowski, bending for a 
 charge. Everything was quiet, peaceful, beauti- 
 ful. And then, as on that other July day, night 
 fell and vespers began to toll. 
 
 191 
 
THE MECCA OF THE POLES 
 
 IX a small peasant village just outside of 
 Warsaw my host accosted two sturdy boys. 
 " See what fine Polish boys we have here," 
 he said. One of them spoke up quickly. " I am 
 a Pole," he said, "but he," indicating the other 
 boy, '• is a Russian." •' So one of you comes from 
 Russia, eh?" "Oh, no," was the reply. " ^Ye 
 were both born in this village. We both live 
 here. But I am a Pole, and he is a Russian." 
 It seems that one was a Roman Catholic and the 
 other a member of the Orthodox Church. At- 
 tempted explanations that nationality was one 
 thing, religion quite another, were of no avail. 
 " I am a Catholic, and so I am a Pole. But he 
 is not a Catholic. Of course he is a Russian." 
 
 Religion and patriotism are so closely identi- 
 fied with the Poles that it is difficult to separate 
 them, and this connection has had its origin in 
 historic and geographical reasons. 
 
 There is something in the constitution, in the 
 temperament of the Slavonic race — perhaps this 
 is partly due to its strain of Oriental blood — 
 which makes it peculiarly susceptible to sensuous 
 
 192 
 
THE MECCA OF THE POLES 
 
 impressions. The artistic, imaginative tempera- 
 ment of the race is peculiarly fertile soil for the 
 growth of a religious fervour and devotion per- 
 haps unparalleled in the history of human fami- 
 lies. The Slav, like the Celt, is a poet and musi- 
 cian by nature, and he sees poetry and music in 
 stones, trees, and rocks where the more " practi- 
 cal ■' races can discern only material facts and 
 forces. The Poles are the most finely organised, 
 most highly developed branch of the Slav race, 
 and history has written them down as warriors 
 and religious zealots — often as fanatics. The 
 Pole never did anything by halves, and he not 
 only threw all his soul into the service of his 
 religion, but all his mind and body into the ob- 
 servance of its forms. 
 
 The intense religious fervour of the Pole may 
 be partly due to his geographical position. Na- 
 ture so placed him that he was the buffer between 
 the East and the West. For centuries he stood 
 the bulwark of Occidental civilisation and the 
 Christian Church alike against the barbaric Mus- 
 covite from the frozen Xorth and the turbaned 
 janissary from the burning plains of the Turkish 
 Sultan's domain. " We are purely Christ's war- 
 riors, created in defence of the Cross, and the 
 faith of the Saviour. Other nations, who till now 
 have lived without care behind our shoulders, 
 will see in the clear day of heaven how the task 
 is accomplished, and with God's will, while the 
 
 193 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 earth stands, our service and our glory will not 
 leave us." The champion, the knight-errant of 
 Christianity, the Pole, became the most devoted, 
 zealous cavalier that ever drew blade in de- 
 fence of his mistress. For her — the Church — 
 he fought, bled, and died. While other peoples 
 went after strange gods and sought sordid gain, 
 he expired amid fields of ice or burned out his 
 life on the arid plains of the South. His history 
 is one long crusade in defence of Holy Church. 
 
 From such constant, unremitting champion- 
 ship of Christianity against surrounding non- 
 Christian nations, he gradually assimilated his 
 religion to his patriotism. To be a good Pole, he 
 must be a good Christian. Later, he spun it more 
 finely. To be a good Pole, he must be a good 
 Catholic. If a Pole, a Catholic. If a Catholic, 
 per se, a Pole. Thus nationality and religion be- 
 came so firmly welded as to be inseparable; in- 
 deed, scarcely more than different terms for 
 the same fact. The more the Polish aristocrat 
 studies the history of his country, the more pa- 
 triotic he becomes, and the more of a patriot, the 
 more religious he grows. The Russian goes to 
 church once and then home. The Pole attends 
 service in the church, and then, lest he forget, 
 bows down at every wayside shrine from the 
 church to his dwelling. It is almost pitiable, this 
 frantic clinging to old religious forms, many more 
 than a thousand years old, a sort of desperation, 
 
 194. 
 
THE MECCA OF THE POLES 
 
 as though this might, in some way, save the Pole 
 from complete Eussification. 
 
 The religion of the Pole is his life, and it is 
 one of the glories of the Polish priest that he 
 is the real friend and helper of his people. He 
 is identified with every phase of the national life, 
 even to the festivities of the peasant. These holy 
 men have been the hope and help of the nation in 
 war and in peace for centuries. 
 
 Religious devotion and fervour are the main 
 theme of " The Deluge," the second volume of 
 the Sienkiewicz Trilogy. The story is that of the 
 invasion of the Commonwealth by the Swedes 
 under King Charles Gustavus, the apparent sub- 
 mission of Poland, the flight of King .Jan Kazi- 
 mierz, his return, and the arousing of the Com- 
 monwealth to expel the invaders. 
 
 Through the mazes of Polish and Swedish re- 
 lations it is unnecessary to go. Suffice it to 
 say that in the middle of the 17th century a 
 number of conflicting claims of Swedes to the 
 crown of Poland, and of Poles to the throne of 
 Sweden, sprang up. The Swedish King Charles 
 Gustavus, with 60,000 veteran troops, invaded 
 Pomerania, then a part of the Polish Common- 
 wealth. He met with but little opposition, took 
 Warsaw, and Cracow, and forced the Polish 
 king to flee. The country was divided and 
 torn by factional strife, and the Swedes had al- 
 most a triumphal march till they laid siege to 
 
 195 
 
 V 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 Czenstochowa, to which stronghold they had been 
 attracted by the great riches of the Church of 
 Jasna Gc^ra. The Poles regarded this as a sacri- 
 lege and sprang to arms. King Jan Kazimierz 
 returned to his kingdom by way of Hungary, 
 forcing his way through the Carpathian Moun- 
 tains, after a desperate struggle with the Swedes 
 in one of the most isolated passes. Here it was 
 that Kmicic performed such prodigi(^s of valour, 
 and the gdrali, or mountaineers, wrought such 
 havoc with their ciupagi, and by casting down 
 rocks on the Swedes. The pivotal event of this 
 war was the siege of the church stronghold of 
 Jasna Gora at Czenstochowa, in ICj-j, by Gen- 
 eral Miller and his Swedes, and its defence by 
 Kordecki and Kmicic. 
 
 Czenstochowa is in Russian Poland, in the old 
 kingdom, and is a station on the railroad half- 
 way between Cracow and Warsaw, being about 
 six hours' ride from the latter rity. It is now 
 a town of 70,000 inhabitants, one of those 
 irregularly constructed but rapidly growing 
 manufacturing cities that one finds all over 
 Russia. 
 
 The city is spread out and rambling and not 
 particularly attractive. A long, wide, tree- 
 arched promenade through the centre affords op- 
 portunity for a continuous parade of rich and 
 poor — handsome Russian officers with pretty 
 women, and droshky men and "ostler boys with 
 
 W6 
 
THE MECCA OF THE POLES 
 
 factory girls. The common Eussian soldier is 
 rather a jolly fellow. Large, raw, with hair fre- 
 quently as light in colour as tow and as thick as 
 a mop, he roams about the streets when off duty, 
 often in twos, hand in hand, grinning good- 
 humouredly and promptly taken in by all the 
 " skin " devices with which the town abounds — 
 side-shows of " disappearing ladies "' and reap- 
 pearing skeletons ; steam calliopes, " test your 
 lungs " apparatuses, and all the rest. There are 
 eight or ten thousand soldiers in Czenstochowa, 
 and one sees them everywhere. But there is 
 really nothing in the town itself for the traveller. 
 The church is the great point of interest. 
 
 Jasna Gora — " Bright or Exalted Mountain " 
 — is a church, or rather a group of church build- 
 ings, situated on an elevation, from which a great 
 stretch of surrounding country can be seen. The 
 situation is a fine one for a church, and, by the 
 earthworks and masonry that still remain, one 
 can see how strong it must have been when the 
 Swedes tried to take it. The church has a long 
 ecclesiastical history. Tradition says that many 
 miracles have been wrought there, and on several 
 occasions the Virgin Mother herself has appeared 
 to worshippers. After successfully resisting the 
 Swedes, " Saint Mary " was declared Queen of 
 Poland, as she was believed to have aided in the 
 defence of Jasna G(5ra. 
 
 Leaving the busy part of the town, one ap- 
 197 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 proacbes the church by a wide avenue, shaded 
 with handsome trees and leading through a fine 
 park. A panorama showing Christ's passion 
 and death is given periodically at the entrance 
 to the park. Before reaching the church itself 
 you come upon a great bronze statue of the Tzar 
 Alexander II., guarded day and night by a senti- 
 nel on either side. A little farther on, but less 
 conspicuously placed, is a statue of the brave 
 soldier-priest Kordecki, to whose heroism and 
 valour Jasna Gdra chiefly owed its deliverance. 
 Then one comes in front of the church itself, a 
 pile of buildings in old, grey, irregular style, sur- 
 rounded by, or rather perched above, a fifty-foot- 
 high brick wall, pierced for cannon. It is one of 
 the best extant specimens of the old fortress- 
 church — the literal church militant. The old 
 earthworks still remain, although now grass- 
 grown and peaceful looking. The walls are being 
 restored and an outside cordon of masonry is in 
 process of erection. Surroundinir the walls, on 
 two sides, are rows of little booths — there must 
 be a hundred of them — where images, rosaries, 
 praying cards, pictures of saints, and relics are 
 vended. Here also are all sorts of comestibles 
 and drinkables — fruits, sandwiches, little cakes, 
 cold coffee, with slices of lemon — ready for the 
 refreshment of the pilgrim from afar. 
 
 Bands of pilgrims are constantly arriving. 
 This is certainly one of the great religious centres 
 
 198 
 
THE MECCA OF THE POLES 
 
 of the •^•orld, and the sight (which can be seen 
 almost every morning in summer) of acres of 
 peasants lying flat on their faces before the mon- 
 astery is marvellous. One of these peasant pil- 
 grim bands passed along the outskirts of Cracow 
 while I was there. One hot July noon about 
 one hundred tramped by, singing, bearing ban- 
 ners and loaded with their packs, journeying to 
 Czenstochowa, as do the Moslems to Mecca. It 
 is a solemn duty, this pilgrimage, and there is no 
 sacrifice too great to be made in its behalf. A 
 priest in Cracow told me of an old confrere of 
 his near Warsaw who, when he heard that a 
 band of pilgrims was coming from Lithuania, 
 past his little hut, though it was a stormy night 
 and he ninety years old, went out to meet and 
 bless the wayfarers. They were in some way de- 
 layed, and he waited, cold and hungry, for three, 
 four, six, nine hours, patiently, uncomplainingly. 
 Then he lay down and died, and they found him 
 in the road with a peaceful smile on his aged 
 countenance. 
 
 It was on a Sunday morning in August, at 
 about ten o'clock, that I visited the church of 
 Jasna Gc^ra. Shouting, singing, and praying 
 had resounded through the streets since six 
 o'clock. 
 
 I made my way to the main gate, through a 
 long avenue of beggars, sightless, earless, nose- 
 less, limbless, in the most revolting states of de- 
 
 199 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 formity. Women with no arms or legs begged for 
 topecks. An idiot leered at me and muttered an 
 inarticulate demand. A grizzled old mac, with 
 no legs, squatted in almost the middle of the road, 
 fingering one of the old lyra, and droning out 
 in the most lachrymose fashion some ancient, 
 moth-eaten strain, was very importunate. He 
 seized me by the coat and whined : " Please, kind 
 sir, an alms, in the name of the Mother of God 
 of Czenstochowa, Queen of Heaven." 
 
 On the church wall, facing the entrance, is a 
 large picture of the famous Matka Boska Czen- 
 stochoska, the Virgin of Czenstochowa. This is 
 the most famous and most revered of the images 
 of the Virgin among the Poles. One sees it every- 
 where, in Galicia and in Russian Poland. It is 
 the figure of a mild-faced woman and child, of 
 the Polish type, generally brown in colour and 
 surrounded by rays, stars, and spangles of gold. 
 It is believed to have special miraculous power. 
 The Poles claim that it first appeared in .Jerusa- 
 lem in the early Christian centuries. Thence it 
 was taken to Constantinople. Thence to Kiev 
 and finally to Poland. The original image, which 
 is in the chapel of the old church, was disfigured 
 by the Tartars, who cut great gashes by shooting 
 arrows across the cheek of the Virgin. Several 
 attempts were made to paint out these gashes, 
 but they always reappeared again, says the tra- 
 dition. So a miracle was pronounced and the 
 
 200 
 
"JIATKA BOSKA CZENSTOCHOWSKA." 
 
 (The famous image of the Virgin at Jasna Gura, showing arrow marks 
 on the cheek. Reproduced from one of the colored image pictures sold be- 
 fore the church.) 
 
THE MECCA OF THE POLES 
 
 scars left untouched. They can be seen to-day. 
 The picture is set up at frequent intervals on the 
 church walls, and wherever there is a picture 
 there you are sure to find a group of kneeling wor- 
 shippers. This mild-eyed, brown-faced woman, 
 who has heard the fervent, frantic prayers of 
 generations, nay, centuries, and has never 
 changed expression, seems to look down sadly, 
 one might say pityingly, on it all. 
 
 Before this picture in the courtyard every one 
 kneels and murmurs a prayer. The stones in this 
 courtyard are, in places, literally worn into ba- 
 sins by the genuflections of the faithful. This is 
 the first station ; and here, the strange, wonder- 
 ful, picturesque panorama of Middle-Ages devo- 
 tion begins. At the entrance to the church itself 
 sits a priest, gathering money. He asks, begs, 
 pleads, expostulates, argues, commands, threat- 
 ens, suggests, hints, intimates, demands, suiting 
 his method of address to the worldly station and 
 character of the pilgrim. It is a true democracy 
 of religion here. The kid-gloved aristocrat (a 
 few of these come to Czenstochowa) walks by the 
 side of the brown, dirty, barefooted peasant. 
 
 The new church is a great building of grey 
 stone, with a black iron tower that can be seen 
 for miles around. This tower was destroyed by 
 fire two or three days after my visit to the church, 
 but is being rapidly rebuilt and restored to its 
 former grandeur. The new church is erected 
 
 201 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 over and around the old edifice, which is in a 
 fair state of preservation. 
 
 Through a massive stone portal one enters a 
 spacious vestibule, with a groined roof, adorned 
 with paintings. To the right, on a black marble 
 cross, is a half life-size brass figure of the Christ. 
 Dust and cobwebs cling to the cross and to the 
 head and shoulders of the image, but the brass 
 toe sparkles and glitters like the sun. Osculation 
 for generations has proved an admirable polish. 
 Every one, old and voung, pauses to kiss the 
 foot of the Saviour's image. The first altar is but 
 a few steps farther on — a figure of the Virgin 
 and child in silver, surrounded by many candles 
 and flowers. 
 
 A sharp turn to the right, carefully picking 
 one's way through the prostrate worshippers, who 
 keep coming till there is literally not a free square 
 foot on the floor of the room and entering corri- 
 dor, and the great nave comes into view. It is 
 a cathedral in size, with splendid groined roof, 
 frescoed with paintings. As one enters the 
 church itself and gets beyond the current of fresh 
 air from the outside, the atmosphere of the in- 
 terior becomes stifling. Growing more accus- 
 tomed to it, however, he notices a sea of kneeling 
 and prostrate forms in various stages of religious 
 hysteria, depression, and that peculiar exaltation 
 so common among Slavonic peasants. A wail or 
 groan from an old woman who lies " in the form 
 
 202 
 
THE MECCA OF THE POLES 
 
 of a cross " beating her aged head, with its white 
 locks, against the stone floor, comes from one side. 
 From the floor arises a triumphant cry, as an 
 equally aged, venerable man rocks himself to and 
 fro in an ecstasy, his prayer-book gripped con- 
 vulsively, his eyes rolling in almost a frenzy. 
 
 There is an order of procession — a series of 
 stations — and every one follows this order as he 
 enters, so that there is a continuous stream of 
 worshippers passing through the different halls 
 and chapels. Mothers, with little brown naked 
 children, stretch them out pleadingly to the image 
 on some favourite altar. Old men kneel and 
 lean their feeble heads on sticks, while they tell 
 their beads mumblingly, with toothless gums. 
 
 One has to be careful in moving among the 
 recumbent forms. He may tread on some wor- 
 shipper who has humbled himself so far as to 
 touch with his lips the stone pavement, dusty 
 and soiled with the passage of five or six thou- 
 sand feet. I all but stepped on the form of a 
 young peasant girl. By the dim light that filters 
 through the stained-glass windows I saw a 
 girl's form, slightly more slender than the usual 
 peasant build, clad in the most vivid of colouring 
 — blue bodice, red skirt, flaming yellow and green 
 headkerchief, dotted with red roses. She was 
 lying prone on her face, in the form of a cross. 
 Her breast was heaving, and sobs shook her entire 
 frame. Again and again the quivering lips 
 
 203 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 touched the stones of the floor, and slowly as the 
 prayers were recited, one by one, a little pool of 
 tears collected on the marble. She was calling 
 frantically on the Virgin of Czenstochowa for a 
 boon. 
 
 Through all the susurration of prayer and 
 groan the great organ pealed out its thunderous, 
 vibrant tones, and a fine choir chanted the serv- 
 ice. The music was Eastern, with a strange 
 blend of harp, blare, and bell effect. Away up 
 in front beneath the great altar, with its crowns, 
 golden rays, and mass of ornamentation, a gor- 
 geously attired priest was saying mass. But no 
 one — or not one in fifty of the congregation — 
 heard him. When he reached the point for re- 
 sponse, those near him began the chant, and then 
 it vibrated and shuddered in mighty crescendo 
 and diminuendo through the entire company. 
 
 It was too much to grasp at once — too severe 
 a strain on the body and nerves. So, literally 
 fighting my way out into the fresh air, I sat down 
 on one of the old grass-grown mounds, within 
 hearing of the triumphant organ peals, and looked 
 off to where the Swedes came up and drew their 
 cordon of bullet and fire about the devoted 
 church. To the right the bronze figure of the 
 priest Kordecki lifts a hand in benison. In 
 front is a statue of John the Baptist. To the 
 left is the entrance to the old church — the chapel 
 of the famous Virgin of Czenstochowa. 
 
 204 
 
THE MECCA OF THE POLES 
 
 It is a comparatively small room, but on that 
 day it was crowded so that it was almost impos- 
 sible for the worshippers to prostrate themselves. 
 They could barely find space to stand upright. 
 There was less light than in the main chapel, and 
 the congregation was quieter, apparently awed by 
 the proximity of the revered altar. Here and 
 there a confession box loomed up above the mass 
 of heads. A peasant whispered his confession. 
 Then he seized the priest's hands, kissed them 
 passionately, crossed himself, and made his way, 
 by slow stages, with infinite toil and patience, 
 through the densely packed mass, up to the altar, 
 which is railed off from the main room by heavy 
 iron bars extending from floor to ceiling. 
 
 At the farther end, only dimly seen in the soft, 
 mellow radiance of hanging silver lamps, is the 
 famous image itself. The features are scarcely 
 distinguishable, but the surroundings are so 
 decked, covered, loaded with gold and silver, that 
 it tires the eye to look at them, even in the twi- 
 light of the altar. The image scintillates and 
 coruscates — diamonds, emeralds, rubies, sap- 
 phires, garnets, amethysts, topazes, pearls, blink- 
 ing like eyes as the light from the swinging lamps 
 spreads in glistening, glistering waves over the 
 picture. On the walls gold and silver orna- 
 ments, casts of sacred relics, mirrors, rosaries of 
 coral and pearl, flash and glitter and gleam. A 
 massive golden crown above the picture stands 
 
 205 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AJIONG NATIONS 
 
 out prominently, with golden figures, hearts, 
 swords, and pens flanking it. 
 
 Every conceivable device, material, mental, 
 and moral, to impress and completely subjugate 
 the simple mind of the peasant, is here employed. 
 Every sound that can attract the ear, every ma- 
 terial that draws the eye, is made to lend religious 
 aid. It is the most powerful religious sense-life 
 in the world — and lived by a people whose tem- 
 perament and moral bent respond as the thirsty 
 soil soaks up the rain. Such complete, absolute 
 self-abnegation in this age makes one marvel. 
 The peasant is no longer his own. He belongs, 
 body, soul, mind, every part of him, to the 
 Church, to the Virgin. If ever devotion became 
 concrete, crystallised, appreciable to the senses, 
 it is here, like an aura, playing over the groan- 
 ing, agonising, self-immolating throng. 
 
 Jasna Gora is the Mecca of the Poles, and it is 
 difficult for a foreigner to appreciate how much 
 this means to them until he understands how 
 closely welded and, indeed, identified are pa- 
 triotism and religion in Poland. " A visit to 
 Jasna G(5ra means more, much more, to a pa- 
 triotic Polish Catholic than would a pilgrimage 
 to St. Peter's at Rome, or to our Savour's tomb 
 at Jerusalem." 
 
 206 
 
XI 
 
 A VOYAGE OVER THE STEPPES 
 
 IN the first decade of the 17th century a Po- 
 lish gentleman, of noble lineage, living in 
 Podolia, one Jan Stefanowicz Mazepa, was 
 serving as a page to the King of Poland. Having 
 been discovered in a liaison with the wife of an- 
 other courtier. Pan Mazepa was seized by the 
 wronged husband and tied to the back of a wild 
 horse. The animal was then sent, with many 
 blows, off to its home in the Ukraine. Nearly 
 dead with hunger, exposure, and suffering, 
 Mazepa was rescued by some peasants, persuaded 
 to remain among them, and finally became their 
 chief. This is the incident which the poet Byron 
 has so vigorously recounted in his poem. 
 Mazepa afterward led a revolt against the Tzar 
 and joined the Swedish King Charles XII. A 
 few years later, when Peter the Great was flying 
 from the victorious Charles, he took refuge in 
 the "Ukraine country of the Cossacks, which is 
 between Little Tartary, Poland, and Muscovy, 
 and separated into nearly equal parts by the 
 Beresthene River." The words are Voltaire's, 
 and this is the first definite statement on record 
 
 207 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 as to the location of the Ukraine. Voltaire ;2oes 
 on to say that, " in general, the Ukraine is the 
 most fertile land in the world, and the most de- 
 serted because of bad government."' It was con- 
 tinuallv striving for independence, but was 
 alwavs subject to Poland, or to the Grand Seign- 
 eur of Moscow. At one time it had the right to 
 name its own prince, a right afterward revoked 
 and given to the court at Moscow. Almost a 
 century of changing fortunes after Peter's vic- 
 tory over the Swedes brought the Ukraine and 
 Podolia, in 1795, into final subjection to the Eus- 
 sian Empire. 
 
 It is of this country, this Ukraine, that the last 
 work of the Sienkiewicz Trilogy treats. " Pan 
 Michael " is almost exclusively a story of the 
 steppes. Its theatre of action is the Ukraine 
 and Podolia, those immense plains of southern 
 and western Russia that, at the time of which 
 the novel treats, were a portion of the Polish 
 Commonwealth, extending southward even to the 
 Crimea. 
 
 When summoned to his forlorn-hope task at 
 Kamieniec, the little knight, " Pan Michael,"' was 
 doing frontier guard duty in the L^kraine, at a 
 place called Hreptyov, near the country of the 
 Zaporogian Cossacks. Voltaire tells us that 
 these Zaporogians were " the most strange people 
 on earth,"' a mixture of Russian, Pole, and Tar- 
 tar — " brigands and filibusters, always drunk."' 
 
 208 
 
A VOYAGE OVER THE STEPPES 
 
 They elected their chiefs, and when unpopular, 
 choked them to death. " They admitted no 
 women into their community life, but increased 
 their numbers by stealing children from sur- 
 rounding peoples." Their Oriental, southern 
 origin is emphasised by the fact that (so Sien- 
 kiewicz tells us) Pan Michael took his herds and 
 camels with him to Kamieniec. This was the 
 country where " the little Knight with the 
 wheaten moustaches " dwelt, and in which the re- 
 doubtable Basia slew the Tartars in battle. 
 
 At the time of which the story " Pan Michael " 
 deals these plains were the theatre of stirring 
 events. The Turks had invaded Poland, and So- 
 bieski was sent to guard the southern and eastern 
 frontiers. He defeated the invaders at all points 
 in such short order that the rest of Europe called 
 his exploit " the miraculous campaign." The 
 little knight Wolodyjowski fought valiantly at 
 his side in this campaign. But another Turkish 
 army — 300,000 splendid troops under the ter- 
 rible leader, Mohammed IV. — was advancing. 
 Sobieski had but 6,000 men, and could obtain 
 no reinforcements. Eealising, however, the im- 
 portance of delaying Mohammed's progress, he 
 decided to make a stand at Kamieniec, the 
 chief town of the Podolia. Accordingly he 
 ordered Michael Wolodyjowski to march from 
 his outpost position in the Ukraine and defend 
 Kamieniec. 
 
 209 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 The Hetman knew that he was sending the 
 valiant Pan Michael, " the first soldier of the 
 Commonwealth," to certain death, but he felt 
 that the sacrifice was necessary. Kamieniee fell, 
 despite prodigies of valour by the Poles. 
 
 My Polish friends strongly urged me not to 
 visit Kamieniee. " There is no railroad connec- 
 tion, and you may find difficulty in crossing the 
 frontier, as this is a point seldom visited by 
 travellers.'' But I persisted, leaving Cracow one 
 evening at ten o'clock, by what the Austrians call 
 a ^chnelhiig (fast train), although it made only 
 twenty miles an hour. Early next morning I 
 reached Lemberg, or Lw(5w, as the Poles speak 
 of it. Lemberg is a busy, progressive city of 
 nearly 200,000 inhabitants, the chief city and 
 capital of Galicia. It still shows traces of 
 its siege by the Turks. In the old Jesuit 
 church are preserved cannon balls thrown from 
 Turkish guns, as well as several from the 
 later Swedish bombardments. From Lemberg 
 it is but three hours to Tarnopol, the next point 
 of historic interest. Between these two cities, 
 at Podhorce, is a splendid museum, containing 
 many rare and beautiful relics, particularly of 
 Sobieski. 
 
 Tarnopol has 30,000 inhabitants and is very 
 old. It has a Place Sobieski, and a statue of 
 Mickiewicz. Tarnopol has been in the hands of 
 the Tartars and Cossacks many times. The old 
 
 210 
 
A VOYAGE OYER THE STEPPES 
 
 Riitbeniau church, one of its best preserved an- 
 cient monuments, was three times talj;en by the 
 iloslems. Indeed, on its domes tlie crescents 
 may still be seen, but surmounted by crosses. 
 Tartar influence is visible even in the faces of the 
 peasants, the flat Kalmuck visage being not at all 
 infrequent. 
 
 While tramping the streets that hot July day 
 my attention was attracted by a wheezy, some- 
 what dismal sound, which I soon perceived came 
 from the centre of a small group of peasants. 
 Closer inspection showed that it was a blind beg- 
 gar performing on a lyra, the very instrument 
 with which Zagloba entertained Helena during 
 their flight from Bohun, as is recounted in " With 
 Fire and Sword.'' This lyra is a curious mixture 
 of strings and rods, turned at one end with a 
 crank. It is very far from being musical. 
 
 The next point of interest after Tarnopol is 
 Tremb(5wla. This little town has a very old 
 castle, which, says the legend, was defended 
 against the Turks by a woman until Sobieski 
 came and rescued her. From Trembdwla to 
 Husiatyn. at the terminus of the railroad, and on 
 the frontier between Austria and Russia, our 
 progress was provokingly slow. It was all up 
 grade, and the engine burned only wood. We 
 reached Austrian Husiatyn at half-past eleven. 
 From that hour until half-past two I was crossing 
 the frontier, showing my passport seven times, 
 
 2U 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 warding off •s\-oiild-be Jew interpreters (Eussian 
 and Polish only being spoken here), and gener- 
 ally looking after my luggage. 
 
 It was a blazing hot day. On the bridge over 
 the little stream, the middle of which is the divid- 
 ing line between the domains of Kaiser and Tzar, 
 stood a long line of vehicles — lumber teams, mar- 
 ket waggons, fiacres. After a half-hour's delay at 
 the custom-house, during which the inspector 
 calmly opened and spoiled a box of exposed but 
 undeveloped photographic negatives, I was per- 
 mitted to go on my way. Seated in a very dirty, 
 very rickety waggon, driven by a very unsavoury, 
 unkempt Hebrew, I started — at three o'clock in 
 the afternoon — for Kamieniec, twenty -seven Eng- 
 lish miles' distant. 
 
 I shall never forget that ride of eight hours. 
 Once across the line and into the great 
 plains region, everything — nature and mankind 
 — seemed quite different from anything I had 
 ever seen before. As far as the eye could reach 
 — and far beyond — the vast prairies stretched, 
 undulating now and again, in gentle waves, but 
 immense, treeless, depressing. A feeling of sad- 
 ness involuntarily creeps over one when he travels 
 across these plains, especially for the first time. 
 There is a vast, mysterious, half-hidden sense of 
 power about the landscape that impresses one 
 with a sort of elemental fear of nature. This 
 influence has soaked into and through the Sla- 
 
 212 
 
A VOYAGE OVER THE STEPPES 
 
 vonic nature and made the Slav a poet, a relig- 
 ious devotee, a musician. 
 
 We drove over tremendously wide roads — three 
 hundred feet wide in places. Great herds of 
 beasts — cows, sheep, pigs, goats, chickens, geese, 
 and ducks — all in one company — passed slowly 
 by, driven sometimes by a boy with a long whip 
 or by a stout, bare-legged peasant woman astride 
 of a lithe little Cossack pony. 
 
 The fields on the steppes are cultivated to the 
 highest possible extent — vegetables and grains of 
 all kinds, not merely by the acre, but by the hun- 
 dred, by the thousand acres. The soil is won- 
 derfully rich and productive. It is claimed by 
 Russian statisticians that so rich is this land 
 that, were there only one successful year in ten 
 (supposing nine years' crops to have failed to- 
 tally), the yield of that one year would return a 
 profit on the entire period. And yet, except in 
 a very few cases, the peasants do not profit by 
 this. These sad-eyed, hard-working folk, their 
 Eastern blood showing in the slightly slanted 
 eyes and the turban headdress, are only labour- 
 ers. They own bits of land here and there, it is 
 true, but by no means so generally as in Galicia. 
 Their villages also, a number of which we passed 
 through on the way, are very squalid, in striking 
 contrast to the huts of the Galician peasants. 
 Poverty, bitter poverty, shows everywhere in 
 these villages, especially in those inhabited by 
 
 213 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 the Je-\vs. The huts are generally of mud and 
 thatched with straw, and are destitute of the least 
 semblance of comfort. 
 
 TAvilight came on as we still crawled over the 
 face of the landscape, like a tiny boat on the great 
 ocean. Many things contributed to strengthen 
 this impression of a voyage. Now we would pass 
 a waggonload of tired peasants returning from 
 their labours, now four or five soldiers coming 
 back from some manoeuvre, their white uniforms 
 fairly glistening in the fading light. Now, by 
 the roadside we would discern the gaping ribs of 
 a skeleton — of a cow or a horse — with the ghoul- 
 ish crows sidling in and out of its nude anatomy, 
 stranded there like a marine derelict. On the 
 horizon a speck would appear. Over the gentle 
 rise it would come, a waggon, driven Russian 
 fashion, the three horses abreast, the little bells 
 tinkling musically from the high-arched collar. 
 Its occupant, likely an imposing government 
 official, would lean forward and bow gravely. 
 We would salute like ships speaking each other 
 at sea — two passing specks on the ocean plain. 
 Then, like ships that pass in the night, a silence, 
 and that sweeping-apart sensation as when two 
 swift vessels pass. The red sun dipped below the 
 horizon and a greyness settled over the landscape. 
 From its depths, centuries gone seemed to speak. 
 The shades of Chmielnicki and his Cossacks, of 
 Tugai Bey and his Tartars, all those wild spirits 
 
 214 
 
'J ■= 
 z ^ 
 
 *^ - 
 
 > 
 
 2: 2 
 
 
A VOYAGE OVER THE STEPPES 
 
 of bygone ages, seemed to gather again in the 
 gloaming and again sweep over the plain. The 
 stars came out and fairly burned in the sky, like 
 the points of brilliantly burnished lances levelled 
 at the earth. 
 
 Eleven o'clock brought us to the city, a 
 strangely, weirdly beautiful sight by night. 
 Through a massive stone gate, five centuries old, 
 we lumbered up a steep hill, then down an incline 
 and over a bridge, to the new city. Below us 
 flowed the Smotrycz, a little stream that empties 
 into the Dniester, and divides the city into two 
 parts. From far beneath, at the river's bank, to 
 the heights above, the town arose, tier upon tier, 
 its lights gleaming fitfully, the walls like a black 
 belt at the base. 
 
 After some difficulty, owing to the fact that I 
 spoke no Eussian, and no one in Kamieniec 
 seemed to speak anything else, I secured a room 
 at a fairly comfortable hotel. Then, having sat- 
 isfactorily passed the examination usually im- 
 posed upon guests at hotels in eastern Europe, as 
 to my purpose in coming to Kamieniec, how long 
 I intended to stay, the personal habits of all my 
 ancestors and the rest of the questions, being very 
 much fatigued, I was about to retire, when the 
 beautiful moon tempted me to the window. 
 
 The view was almost like a scene out of the 
 Arabian Nights. It was the moon of the Orient 
 — large, full, of mellow light. A fine white build- 
 
 215 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 ing on the opposite height — a seminary for Ortho- 
 dox priests — loomed up like a mass of silver. 
 In the street below, lit by the fitful glare of 
 petroleum lamps, a motley, picturesque throng 
 passed and repassed, slowly, languidly, revelling 
 in the slight coolness which the night brought. 
 Kamieniec is only about fifty miles from the Eou- 
 manian border, and less than two hundred miles 
 from the Black Sea. It comes rightfully, there- 
 fore, by its Oriental characteristics. 
 
 Long-cloaked, long-bearded Jews; bare-footed, 
 bare-headed girls with Egyptian faces, filleted 
 hair and great pendent earrings of brass; Eu- 
 thenian peasants; gigantic Kirghiz with Astra- 
 chan caps ; beautiful Jewesses of the demi-monde, 
 in costumes a la mode de Pai'is: Russian soldiers 
 in the white tunic, black trousers, high boots, and 
 the cap that is known from Warsaw to Yladivos- 
 tock; Cossacks on horseback; gorgeously uni- 
 formed, pompous generals in white, with red and 
 gold facings to their splendid attire, in ba- 
 rouches, fiacres, landaus, or the ubiquitous 
 droschky, driven by barbarous ilongolian-looking 
 cockers; long-gowned, long-haired Schismat 
 priests; gypsies, Turks, and many other perfectly 
 nondescript types, gathered from the four corners 
 of the globe, slowly defiled before me. It was 
 such a sight as stamps itself photographically on 
 the memory for all time. 
 
 The next morning I made a tour of the town. 
 
 216 
 
A VOYAGE OYER THE STEPPES 
 
 With the aid of an Israelite who spoke a little 
 German I succeeded in identifying the chief 
 points of historic and present-dav interest. The 
 old castle which Pan Michael partially blew up 
 still stands, now doing duty as a Eussian bar- 
 racks. It was built in 1585, by the great Polish 
 king, Stefan Batory. Here it was that the 
 Turks, triumphing over all the heroism of the 
 Polish artillery, entered Kamieniec. Bits of the 
 old fortifications, particularly towers and wall, 
 with embrasures for cannon, may be seen scat- 
 tered about, thickest on the river front. The 
 convent in which Basia was imprisoned during 
 the siege still stands on the old square. It has 
 been somewhat restored, although much dilapi- 
 dated at the present time. The cathedral of the 
 Armenians, which Sienkiewicz tells us was on 
 fire during the siege, is in a fair state of preser- 
 vation. 
 
 The Kamieniec Jew, who is a large element in 
 the population of the town to-day, is omnipresent. 
 He sits on the street and smokes his thin little 
 cigarette, while his half-naked wife and children 
 sprawl in the roadway. It may be said that, in 
 general, abject, grinding poverty is his lot. He 
 sits before his little booth, selling his onions, 
 stale eggs, potatoes, small bread, peas, parsley, 
 hard little pears, and other fruits unknown to 
 the Anglo-Saxon palate. His countenance bears 
 the stamp of listless despair. What is there to 
 
 217 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AIMONG NATIONS 
 
 live for? Like the worldly Jew in Kingslev's 
 "Hvpatia," lie has carefully weighed life in the 
 balance of pro and con, and is facing the terrible 
 conviction that it is not worth the living. Yet, 
 he dare not end it. Despite all his woes, he re- 
 mains uncompromisingly orthodox. By impe- 
 rial ukase he is forbidden to wear the corkscrew 
 side curls that are the darling of his brother in 
 the Kazimierz of Cracow. But he retains his 
 long cloak and his long beard, and his children 
 learn to recite the prayers according to the rit- 
 ual, rocking to and fro as they drone out the 
 words with seemingly endless repetition. 
 
 Kamieniec-Podolsk (to distinguish it from the 
 other Kamieniec, which is in Lithuania) has a 
 population of 40,000, and is a " government "' 
 town. That is, it is the centre of the Eussian 
 " government," or province of Podolia. Modern 
 material progress is very backward in Kamien- 
 iec. The rapid but uneven development of the 
 Empire makes possible the anomaly of a city 
 of this size with no railroad nearer than 
 twenty-seven miles, and that in another country. 
 The first railroad station in Eussia is a very 
 small one, thirty-five miles distant on the line 
 between Odessa and Kiev. When I visited it 
 Kamieniec had no street-ears, no electric lights, 
 and all the transportation is by waggon, a costly 
 method, resulting in extremely high hotel rates. 
 The modern city covers a very large territory, 
 
 218 
 
A VOYAGE OVER THE STEPPES 
 
 and the new part of the town shows some signs 
 of progress. There has recently been completed 
 a large, handsome theatre. There is also a fine 
 park, with a boulevard running through it, and 
 here every Sunday military music is rendered. 
 Along the river front there is a pleasant, popu- 
 lar sylvan promenade. 
 
 Kamieniec, being a " government town," is full 
 of soldiers. At all hours of the day and night 
 all sorts of representatives of the motley army 
 of the Tzar may be seen on the streets, from the 
 common soldier who tramps on foot to the re- 
 splendent general who rides in his elegant ba- 
 rouche. It was my fortune to see there 3,000 
 Cossacks of the Don on horseback. With their 
 long robes, small swords slung across the breasts, 
 and their round fur caps pulled down over their 
 burned visages, these superb riders made a very 
 picturesque spectacle. 
 
 The wall that Pan Michael and his knights 
 defended against the Turks can still be seen, 
 although almost entirely dismantled. I ap- 
 proached the entrance to the tower, now a bar- 
 racks. Xo one objecting, much to my surprise, 
 I entered. So I crossed the courtyard and peered 
 out of a cannon embrasure, out upon the river 
 flowing far below. It was at this point that the 
 Turkish envoys, having seen the white flags which 
 had been raised over the Ruska gate (the bulk of 
 this gate remains to-day) by the faint-hearted 
 
 219 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 among the besieged, stood and demanded the sur- 
 render of the garrison. 
 
 "And what of Kamieniec?" asked the little 
 knight. 
 
 " It shall go to the Sultan for ages and ages." 
 WolodTJowski's reply was to blow up the tower. 
 
 " y/c to " — it is nothing — this was the message 
 he sent to poor Basia, praying in the old convent 
 in the square. " A'/c to.'' This had been the con- 
 certed signal to her of his death. She was to say 
 to herself, •' yic to.'' (It is nothing.) 
 
 The Turks brought the body of the little knight 
 to Sobieski, and it was buried in the church at 
 Stanislaw. " Thus died Wolodyjo-^-ski, the Hec- 
 tor of Kamieniec, the first soldier of the Com- 
 monwealth." 
 
 220 
 
XII 
 
 WHAT POLAND OWES TO HER WOMEN 
 
 IF the Polish eagle has never yet been tamed ; 
 if it bears its captivity and its wounds, but 
 refuses to become domesticated, it is because 
 the Polish women have nursed it and kept before 
 it the scent of the upper air and the love of 
 liberty. If no prescription has as yet been dis- 
 covered for making a Russian or a German out 
 of a Pole, it is because the Polish women have 
 kept the fountain head of the national life pure 
 and incorruptible. If Polish soldiers of all ages 
 have fought in the ranks of all the armies of the 
 world against the hosts of tyranny, it has not 
 been because they were bred soldiers, but because 
 with their mothers' milk they drank in patriot- 
 ism; because the Polish mothers sang into their 
 very lullabies the love of liberty and fatherland, 
 that will never die out of the Polish heart. No 
 people can ever be lost when its women place 
 patriotism above their own comfort and pleas- 
 ure, above everything else they hold dear. While 
 there is a single Polish woman living, it is truly 
 "Jeszcze Polska nie zginela" — "Poland is not 
 yet lost." 
 
 221\ 
 
POLAND: THE KXIGHT A:M0XG NATIONS 
 
 In all ciyilised countries it is the women who 
 give the tone to society. This is especially true 
 in Poland, where social gatherings are very fre- 
 quent. From politics the Pole has been largely 
 debarred. He has, therefore, much more time 
 and energy for social life. What is more, no 
 social assembly in Poland, no festivity of any 
 kind, is complete without the presence of women. 
 This is, perhaps, one reason for their immense 
 influence in every phase of Polish life. If the 
 Polish men are a strong, courteous, patriotic 
 race, they owe it principally to the inspiration of 
 their women and constant association with them. 
 If the Polish language is still a living, growing 
 force, despite all attempts to crush it out, this is 
 due, in a large measure, to the patriotism of 
 Polish mothers, who undo in the home, even be- 
 fore it is done, all that " Germanisation "' and 
 " Eussification " can devise. 
 
 Polish women have been called frivolous and 
 changeable, but they have certainly been con- 
 stant enough to Poland. Russia has often tried 
 to draw them off from their patriotic allegiance 
 by playing on their well-known love of the dance 
 and pleasure, but the Polish women have always 
 placed patriotism above enjoyment. Such small 
 matters as going into mourning all over the Com- 
 monwealth when Warsaw was under the reign 
 of terror, and giving up dancing, of which they 
 are so passionately fond, are of too frequent oc- 
 
WHAT POLAND OWES TO HER W0:MEN 
 
 cnrrcnce to mention. And it is not a negative 
 patriotism, either. Frederick the Great once 
 said, '' In Poland the women attend to politics 
 while the men get drunk." This was an unin- 
 tentional compliment to the mentality of the 
 Polish women, for is it not only an inferior 
 woman who despises politics? 
 
 Polish women have always charmed foreigners, 
 as well as their own countryman. Madame 
 Hariska captivated Balzac; ilarya Leszczynska 
 won the crown of France because she fascinated 
 Louis XV., and it was a Polish woman, the he- 
 roic Madame Walewska, of whom Napoleon is 
 reported to have said : " She was the only woman 
 I ever really loved.'' Even the Teutonic tribute 
 is not lacking. Bismarck once admitted that he 
 would rather have two regiments of hussars op- 
 posed to him than one Polish woman ; the latter 
 would cause him more trouble by her fascina- 
 tions. 
 
 It is a fact that the most persistent scof- 
 fer at the cause of Poland becomes an advo- 
 cate of Polish independence after he has come 
 under the charm of the Polish women. Russian 
 officers stationed in " the Kingdom " are forbid- 
 den, I have been told, to participate to any great 
 extent in the social life of Warsaw. The charm 
 of Polish drawing-rooms and the magnetism of 
 Poland's daughters might weaken their alle- 
 giance. Moreover, it is always a Polish family 
 
 223 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 that follows upon the marriage of a Eussian or a 
 German with a woman of Poland. 
 
 Heroism and self-sacrifice is the verdict of 
 history on the Polish woman for a thousand 
 years. The first one of her race to shine out of 
 the mists of myth and legend is Wanda, daugh- 
 ter of Krakus, who drowned herself in the Vis- 
 tula to save her country from the Germans. It 
 was so even with foreign princesses who married 
 Poles. A Bohemian princess married King 
 Mieczyslaw in order to convert him and his peo- 
 ple to Christianity. Kunegunda, a Hungarian 
 princess, gave her dowry to her husband, Boles- 
 law II., to help save Poland from the Tartars. 
 
 Queen Jadwiga Is one of the saintly characters 
 of all history. This granddaughter of Kazimierz 
 the Great was crowned queen at the tender age 
 of thirteen. She had been engaged in marriage 
 by her mother to William, Prince of Austria, 
 whom she loved with all the strength of her 
 young heart. As queen, however, she was sup- 
 posed to sacrifice everything to the welfare of 
 her country, and, at the price of her life's hap- 
 piness, she married Jagiello, a Lithuanian prince, 
 to convert him to the Christian faith and to join 
 Lithuania and Poland. Jagiello was old enough 
 to be her father. He was illiterate, rough, of 
 suspicious nature, and he made her life a burden, 
 constantly accusing her of infidelity. Several 
 times she was obliged to publicly clear herself 
 
 224, 
 
WHAT rOLAND OWES TO HER WOMEN 
 
 of these charges. She was the patroness of learn- 
 ing and literature, and, with the money obtained 
 by selling her jewels, she liberally endowed the 
 Academy of Cracow. The Pope called her the 
 chosen daughter of the Church, and foreign 
 princes often came many miles to see one re- 
 puted so holy. 
 
 Then there was Chrzanowska, who defended 
 Trembdwla against the Turks. With her own 
 hand she loaded and aimed the cannon and 
 threatened to kill her husband and herself if he 
 yielded, until, finally, Sobieski came to her res- 
 cue. Claudia Potocka and Emilia Szczaniecka, 
 during the revolution of 1831, gave up their im- 
 mense fortunes to the Polish cause, nursed the 
 sick and wounded on field and in hospital, and 
 sealed their patriotic devotion by exile to Siberia. 
 Other women, like Emilia Plater and Antonina 
 Tomaszewska, fought on the field as soldiers, led 
 regiments, and died in battle for their country. 
 Indeed, the Polish women, while remaining in- 
 tensely feminine, have always done their duty 
 like men, joining conspiracies and following their 
 husbands into exile without a murmur. 
 
 One of the inalienable privileges of the Polish 
 man is that of losing his head. His enthusiasm 
 has a way of running away with him. This, of 
 course, is apt to be dangerous. It is always safe, 
 however, and may be pardoned when he loses it 
 to the Polish woman. In that case, the heart 
 
 225 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 usually goes with it. She will keep the head well 
 balanced and well braked-in for him. 
 
 The masculine Pole believes himself an auto- 
 crat, and, to all appearances, he is one. But, 
 like all womanly women, the whole world over, 
 the Polish woman steers the Polish man. Xot as 
 the American woman steers the American man, 
 mind you. The masculine Pole is not, by any 
 means, so meek as his American brother. He 
 stands on his manly rights and persists in losing 
 his head frequently, despite all his women folk 
 can do to prevent it. He is always the real, the 
 acknowledged head of the family, and nothing; 
 pleases him so much as to see his family, espe- 
 cially his wife and daughters, happy. He will 
 spare himself no pains, no toil, no risk, to accom- 
 plish this; but generally they must be happy in 
 the way he prescribes — in which he is not, it must 
 be confessed, as indulgent a husband as the 
 American man. It is the Slav temperament, in 
 which is deeply grounded the patriarchal idea ol 
 masculine authority. 
 
 This masculine authority is still a sacred thing 
 with the Poles, although there are " new women "" 
 among them who are beginning to rebel just a 
 little. " How is it," I asked a young married 
 lady of Warsaw, " the Polish women have ex- 
 erted a splendid and powerful influence on the 
 history of the nation — perhaps a more powerful 
 one than the women of any other nation can 
 
 226 
 
WHAT POLAND OWES TO HER WOjMEX 
 
 boast — and jet tliej certainly do seem to be sub- 
 missive enough to their lords and masters? How 
 do you account for it?" She smiled signifi- 
 cantly. " Oh, our men are, in that respect, like 
 the whole masculine tribe. We make of them 
 pretty much what we will, only, of course, they 
 don't always realise it in the process. And then, 
 you know," she added, " we have more chances 
 at them, perhaps, than the women of most other 
 nationalities have at their men. AYe see them 
 oftener.'' 
 
 The Polish woman is almost always a good 
 housekeeper. No, a larger word is needed. She 
 is a splendid presider over a household. Things 
 are done in such a large way in Poland. It is a 
 large-hearted race, and the life on the large es- 
 tates, which finds ready at hand and in such large 
 quantities what the French woman, the German 
 hausfrau, even the American housewife, must 
 needs go out to purchase in bits, besides the 
 multitude of widely differing duties, with many 
 servants to manage — all these have given the 
 Polish woman a firm grasp on not only the fun- 
 damentals of household economics, but also on 
 their minutiae. She has perfected housekeeping 
 into homekeeping, and made of it an exquisite 
 art. 
 
 Although she loves the social joys, the Polish 
 woman is a tireless worker — particularly on the 
 estates. Yet she has almost always mastered 
 
 227 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 the accomplishments, as well as the ordinary 
 equipment, of life. She generally speaks two or 
 three languages, and is a good conversationalist. 
 Did I say mastered? I should have said mis- 
 tresscd. One of the chief charms of the Polish 
 woman is her intense womanliness. This, no 
 doubt, is the real secret of her influence over her 
 mankind. In social gatherings she does not ex- 
 actly scintillate as the American girl does, but 
 her presence has a quiet, all-pervading charm 
 from which none can escape. Always a musical 
 voice, graceful carriage, magnetic, sympathetic, 
 womanly intuition, a quick response to ideal- 
 istic thought, she seems to possess that indefin- 
 able charm that a'n'&kes the chivalry in men 
 and inspires them to noble, patriotic deeds. But 
 this is only another way of saying that she has a 
 very large measure of the eternal feminine, which 
 forever draws mankind onward. 
 
 The Polish woman is, however, still a Euro- 
 pean. This means that she has not yet quite at- 
 tained to the stature of social freedom which has 
 been reached by her American sister. The chap- 
 eron has not yet become a qitantite nef/ligihic in 
 Poland. The chaperon is primarily a European 
 institution, having its origin in the general as- 
 sumption that mankind is a sort of ravening 
 wolf, whose principal object in life is to prey 
 upon womankind. Of course, if you put it in 
 this way to a European man, he will shrug his 
 
 228 
 
WHAT POLAND OWES TO HER WOMEN 
 
 shoulders, and, perhaps, make some reference to 
 the boldness he has heard is the result of the free- 
 dom allowed la jeune Americainc. Or, perhaps, 
 he will admit that it is, after all, merely a matter 
 of convention and custom. The possibility of a 
 young man escorting a young woman to a theatre 
 in the evening without attempting, or at least 
 contemplating, undue familiarity, is — well, it 
 does not occur to the European. The close asso 
 elation, frank friendship, and, at the same time, 
 chivalrous respect of the American man for the 
 American girl the European cannot understand 
 This, however, is European, and not characteris 
 tically Polish. 
 
 The chaperon is still necessary in Poland, how 
 ever, or, at least, the presence of a third party, 
 I remember that one afternoon a young lady 
 called at the estate in Galicia where I was a 
 guest. She had walked quite alone from a neigh- 
 bouring estate, about two miles away, and noth- 
 ing was thought of it. The afternoon passed 
 pleasantly, and darkness came on before we real- 
 ised it. It so happened that the horses of the 
 estate were all out, and, as the young lady could 
 not be driven home, as strict etiquette demanded, 
 I offered to escort her, as I would have done in 
 America. After some hesitation on the part of 
 my hostess and consultation with the young lady 
 herself, I was permitted to do so. A young peas- 
 ant lad, however, was sent to chaperon us. He 
 
 229 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 could not understand me, nor I him; in fact, be 
 would not have presumed to address either of us. 
 But he was a third party, and that was sufficient. 
 Custom was satisfied. 
 
 A rather amusing illustration of the chaperon 
 idea and the tenacity with which the Galician 
 Poles cling to the old social traditions, came to 
 my notice one day in Cracow. A fine old landed 
 proprietor had come in from his estate, accom- 
 panied by his two daughters, unmarried ladies, 
 each of them having seen more than half a cen- 
 tury of summers. The maidens desired to leave 
 their hotel one morning to attend church service. 
 The church was less than a block off, but, as the 
 father, for some reason or other, could not ac- 
 company them, and there was no one else present 
 who was known to the family, the virgins were 
 not permitted to attend service. " Why, Be- 
 buska [Baby],'' exclaimed the careful parent to 
 the one wlio pouted at such restraint, " surely 
 you, a maiden lady, would not be seen on the 
 street without a chaperon! Some rude man 
 might look at you." This, of course, was an ex- 
 treme case, but an actual one. The Polish 
 woman, however, is gradually emancipating her- 
 self from the chaperon. Many evidences of this 
 can be seen in Warsaw, where admiration is 
 openly expressed for the American idea of greater 
 freedom of association between the sexes. 
 
 It would be difficult to exaggerate the beauty 
 
 230 
 
WHAT POLAND OWES TO HER WOMEN 
 
 of luanT of the Polish women, from the peasant 
 to the society lady. Many of the lower class 
 women are, of course, of the ordinary type, but 
 some are of a dark, olive complexion, with full, 
 rich features and abundant hair, and there is 
 often a fire in the eyes that reminds one of the 
 Italian face. Much of the great influence ex- 
 erted by the Polish women is, no doubt, due to 
 their charm of face and form. Many are slender 
 and delicate, with pale complexion and bright 
 dark eyes, but the majority are of the true Slav, 
 with soft blond hair and eyes of blue. But really 
 a pencil, not a pen, is required to sketch the type, 
 which is a refined and intellectual one. Art 
 lovers will remember the painting of the famous 
 Countess Potocka, which is such a favourite in 
 our galleries and parlours. 
 
 2S1 
 
XIII 
 
 THE POLISH PEASANT AND THE 
 FUTUEE OF POLAND 
 
 WHEN one of the emperors of the later 
 '• Holy Roman Empire "' ascended the 
 imperial throne, he quickly realised 
 that the thin, feeble life of his line needed im- 
 mediate invigoration, or it would be extin- 
 guished. He then braved the opposition of his 
 court and married a peasant woman. In her he 
 saw the strong red blood, the vigour of the rude, 
 clean stock, near to nature, the infusion of Avhich 
 into the royal family was its only hope of re- 
 demption. He had realised one of the great 
 truths of biology. And what is true of a family 
 is true of a nation. 
 
 Polish leaders are beginning to recognise that 
 law of social and political, as well as of physical, 
 evolution which ordains that prouress proceeds 
 from the simple to the complex ; that social and 
 national regeneration comes upward from the 
 lower orders, and never downward from the aris- 
 tocrat to the peasant. It is now believed in Po- 
 land that the progress of the race and its political 
 regeneration — if that ever comes — will probably, 
 
 232 
 
THE POLISH PEASANT 
 
 if not certainly, come from tlie peasant. The 
 Polish aristocrat, subtle, refined, and sympa- 
 thetic as he is, is probably already too effete to 
 bring about national transformation. He is cer- 
 tainly not practical enough, and really, if the 
 truth must be told, he often lacks the patriotism ! 
 The peasant, however, is patriotism personi- 
 fied. He has responded nobly to every call of 
 his country in her hour of need. In the insur- 
 rection of Kosciuszko he cheerfully left his field, 
 and, armed only with his scythe, he went forth 
 to battle. He has been as responsive ever since. 
 He is the most common-sense, practical peasant 
 in the world. " The common sense of the peas- 
 ant " has become a national proverb. He is self- 
 respecting, independent, strong, and usually 
 moral, temperate, and cheerful. It must be con- 
 fessed that when he emigrates he loses some of 
 these good qualities. He is also apt to be unruly, 
 but unruliness is in the Polish blood. His coun- 
 try recognises his potential worth, and loses no 
 opportunity to show that it likes him. When- 
 ever he appears on a public occasion, as each 
 year in the procession of Corpus Christi, or at 
 special events, such as the University celebra- 
 tions of 1900, in Cracow, he always wins most of 
 the applause. He is the hope of his race. Polish 
 aspirations for a redeemed national existence, 
 it is come to be believed, must proceed from the 
 marriage, in council and life, of the intellect of 
 
 233 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 the nation with the rude but sturdy, healthy 
 peasant stock. 
 
 The Polish peasant is. first of all, a tiller of 
 the soil. He lives by agriculture, and all his 
 measures are those of the wheat field. Poland 
 itself is primarily a land of plains, and its three 
 grand divisions are essentially agricultural in 
 their interests. 
 
 A Polish peasant village is a sight to make an 
 artist's heart rejoice with exceeding great joy. A 
 more picturesque scene than one of these villages 
 on a Sunday or holiday evening it would be diffi- 
 cult to find the world over. What is it that gives 
 the rich artistic quality to the atmosphere in Po- 
 land, toning down all contrasts, and subduing ex- 
 tremes, so that colours which would be absolutely 
 " impossible '' in the fierce sunlight of America 
 seem perfectly natural in Galicia and Warsaw — 
 even necessary to fully round out the landscape? 
 The only neutral tints are those of the thatched 
 huts. The garments of the men and women, par- 
 ticularly those of the women, fairly blossom with 
 vivid colour. The peasant hut is, in itself and 
 alone, very picturesque. Put twenty or thirty 
 of these in close proximity, separated only by 
 the little kitchen or flower-garden, add a few trees 
 and a group or two of peasants in their many- 
 coloured raiment, and you forget all about the 
 mud in the road, the grunting of the pigs, and 
 the strongly unpleasant odour that assails your 
 
 234i 
 
THE POLISH PEASANT 
 
 nostrils. The houses themselves are of stone or 
 boards plastered over with mud, which after- 
 ward receives a coat of whitewash, sometimes 
 taking on a bluish tinge. The slant roof is 
 thatched and mud-covered, and over the mud is 
 laid straw, upon which often grows moss, so that 
 a peasant's hut, crowned with green-growing 
 moss, is a frequent picturesque addition to the 
 landscape. In Russia the peasants' houses have 
 scarcely any decoration. In Galicia there is an 
 attempt at art. The painting is generally crude, 
 but occasionally there is some decoration evi- 
 dently intended, though its meaning is very dif- 
 ficult to decipher. In one instance, however, this 
 decoration has a special, deliberate significance. 
 When there is a marriageable daughter in the 
 house, the lintel of the door and the window sur- 
 roundings are ornamented with little irregular 
 bands and rude, conventionalised designs of 
 colour, which is a sign to the marriageable young 
 man that inside, if he will, he may find a wife. 
 
 The interior of the house is usually divided 
 into two rooms, in most cases separated by the 
 main entrance. In one room the whole family 
 live, eat, and sleep ; in the other, dwelling in more 
 or less noisy contentment, are the cows, pigs, 
 geese, and chickens. The great brick or stone 
 stove is the most conspicuous feature of the in- 
 terior. It frequently serves as a bed during the 
 cold winter nights. 
 
 235 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 The peasant lives simply. The vegetables 
 that he raises in his garden furnish all his food, 
 except on holidavs and at weddings, when he 
 permits himself a bit of meat. Potatoes are his 
 great staple, but he is also fond of cabbage, beets, 
 and beans, and he occasionally grows some corn. 
 Of the cabbage he makes soups and pressed 
 cakes. He has also a thick grain porridge, known 
 as kaszia, and he likes especially a soup made of 
 red beets and known as barszcz. This is really 
 excellent. Most of his produce he uses himself, 
 but some he sells in the city markets. 
 
 In summer he usually dresses in a thin linen 
 shirt and trousers, home-made, and to this, in 
 winter, he adds a sheepskin coat or serdak, with 
 the fleece turned inside. He goes barefooted most 
 of the time, and frequently bareheaded, also, al- 
 though he likes to wear an old battered felt hat. 
 
 And the women! What a medley of colour I 
 Eed, yellow, blue, green, silver, and gold, with 
 laces and coral about the neck or in the hair. 
 The patterns and styles defy description. Some 
 of the girls are handsome enough for a painting. 
 The gdrali, or mountain peasants of the Carpa- 
 thians, have a particularly picturesque dress, and 
 the simple yet impressive dignity of their car- 
 riage adds greatly to their picturesqueness. 
 These gdrali are straight, tall, and lithe, with 
 swarthy complexions and straight hair, which 
 makes them strongly resemble the North Ameri- 
 
 236 
 
THE POLISH PEASANT 
 
 can Indian type. Such costumes I You will no- 
 tice many a handsome fellow tramping along the 
 road, his long white cloak partly drawn together 
 over his shoulders and held by a coloured ribbon 
 across the chest. He knows he is good-looking, 
 but his is such a clean, clear-eyed, manly, and 
 contented type that you quite forgive him for the 
 touch of vanity. 
 
 Many of the women have the dark, rich Slav 
 type of beauty. But they age very quickly, and 
 soon become withered old crones. One of these 
 young women, clad in her tight-fitting black velvet 
 bodice, richly ornamented, with her headkorchief 
 of brilliant parti-coloured silk, is a sight for a 
 Titian. She is accustomed to go barefooted, even 
 on the way to church. But on this occasion she 
 carries over her shoulder her heavy black top- 
 boots, with their curious, small, high French 
 heels, and, on entering the church, she puts them 
 on. Why should she wear them out unnecessa- 
 rily, when her feet are used to the stones of the 
 mountain road? She frequently wears a red 
 coral necklace that costs up in the hundreds of 
 dollars, and she has been known to have her 
 whole dowry in this neck ornament. 
 
 There is an inborn courtesy and poetic sensi- 
 bility about these children of nature that is 
 very beautiful. When a peasant meets you he 
 always removes his hat and says : " ISliech hendzie 
 pochicalony Jesus Chrystus." (" Blessed be the 
 
 237 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 Lord Jesus Christ.") The reply is: " Xa iricJc I 
 iciekdiD." . ("For ages and ages."") 
 
 Since the middle of the past century the cor- 
 vee, or task work, has been abolished in Poland, 
 and from that time the work of the peasants on 
 the estates has been the result of a free contract. 
 Their relations to the nobility and estate pro- 
 prietors are generally good and helpful. In gen- 
 eral, the peasants are well treated, and they know 
 it. Some of the proprietors complain that they 
 are losing their old-time respectful manners, and, 
 with the modern ideas of democracy, are acquir- 
 ing an offensive manner of independence. This 
 is, perhaps, more noticeable in Galicia than 
 elsewhere. 
 
 Peasant village life is simple and regular. The 
 head man, known as the wdjt, is a sort of justice 
 of the peace and president of the council com- 
 bined. He is selected by the peasants themselves, 
 and is looked to by the higher authorities as the 
 responsible man in the community. Each peas- 
 ant owns a bit of land. The holdings are divided 
 up among the children of the household, and this 
 tends to make them smaller with each succeed- 
 ing generation. Some holdings, however, are 
 still comparatively large— twelve morgi, or about 
 twenty-four acres, being not uncommon. The 
 few who are without their own piece 0/ 
 ground are called kormoruiki (from komora— 
 room). They have to room with strangers, and 
 
 238 
 
THE POLISH PEASANT 
 
 are looked down upon by the other peasants. 
 Their greatest wish is to have their own bit of 
 land, and nothing can make up for the lack of 
 it — not even money. 
 
 The lot of the women is hard. As among all 
 original Slav races, the Polish woman of the 
 lower classes has not yet emerged from the physi- 
 cal and mental slavery of former ages. Among 
 the Polish peasants, as among the Russians, she 
 is valued chiefly for the work she can do and for 
 the number of children she can bear. What little 
 freedom and happiness she has ceases after mar- 
 riage, and a peasant woman, old, stooped, and 
 haggard at twenty, with a heavy, stupid child in 
 her arms, wearily tramping the muddy road of 
 some village, or driving the cows afield in the 
 pelting rain, is a sight to personify " dull care,'' 
 a typical " woman with the hoe." There are a 
 few bright spots in her life; at least one bright 
 spot, and that is the day upon which she marries. 
 She is wooed with much the same ardour as is 
 her more favoured sister. Perhaps her husband 
 really does love her, but, if he does, he certainly 
 shows it in a queer way. 
 
 A wedding among the Krakowiaks — peasants 
 of the vicinity of Cracow — is a very picturesque 
 ceremony. I remember one very pretty occasion 
 which is worth describing. Early one morning 
 there was a great ringing of bells and clatter 
 of horsehoofs in front of the manor house. 
 
 239 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 Investigation revealed four tall, handsome peas- 
 ant boys, mounted on spirited chargers, dressed 
 in gorgeous costumes of red and black, with hats 
 decorated fantastically with peacock plumes. 
 These were the best men, or " druzbdwie," who 
 had come to invite the young ladies of the manor 
 to the wedding. It was decided that we should 
 all go, as this is customary among the Poles. 
 
 On our way to the country church where the 
 ceremony was to be performed we passed the 
 thatched home of the bride-to-be, around which 
 was gathered the whole village, in gala attire, 
 some on horseback, some standing in groups on 
 the road, others in doorways, while laughter, 
 singing, and bell-ringing were heard on every 
 side. The sister of the bride, in her rainbow- 
 coloured costume, came running out. her face all 
 wreathed in smiles, holding a bottle of wine in 
 one hand and a glass in the other. We must 
 drink the bride's health. It seemed like a scene 
 out of a play. By the side of the carriage the 
 peasant band played its merriest tunes, while 
 the bride and her whole family knelt and kissed 
 the hands of the party from the manor. One 
 young peasant boy begged for the honour of 
 climbing up by the coachman, and once installed 
 there, enlivened the rest of the drive by singing 
 at the top of his fresh young voice all the songs 
 he could think of. The old custom of bearing 
 away the bride still persists. This one was 
 
 240 
 

 
 s 
 
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 9 
 
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THE POLISH PEASANT 
 
 seized by the groom's people and bundled into 
 her carriage (a rough basket affair), all the 
 while bathed in tears — that is, she pretended to 
 be. It is, of course, one of the forms of etiquette 
 for a bride to cry. The whole cavalcade then 
 moved on with two of the " best men " preceding 
 and two bringing up the rear. What a clatttT 
 we made ! 
 
 After the church ceremony, which was very 
 simple, and during which we sat in the one pew 
 while the peasants knelt with bowed heads on 
 the floor, we drove again to the bride's home. 
 She would have it that we enter for a few mo- 
 ments. In the scrupulously clean living-rooms 
 we again drank the health of the newly-married 
 pair, and then adjourned to the next room, where 
 the band was playing, and the space cleared for 
 dancing. Everything seemed perfectly natural 
 to the Poles present, but my surprise may be im- 
 agined when four gaily-dressed peasant youths 
 came up and bowed to the young ladies of the 
 estate, asking for the honour of a dance. It was 
 impossible to refuse, as the peasant knights were 
 models of grace and respect. This is an accepted 
 custom. When a peasant marriage takes place 
 the master of the village and the young ladies of 
 the manor are invited to attend the dance. The 
 gentleman of the house always dances with the 
 bride, and the ladies with the peasant men. 
 
 After the dance our carriage was escorted 
 
 2il 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 home, and in the afternoon the newly-married 
 pair, with the best men and the bridegroom, came 
 to receive the best wishes of the estate and to 
 have their photographs taken. 
 
 These peasants are never really common, and, 
 even when brought in close touch with them, 
 there is no coarseness or vulgarity to be noticed. 
 They have no slang in their language — until they 
 come to America — and they are even poetical in 
 some of their expressions. 
 
 Harvest is the gala time of the year. There is 
 fulness and plenty and happiness everywhere, 
 and this is shown even in the customs of the 
 fields. In Ruthenia they have a very pretty and 
 picturesque way of celebrating " harvest home." 
 After the wheat or rye has been gathered in, the 
 reapers, by vote, pick out the prettiest girl among 
 them. They all twine a wreath of flowers and 
 put it on her head. She is given two brides- 
 maids, who are also decked with flowers, and the 
 whole company marches to the manor, singing 
 and merrymaking. There the lady of the house 
 takes the wreath from the girl's head, gives her 
 a piece of money, and all go off, singing, to the 
 village inn, where, by the muniflcence of the gen- 
 tleman, they partake of liquid refreshments to 
 their hearts' content. 
 
 The Polish peasant is not exactly bright intel- 
 lectually. What peasant is? He is slow in 
 thought, but far from being a clod like his Eus- 
 
 242 
 
THE POLISH PEASANT 
 
 sian brother. The Polish peasant gets a little 
 schooling, and the upper classes are now bend- 
 ing their energies to give him more, recognising 
 the fact that, if the peasant is the nation's hope, 
 it is a better investment for the future to make 
 him worthy of the great task and opportunity 
 before him than to give large and indiscriminate 
 gifts to charity. In Kussia it has been a penal 
 offence to teach a Polish peasant anything in 
 Polish, and many difficulties have been put in the 
 way of teaching him anything at all, in any 
 language. In Prussia he may be taught, but, as 
 the instruction must be in German, the poor 
 peasant, who has scarcely enough natural capac- 
 ity to grasp the elements of his own tongue, learns 
 but very little when abstruse subjects are pre- 
 sented to him in a language of which he is en- 
 tirely ignorant. 
 
 In Galicia attempts are made to give him 
 systematic instruction. Of religious training 
 and drill he receives a great deal. While in 
 Zbaraz I visited a school for peasant children. 
 Its sessions were held in a rustic little one-room 
 building with the conventional thatched roof. 
 The walls of this room, instead of being hung 
 with geographical maps, charts, and other educa- 
 tional paraphernalia, were almost literally 
 covered with portraits of Kaiser Franz Joseph, 
 the late Kaiserin Elizabeth and Prince Eudolph, 
 and many different varieties of Catholic religious 
 
 243 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 pictures. Sprigs of evergreen and little bunches 
 of field flowers gave a natural country air to the 
 place. The room, which was, perhaps, fifty by 
 fifty feet, contained one hundred and fifty-one 
 scholars, boys and girls, Polish and Ruthenian, 
 crowded so closely that one benchful in front 
 had to sit down all together, else all could not 
 have found room. 
 
 The youngsters were from three to twelve years 
 of age, all barefoot and bareheaded, the boys in 
 long, baggy, mud-colored linen shirt and trou- 
 sers, the girls in the most brilliant of colours. 
 The best pupils were called up to stand in the 
 front row for examination. The village priest, 
 who was the teacher, made them recite the cate- 
 chism for my benefit, which they did in the most 
 sing-song and unintelligible fashion. Each one 
 joined in the responses, in his native tongue, re- 
 gardless of the effect of the chorus. They re- 
 cited verses from the saints, and then had some 
 practice in mental arithmetic. Finally, for my 
 especial benefit, the prize scholar was asked 
 where was America. He hesitated a moment, 
 then said he did not know, except that it was far 
 off, and that it was the country to which good 
 Polish boys went when they died. A number 
 of small religious pictures and prayer-books 
 were distributed to the bright boys as prizes, and 
 coral wreaths and rosaries to the girls, and the 
 session was over. 
 
 244 
 
THE POLISH PEASANT 
 
 Tlie vital, characteristic fact of the peasant's 
 life is his religion. He is perhaps the most de- 
 vout peasant in the world, and, beyond a doubt, 
 is the most faithful of all the adherents of the 
 Church of Eome. Once or twice during his life- 
 time he makes a pilgrimage to some sacred shrine, 
 such as Czenstochowa or Kalwarya. 
 
 Most of the legends and general folklore of the 
 peasant are religious in character. Almost all 
 of these quaint and beautiful stories have their 
 origin in his love and reverence for the Blessed 
 Virgin, around whose personality cluster hun- 
 dreds of parables and stories full of a poetic 
 fancy and devotional beauty, gathering up in 
 them all the ideals of goodness, love, mercy, and 
 womanly tenderness to which the peasant mind 
 could rise. Matka Boska, the Mother of God, 
 as the peasants affectionately call her, is the 
 refuge, the protector, the ideal of all that is 
 beautiful and holy. Once, in the far-off ages, 
 say the peasants, God was lonesome in heaven. 
 There was no one with whom the great Creator 
 could speak, and so, out of the lily, he created 
 something more beautiful even than that flower, 
 and called it Matka Boska. 
 
 A few of these legends of the Virgin have been 
 collected and published in book form. " The 
 Last Blades of Wheat " is one of the most beauti- 
 ful and typical of these. It is the peasant's story 
 of the flood. The Golden Age, he holds, was 
 
 245 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 when grain sowed itself and brouglit forth a hun- 
 dredfold. In that age eTerrthing that grew 
 was larger and more beautiful than anything 
 to-day. But mankind was very wicked! God's 
 blessing made them proud. They grew worse 
 and worse, until God determined to destroy them 
 He swore that all alive should be swept from the 
 earth and no grain should remain, not even one 
 kernel for seed. Then He smote a great cloud, 
 and it burst and descended in a flood upon the 
 earth, and for forty days no land appeared. But 
 the Blessed Virgin looked with pity on suffering 
 humankind, and interceded for man. She de- 
 scended to earth, to the flooded fields, hovered 
 over the waste of waters, and gathered here and 
 there stray blades of wheat, looking to heaven 
 all the while, and pleading, " Only this, Lord 
 God, spare only this." The Almighty Father, 
 the peasants say, could never refuse anything to 
 the mother of His Son. So He waved His al- 
 mighty hand, and the sky became clear, the floods 
 abated, and the grain that the Blessed Virgin had 
 saved from the flood remained as seed for man- 
 kind. 
 
 In winter, also, the Virgin is the protector and 
 hope of the poor peasant. On the bleak Lithua- 
 nian plains the wolves would quite destroy the 
 little peasant villages were it not that Saint 
 Michael scatters them so that they never attack 
 in large numbers. Yet even his aid is not al- 
 
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THE POLISH PEASANT 
 
 ways sufficient. Sometimes, in the biting winter, 
 these hungry beasts come upon a sleeping village 
 with horrible growlings. But when Saint 
 Michael fails, then Panienka Swienta (the Holy 
 Maiden) comes to the rescue. Holding a candle 
 with its flame downward toward the angry 
 beasts, she frightens them until they slink away 
 to their forest dens. When the peasant awakes, 
 during the bleak winter nights, and hears near 
 his village the howling of the wolves, he fears 
 not, but nestles deeper in his sheepskin, murmur- 
 ing the prayer, " In Thy care, Mary." Every 
 February he celebrates Gromnice, or the Feast 
 of Candles, in honor of this deliverance. 
 
 S4.7 
 
XIV 
 
 THE PATHETIC OUTCAST OF THE 
 AGES 
 
 WHEN some literary historian of the fu- 
 ture writes the story of decisive loves 
 that have intluenced the history of 
 nations, he will find material for at least one 
 strong and picturesque chapter in Poland. 
 
 Half a thousand years ago the Polish King 
 Kazimierz the Great fell in love with a beautiful 
 Jewess. About all that we know of her is that 
 she was very beautiful, and that, for love of her, 
 the King permitted the Jews — then hated and 
 despised nomads in all Europe — to enter and 
 make their home in Poland. One can imagine 
 the love of this king when viewing the once splen- 
 did building in Cracow erected by him as a pal- 
 ace for Esther. From this palace, however, it is 
 but a step to the " Kazimierz "' of the city (which 
 perpetuates the name of this same monarch), the 
 section where the Jews congregate, and which is 
 a typical ghetto. There you have the whole Jew- 
 ish question before you. 
 
 The Jew is such a large factor in Polish na- 
 tional life that in speaking of Poland one must, 
 
 248 
 
THE PATHETIC OUTCAST OF THE AGES 
 
 perforce, consider liim rather at length. I saw 
 him in almost every condition and occupation, 
 excepting only his private family life. It is ex- 
 tremely difficult for a stranger to enter into this 
 life. Therefore, it is with much regret that I am 
 unable to speak, from first-hand knowledge, of 
 that phase of Jewish life which is, beyond a 
 doubt, most attractive and exemplary. The tes- 
 timony to the temperance, restraint, frugality, 
 and family pride of the Jew is universal. 
 
 There are three millions of Polish Jews, more 
 than half of that number being in Russian Po- 
 land. It is a mistake to look upon these as in- 
 truders into the Slav Empire. The Jew really 
 counts among its earliest inhabitants. Soon 
 after the Asiatic conquests of Alexander the 
 Great many Jews emigrated to the principal 
 Greek communities of the Crimea and shared in 
 their commercial prosperity. This first immi- 
 gration probably brought the Jews into what is 
 now Slavonic country. 
 
 Historians do not agree upon the date of the 
 first Jewish immigration into Poland. It is cer- 
 tain, however, that, in the middle of the 11th 
 century, when Mieczyslaw III. was king, great 
 numbers of Hebrews, driven from Germany by 
 the Crusades, came to Poland. An earlier im- 
 migration from South Russia is sometimes cited, 
 even as early as the 9th century. Since the 11th 
 century, however, Poland has been looked upon 
 
 249 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 by the Jews as their temporary home during the 
 days of their exile. The prosperity of the Jew 
 in Poland, the Poles claim, has generally been at 
 the expense of the people who befriended him. 
 There can be no doubt that by his business 
 shrewdness and unscrupulousness, the Jew does 
 keep many of the peasants, and not a few im- 
 pecunious aristocrats, in virtual servitude. For 
 this he is hated. But there is a social and 
 economic explanation. 
 
 During the Middle Ages the Jews formed the 
 commercial or bourgeois class in all Slav coun- 
 tries. Then it was that they — with Germans and 
 a few other foreigners — began to monopolise the 
 business of the country, a monoply they held till 
 quite recent times. Among people who are ex- 
 treme in temperament and racial constitution 
 like the Slavs, who, up to within the memory of 
 those now living, were either nobles or peasants, 
 and who scorned trade, the Jews constituted that 
 middle class which is the backbone of all nations. 
 Not realising the value of this element in their 
 national life, the Poles and Kussians hated the 
 Jew, and even to-day it is his shrewdness in 
 finance which is the principal count against him. 
 
 The Polish Jew has not been without patriot- 
 ism. In his famous poem, " Pan Tadeusr," the 
 Polish poet Mickiewicz heartily praises the pa- 
 triotic Jew Jankiel. The Jew indeed has rendered 
 splendid service in Poland in many critical mo- 
 
 250 
 
THE PATHETIC OUTCAST OF THE AGES 
 
 ments in her history. A whole cavalry regiment 
 of Jews fought under Kosciuszko in 1794, and, 
 after distinguishing themselves, were killed al- 
 most to a man by Suwarow at Praga in defence 
 of Warsaw. It was only later, when, largely be- 
 cause of persecution, or because other avenues of 
 usefulness had been closed to him, that the Jew 
 became a money-changer, a " factor " on the large 
 estates, with the demoralisation which such a 
 calling inevitably entailed. The intelligent Polish 
 Jews, to-day, mainly class themselves with the 
 liberals, who are indifferent in religious matters, 
 or anti-clerical. " We have come to consider our- 
 selves Poles rather than Jews, and many of us 
 would become Catholics — for Catholicism and 
 the national spirit are in many ways identical — 
 only that we think that by remaining Jews we 
 can exercise an influence on the uncultivated 
 masses and guide them into Polish national chan- 
 nels. All the Jew wants is to profit by modern 
 progress in his own way, and not to give up his 
 national individuality — at least not immedi- 
 ately — in order to benefit by the progress made 
 by civilisation. As an ideal, we hope for the final 
 absorption of the Jews of Poland into the Polish 
 nationality." 
 
 And yet, when everything possible has been said 
 in his favour, the Jew remains one of the great 
 problems of Poland. Of course, when he abjures 
 the customs and traditions of his people, he be- 
 
 251 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 comes, to all intents and purposes, a Pole, and 
 i.s, in that case, quite able to take care of himself 
 intellectually and in other lines of life's activi- 
 ties. He goes into the learned professions and 
 distinguishes himself. He masters politics, and, 
 where anti-Semitism is not too rabid, he proves 
 that he can hold his own in any office. How rap- 
 idly, under other skies and when given " half a 
 chance," he becomes a different being, Americans 
 can see in all their great cities every day. 
 
 In America, the Polish Jew, as we f^ee him in 
 the ghettos of our great cities, a new importation, 
 is the most unsavoury, most repellent of his kind, 
 but he is infinitely dirtier and more repellent 
 in Europe, particularly in his home in Poland, 
 in the squalid, wretched villages on the Eussian 
 plains, in the " Kazimierz "' of Cracow, or hud- 
 dled in the Jewish quarter of Warsaw. No one 
 wants his company. He separates himself from 
 the world and the world widens the separation, 
 
 " The Jew is really not to blame for this sep- 
 aratism. Accidents of history, fatal to him, have 
 caused it. The feudal system of the Middle Ages 
 surrounded him with a wall of contempt and 
 isolation. On the one hand, the social conditions 
 and theories of the period made him a caste apart, 
 a caste of merchants and middlemen; on the 
 other, religious hatred persecuted and tortured 
 him with all the cruelties that human inventive- 
 ness could conceive. He was obliged to engage 
 
 252 
 
THE PATHETIC OUTCAST OF THE AGES 
 
 in commerce and usury, and, as the theories of 
 the times, most clearly expressed in the doctrines 
 of the Fathers of the Church, held all commerce 
 in contempt, he bore the odium of a calling which 
 he was forced to adopt. In western Europe fa- 
 naticism and ignorance pursued him until the 
 end of the 18th century. In Poland he was more 
 fortunate for some time, because he was not, as 
 in other countries, the property of the kings, but 
 formed a separate people, enjoying a liberal 
 autonomy." 
 
 The Polish Jew, thanks to the inhuman laws of 
 Russia closing most of the honourable careers 
 and Tocations to him, has lost nearly all the pas- 
 toral, agricultural instincts of his race. You 
 rarely see him working in the fields. You may 
 find him (or, more properly, her) in a cotton 
 factory in Lodz ; you may find him a painter or a 
 low-class mechanic. But he is essentially and 
 almost always a middleman. It is not so much 
 the business he does himself ; it is the vast amount 
 that is done through him. He sells everything 
 to everybody. In countries where a number of 
 languages are spoken he is the only one who 
 takes the trouble to learn several; consequently 
 he is the necessary interpreter, although his 
 services are always rendered under difficulties 
 and are usually expensive. 
 
 My first real experience with the Slavonic Jew 
 was during my trip to Kamieniec, from Austria, 
 
 253 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT A:\I0NG NATIONS 
 
 over the steppes of Podolia. A Russian Jew, a 
 bent, sallow, long-bearded, beady-eyed old fellow, 
 volunteered to help me. As I knew no Russian 
 and the border officials knew no English, French, 
 or German, I was reluctantly compelled to ac- 
 cept his assistance. He spoke a vile German, a 
 jargon full of so many uncouth " foreignised " 
 words that I had to tell him three times, in my 
 best Viennese, what I wanted before he under- 
 stood me. His Russian was evidently as bad, or 
 worse, for he had to repeat my message three or 
 four times before the frontier official could com- 
 prehend him. But, in return, I gave him enough, 
 I doubt not, to keep him for a month. For the 
 Jew is generally wretchedly poor. This tattered, 
 venerable Israelite who drove me to Kamieniec 
 had a wife and five children to support, he told 
 me, and yet he received only a ruble and a half 
 (75 cents) a week for driving. 
 
 I saw the Polish Jew at home first in Cracow. 
 The street known as the '' Kazimierz " is one of 
 the extraordinary sights of the world. Quite late 
 in the morning — for in Poland the Jew is not an 
 early riser — down come the shutters and open 
 come the doors and windows, and the stooped, 
 sallow brood come forth. The Polish Jew is not 
 a healthy individual ; he even looks consumptive, 
 in striking contrast to the red-cheeked, vigorous 
 peasant. Dirt, poverty, and the physical and 
 moral degradation of his life in the ghetto have 
 
 254 
 
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THE PATHETIC OUTCAST OF THE AGES 
 
 made him a very pitiable object. He keeps him- 
 self peculiar by his dress. He wears his Israel- 
 itish gaberdine, or long, black coat, which he 
 calls halat, reaching nearly to the ground, tightly 
 buttoned even in the days of July. What he 
 wears underneath, if anything, is not known! 
 His boots are high and generally carefully 
 blacked. In Eussia they are well greased. He 
 wears a felt hat underneath which, covering his 
 shaven head, is a black skull-cap. He always 
 has a long beard and, when permitted, side curls. 
 If Moses and Abraham were not Polish Jews, 
 there is a remarkable coincidence between the 
 old Bible pictures and the modern type. In Ga- 
 licia the side curls reach their climax in two, 
 which are his special pride, one at each side of 
 his temple. These pendants {tire-buchons, cork- 
 screws, the French call them) he treasures as 
 the apple of his eye. Watch him as he saunters 
 along the streets of Cracow in the evening, lightly 
 brandishing his little stick. He winds these curls 
 lovingly about his finger, anointing them fre- 
 quently with copious applications of saliva. In 
 Russia an imperial ukase forbids these cork- 
 screws. The women wear a turban, formed of a 
 handkerchief, and many of them would be beau- 
 tiful if they were not ragged and dirty. If you 
 walk through the " Kazimierz,"' you will find that 
 the denizen of this section of the city is very in- 
 quisitive, and will even address you, uninvited, 
 
 255 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 with some inquiry as to your destination, some 
 remark as to your wishes, your person, or your 
 general well-being. If you speak in reply, he 
 drops at once his ear of curiosity and puts on a 
 cunning servility which scents Geschdft. This 
 sen'ile air has become part of him. I have seen 
 him when summoned by an impecunious aristo- 
 crat who wished to borrow money, stand outside 
 the manor house, hat in hand, humbly begging 
 the master for permission to kiss his hand. 
 
 In Galicia he is not kept down as severely as 
 in Eussia, yet even here his hand is against every 
 man and every man's hand against him. He is 
 jostled and hooted at in the streets, and his life 
 is made miserable by peasant and aristocrat 
 alike. 
 
 The Jew of Lemberg is as neglected, but, per- 
 haps, a bit more enterprising than his brother of 
 Cracow. Almost half of the population (35,000) 
 of Tarnopol are Jews, and the Jew market in this 
 city is the most unsavoury place I ever saw. The 
 poor Tarnopol Hebrew is the sport of the town. 
 The young gymnasium student considers it great 
 fun to raise a riot by " running amuck " in the 
 Jewish quarter. With a large stick he will beat 
 every Hebrew head he can see, and then get out 
 of the way as rapidly as his legs can carry him. 
 Cries of " Ai vai, ai vai," the Hebrew wail, 
 and maledictions in mongrel Polish, and then 
 patient servility again. Always a sport and a 
 
 £5G 
 
THE PATHETIC OUTCAST OF THE AGES 
 
 jest, always a thing to be hunted, always an 
 Isaac of York ! 
 
 It must also be said that the Jew is almost al- 
 ways law-abiding and peaceable, and asks only to 
 be let alone. It is probably true that wealthy 
 Jews provide the active revolutionists in Eussia 
 with money, particularly during the late crisis. 
 The Jewish revolutionary organisation, the 
 Bund, undoubtedly does so. That is not suf- 
 ficient reason, however, why the soldiers should 
 invade the shops of the ghetto of Warsaw, and, 
 under the excuse of searching for firearms and 
 prohibited literature, toss everything about in 
 wanton destruction and destroy most of the 
 stock, while the Jew crouches on one side, dumb 
 with terror. Many of these cowering old He- 
 brews have no other politics than to be left in 
 quiet to make a scanty livelihood by barter. Dur- 
 ing a riot young Jews are rounded up by the sol- 
 diers as ranchmen round up cattle. Despite 
 centuries of opposition, the Jew remains uncom- 
 promisingly orthodox, and this, perhaps, is one 
 of the reasons for the hatred against him. He is 
 certainly religious, according to the letter of the 
 law. His family life is usually morally pure and 
 founded on filial duty, respect for women, and 
 the observance of religious traditions. In these 
 matters he has stood as an exemplar even to the 
 Poles. 
 
 On the border between Austria and Eussia, 
 
 257 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 particularly in the South, the Jew is very much 
 in evidence, and is really indispensable to trav- 
 ellers in crossing the frontier, because of his 
 knowledge of several languages, and also because 
 he controls the means of local transportation. 
 Many kinds and great numbers of him are always 
 on the border. The Austrian Jew is not permit- 
 ted to drive you into Kussia (that is, to any dis- 
 tance), nor is the Russian Jew allowed to come 
 over the border to get you — for more than a short 
 space. 
 
 At Husiatyn, the last railroad station at the 
 point I crossed in Austria, I had to hire one Jew 
 just to take me over the border. Immediately 
 on entering Russia he consigned me to another. 
 The first man, with the ineradicable racial eye to 
 business, contrived to be so long about matters 
 that it was well into the afternoon before I could 
 start. Of course, therefore, I must stop at his 
 hotel, " fiir Mittagessen und Schlafen." 
 
 It was a fairly decent room, and the walls were 
 covered with Catholic religious pictures, out of a 
 businesslike deference, I presume, to the prob- 
 able faith of the bulk of the patrons. I also no- 
 ticed a seductive advertisement of a steamship 
 company, setting forth, in several languages, the 
 claims of America as " the promised land." The 
 agents of steamship companies will have a great 
 deal to answer for some day, and neither the 
 poor Jew whom they have deceived nor the Amer- 
 
 258 
 
THE PATHETIC OUTCAST OF THE AGES 
 
 ican upon whom has been thrust a most puzzling 
 factor in his social problem, will, if consulted, 
 make it any easier for them. 
 
 From this hotel a Jewish cocher, in the employ 
 of the first man, drove me across the border at 
 Husiatyn. The dividing line between the do- 
 mains of Austrian Kaiser and Eussian Tzar at 
 this point is a small stream, spanned by a rather 
 rickety wooden bridge, with a white line drawn 
 in the centre. As I waited patiently, seated in 
 the droshky on the bridge, for the seemingly end- 
 less formalities before entering Russia, I noted 
 the long line of vehicles — lumber teams, landaus, 
 fiacres, droshkies — ^all driven by Jews, who 
 sighed and swore and smoked their long, thin 
 cigarettes, while the imperturbable, white-uni- 
 formed Russian officials examined the passports. 
 Contemptuous is the only adjective to apply to 
 the treatment accorded to the Jew all over Rus- 
 sia. He exists only by sufferance, and even that 
 sufferance he does not obtain in all sections of 
 the Empire. 
 
 Once across the border and in the customhouse 
 at Husiatyn, this contempt became unmistak- 
 able. A tall, thin Jew, his passport book in his 
 hand, stalked into the room where I was opening 
 my baggage. A gendarme grabbed him at once, 
 tore open his long coat, ran his hands roughly, 
 even insultingly, through the clothes, boots, and 
 hair of his victim. He found nothing contra- 
 
 259 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT A:M0NG NATIONS 
 
 band, and the Jew was permitted to leave, which 
 he did, with a look of such patient serrilitT, min- 
 gled with so much, only ill-concealed, hatred on 
 his face that I positively shuddered. I saw this 
 same Jew afterward at a little distance from the 
 village when I had started for my long drive in- 
 land. He told me in his uncouth tongue, partly 
 German, partly Hebrew, that the Jews who did 
 business across the border by transporting mer- 
 chandise or conducting travellers were regularly 
 submitted to this insulting examination, and bled 
 for a large proportion of their slender income hx 
 the officials. Sometimes they are forced to give 
 up business entirely, owing to interference on 
 the part of the police, who accuse them of smug- 
 gling. Taciturn and patient, the venerable Jew 
 who drove me from the border to Kamieniec was 
 the very embodiment of suffering and oppression. 
 Whenever I addressed him he started fearfully, 
 as though detected in a crime, and replied with 
 such a mournful resignation of tone that it was 
 uncanny and pitiful. 
 
 There was some trouble in Russian Husiatyn 
 as I drove out. Some Jews were objecting to 
 being driven somewhere by a gendarme. A mes- 
 sage was sent to the Kaserne (barracks), and 
 presently a squad of Cossacks rode up, and soon 
 " persuaded " the poor wretches with their whips. 
 One of them — I afterward learned — died of the 
 beating received. Four or five hundred Cossacks, 
 
 260 
 
THE PATHETIC OUTCAST OF THE AGES 
 
 in full war equipment, filed out of the town soon 
 afterward, mounted on wiry little ponlc^s. 
 '' Where are they going? " I asked my conductor. 
 He shuddered and looked fearfully behind him. 
 " Don't ask me,'' he trembled. 
 
 Squalid and wretched beyond description are 
 the villages — Jewish and Russian alike — along 
 that road across the plains. They are all alike — 
 one street — just one — one wooden or mud house 
 leaning against the other, and a great raud- 
 puddle in the centre, in which geese, pigs, and 
 babies swim, and horses are watered. Put in an 
 ox-team or two, clouds of dust, or a sea of mud, 
 according to the season, a dozen or so slatternly 
 women gossiping — and you have a typical Rus- 
 sian village of the plains. Most of these are full 
 of Jews. They act as innkeepers, and will stable 
 your horses and attend to your own gastronomic 
 wants, all for, perhaps, thirty kopecks, tliat is, 
 fifteen cents. 
 
 The Jew literally swarms all along the border 
 between Russia and her western neighbours. 
 This makes Austria, in particular, very nervous. 
 Despite the fifty -verst law * Russia has been 
 gradually pushing her Hebrew population toward 
 the Austrian frontier, till to-day the Jew forms 
 the bulk of the inhabitants of border towns, espe- 
 cially the great railroad centres. What is to 
 
 * Jews are forbidden, by Russian law, to live within fifty 
 versts (about thirty-three miles) of the border. 
 
 261 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 prevent this " pushing " being carried farther, 
 indeed quite across the frontier, where there are 
 already many more of this despised nationality 
 than the unhappy Austrian government knows 
 how to manage? There are other causes than 
 pure philanthropy for the Baron de Hirsch, 
 South American, and Holy Land colonisation 
 schemes. They would provide a much-needed 
 outlet for Russia's and Austria's unwelcome 
 Hebrew population. 
 
 The Jew is permitted by imperial law to live in 
 certain sections of the Russian Empire — the 
 " Pale," as it is called — but he may not, under 
 pain of exile and imprisonment, live in any other. 
 This " Pale of Jewish Settlement " comprises the 
 ten ancient provinces of Poland and fifteen of the 
 fifty " governments " constituting Russia proper. 
 All these districts are located in the west of the 
 Empire, and with the exception of the southeast- 
 ern section, are not very fertile, so that the Jew 
 has but little chance to cultivate the soil. He is 
 crowded into the cities. The Pale, in fact, is one 
 vast ghetto. 
 
 The government of Warsaw is one of the sec- 
 tions in which the Jew may live. While I was in 
 the Polish metropolis, 10,000 Jews, not wanted 
 in Moscow, were unceremoniously chased — so 
 report said — to Warsaw. At any rate, I saw 
 hordes of them entering the city, in small compa- 
 nies, on foot, with great packs on their backs, and 
 
 262 
 
THE PATHETIC OUTCAST OF THE AGES 
 
 accompanied by an army of children, all dirty, 
 weary, and fearful, like hunted animals. The 
 Warsaw Jew has a large section of the city ex- 
 clusively to himself, a city within a city, a city 
 of rabbit-warrens, in which the transaction of a 
 vast amount of business with his own kind and 
 with the Gentiles often makes him rich. He 
 rises frequently to commercial and intellectual 
 eminence in the city, and sometimes to social dis- 
 tinction. One of the cleverest, most personally 
 beautiful and attractive women I met in War- 
 saw, one of the editors of a leading newspaper, 
 was a Jewess. Many of the editors and leaders 
 of political thought are Jews. 
 
 To the unprejudiced student and observer, it 
 seems plain that the Polish Jew, with all his 
 actual evil and his potential good, is just what 
 centuries of persecution and oppression have 
 made him. Where he has not had isolation forced 
 on him, he has proven his marvellous adaptabil- 
 ity to almost every kind of surroundings. Yet 
 it is his racial solidarity which is opposed, and 
 his isolation is often self-sought. His position 
 in the world is a tremendous problem, and the 
 centuries have furnished no real clue to its solu- 
 tion. One thing is certain : the campaign of anti- 
 Semitism as waged in Europe to-day will never 
 solve it. 
 
 " That silent, defenceless army, though always 
 defeated, never loses, never flinches, nor turns 
 
 263 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 back, no matter how strong the fortress or how 
 large the garrison arrayed against it. Always 
 suffering, it is ever victorious; physically cow- 
 ardly, it never flinches; but, gathering up its 
 scattered forces, stands shoulder to shoulder and 
 man to man, vanquished by all, yet seeing all its 
 conquerors, proud kingdoms and mighty empires 
 though they be, crumble into forgotten dust, 
 whilst it rises once more with eternal suffering 
 and untiring patience, with a mixture of fear and 
 valour, humility and arrogance, to confront 
 younger nations with its insoluble problem." 
 
 264 
 
XV 
 
 POLISH MUSIC AND THE SLAY 
 TEMPERAMENT 
 
 WHY has all history shown that music, 
 the finest, most exquisite of the arts, is 
 so often the sweetness distilled from 
 suffering? Why has its most subtle development 
 always come from the races that have suffered, 
 from the peoples that have been oppressed even 
 until they have lost their national existence? 
 Why is despaiB the dominant note of the Slav 
 temperament, as it is bodied forth in art? We 
 must go far back to even attempt an answer. 
 
 Nature and history have combined to draw the 
 Slav soul tense. Happiness and variety of life 
 are very desirable, but they seldom breed artists, 
 or exquisite temperaments of any kind. Monot- 
 ony was on the face of nature when she turned 
 it to the Slav. Severity was the mood in which 
 history has always regarded him. And he has 
 responded by tuning all his art, and particularly 
 his music, to the "heights and depths of a di- 
 vine despair." 
 
 '' As-tu reflechi comhien nous sommes organises 
 pour le malheur? " wrote Flaubert to George 
 
 265 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 Sand. " Beauty in its highest form invariably 
 moves the sensitive soul to tears," said Edgar 
 Poe. " Virtue, like sweet odours," declared d'ls- 
 raeli, " is most fragrant when crushed." These 
 thoughts were uttered at about the same time, 
 and, together, they furnish a vignette picture of 
 the Slav temperament. 
 
 Melancholy and sadness have ever been the 
 portion of the Slav. Even when he is gay the 
 effort is often evident. The country in which 
 he lived originally, and in which so many of his 
 race still live, is not cheerful. There is much 
 snow in winter, and even in summer most of the 
 colouring is dull. Dun, neutral tints cover the 
 face of the landscape on the plains, the home of 
 the race. Where there is colour, it is not varied. 
 A pine forest in Lithuania, the neutral reds and 
 browns stretching unbroken for many miles, is 
 one of the most beautiful but maddeningly monot- 
 onous of sights. The whole landscape in Russia 
 and in the greater part of ancient Poland (ex- 
 cepting always the border mountains) is lacking 
 in relief and character. The only vivid colouring 
 is on the dress of the peasants, who seem to try 
 to supply by art and handicraft what nature has 
 withheld. The vast, treeless, gently undulating 
 plains involuntarily make one sad. The eye 
 glides over seemingly infinite spaces like the 
 wastes of the ocean, which lose themselves on the 
 horizon. Where does the earth end and the sky 
 
 266 
 
jNIUSIC and the SLAV TEMPERAMENT 
 
 begin? No landmark rests the eye; no hill, and, 
 for many miles, no tree. The mind is overcome 
 by a vague feeling of unrest. Involuntarily, it 
 seemed, my companion, on part of the journey 
 over the steppes to Kamieniec, turned and said : 
 " Wig traurig! " " How sad ! " I echoed. 
 
 History has been even more severe than nature 
 on the Slav. His biography is a tragedy, and he 
 himself has generally been the victim. For cen- 
 turies he was the prey of the savage nomads from 
 Asia. Bloody, fierce conflict, battle constant and 
 to the death, for his home and family, has been 
 his lot. The sense of insecurity and apprehen- 
 sion never left him. As regularly as the winter 
 rolled around, Sienkiewicz tells us, the Poles 
 said : " In the spring the horde will come." 
 
 This geographical position has been one of the 
 most powerful factors in the development of the 
 Slav. Constant, close contact with Eastern peo- 
 ples has inoculated him with some of the Eastern 
 mysticism and fatalism. This is noticeable even 
 in the Pole of to-day, though he does so strenu- 
 ously insist upon his pure Occidentalism. The 
 influence exerted by the repeated onslaught of 
 the Turk and Tartar can be traced in Polish 
 custom and costume, art and architecture, poetry 
 and politics. The national costume itself has a 
 strongly Oriental cast about it. The Polish aris- 
 tocrat and the Polish peasant walking almost side 
 by side in the procession of Corpus Christi, show 
 
 267 
 
POLAXD: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 the flaming reds and rellows, the turban effects, 
 the gorgeous Eastern combinations of feather, 
 sash, girdle, boot. This is seen also in the peas- 
 ants, with their long white cloaks, with flaming 
 skirts, often slashed and spangled with colour. 
 Many a Cracovian costume might easily be mis- 
 taken for that of a Kurd or an East Indian, ex- 
 cept that the colours are rather more artistically 
 blended. The most casual observer will note the 
 dash of the Orient in Polish architecture. The 
 dome, even occasionally the minaret, the ara- 
 besque tracery, the rich kaleidoscopic, Byzantine 
 effect of the decorations in the churches — all par- 
 take of the symbolism of the Orient, and one of 
 the greatest of all Polish poets — Slowacki — 
 sings like a mystic bard of Teheran. Added to 
 the melancholy and Toleanic resignation burned 
 into his soul during centuries of struggle with 
 nature and man, all the mysticism, fatalism, 
 sensuousness, of the Orient surged up against the 
 Pole, broke, and when it ebbed, the impress, the 
 savour of the East remained. The restless intel- 
 lectual vigour and military genius of the Occi- 
 dent nerved his breast and arm as he struggled, 
 but it could not quite turn back the undercurrent 
 from Asia. 
 
 These influences and many more must be un- 
 derstood and reckoned with before one can begin 
 to grasp what has burned in the soul of a Chopin, 
 a Slowacki, a Malczewski. 
 
 268 
 
MUSIC AND THE SLAV TE:MPERAMENT 
 
 To write of Polish art adequately would be to 
 write the whole history of probably the most 
 wonderfully artistic people of modern times. To 
 write of it at all is to begin with music — music of 
 a sad sweetness which is the very emotional soul 
 of the race. All Polish music is not Jeremiac. 
 Near Cracow it is often gay, even fiercely gay. 
 But the wail is rarely too deep for the easy find- 
 ing. While at Tarnopol, in Austrian Euthenia, 
 I heard some of the real native Slav music, ren- 
 dered under very characteristic circumstances. 
 One evening a young Ruthenian priest (of the 
 Russian ritual) known to the family at whose 
 home I was staying, drove up to the door in his 
 peasant vehicle, bringing with him his zither. 
 He played well, and sang delightfully, with that 
 rich, round, full voice of beautiful, sympathetic 
 quality so often found among the Russians. 
 Many of the melodies were richly beautiful, at 
 times almost fiercely gay, but ahvays undershot 
 with that inevitable sad, minor tone that affects 
 one like a blend of the Oriental and the Highland 
 Scotch. Weirdly beautiful — hauntingly beauti- 
 ful — yet inexpressibly sad are these Slavonic 
 folksongs, permeated with the breath of the 
 plains. Underneath the dare-devil mirth of the 
 Mazur always lurks what the Poles call the Zal. 
 There is no English equivalent for this word. It 
 is the very emotional soul of the Slav race, and 
 it means mingled reproach and sorrow, the vol- 
 
 269 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 canic resignation that comes only after ages of 
 suffering and wrong. 
 
 The real breath of the plains, the life of suf- 
 fering and woe, rings all through that typical 
 dirge of the steppes, known as " Kozak." A young 
 trooper of the Ukraine lies dying in the forest. 
 He sings a death wail, in which he recounts how 
 he fought, and bemoans the disobedience which 
 led him far from his home. The mother comes 
 at his call, and he begs her not to permit the 
 (Russian) priest to bury him, but to let his own 
 wild, freebooter companions lead him to the 
 tomb. The theme is sad enough, but the music ! 
 One phrase will suffice to show its minor, haunt- 
 ing character: 
 
 :f^ 
 
 > i\ \ 
 
 l\) 4/. 
 
 -a-51- 
 
 - \ • ' - - i ' ■ H J ' t — 0— 
 — *t 
 
 The love and aptitude for music has its springs 
 deep down in the Slav nature. Karol Namy- 
 slawski's peasant orchestra, of Warsaw, has 
 shown that even the lowest type of Polish peas- 
 ant has a soul and nature responsive to music 
 such as is quite lacking in peasants of other 
 races — oddly enough, in the Russian peasant as 
 well. 
 
 One can see that these Polish children of 
 the soil feel the music they render. The Mus- 
 covite, Norwegian, Bohemian, and Finnish peas- 
 
 270 
 
MUSIC AND THE SLAV TEMPERAMENT 
 
 ant themes have all the vitality of the peasants, 
 and generally, also, their coarseness and clumsi- 
 ness. Moniuszko's opera " Halka," however, 
 which is based wholly on Polish peasant themes, 
 has all the native grace, simplicity, and strength 
 of the soil, but nothing of the clod. The themes 
 are original and rich, and the Italian composer, 
 Mascagni, has declared that in this one work 
 alone he found themes enough for twenty operas. 
 The musical soul of Poland lies buried in Pere 
 la Chaise, the revered old cemetery of Paris. 
 Frederic Francois Chopin, son of a French father 
 by a Polish mother, Slav by birth, Parisian by 
 adoption, who sang the tragedy of his country in 
 sweet sounds, who poured into the ear of Europe 
 for the first time all the musical ideas, tonalities, 
 and rhythms of the East — who can add a word to 
 what has already been said of this wonderful, 
 sad soul? George Sand, the woman with a man's 
 nature, who became his idol, once told him: 
 " Your playing makes me live over again every 
 pain that has ever wrung my heart; and every 
 joy, too, that I have ever known is mine again." 
 Chopin was sick with the malady of the age — 
 revolt. Eebellion rings through all his work, and 
 none but Richard Wagner disputes with him the 
 rule of the past century in the highest musical 
 emotion. Chopin loved Poland madly, with the 
 abandon of a fanatic. Yet he was so feminine 
 that he never laid down his art for a sword in her 
 
 271 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 defence. He rang his dreams and his despair into 
 his music and put his fiery patriotism into his 
 polonaises. This he could do without fear of the 
 censor. The most terrible, iconoclastic ideas 
 are in his music, but the police knew it not. His 
 countrymen, however, know full well that it is 
 their heartstrings upon which he plays. They 
 have yearned to bring back his remains to his 
 native soil. It was a strange feeling — it seemed 
 of personal loss — that was evident in the very air 
 of Warsaw several years ago when it was an- 
 nounced that, although the French government 
 had consented to the removal of the remains, St. 
 Petersburg, knowing the love of the Poles for 
 Chopin, had withheld its permission, fearing '' a 
 demonstration." And St. Petersburg was wise. 
 
 What niche in the century's temple of fame 
 will Paderewski occupy? It may be as yet too 
 early to predict, but German critics, the most se- 
 vere and exacting (and especially so in the case 
 of a Pole), declare that his opera " Manru "' is 
 the work of an epoch, a flawless composition, 
 worked out upon themes of the same nature 
 as those of " Halka.'' Paderewski is an ardent 
 patriot. One of his latest manifestations of pa- 
 triotism is the colony of Polish aristocrats, 
 broken in fortune by the Eussian revolution, 
 which he maintains at his Swiss chateau near 
 Lausanne. 
 
 The names of many other composers, singers, 
 and virtuosi are veritable household words with 
 
 272 
 
1 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 p 
 
 
 '^Lmt^^Kr ' "*^''' 
 
 1 jifliSxi'i'-: iJ: ■"" ■ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 kA^ > '^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 |k^ A 
 
 
 
 g^\ 
 
 
 
 St'®*-^ 
 
 ^tl^f ^ 
 
 
 K 
 
 
 *^^ 
 
 Hyl;«j 
 
 
 hii'^^^^m 
 
 m 
 
 POLISH ART AXD ARTISTS. 
 
 Marcella Sembrich, operatic so- 
 
 [jrano, 
 Frederic Cbopin. coittpo^et'. From 
 
 an iiiiUleiitified portrait. 
 
 Ignace Jan Paderewski, rirtuoHO. 
 Helena Modjeska. rlramatic artist, 
 as Lady Macbeth. 
 
:\IUSIC AND THE SLAV TEMPERAMENT 
 
 this people to whom music is such a vital fact, 
 but, except those of the Reszkes, Sembrich, Mo- 
 niuszko, and Wieniawski, the English-speaking 
 world knows nothing of them. Noskowski, 
 Niewiadomski, Boguslawski and Zielenski are 
 other well-known composers in Poland. Though 
 Warsaw is the home of the Reszkes, it is not 
 often that the famous brothers are seen on the 
 streets of the Polish metropolis. When not en 
 tour all over the civilised world, their country- 
 estate near Warsaw absorbs their attention, and, 
 of late years, a visit to their hotel, the elegant 
 Saski, in Warsaw, has been a thing of rare oc- 
 currence. Marcella Sembrich Kochanska, who 
 possesses, perhaps, as perfect a voice, used with 
 as perfect an art, as has ever been heard on 
 earth, and is, moreover, pianist and violinist as 
 well, is a patriotic Pole. But she, in common 
 with the other great opera singers, belongs to the 
 world. Sembrich spends much of her time, 
 when not singing, in her Dresden home. 
 
 To attempt to write of Polish music and mu- 
 sicians is at once a bewilderment, a fascination, 
 a despair. There is no beginning and no end. 
 After all, just as the Polish artists themselves are 
 citizens of the world and belong to the inter- 
 national community of music, so their work is 
 part of the world's great store. It is to-day per- 
 haps better known than the musical contributions 
 of any other nationality. 
 
 273 
 
XVI 
 
 A RACE OF ARTISTS BY BIRTH 
 
 IF music is the Polish art par excellence, emi- 
 nence in painting, literature, and the drama 
 indicates that the Poles are true artists in 
 every sense of the word. 
 
 A conception of Polish painting must of neces- 
 sity begin with Jan Matejko, although the pres- 
 ent-day school has not followed the old master of 
 historical realism. Matejko was the painter of 
 Polish history. 
 
 On a small side street in Cracow is a quiet, 
 unobtrusive house, its rooms lined and littered 
 with curious implements, trappings, and para- 
 phernalia of centuries gone. Knights and ladies, 
 men of church and chargers of war, could rise to 
 mass and feast and battle in these rooms if there 
 were only some angel of Ezekiel to make the dry 
 bones of vestment and weapon instinct with life. 
 The very bones themselves are all but present. 
 From a glass case on the wall, surrounded by 
 half-finished sketches, grins a plaster cast of the 
 skull of the great Kazimierz, King of Poland. 
 
 A dozen or more years ago the master hand 
 that could make these worthies of generations 
 
 274 
 
A RACE OF ARTISTS BY BIRTH 
 
 past glow on the canvas as with life itself laid 
 down its brush. Before Jan Matejko exhibited 
 his masterpiece, " The Sermon of Skarga," in 
 Paris, in 1864, none but Frenchmen had taken 
 the Versailles prize for painting. Poland's his- 
 torical painter, who established the Academy of 
 Painting in Cracow, and was really the dean of 
 the Polish school of art, began, in 1864, to paint 
 the " critical moments in Polish history." His 
 fidelity to detail is marvellous. History itself 
 is not more accurate. When his canvases contain 
 two hundred figures (as they sometimes do), this 
 means that two hundred different individuals or 
 types have been studied and followed with such 
 laborious, scrupulous care that the painter occa- 
 sionally forgot his perspective, and, in the end, 
 quite ruined his eyesight. Historic faces can 
 often be recognised in his work, and sometimes 
 he uses himself as a type. When the tombs of 
 the kings in the Wawel were opened Matejko 
 took a cast of the skull of King Kazimierz the 
 Great. Several months of study of the whitened 
 bone, the cast, and the trappings on the Avail re- 
 sulted in a splendid canvas of the monarch, as 
 near to the man himself as a photograph. 
 
 Scenes of battle, covering four centuries of his 
 country's history, make up ilatejko's work. " So- 
 bieski before Vienna," " The Prussians Bringing 
 Tribute," and " The Battle of Griinwald '" are, 
 perhaps, the most famous, but " Kazanie Skargi " 
 
 275 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 ("The Sermon of Skarga") is the most impres- 
 sive. It represents the priest Skarga prophesying 
 the downfall of Poland if the Poles do not mend 
 their ways. There is something majestic, like 
 the prophets of old, in the face of the brave 
 priest as he stands before the Diet preaching and 
 warning the proud, fractious nobles of the woes 
 that will come upon their country through their 
 lawlessness. Pride, power, and dissoluteness 
 stand out on some of the faces before him, while 
 on others can be plainly seen remorse, and on 
 others, fear. There is no blur of heads as the 
 figures fade into the background. Each face has 
 its own clear-cut individuality. For this paint- 
 ing the artist was decorated at the Paris Salon. 
 
 Matejko's was a beautiful, patriotic character. 
 He gave away his best paintings as free gifts, and 
 would not accept any return for his maiwellous 
 restoration of the church of Panna Marya in 
 Cracow. 
 
 The paintings of Artur <;rottger are almost 
 as popular with patriotic Poles as those of 3Ia- 
 tejko. His crayon drawings, " Warsaw,'' " Po- 
 land," and " Lithuania," representations of the 
 three divisions of the ancient Commonwealth, 
 are especially fine in their bold, artistic insight. 
 Grottger's working years were, unfortunately, so 
 short — they were only six — that his contributions 
 to Polish art are not very numerous. 
 
 The present-day school of Polish painting has 
 276 
 
— To 
 
 ■I: — 
 
 
 "If 
 
A RACE OF ARTISTS BY BIRTH 
 
 not followed Matejto. Symbolism and melan- 
 choly are persistent, and, although we find the 
 realism of the two Kossaks with their splendid 
 horses and battle scenes, and the landscapes of 
 Brandt and Chelmonski, the tendency is toward 
 the allegorical groups of Siemiradzki, the neu- 
 rotic, often obscure, symbolism of Malczewski, 
 and the idealised types of Stachiewicz, the last 
 representing strongly the new school of illus- 
 trators. Malczewski's canvases remind one of 
 de Quincey's " Confessions of an Opium Eater." 
 He would have made splendid presentations of 
 scenes from Slowacki's " Kordjan." His first 
 well-known paintings — a series on Siberia, de- 
 picting the horrors of the mines and the suffer- 
 ings of the Polish exiles — were masterly in the 
 way they caught the stern reality but beautiful 
 heroism of the martyrs. They were not, how- 
 ever, the Malczewski milieu. His most famous 
 painting, finished five or six years ago, is en- 
 titled " Melancholy," and it is thoroughly char- 
 acteristic of the creative brain of the artist. In 
 subject, it is mystical and more — it is fantastical. 
 What Malczewski means by his fantasies, perhaps 
 no one except himself really knows. But the 
 technique and the colouring are wonderful. En- 
 tering the Austrian building at the Paris Exposi- 
 tion, this great painting, with its mad rush of 
 figures, struck the eye with a bewildering force. 
 Looking at it as a whole, the impression one re- 
 
 277 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 ceived was overwhelming, and even without 
 thoroughly understanding the thought, the spec- 
 tator felt that the painting was a masterpiece. 
 
 Siemiradzki was the acknowledged king of 
 theatre curtain painters. His curtains in the 
 theatres of Cracow and Lemberg satisfy every 
 demand of the artistic taste. The allegorical 
 groups are so well balanced, so subtly conceived, 
 and yet so plainly just the right combination. 
 His " Torches of Nero " and " Phryne " are 
 world-famous. And the chiaroscuro! There is 
 a scene in the Eoman arbour in the gallery in 
 Warsaw which is worth a journey to Europe to 
 see. I entered the room on a cloudy afternoon, 
 and wondered how it was that the sun seemed to 
 have come out just enough to shine full on this 
 painting, mottling the foliage of the vine over the 
 arbour and checkering the stones with patches of 
 vivid, living sunlight and shade — the warm light 
 and cool shade of sunny Italy. But there was no 
 rift in the clouds. Then I looked for some con- 
 cealed electric lights, cunningly placed to illu- 
 minate the canvas. But it was the painter's 
 brush, unaided, which had suffused the scene and 
 made it glow as with life. 
 
 The names of Falat, Wyczolkowski, and 
 Mehoffer are in the lists of every art exhibition. 
 Joseph Krzesz is a constant exhibitor at Vienna, 
 Berlin, and St. Petersburg. His seven panels il- 
 lustrating the Lord's Prayer are famous. Falat 
 
 278 
 
A RACE OF ARTISTS BY BIRTH 
 
 is at present the head of the art academy in Cra- 
 cow, and is especially noted for his snow scenes. 
 His figures are delightful. Mehoffer was deco- 
 rated at the last Paris Exposition. Stachiewicz's 
 illustrations of peasant legends, a number of 
 which were exhibited at Paris in 1900, were pro- 
 nounced the best subjects for " half-tone " work 
 shown in many years. The crayon work of 
 Wlodzimierz Tetmajer has a fine, rich softness. 
 Tetmajer has made a specialty of peasant types. 
 He has studied the peasants for many years, and 
 must certainly have the courage of his convic- 
 tions, for he has married a peasant woman and 
 is the father of quite a family by her. 
 
 The modern spirit of symbolism run riot that 
 is known as " Impressionism " — in Polish, Seces- 
 sya — " Secession " — has found some favour 
 among Polish artists. Purple cows, green roses, 
 impossible mermaid ladies, with mysterious dra- 
 peries, which begin nowhere and apparently have 
 no end, and vegetation conventionalised and 
 etherealised, till it needs a map and a dictionary 
 to explain it — the superfluity of idea, or lack of 
 idea, is the same, whether one sees it in the studio 
 of the late Aubrey Beardsley, in the pages of 
 the Munich Juc/end, or on the walls and windows 
 of the church of the Franciscans in Cracow. 
 
 The noble monument to Mickiewicz in Warsaw 
 is also a monument to the art of its creator, Cyp- 
 rian Godebski, the most eminent living Polish 
 
 279 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 sculptor, who is also well known in Paris. His 
 friends are fond of telling a story at his expense. 
 Some years ago the citizens of a French pro- 
 vincial town ordered from Godebski a monument 
 in honour of their good mayor. When it arrived 
 they were horrified to see the green tinge that, 
 alas for their unappreciative eyes! the sculptor 
 had spent so much labour in bestowing. So they 
 straightway polished it to a beautiful bronze 
 " shine." 
 
 The Polish Longfellow (Mickiewicz) has a 
 monument on the market place of Cracow. The 
 inscription on the base declares that the whole 
 nation gave it to Adam Mickiewicz. The monu- 
 ment to him in Warsaw was unveiled under most 
 dramatic circumstances, several years ago. Per- 
 mission had been received from the Tzar, but the 
 police were ordered to be present. By their 
 order every street was lined with Cossacks, ready 
 to shoot or cut down the multitudes who came to 
 see it unveiled, should any demonstration take 
 place. After a short speech, the ceremony was 
 performed in the presence of more than twenty 
 thousand people. Not a cry of any sort was 
 uttered; the whole assembly was hushed into 
 deathlike stillness. Mickiewicz, who was poet, 
 religious philosopher, militant democrat, critic, 
 historical professor of languages, and patriot — 
 and eminent in all — was one of the most learned 
 men of his time, yet he aspired only, he often 
 
 280 
 
A RACE OF ARTISTS BY BIRTH 
 
 said, to write poetry that the peasants could 
 understand and love. His was a strange career. 
 Exiled from the UniversitT of Wilna, he joined 
 the Polish emigration to France, and afterward 
 became professor of Slavonic literature in Paris, 
 in the College de France. 
 
 The three great names in Polish poetry of the 
 past century are Mickiewicz, Krasinski, and 
 Slowacki, and each is associated with a wild, 
 weird, and mystic dramatic poem. Both the 
 " Dzyady "' of ilickiewicz and the " Infernal 
 Comedy" of Krasinski are splendid allegories, 
 showing in strong, passionate lines, of occasion- 
 ally Ibsenesque morbidness, the role of martyr 
 which Poland has played through all her history. 
 Slowacki's " Kordjan," as presented on the stage 
 of Cracow, can be compared to nothing but 
 Goethe's " Faust " or Byron's " Manfred." 
 Slowacki, indeed, is said to have been inspired 
 by Byron, and to have modelled his " Mazeppa " 
 after the English poet's famous poem. After the 
 name of Mickiewicz, you will perhaps hear that 
 of Wincenty Pol most frequently mentioned by 
 the Poles, as that of a simple, popular poet. 
 Sienkiewicz declares that the Poles love Pol 
 better than any other of their poets. 
 
 Polish history has had its Macaulay and its 
 Scott in the century just passed. Joachim Lel- 
 iewel was the logical, philosophical, brilliant 
 stylist, Kraszewski, probably the greatest histor- 
 
 281 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT A.AIONG NATIONS 
 
 ical romance writer the Poles have produced — upi 
 to the time of Sienkiewicz. Kraszewski is so ac- 
 curate that his works — there is nearlj' a library 
 full — are consulted as books of reference. It was 
 from one of his works — " The Hut behind the 
 Village "' — that Paderewski chose the theme for 
 his opera " Manru." Kraszewski has been called 
 the Polish Scott. 
 
 The giant Sienkiewicz towers so above his con- 
 temporaries that to foreigners he is the sum of 
 Polish novelists. The Germans, however, are 
 enthusiastic over the classical romances of Alex- 
 ander Glowacki, who writes under the name of 
 Boleslaw Prus, and during the past few years a 
 number of writers have become famous, among 
 them the poet Adam Asnyk and the novelists 
 Wladyslaw Keymont and Eliza Orzeszko. This 
 novelist's works are now being translated into 
 English. Marya Eodziewicz is another writer 
 of popular fiction that is making her famous 
 abroad as well as at home. Stanislaw Przyby- 
 szewski is an essayist and dramatic writer of the 
 " Secession " school. Stanislaw Wyspianski, 
 poet, painter, dramatist and sculptor, author of 
 " The Wedding," is by many thought to be the 
 Polish genius of the century. 
 
 Americans will probably always feel that Mod- 
 jeska is really as much American as Pole. Her 
 colony venture in California, and the way she 
 has endeared herself to American audiences dur- 
 
 282 
 
A RACE OF ARTISTS BY BIRTH 
 
 ing all the years of her great dramatic career, 
 will always make her seem a real part of the 
 history of the American stage. But Modjeska is 
 patriotically Polish enough to satisfy the most 
 ardent. She may not act even to-day in Warsaw, 
 and not even her admitted primacy in her art — 
 a primacy which is not disputed and only shared 
 by Bernhardt and Duse — can make up for exclu- 
 sion from her beloved Warsaw. 
 
 Madame Helena Modjeska, whose maiden name 
 was Opid, was born in the city of Cracow, Aus- 
 trian Poland, and married at an early age an 
 actor named Modrzejewski, who soon afterward 
 died, leaving her with a baby son. This boy 
 (Ralph) came to the United States with his 
 mother, and is at present a well-known civil engi- 
 neer in Chicago. Later, Madame Modjeska (by 
 common consent the difficult Polish form of the 
 name has been abandoned for the simpler English 
 one) married her present husband, Charles Chla- 
 powski, a Polish journalist of wide reputation 
 for patriotism. He is known in this country as 
 Count Bozenta, from his ancestral estate. 
 
 Madame Modjeska's career has been a varied 
 and active one. Beginning with a " benefit " or- 
 ganised by amateurs for some unfortunate miners 
 in Poland, her progress was steady and sure. 
 After conquering her countrymen by her art, 
 and, unfortunately, giving offence to the Russian 
 government by her patriotic attitude, she and 
 
 283 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 her husband, in 1S76, left Warsaw for the United 
 States. 
 
 Modjeska's intention was to establish, near Los 
 Angeles, a Utopian colony in which they and 
 their Polish compatriots in the United States 
 might enjoy the blessings of liberty. Henryk 
 Sienkiewicz was with Modjeska in this enterprise, 
 and his book " Letters from America " is full of 
 his impressions and experiences of this experi- 
 ment. The Arcadian idyl was not a success, and, 
 with almost all her resources exhausted, Mod- 
 jeska conceived the bold idea of going to San 
 Francisco to study English for the American 
 stage. This was in 1877. By diligent applica- 
 tion she so soon mastered the English language 
 that in six months she was able to perform in- 
 telligibly befope American audiences. 
 
 In 1880, desiring to secure an English indorse- 
 ment of her American success, Modjeska went to 
 London, and soon achieved triumph at the Court 
 Theatre, in the British capital. Two years later 
 she returned to the United States, where she has 
 since lived. Once every two years she has been 
 accustomed to journey to her native country to 
 play in the theatres of Cracow, Austrian Poland ; 
 Posen, German Poland, and f until forbidden) 
 Warsaw, Eussian Poland. Her art, character- 
 ised as it has ever been by tragic power, purity 
 of aim, grace and delicacy, has placed her in the 
 same class with Rachel and Eistori; but beyond 
 
 284. 
 
A RACE OF ARTISTS BY BIRTH 
 
 her art is her fine, interesting personality, and 
 the great capacity for work which has enahled 
 her to win the highest triumph in a tongue not 
 her own. 
 
 Madame Modjeska lives on a fine country 
 estate known as Tustin, near Los Angeles, in Cali- 
 fornia, with Mexican rough riders and cowboys 
 for her neighbours. There she enjoys complete 
 freedom and quietude, and, in the midst of her 
 great library, she is preparing her autobiography. 
 Her husband is deeply interested in agricultural 
 matters, and is a successful farmer, according 
 to the most exacting American standards 
 
 The stage in Warsaw and Cracow is remark- 
 able for its native dramatic power. These cities 
 are the schools in which future Modjeskas are 
 being trained. The theatres at Cracow and Lem- 
 berg are almost as well equipped with strong, 
 original dramatic talent as that of Warsaw, and 
 the fire and artistic insight, always characteristic 
 of these stages, is also characteristic of the art- 
 loving, high-strung people that supports them 
 so loyally. 
 
 The Poles are by nature's gift an artistic peo- 
 ple, and it is a significant fact that they are 
 to-day achieving artistic triumphs over the peo- 
 ples that conquered them by brute force and now 
 hold them down only by sheer weight of the 
 gunstock. German and Russian critics are en- 
 thusiastic in praise of Polish musicians. Despite 
 
 285 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 the fact that the plots of many of Sienkiewicz's 
 novels revolve around a humiliation of Germans 
 by Poles, and while the imperial German gov- 
 ernment is imprisoning Polish children for refus- 
 ing to say their catechism in German, the author 
 of the Trilogy is even a greater favourite in Ger- 
 many than he is in Russia, where he is read by 
 more people than Tolstoi himself. It is a nobler 
 conquest than that of the sword. 
 
 286 
 
XVII 
 THE GEOGEAPHER OF THE HEAVENS 
 
 NOT only in music, art, and literature has 
 Poland produced great men. One of 
 her scientists ranks •R'ith Galileo and 
 Newton. 
 
 It is rarely given to one man to alter the entire 
 view of the world for all mankind, to make the 
 race face in a new direction. But this honour 
 belongs to Nicholas Copernicus. Before he an- 
 nounced his discoveries, every one held to the 
 Ptolemaic theory that the earth was the centre 
 of the universe. It was a tremendously complex 
 and cumbrous system, and made man consider 
 himself more highly than he ought. 
 
 The age was one of discovery. While the 
 young student of astronomy was poring over his 
 books in Cracow, Columbus and the other ven- 
 turesome Spanish, Portuguese, and Dutch navi- 
 gators were spanning the oceans and continents 
 of the earth. It was Copernicus who began to 
 shake the faith of mankind in the old-established 
 doctrine that " the sun do move." He elaborated 
 his thesis to a system, and man, for the 
 
 287 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 first time, began to realise that lie was not. as 
 he had fondly believed, the centre around which 
 the universe revolved, but merely " a speck of 
 cosmic dust." The Copernican method, more 
 than the mere discovery, made man more humble 
 and modest. The old way of propounding a 
 theory and making the facts fit it, received its 
 death-blow from the labours of the Polish astron- 
 omer. He began the modern method of searching 
 for a theory that would fit the facts. This had 
 an almost incalculable influence on the thought 
 of the world. Man no longer believed that the 
 universe was created solely for his benefit. The 
 world came out of its scholastic, college-boy 
 stage and learned to regard itself with the sense 
 of humility that comes to every young man 
 when he goes out among his fellows and realises 
 that he knows so little. Man had found himself, 
 and modern progress became possible. 
 
 It is a tribute to Poland as well as to the man 
 himself that Prussia should have claimed Coper- 
 nicus as one of her sons. It is true that Thorn 
 (Toriin), where he was born (February 19, 
 1473), and where he lived for many years, is 
 now Prussian, that is German, but it was incor- 
 porated into the Kingdom of Prussia at the sec- 
 ond partition of Poland, in 1793, two hundred 
 and fifty years after the death of Copernicus. 
 Besides, why did the astronomer write " Polo- 
 nus " after his name in the matriculation book 
 of the University of Bologna, if he was a Ger- 
 
 288 
 
THE GEOGRAPHER OF THE HEAVENS 
 
 man? To say that Copernicus was a German is 
 about as reasonable as to claim that Jesus 
 Christ was a Turk because Jerusalem and Beth- 
 lehem are now within the Turkish empire. 
 
 It was the ambition of his mother that he 
 should be a preacher, like her own brother, the 
 eloquent bishop. The father, however, opposed 
 this idea, intending to make his son a man of busi- 
 ness. The parental disagreement resulted, while 
 the young Nicholas was a student at the Univer- 
 sity of Cracow, in his latinising his name, and 
 turning to medicine as a profession. Upon re- 
 ceiving license to practice, however, he at once 
 discarded medicine for his absorbing delight, 
 mathematics. At twenty-one he was teaching 
 mathematics in the University. He soon began 
 to show his grasp of the higher conceptions by 
 improving some of the methods of trigonometry. 
 At this period of his life he also invented a quad- 
 rant with which to measure the height of trees, 
 steeples, or mountains. His fame spread abroad, 
 and he was invited to lecture at Bologna. There 
 he met the famous astronomer, Novarra. The 
 Italian scientist believed and taught the old 
 Ptolemaic theory of astronomy. Copernicus 
 watched the heavens with him, but soon decided 
 that mathematics, not theology, was the basis of 
 the movements in the heavens. 
 
 From Bologna he went to Padua and thence to 
 Eome, all the while slowly elaborating and ex- 
 pounding his theory of stellar and planetary 
 
 289 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 movement. But the old theory was part of the 
 teaching of the Church. And Copernicus was a 
 good Catholic. He soon perceived that alchemy, 
 astrology, even orthodoxy itself, were being ar- 
 raigned at the bar of intellect by his ideas. This 
 was heresy. But, he asked, is it sinful to attempt 
 to understand God's works? " No. To know the 
 mighty works of God; to comprehend His wis- 
 dom and majesty and power; to appreciate, in 
 degree, the wonderful working of His laws, 
 surely all this must be a pleasing and acceptable 
 mode of worship to the Most High, to whom ig- 
 norance cannot be more grateful than knowl- 
 edge." 
 
 Yet Copernicus loved the Church, and, in his 
 fear lest he interfere with the work of the clergy, 
 he ceased lecturing. Then, with the benediction 
 of the Pope, he took to preaching himself. After- 
 ward he practised medicine gratis for the poor. 
 He instructed the people in the science of sani- 
 tation. He devised a system of sewerage and 
 utilised the belfry of his church as a water-tower, 
 all to aid his fellow-townsmen and to convince 
 them that he wished them well. He helped King 
 Zygmunt, of Poland, to establish a scientific, 
 honest system of coinage, and then wrote a book 
 on the coining of money which is valuable even 
 to-day. 
 
 Year by year he worked at his great problem 
 of the earth, the sun, and the stars. In the upper 
 
 290 
 
THE GEOGRAPHER OF THE HEAVENS 
 
 floor of the barn, back of the old dilapidated 
 farmhouse where he lived for forty years, he cut 
 holes in the roof, and also in the sides of the 
 building through which he watched the move- 
 ments of the stars. He lived in practical isola- 
 tion and exile. The Church had forbidden him 
 to speak in public except upon themes that the 
 Holy Fathers in their wisdom had authorised. 
 No one dared invite him to speak, none could 
 read his writings or hold converse with him, ex- 
 cept on strictly church matters. But he cared 
 not. 
 
 " The stars do me honour," he said. " I am 
 forbidden to converse with great men, but God 
 has ordered for me a procession of the stars." 
 Ostracism and exile gave him the opportunity he 
 needed, for digesting all that had been written 
 on astronomy and for testing, very laboriously 
 with his rude instruments, every one of the hy- 
 potheses of his brain. 
 
 And so the years passed. The vigorous, ag- 
 gressive man had become old, feeble, bowed, 
 and almost blind from constantly watching the 
 stars and from writing at night. At last his 
 great book, " The Revolution of the Heavenly 
 Bodies,'' written in Latin, was completed. It 
 had been nearly forty years in the making. For 
 twenty-seven of these, as he himself tells us, not 
 a single day or night passed without his having 
 added somr'thing to it. What should he do with 
 
 291 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 these pages of truth that he had written five 
 times? 
 
 The Censor at Eome, he knew, would not per- 
 mit the book to be published. Did it not contra- 
 dict and refute all that the priests had taught of 
 astronomy? To bring it out in his own town 
 without ecclesiastical authority would be equally 
 dangerous. So the great soul sent the manu- 
 script, with a bag of gold to pay the cost of pub- 
 lication, to Nuremberg, the free city, of free 
 science, free art, and free speech. But he was 
 still full of tender reverence for Mother Church. 
 So he wrote a preface, dedicating the volume to 
 His Holiness Pope Paul. 
 
 Months passed, months of weary waiting. 
 Would they burn the book? The old man, 
 stricken with fever, was within a few days of his 
 death, when a messenger arrived from Nurem- 
 berg. It was May 23, 1543. He bought a printed 
 copy of the book. With the sight of the blessed 
 volume before him the great soul passed. 
 
 In the old Jagiellonian Library of Cracow, one 
 summer day, in the year of Grace 1900, the at- 
 tendant pointed out a small brass instrument, of 
 globe, rings, and circles, curiously worked with 
 astronomical symbols long since out of date. It 
 was the original planisphere of the great cosmog- 
 rapher. Outside, in the picturesque stone court- 
 yard, the floral tributes of its dedication still 
 unfaded, stood the bronze statue of Nicholas 
 
 292 
 
THE GEOGRAPHER OF THE HEAVENS 
 
 Copernicus, lioldiug in his hand a fac-simile of 
 this brass instrument. The sun seemed to have 
 special interest in this man as its rays lovingly 
 fell on him. He had re-established its supremacy 
 in the universe. 
 
 293 
 
XVIII 
 POLISH COUNTRY LIFE AND CUSTOMS 
 
 FOE the delight of existence near to Na- 
 ture's heart and the pleasures of a social 
 intercourse, natural, simple, unaffected, 
 yet marked by a sympathetic responsiveness, and 
 a refined subtilitv of intellectual interchange, 
 one should go to the Poles and enjoy their social 
 and home life. Whole-hearted, sympathetic hos- 
 pitality and refinement is characteristic of the 
 educated Poles at all times and in all places, but 
 while in the cities it is apt to be a bit vitiated by 
 the artificialities inevitable to urban wealth and 
 " over-ripeness,"" in the country districts, among 
 the families of the ohyicatel, or landed aristoc- 
 racy, it is generally healthy, unaffected, and in- 
 spiring. 
 
 The Poles have always been an agrarian people. 
 They love their mother soil passionately, and 
 cleave to it — with a tenacity that has caused un- 
 told woe to the Prussian government, when it 
 wants to buy up Polish estates. In all its his- 
 tory only one other pursuit has claimed equal 
 attention and devotion from the Pole, and that is 
 
 29-1 
 
POLISH COUNTRY LIFE AND CUSTOMS 
 
 war. As farmers and fighters, this people has 
 excelled for over a thousand years. 
 
 The Polish estate is generally very large, as 
 estates go. But it varies in size. In the vicin- 
 ity of the cities the proprietor may boast of fifty 
 acres. Count Zamoyski, the greatest Polish land- 
 owner, has 400,000 acres. The estate is usually 
 almost self-supporting, an empire in itself, and 
 frequently governed as autocratically. The soil 
 supports the manor family in almost all its 
 wants. Grain, fruit and vegetables, meat (fish 
 and fowl) and liquors, for the table, wool and 
 leather for the body — in Euthenia one owner 
 boasted to me his place produced everything he 
 used, except pepper, salt, and oyster crackers. 
 Woodland, meadow, tilled field, by the hundreds 
 of acres, fish ponds, hundreds of head of cattle, 
 horses, pigs, poultry, from fifteen to three hun- 
 dred servants, sometimes forming a village of 
 their own — the management of a Polish estate is 
 a task worthy of a man's full powers. 
 
 Hospitality in Poland is hearty and sincere. 
 When you visit a Polish family you know at 
 once that you have a place with them. They en- 
 joy your enjoyment so much that you feel you 
 really ought to have a good time if for no other 
 reason than to please them. The Pole, indeed, 
 has a good many qualities in common with the 
 Celt. Added to his own time-honoured magnifi- 
 cence and munificence as a dispenser, he has the 
 
 295 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 urbanity and delightful manners of the French- 
 man, and the warm-hearted, winning ways of the 
 Irishman. The Pole and the Irishman have 
 many traits in common — including the unruli- 
 ness. 
 
 Somehow, the Poles have always impressed me 
 as being more alive than the neighbouring peo- 
 ples; indeed, than any other European people. 
 Life, strong, bounding physical life, is, and al- 
 ways has been, characteristic of them. What a 
 laughable failure little Pan Michael made of 
 his temporary immuring in a monastery I The 
 memento mori seemed ridiculous, coming from 
 the lips that had taken in so much of the good 
 things of physical life, so much red liquor, no 
 many dishes of hot, generous viands. Fancy Zag- 
 loba as a monk! It is impossible. All through 
 that marvellous picture gallery of Sienkiewicz 
 how much life there is — abounding life, fulness 
 and power and colour I The Pole was always a 
 fighter, a big man. It is a big race to-day, and 
 likes good living, good eating. Nature was good 
 to the Pole physically. She made him big and 
 hearty, and to-day he is fond of a good cuisine, 
 and knows how to have it. 
 
 The typical Polish dioor, or country house, 
 is generally situated on a hillock above the peas- 
 ant village which nestles at its feet. It is often 
 hidden in a mass of trees, many of them centuries 
 old. After entering the " brama," or gateway, 
 
 296 
 
POLISH COUNTRY LIFE AND CUSTOMS 
 
 which is likely to be a ponderous affair, the visi- 
 tor approaches the manor by a long driveway 
 bordered with trees, in most cases lindens, which, 
 in Poland, attain a great height and size, and are 
 the owner's special pride. At the end of the 
 driveway, among the trees, is seen a low, ram- 
 bling, red-tiled dwelling of one story, with its 
 white stucco walls glistening in the sunlight. 
 The porch is large and its roof is supported by 
 Doric columns, and there are benches on either 
 side. In the typical manor this porch leads into 
 an ante-room decorated with the hunting trophies 
 of the master. Then, to the right, is the office in 
 which he receives his business callers — the factor 
 of the estate who comes to report on the day's 
 work, the peasant from the village to ask a fa- 
 vour, the Jew to bargain for the gentleman's 
 grain. The walls of the office are generally deco- 
 rated with fragrant wreaths from the harvest 
 fields. 
 
 The dining-room and the parlour are much like 
 those in any other country. In the bedroom, 
 however, there is generally an altar to St. Mary. 
 Every Saturday and during the whole month of 
 May there is a light burning on this altar, and 
 also offerings of fresh flowers. The tiled stoves, 
 most elaborate affairs, frequently wrought on 
 artistic patterns, reach almost to the ceiling, for 
 the rooms are low, and give a distinct character 
 to them. The kitchen stove is a large plaster 
 
 297 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 affair, with a cavernous oven. This is heated by 
 filling the interior with burning wood and then 
 raking out the embers, after which the bread is 
 pushed in with a long-handled wooden ladle. The 
 result of this rather primitive method is excel- 
 lent, especially the rye bread. 
 
 The house is usually surrounded by a large 
 garden, and there is generally a pond, which sup- 
 plies fish to the manor house, and an old orchard, 
 from which is derived a comfortable yearly in- 
 come. Then, no typical estate is without a nest 
 of storks. This bird is treated almost reverently 
 in Poland, and permitted to go where he will 
 without interference. His coming is awaited 
 longingly, as he is a harbinger of spring. 
 
 The horses and carriages and waggons are the 
 dwor's special pride. They are the means of 
 communication with the rest of the world. Two, 
 three, five, fifteen miles from town, the estate 
 people, busy all summer, depend on the winter 
 season for their social intercours(\ It is then 
 that they pay most of the calls of the year and 
 relax from their toil. The carnival week, before 
 the soberness of Lent, is the great season for 
 gaiety and amusement. The estate drives into 
 town occasionally for its balls and parties, but 
 usually contents itself with giving •' affairs "' and 
 attending them among its immediate neighbours 
 — which may involve a two hours" drive. Hunt- 
 ing parties are a favourite amusement. These 
 
 298 
 
POLISH COUNTRY LIFE AND CUSTOMS 
 
 are arranged, in turn, by the proprietors of the 
 different estates. Early in the morning the 
 hunters collect at the home of their host, where 
 the hunting breakfast, consisting of smoked meats 
 of different kinds, sausage, cheese, wines and 
 beer, awaits them. They start off in peasant 
 waggons, or, if there is snow, in sleighs, taking 
 with them the famous bigos, which is reheated 
 for them over a bonfire by the peasant boys. 
 These boys also chase the game within range of 
 the hunters, who are looking for sport only, as 
 it is the custom to leave all the game at the home 
 of the host. 
 
 The innate love of the picturesque and poetic, 
 which is so characteristic of the race, comes out 
 in the great wealth of customs and traditions 
 among the Poles. There are innumerable holi- 
 days, and with each is associated some poetic 
 legend or odd custom originating in a pictur- 
 esque conception of the meaning of some relig- 
 ious or social observances. Christmas and Easter 
 are the great days of the year, and each is full 
 of religious significance. 
 
 The approach of Christmas is always heralded 
 a few weeks beforehand by the frequent visits of 
 the members of the brotherhood of monks, who 
 bring small packages of wafers made of flour and 
 water, blessed by the priest, and on which are 
 stamped symbolic religious figures. Xo Polish 
 family, at home or abroad, is without these 
 
 299 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 oplatki, which play such an important role in the 
 Christmas-Eve festivities. The Poles send these 
 wafers in letters to all relatives and friends, as 
 Christmas cards are sent in other countries. 
 
 Christmas-Eve feast is, perhaps, the greatest 
 occasion of the year, and preparations are made 
 for it with much solemnity. Before the cloth is 
 laid the table is covered with a layer of hay or 
 straw, and a sheaf of the straw stands in a cor- 
 ner. Years ago, straw was also spread on the 
 floor — all this symbolic of Christ's lowly birth. 
 
 The menu of the feast is a most elaborate af- 
 fair, although not so much so as formerly. As 
 the day is a fast day, fish forms the main feature 
 of the bill, which should consist of thirteen 
 courses. First, there are soups: broth of al- 
 mond, fish soup, or barszcz. The last is a sour 
 soup of fermented beet juice, very popular. Then 
 comes the fish, often beginning with an enormous 
 pike, served in a variety of ways with fifty differ- 
 ent kinds of sauce. Then comes tench, with cab- 
 bages and mushrooms. Then more carp, and 
 Icutia, a Lithuanian national dish, consisting of 
 husked oats, served with honey and poppy seeds. 
 After the fish come conserved fruits, and then 
 delicious little piror/i, a little cake or dumpling 
 that looks like a tiny loaf of rye bread, stuffed 
 with layers of almond paste, poppy seeds, meal or 
 cheese. Besides, there are numerous other small 
 cakes and preserved fruits. In the proportion 
 
 300 
 
POLISH COUNTRY LIFE AND CUSTOMS 
 
 that a tbirteen-course dinner exceeds an ordinary 
 repast, by so much does the drink list expand. 
 If you accept all the liquors that a Pole offers, 
 you will have to be a very strong man not to suc- 
 cumb. They have all the liquors known to the 
 Anglo-Saxon palate and many others, which 
 should be approached with caution. 
 
 Christmas Eve belongs to the family exclu- 
 sively. Barely are there any guests present, but 
 all the relatives gather from far and near at the 
 home of the eldest member, sometimes travel- 
 ling several days to reach their destination. 
 
 When the first star appears the entire family, 
 beginning with the eldest member, breaks the 
 wafer, each with the other, at the same time ex- 
 changing best wishes. The master and mistress 
 then go to the servants' quarters to divide the 
 wafer there. They wish good husbands to the 
 bonny peasant girls, and excellent housewives to 
 the men folk. The servants have the rest of the 
 evening to themselves, and they spend it singing 
 characteristic Christmas carols, known as " Ko- 
 lendy." Sometimes the peasants will come to 
 gather the hay and straw from under the cloth 
 and distribute it among the cattle, as there is a 
 popular belief that this straw possesses a charm 
 against evil. It is also used to tie up fruit trees, 
 which are then supposed to yield plentifully the 
 following season. Returning from " Pasterka," 
 the midnight mass, it is another custom to accost 
 
 301 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 the first passer-by and ask his or her name, which 
 is supposed to be the name of the questioners 
 future husband or wife. 
 
 On Christmas morning, early, the peasants 
 dress themselves up to represent Herod and other 
 Biblical characters, as well as many different 
 birds and animals, and go from house to house, 
 the leader carrying an immense glittering star, 
 to represent the Star of Bethlehem. They sing 
 Christmas carols beneath the windows of every 
 hut and manor house, receiving either money or 
 a portion of the Christmas feast. This custom 
 is known as Gwiazda, the star. 
 
 The children wait for the observance of one 
 custom with breathless impatience. This is the 
 Jaselki — the manger — the observance of which 
 lasts during the whole week between Christmas 
 and Xew Year's. It is really a travelling series 
 of scenes from the life of Christ, and also from 
 the lives of the modern peasants. These Jaselki 
 are gorgeous affairs, somewhat on the model of 
 the English Punch and Judy show. They are 
 really small travelling theatres, ablaze with can- 
 dles and tinsel, and so bulky that it frequently 
 requires three or four strong men to manipulate 
 one of them. During the performance all the 
 characteristic melodies or folksongs are sung, 
 such as the Krakowiak, the ilazur, and others. 
 The market-place of Cracow, especially at night, 
 is a very pretty spectacle, its sidewalks all lined 
 
 302 
 
POLISH COUNTRY LIFE AND CUSTOMS 
 
 with these glittering Jaseiki, each of which tries 
 to outshine the other in splendour. The proprie- 
 tors generally reap a goodly harvest, as these 
 shows are very popular with the children, and 
 have really taken a strong hold, when it is re- 
 membered that the Christmas tree was not intro- 
 duced into Poland until the beginning of the 
 last century. The making of presents on Christ- 
 mas is not so general in Poland. Gifts are re- 
 served for •• name " days. 
 
 Carnival begins after New Year's, and it is as 
 great a season for gaiety among the Poles as 
 with the Italians and French. All the country 
 estates and the smaller towns flock to the larger 
 cities, and the journey becomes a sort of annual 
 pilgrimage for pleasure, and not at all a pen- 
 ance. Mothers, with marriageable daughters, 
 and an army of young men in search of wives, 
 form the larger part of these pilgrims, and one 
 of the most certain outcomes of each carnival is 
 the large number of betrothals that supply 
 the gossip to enliven the monotony of Lent. Sev- 
 eral generations ago the country people of a few 
 estates would gather together at Carnival time, 
 and, taking with them their servants and 
 trunks, would fall upon their neighbours with- 
 out invitation, as a sort of surprise party. They 
 would remain many days at a time, dancing and 
 feasting, until they had emptied the pantry and 
 the cellar. Then, taking their host and his fam- 
 
 303 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 ily with them, thej' would go to the next estate, 
 the company constantly increasing in numbers, 
 until every estate had been visited in turn. By 
 this time the Carnival had come to an end, and 
 every family returned to its respective home. 
 Since this was an accepted custom, no one was 
 caught unawares, and there was always an abun- 
 dance of good things to offer the welcome guests. 
 
 At Carnival the Poles seem to go dance mad. 
 A Polish gentleman of Cracow observed to me, 
 " We used to begin early in the evening, and 
 dance till five o'clock in the morning. Then 
 probably the musicians could play no longer, and 
 we would all pretend to go. After most of us 
 were ready to leave, it generally happened that 
 some one would strike up a mazurka, and we 
 would begin all over again, sometimes dancing 
 till twelve noon, when we usually stopped, though 
 not always willingly." 
 
 On the last day of Carnival there are gener- 
 ally masquerades given, which come to an ab- 
 rupt end as the bells toll midnight. Even to this 
 day, in Cracow, a huge fish, made of tin or card- 
 board, is lowered into the ballroom as the clock 
 strikes twelve, as a sign that Lent has com- 
 menced, and the herring, milk, and eggs passed 
 round in country homes have the same signifi- 
 cance. 
 
 Matka Boska Gromniezna, or Candlemas Day, 
 occurs early in February, and is one of the most 
 
 304 
 
POLISH COUNTRY LIFE AND CUSTOMS 
 
 ceremonious days of the year in the Polish 
 Catholic Church. On that day the candles, 
 which are symbolic of purity, are blessed. It is 
 a curious sight to see the kneeling masses on the 
 stone floor holding immense lighted candles in 
 their hands, and it is supposed to be a bad omen 
 if, during the procession that follows, one of the 
 candles goes out without apparent cause. The 
 candles are taken home and lighted during storms 
 and on occasions that could, in any way, bring 
 disaster. 
 
 Holy Week is full of symbolism. In some 
 parts of Galicia, on Holy Thursday, the boys, 
 dressed up as soldiers, make a dummy figure, en- 
 veloped in rags, to represent Judas. This figure 
 they take to the cemetery, where they beat it 
 with wooden swords, amid the laughter and deri- 
 sion of the onlookers. Judas is taken in a wheel- 
 barrow to the nearest pond, where he is drowned, 
 or, at nightfall, he is tied to a stake and burned. 
 
 Easter is a greater holiday than Christmas 
 with the Poles, and it is also a day on which 
 all the family gather together. Preparations for 
 it are begun weeks beforehand. The table is set 
 on Saturday morning, the setting being quite an 
 event, in which the whole household take part. 
 As there is no telling how many guests will be 
 present, the plates, knives, and forks are placed 
 on a sideboard and taken as they are needed. 
 The centre table, as well as long, narrow tables 
 
 305 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 at the side, are covered with snowy cloths, some- 
 times decorated with a border of evergreen, which 
 has been artistically sewed on. In the centre, on 
 a pedestal, sometimes made with moss, with col- 
 oured eggs and fruit at the base, is the symbolic 
 lamb, made of butter or sugar. The rest of the 
 table is laid out with whole hams, veal and mut- 
 ton, etc., and cakes of all descriptions, the for- 
 mer prettily decorated with evergreen and box- 
 wood. A small sucking pig, holding a coloured 
 egg in its mouth, always occupies a place of hon- 
 our. The food is all blessed by the priest, who 
 also, at this time, blesses the water to be used in 
 sprinkling the huts. No Polish peasant would 
 live in a house that had not been blessed by the 
 priest, as such a dwelling, he believes, must cer- 
 tainly be haunted by ghosts, if not by the devil 
 himself. When a factory is built the proprietor 
 could get no workmen unless the building had 
 been blessed. Even the theatres are blessed. 
 
 Another pretty custom is that of the gentle- 
 man inviting to the house a few of the more dig- 
 nified peasants, with whom he eats the symbolic 
 egg. This custom goes a long way toward insur- 
 ing good feelings between the manor house and 
 the peasant hut. 
 
 The Easter dinner, which is begun by dividing 
 the egg and exchanging good wishes, is the only 
 regular meal of the day. Other meals are eaten 
 where and when one chooses. The servants have 
 
 306 
 
POLISH COUNTRY LIFE AND CUSTOMS 
 
 no duties, and the fires in the kitchen are al- 
 lowed to die out. On Easter Monday the visit- 
 ing begins, and the house is filled with guests 
 from morning till night The meals are served 
 in the same manner as on Easter Day, so that 
 practically the eating continues all day. 
 
 An extraordinary custom, known as Smigus, 
 is observed on Easter Monday, to the huge en- 
 joyment of the peasants. They douse one another 
 with pails of water. The men hide behind bushes 
 and trees, waiting for the peasant girls to draw 
 water. Catching them unawares, they give the 
 girls a thorough drenching. Of course, the poor 
 Jew suffers from this. He is up early, as usual, 
 intent on business, to be greeted with the con- 
 tents of a bucket of dishwater from the top of 
 some roof. Among the landed proprietors this 
 custom takes a more genteel form, the young gen- 
 tlemen spraying the ladies with cologne. 
 
 Eenkawka (the word means the sleeve) comes 
 as a sort of clear-up after Easter, and the 
 custom has an historical explanation. The mound 
 of Krakus was erected by the people, who brought 
 the earth in their wide, old-fashioned sleeves, in 
 token of homage to the founder of their city, 
 Cracow. This is the holiday of the servants and 
 the peasants, who dress up in their finest and 
 flock to the Krakus mound, where, according to 
 the old Polish custom, the remains of the Easter 
 feast were distributed to the poor. To-day, the 
 
 307 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 obserrance of the custom becomes a celebration 
 of public games, the proceeds of which are de- 
 voted to amusements and benefits for the people. 
 
 From time immemorial the Poles have greeted 
 the spring with open arms. Its advent is cele- 
 brated in a holiday season known as Zielone 
 Swiantki (Green Holidav). Every palace, 
 house, and hut is decorated with " green things," 
 and the churches look like a beautiful grove. 
 The peasants give their huts a new coat of white- 
 wash, which makes the green decorations partic- 
 ularly effective. 
 
 Among the many picturesque customs of har- 
 vest time none is, perhaps, so beautiful as that 
 of the annual visit of the master and mistress to 
 the fields. They are immediately waylaid by the 
 peasants, who tie their hands with bands of 
 straw, the lady and gentleman only regaining 
 their liberty after paying a fine. If the fields are 
 near the road, any one who passes can be treated 
 in the same manner, and the peasants reap quite 
 a little harvest of money. Swiento Matki Boskej- 
 Zielnej (Feast of the Divine Mother of the 
 Herbs) is a holiday in August. For a few days 
 before this, bevies of peasant girls may be seen 
 gathering flowers and herbs of all kinds. These 
 are made into bouquets, often of intricate design, 
 with fruit and nuts as decorations, and are taken 
 to church to be blessed. These blessed herbs are 
 supposed to ward off diseases from the cattle. 
 
 308 
 
POLISH COUNTRY LIFE AND CUSTOMS 
 
 It is quite a picturesque siglit, this mass of Imeel- 
 ing peasant women, each with her immense 
 bouquet. 
 
 Dzien Zaduszny is All Souls' Day, on which 
 there is a pilgrimage to all the cemeteries. 
 The graves are decorated lavishly with flowers 
 and wreaths, and in the night lit up with candles 
 and lamps of different colours — a weird and pic- 
 turesque sight. In Lithuania the peasants be- 
 lieve that at midnight the souls leave their 
 graves and return to their former homes. So 
 food and drink are placed on window-sill and 
 thresholds, that they need not go away hungry. 
 The disappearance of the food only strengthens 
 the belief of the peasants in the midnight visita- 
 tion. Sometimes food is also placed on the 
 graves. The smack of paganism in this, how- 
 ever, has caused it to be forbidden by the Church. 
 
 The musical culture of the Poles and their pas- 
 sionate fondness for that art is one of the finest 
 facts of their social life. It is a musical appre- 
 ciation that is inbred and inherited from na- 
 ture's original gift to the race, refined and devel- 
 oped by generations of practice. 
 
 In an intellectual way, the Poles are demo- 
 crats. The most gifted author or the most fa- 
 mous artist will " drop in " for an evening's call, 
 and chat, without ostentation or heralding, ex- 
 pecting to be received as simply as though he 
 were the family doctor. 
 
 309 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 The patriarchal form of gOTernment, however, 
 still survives in the Slavonic family. The chil- 
 dren are brought up to most respectful, filial 
 conduct, and it is delightful to see their rever- 
 ence for their elders, a reverence that is genu- 
 ine and inbred. No young person would dream 
 of occupying a sofa or an easy chair while there 
 are older people in the room, no matter how many 
 other vacant chairs there might be. The boy and 
 girl salute their parents by kissing, not on the 
 mouth, but on the hand, the shoulder, the coat- 
 sleeve. 
 
 In the matter of social customs the Poles are 
 exceedingly conservative. The old prejudice 
 against trade and business is, indeed, dying out, 
 under pressure of modern conditions, but trades- 
 men and mechanics are still rated as lower in 
 the social scale than the landed proprietor, even 
 though the latter may be much poorer and be 
 compelled to work much harder. Tradition 
 seems to have a stronger hold in Galicia than in 
 the other sections of the former commonwealth. 
 The stamp of a new order is visible over all the 
 kingdom (Kussia), and German progress will 
 not let Posen lag behind. But in Galicia, old 
 ideas, old customs, old forms, old titles, still 
 bold. 
 
 It is very difficult for a non-Pole to understand 
 the social caste system in Poland. There are 
 really five orders, the aristocracy, the titled no- 
 
 310 
 
POLISH COUNTRY LIFE AND CUSTOMS 
 
 bilitv, the landed proprietors (or szlachta), the 
 bourgeoisie, and the peasants. The Jews, of 
 course, form still another and wholly distinct 
 class. The aristocracy consists, it would seem, 
 of about a dozen families, whose names have 
 been famous through generations. They are in- 
 tensely conservative in social matters, and rec- 
 ognition by them, or connection, even distant, 
 with them, is the hall-mark of social standing. 
 The family genealogical tree and coat of arms 
 are a most complicated matter, and quite beyond 
 a stranger's comprehension. The Pole can tell 
 his family history back to a little after the time 
 of the flood. He also knows the history of all his 
 neighbours, and when a stranger arrives in town 
 he soon places him, after consulting the book of 
 heraldry. The Polish aristocrat, in short, is as 
 proud and stately as the Spanish grandee. 
 
 The only profession fit for a gentleman, ac- 
 cording to the idea quite generally prevalent 
 in Galicia, is that of ohyioatelstico — that is, 
 gentleman farmer — whose ideas and standing are 
 somewhat similar to those of our old Southern 
 squires before the war. This is the szlachta, or 
 landed nobility, which still forms a small part of 
 the nation. This class looks down on trade such 
 as that on which the bourgeoisie of the towns is 
 beginning to thrive. But the old prejudice is fast 
 dying out, and now there are even hrabias (counts 
 or barons) who own and operate large dairies. 
 
 311 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AlIONG NATIONS 
 
 Perhaps, however, this is also considered a part 
 of gentleman farming. 
 
 The bourgeoisie, or town-folk, are generally 
 the tradespeople. This class is composed of a 
 large proportion of foreigners, Germans particu- 
 larly (even in Russia), Poles of Teutonic or Rus- 
 sian extraction, and an increasing number of 
 Poles, pure Poles, constantly recruited from the 
 peasantry, and occasionally from the aristocracy. 
 The peasants, either through discontent with 
 their own hard lot, or drawn by the allurements 
 of city life, are deserting their fields and going 
 into the centres of population, where they often 
 enter trade and become prosperous. Service in 
 the army is likely to give the peasant lad a dis- 
 taste for the monotonous, rather animal life of 
 bis parent. And so the transformation of the 
 people from a nation of almost exclusive agricul- 
 turists into one of manufacturers goes on slowly, 
 but none the less surely. 
 
 312 
 
XIX 
 
 POLAND'S MODERN INTERPEETER 
 
 A RARE honour it certainly is for any one 
 man to be able to introduce bis country 
 and countrymen to the world; to recall to 
 the memory of mankind an oppressed and almost 
 forgotten people, and to so revivify its past that 
 the whole civilised world pauses to look and lis- 
 ten as though a new protagonist had stepped 
 upon the stage of the century. Such is, indeed, 
 a rare honour, but it belongs to Henryk Sien- 
 kiewicz, incomparably the greatest prophet of 
 Polish nationality. 
 
 Sienkiewicz has introduced his countrymen to 
 the American people. It is not as " the author 
 of ' Quo Vadis? ' " that his name will be longest 
 and best remembered, although such is the popu- 
 lar way (at least in this country) of referring to 
 him. It is as the man who made his country 
 known to the world, as the author of the Trilogy 
 of Polish novels, that he claims the affection and 
 homage of his countrymen. 
 
 To the American, the Englishman, the Ger- 
 man, Henryk Sienkiewicz is a masterly weaver 
 of fascinating, powerful, realistic romances. To 
 
 313 
 
POLAND : THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 the Pole he is all this, and much more. He is his 
 country's first adequate interpreter to the world, 
 and his works are the mirror in which " Sarma- 
 tia sees her strenuous, beautiful self." To an 
 audience larger, more widely distributed, and 
 more generally intelligent than that of any other 
 living author — with the possible exception of 
 Tolstoi — he says : " Gentlemen, permit me to pre- 
 sent Poland. This is not mere story-telling, lit- 
 erary portraiture, romance-building. This is a 
 great people; Poland, with all her magnificent 
 virtues, all her lamentable shortcomings. Per- 
 mit me, ladies and gentlemen, to present to you 
 Poland." 
 
 All his historical novels on Poland, but partic- 
 ularly the incomparable Trilogy, present, in bold, 
 clear-cut, beautiful lines, that unfortunate land 
 and people that is to-day without a place on 
 the map of nations. In the Trilogy the novelist 
 has gathered up all the threads of the national 
 life and character of his countrymen and woven 
 them deftly into one shining cord: the series of 
 three realistic, historical romances, '• With Fire 
 and Sword,"' " The Deluge," and " Pan Michael." 
 
 A man in the prime of life, and in the pleni- 
 tude of his powers, hearty, cordial, and courte- 
 ous, slightly reserved at times, always modest 
 and unassuming; a man of the middle height, 
 with a kindly, honest face and quiet manners, 
 with now and then the almost hunted look of one 
 
 314 
 
HENRYK SIENKIEWICZ, POLAND'S MODERN 
 INTERPRETER. 
 
 (From the painting by Kazimierz Pochwalski.) 
 
POLAND'S MODERN INTERPRETER 
 
 who fears the " lioniser " — such is, in brief, the 
 impression made by Henryk Sienlciewicz. His is 
 a most winning personality, with simple, natural 
 dignity, and an utter lack of pose. 
 
 The novelist had just returned from a walk 
 with his daughter when I presented myself at 
 his cottage at Zakopane in the Carpathian iloun- 
 tains. His naturally olive complexion was 
 flushed with the exercise, and he flourished a 
 ciupaga (or hatchet-headed mountain-stick) 
 gleefully as he stepped buoyantly into the room. 
 
 Delightful and unique is this Zakopailski or 
 Carpathian style of building and carving. It 
 looks like a clever amalgamation of the Norwe- 
 gian and Swiss, but yet with a new stamp, cast 
 in a new mould, peculiarly its own. The wood- 
 carving of these gorale, or peasant mountaineers, 
 is really wonderful. From the massive newel- 
 post at the foot of the stairs to the delicate fili- 
 gree leaf-tracery of the paper-knife on Mr. Sien- 
 kiewicz's desk, it is all done by hand, and — Oh, 
 rare temperance and restraint! — left quite un- 
 smirched by the vandal, vulgar paint. Fresh, 
 clean, white wood, wrought into beautiful, artis- 
 tic forms, with the ozone and tang of the forest 
 still clinging to it, makes grateful, appropriate 
 surroundings for a study. A few books and a 
 couple of fur rugs — the spoil of the mountains — 
 complete the den of the novelist. 
 
 A most modest man is this world-famous au- 
 315 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 thor. You cannot extract personalities, except 
 the meagerest, from him by any means known to 
 the diplomat's art or the journalist's craft. " I 
 toiled at short stories until I could write a good 
 one before I attempted longer productions." 
 This is the terse way he sums up his early liter- 
 ary struggles. A search among the " biography 
 pigeon-holes" of certain Warsaw newspapers 
 supplies the information that, like most eminent 
 literary men, his beginnings were arduous and 
 discouraging. From his mother, Stefania Cie- 
 ciszewska, who was a poetess of culture, he in- 
 herited a taste for literature. He wrote a series 
 of critical articles in 1869, in his 25th year, but 
 they attracted no attention. The next year he 
 tried a novel, but that met a fate strangely ap- 
 propriate to its title — " In Vain." No one cred- 
 ited him with talent, and he lost heart. In the 
 year of our Centennial he came to this country 
 and joined Madame Modjeska's famous colony 
 of expatriated Poles in California. Then came 
 his sketches of travel in America. " I know the 
 great West of America as a traveller only," he 
 said. Here I fancied I could detect the faintest 
 apologetic touch to the voice. Perhaps the nov- 
 elist has had an inkling of the sensitiveness of 
 Americans to the opinions of distinguished for- 
 eigners, like Dickens and himself, who have 
 seemed hasty in their generalisations of Amer- 
 ica " as seen from a car window." Mr. Sien- 
 
 316 
 
POLAND'S MODERN INTERPRETER 
 
 kiewicz's reference to pigs in the streets of New 
 York somehow lingers unpleasantly in the 
 memory. 
 
 "How do I write a novel?" He laughed. 
 " What a question that is, and how can I possi- 
 bly answer it? I prepare to write a novel by 
 reading every book and document referring to it 
 in all languages that I can lay hold of. Then I 
 lot it all soak for a while." (The novelist did 
 not use the word " soak," but explained more in 
 detail that he meant that process.) "Then I 
 write. That is all. ' Quo Yadis? ' was compara- 
 tively easy. There was a great wealth of books 
 and documents to draw from. Tacitus was a 
 gold-mine. It took about eighteen months to 
 complete ' Quo Vadis? ' which was my first seri- 
 ous effort in the classical field. The Trilogy was 
 more difficult, requiring very careful research, 
 and the study of old and generally obscure 
 authorities." 
 
 An amusing incident is told in connection with 
 the serial publication of " Quo Vadis? " in a Po- 
 lish journal. When the installment describing 
 the captivity of Lygia appeared, a deputation of 
 sensitive young girls called upon the author — 
 at least so the story runs — to beg him not to let 
 his heroine die in prison. " It is a simple matter, 
 this letting her escape," naively declared one of 
 these young ladies. " Lygia has only to write a 
 letter to her fiance, and he will see to it." Sien- 
 
 317 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 kiewicz smiled and requested his fair petitioner 
 to compose such a letter to him. A few days 
 later, therefore, he received the following mis- 
 sive: 
 
 " Jly dear Lygia : 
 
 " It seems that you ought to write to Vinicius, but illness 
 has probably enfeebled your epistolary powers. Address, 
 instead, the simplest, most unpretentious letter to a certain 
 M. Henryk Sienkiewicz. who lives in Warsaw several cen- 
 turies hence. I have every reason to believe that, if you 
 ask him prettily, he will arrange the matter without the 
 useless complications of further correspondence. 
 
 " I embrace you affectionately." 
 
 The novelist prefers to be known as the author 
 of the Trilogy: "With Fire and Sword," ''The 
 Deluge,'' and " Pan Michael." No Pole ever re- 
 fers to him as the author of " Quo Vadis? " It is 
 in the Trilogy that he " mirrors his native land."' 
 The other novels are not essentially typical. 
 " Quo Vadis? " is a powerful romance, but it is 
 not the Sienkiewicz milieu. '"Without Dogma" 
 is a fascinating psychological study, but a study 
 that is human-broad. " The Family of Polan- 
 iecki " is also psychological and human, not ex- 
 clusively Polish. " The Knights of the Cross *' 
 is the history of an obscure, seething period, set 
 in an absorbing romance. " On the Field of 
 Glory " is typical, but not comprehensive. The 
 Trilogy is Poland. Podbipienta, large-limbed, 
 large-hearted, chivalrous, taciturn, patient, re- 
 lentless, " so tall that his head nearly struck the 
 
 318 
 
POLAND'S MODERN INTERPRETER 
 
 ceiling, . . . but with an honest, open ex- 
 pression lilve that of a child," represents Lithua- 
 nia, the vast, savage northeast domain that came 
 to the Commonwealth with the marriage of the 
 Christian Jadwiga to the barbarian Jagiello. 
 Zagloba is the type of the petite noblesse. Wo- 
 lodyjowski is the thorough-going soldier, the 
 splendid swordsman, a conqueror in war and 
 love, a very typical Polish character. Bohun, in 
 " With Fire and Sword," represents the Cossack, 
 and Azya, in " Pan Michael," the Tartar, those 
 fierce, untamed races, human birds of prey, that 
 surrounded the Polish Commonwealth, and but 
 for the swords of the Poles would have overrun 
 western Europe. Prince Boguslaw, of " The 
 Deluge," is the type of the " foreignised " Polish 
 aristocrat. French in manners, in dress, in hab- 
 its, French in the faultless punctiliousness and 
 pomp of his chivalry, he was Gallic also in his 
 hollow pretensions, in his cynicism, in his 
 amours. Boguslaw brought his French servants, 
 his French dress, and his French manners into 
 the Commonwealth, treating the Poles with 
 whom he came in contact as inferior beings, and 
 lauding foreign ways, foreign military service, 
 foreign everything. He is the prototype of the 
 Polish noble of to-day who so often lives abroad 
 — in France, in England, in Italy — who spends 
 his money lavishly at the English Derby, the 
 French Grand Prix, at Monte Carlo, on the Ei- 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AJIONG NATIONS 
 
 viera — but who, when he comes to Warsaw or 
 Cracow, the most Polish of cities, pulls tight his 
 purse-strings and haggles over the amount of 
 his hotel bill. A true, an unfortunately true, 
 type, this Boguslaw. 
 
 Pleasanter to contemplate are the wholly noble 
 creations of the Trilogy, especially so far as the 
 novelist could find real, actual, historic charac- 
 ters to stand as types. These types can be found 
 to-day among the Poles. Skrzetuski, the mirror 
 of chivalry; Wolodyjowski, the simplo-mindL'd, 
 ideal soldier; Kmicic, the dashing, devotL'd cava- 
 lier ; Kordecki, the patriot-priest ; Czarniecki, the 
 splendid, terrible leader of armies ; Sapieha, the 
 large-souled, pleasure-loving marshal; Wisnio- 
 wiecki, the peerless leader — what a splendid 
 array ! And all were actual, living men, as were 
 also the terrible Chmielnicki and the equally ter- 
 rible Janusz Kadziwill. 
 
 His countrymen call the Trilogy the Polish 
 national epic, and some English critic has de- 
 clared that it has shown Sienkiewicz to be 
 " Scott and Dumas rolled into one, with the 
 added humour of Cervantes, and at times the 
 force of Shakespeare."' With the tragic, tense, 
 bloody history of his country as a Cyclopean 
 background, he has swept with bold, beautiful 
 lines, and his brush has limned a marvellous pic- 
 ture. Battle, adventure, heroism, virile conflict, 
 are the strokes that stand out, but the eurythmy 
 
 320 
 
POLAND'S MODERN INTERPRETER 
 
 that dominates the entire picture, tlie light that 
 suffuses the canvas, is that of love. Sienkiewicz 
 Ii:nows, with an exquisite knowledge that finds 
 at once the vital point of every situation, that 
 love is and should be the mainspring, the soul, 
 of the novel. He is not afraid of his theme. His 
 characters are not '' goody-goodies.'' They are 
 far from being carpet-knights or shepherdesses 
 of Arcady. Occasionally, for one shuddering 
 second, we get a glimpse of the most brutal 
 depths in his men. They are always strong and 
 virile. He never shrinks from physical love, but 
 when he touches it, he does so incidentally, 
 lightly, and then passes. The reader's imagina- 
 tion is never soiled by his scenes or characters. 
 
 '' Aside from the historical characters in the 
 Trilogy, you have given us a number of types, 
 have you not? If Skrzetuski, Chmielnicki, 
 Wisniowiecki, Kmicic, and Radziwill were actual 
 figures of history, what of Zagloba, of Podbi- 
 pienta, of Wolodyjowski? " 
 
 " Michael Wolodyjowski was an actual charac- 
 ter. There was a knight of that name, known far 
 and wide as ' the best soldier of the Common- 
 wealth.' The manner of his death, including the 
 dramatic visit of Sobieski at his funeral, are his- 
 toric verities. The siege of the stronghold of 
 Kamieniec in Podolia happened just as I have 
 pictured it." 
 
 "And Zagloba?" 
 
 321 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 " Zagloba is a type particularly common at the 
 time of which I have written, although I know 
 many Zaglobas to-day in Lithuania, and even 
 here in Galicia." 
 
 Boastful, yet brave, crafty in council, sharp 
 and witty of tongue, drinking by the bucket 
 rather than by the glass, with an appetite like 
 that of the boars of his native forests, cheerful 
 in the face of adverse fortune, with a humour 
 and kindliness quite unique, the old noble has no 
 analogue in any literature, with, perhaps, the ex- 
 ception of Shakespeare's Falstaff. I suggested 
 the similarity. 
 
 " If I may be permitted to make a compari- 
 son,"' he said, " I think that Zagloba is a better 
 character than Falstaff. At heart the old noble 
 was a good fellow. He would fight bravely when 
 it became necessary, whereas Shakespeare makes 
 Falstaff a coward and a poltroon."' 
 
 A happier comparison, perhaps, is that of a 
 German critic, who calls Zagloba a second Ulys- 
 ses. Indeed, the old noble gloried in the resem- 
 blance he bore to the wily Greek. In stratagems 
 and deceptions, in outwitting or placating the 
 enemy, in making foes love each other by false 
 yet plausible honeyed speeches, for withering 
 sarcasm, Zagloba is certainly to be compared 
 with Homer's vir hicomparahiJis — having the 
 advantage of kindliness and humour, which the 
 Greek did not have. 
 
 322 
 
POLAND'S MODERN INTERPRETER 
 
 " And what of simple, chivalrous Podbipienta, 
 the long Lithuanian knight? " 
 
 " Podbipienta is a fantasy, but a true type. In 
 him we see Lithuania." To those who know the 
 Lithuanians, the fidelity of the artist in depict- 
 ing Podbipienta is masterly. 
 
 It was the study of Homer, the novelist de- 
 clares, that gave him his first conceptions of 
 massive moving armies, of magnificent cam- 
 paigns of whole nations, which he has utilised in 
 his epic — the Trilogy. 
 
 " The Knights of the Cross " was the most dif- 
 ficult of all his novels to write. It deals with 
 characters and conditions of a time antecedent 
 to that of the Trilogy, and there was little or no 
 literature to draw from. " I had to dig out my 
 facts from the most obscure sources," he said. 
 The story is also written in old Polish, a harsher, 
 rougher tongue than the speech of to-day, and 
 more diflicult to translate. 
 
 It was shortly after returning to Poland from 
 California that the young author met in Lithua- 
 nia a young lady of rare grace and spirit, who 
 soon won his heart and became his wife. Repro- 
 ductions of a painting of her which hang in the 
 Sienkiewicz house in Warsaw show her to have 
 been of distinguished appearance, with an ex- 
 quisitely delicate neck and an oval, aristocratic 
 face framed in blond hair — the type of Lithua- 
 nian beauty. Marya Szetkiewicz was for him the 
 
 323 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 embodiment of all beauty and idealistic love. She 
 taught him his true calling — to be interpreter of 
 the life and longings of his country. Under the 
 inspiration of her companionship and aid he 
 planned the Trilogy, and " With Fire and 
 Sword " was completed just before her death. 
 
 On my leaving, Mr. Sienlciewicz presented to 
 me a large, handsome bronze medal. " A sou- 
 venir of our great charm now,"" he said, with a 
 quiet smile — " our antiquity." It was struck in 
 commemoration of the five hundredth anniver- 
 sary of the University of Cracow. 
 
 '• Old ( liewont is very beautiful to-day," I re- 
 marked, as we looked toward the great peak of 
 the Tatry towering back of the cottage. 
 
 " Yes,"' he said. " I love these mountains, and 
 the mountaineers, also, with their picturesque 
 ways and beautiful, poetic language. One can 
 get many an inspiration from their simple lives 
 and delightful old legends." 
 
 In Cracow, in Warsaw, in Posen, in the three 
 divisions of the ancient Polish Commonwealth, 
 it is the same story one hears everywhere — Elen- 
 ryk Sit-nkiewicz is master of the hearts of his 
 countrymen. He looms up as the most precious, 
 the most representative, national figure. In all 
 his Polish works it is the same. The Poles find 
 in them their patriotic credo. They are Poland 
 crystallised into literature. They are more. 
 
 324 
 
POLAND'S MODERN INTERPRETER 
 
 Tlioy contain the promise of a future, the germ 
 of the national regeneration. 
 
 On the twentv-fiftb anniversary (in 1900) of 
 his entrance into literature the whole nation 
 joined in honouring him. It was a national fes- 
 tival. A beautiful estate of three hundred acres 
 at Oblengorek, in Russian Poland, with a man- 
 sion, all the work upon which was contributed 
 as a free gift by Polish artisans, was presented to 
 him. Many other rare and beautiful presents, 
 books, addresses, memorials, were also given. 
 
 I like to think of Henryk Sienkiewicz as I last 
 saw him — in mountain costume, stick in hand, 
 looking off toward Mount Giewont in that beau- 
 tiful Carpathian sunset. An old legend has it 
 that one of the brave Polish kings of ancient 
 times, with all his knights, sleeps in the fast- 
 nesses of this mountain. When the time comes, 
 and the Polish people are found worthy and 
 united, the legend says that the knights will 
 awake, and rush, in full armour, to the national 
 defence. The land will then be restored to its 
 ancient splendour. One can almost believe that 
 the word-master's beautiful pictures of Polish 
 love, chivalry, and patriotism have made the na- 
 tion's fabled deliverers stir in their sleep. 
 
 325 
 
XX 
 
 THE POLES IN AMERICA 
 
 IT was eminentlj fitting that, when exiled 
 from their native land for their devotion to 
 liberty, Poles of all walks in life and of every 
 social grade should turn their steps to the land 
 of Washington and Lincoln. The emigrations 
 that, in the latter half of the ISth century, 
 spread the Polish blood over widely separated 
 lands, naturally brought many of Poland's sons 
 to the United States, which were just then 
 fighting for their own independence. The names 
 of Kosciuszko and Pulaski stand out boldly on 
 the list of our Revolutionary heroes. The story 
 of Kazimierz Pulaski is of as deep interest to 
 Americans as that of Kosciuszko. Pulaski was 
 a full-blooded aristocrat, who, like Kosciuszko, 
 left Poland to fight for liberty. But he ac- 
 tually gave up his life in the cause of American 
 independence. There are monuments to Kosci- 
 uszko at West Point, in Chicago, Milwaukee, and 
 Cleveland, and Congress itself (in 1901) ap- 
 propriated 150,000 to erect an equestrian statue 
 of Pulaski in Washington. In 1905 the Poles in 
 this country offered to the American people a 
 
THE POLES IN AMERICA 
 
 monument to Kosciuszko, to be erected on La- 
 fayette Square, in Washington. The memory of 
 these two heroic souls is also perpetuated in the 
 names of many counties, cities, and streets 
 throughout the country. 
 
 Other eminent Poles came in the early years 
 of our history. Niemcewicz, poet and friend of 
 Kosciuszko, came with the patriot leader to this 
 country in 1796. He married an American lady, 
 Mrs. Livingstone Keane, of New Jersey. Tys- 
 sowski, the " Dictator of Cracow," came here 
 after the revolution of 1846. His descendants 
 soon became good Americans. 
 
 The learned Adam Gurowski, one time trans- 
 lator to the State Department, entered so fully 
 into the American spirit and life that his " Diary 
 of 1861-65 '■ shows the keenest insight into the 
 politics and general conditions of our civil war 
 period. 
 
 The Polish peasants soon began to come in 
 large numbers to the promised land beyond the 
 sea. To-day there are more than three and a half 
 million Poles in this country, and the number is 
 constantly increasing. Many thousands also are 
 in South America, chiefly in Brazil and Argen- 
 tina. The Pole and the Slovak are the most rep- 
 resentative of the Slav races that immigrate in 
 large numbers to this country. They make ex- 
 cellent raw material for our future American 
 citizens. They take kindly to American educa- 
 
 327 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 tional methods, particularly the Poles. The lat- 
 ter are more assertive than the other members 
 of the Slav stock that come here. They are not 
 so submissive to the Church, and have a greater 
 national consciousness. However, that does not 
 prevent them from becoming quickly identified 
 with American life, of which they become an im- 
 portant part, while a large proportion of the 
 other Slavic peoples return to the countries 
 whence they came. 
 
 The Poles grow up and become good Ameri- 
 cans. Around the centralising power, which is 
 usually the Church, the Polish town grows and 
 expands, and under the influence of the Ameri- 
 can public school soon becomes an American 
 municipality. Very soon the entire family joins 
 the father. As soon as the rude immigrant has 
 saved enough he sends for Kasia, Hanka. and the 
 little ones, who await with impatience the word 
 that Jan has prospered in the new world. The 
 Polish immigrants spread over our great West, 
 and the cities of Buffalo, Chicago, Milwaukee, 
 Pittsburg, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Detroit, and 
 Toledo are the main centres in which they con- 
 gregate. In Chicago alone there are more than 
 250,000 of them, forming the largest Polish city 
 in the world after Warsaw and L6dz. They 
 come from all sections of the former Common- 
 wealth, but principally from Galicia. They are, 
 in general, industrious, frugal, and soon amass 
 
 328 
 
THE POLES IN A:MERICA 
 
 a competency. Comparatively few professional 
 men or members of the upper social classes have 
 came to this country except for political reasons, 
 as the love for the fatherland is so strong in the 
 Polish heart, although a few such spirits as Mod- 
 jeska and her husband have lived here. Mr. 
 Ralph Modrzejewski (Modjeski), of Chicago, 
 the son of the famous Polish-American trage- 
 dienne, is an eminent engineer. He was, for 
 some years, bridge engineer for the Union Pa- 
 cific Railroad Company. He has been called the 
 leading consulting bridge engineer in the coun- 
 try. An eminent Polish priest, Father Kruszka, 
 of Ripon, Wisconsin, in his " History of the 
 Poles in America," gives the following statistical 
 information as to the present (1907) Polish 
 population in the United States (I quote even 
 thousands) : 
 
 Pennsylvania 423,000 
 
 Illinois 389,000 
 
 New York 356,000 
 
 Wisconsin 198,000 
 
 Michigan 161,000 
 
 Massachusetts 129,000 
 
 Ohio 96,000 
 
 New Jersey 93,000 
 
 Minnesota 89,000 
 
 Connecticut 61,000 
 
 Indiana 41,000 
 
 Missouri 21,000 
 
 Maryland 19,000 
 
 Nebraska 19,000 
 
 Texas 18,000 
 
 329 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 Rhode Island 10.000 
 
 Delaware 0,000 
 
 California 7,000 
 
 North Dakota 6,000 
 
 Kansas 5.000 
 
 Xew Hampshire 5.000 
 
 Washington 4,000 
 
 Colorado 4,000 
 
 Iowa 4,000 
 
 South Dakota 3,000 
 
 Kentucky 3.000 
 
 Maine 3,000 
 
 Oklahoma 3,000 
 
 Oregon 3,000 
 
 Tennessee 3,000 
 
 Arkansas 3.000 
 
 Montana '. 2,000 
 
 Indian Territory 2,000 
 
 Vermont 2,000 
 
 Later estimates of the immifjration authorities 
 make the fi^ires nearly 4,000,000 for the United 
 States and Canada. 
 
 Since the census fij;:ures for natives of Poland 
 include Polish Jews, they are of little use for our 
 purpose, so that it is particularly fortunate that 
 we have so devoted a student of Polish conditions 
 in America as Father Kruszka to fall back upon. 
 These figures refer, of course, to all those who, 
 whether themselves born of Polish parents or 
 not, count in the community as Poles. As re- 
 gards the urban population it is impossible to 
 tell what proportion of the Poles are city dwel- 
 lers, but following are approximate figures : Chi- 
 
 330 
 
THE POLES IN AMERICA 
 
 cago, 250,000; Buffalo and immediate suburbs, 
 about 75,000; Milwaukee, 65,000; Detroit and 
 immediate suburbs, 65,000; Pittsburg and im- 
 mediate suburbs, upwards of 50,000; Cleveland 
 and immediate suburbs, 30,000; New York, 
 Brooklyn, and Jersey City, 210,000; Toledo, 
 14,000. 
 
 The Polish peasant rapidly learns the English 
 language and American ways. Indeed, a rather 
 significant commentary on the proper way to 
 make an alien people learn the language of the 
 country in which they live is furnished by the 
 way the Poles are learning English in this coun- 
 try. In common with the other foreign immi- 
 grants, the Poles soon come to understand that, 
 if they wish to succeed in business, in politics, in 
 life generally, they must learn the language of 
 the country in which they live. They send their 
 children at once to school — public or parochial. 
 In 1905 there were in American universities and 
 colleges 535 sons of Polish mine workers. These 
 go home and not only accustom their parents 
 to the sound of the English speech, but are even 
 introducing English words and idioms into the 
 Polish spoken at home. The next stage is to use 
 English almost exclusively. Listen for a few 
 minutes to the conversation of a Pole in one of 
 our large cities and you will be almost certain 
 to hear a number of words that sound like Eng- 
 lish. They turn out to be really such, only 
 
 331 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 sliglitly modified to suit the Slav palate and ear. 
 For example, a Pole will use the phrase " ua 
 Jcontcrzc,'' " at the corner," or he will say " nut- 
 foivac/' " to move," '' szfrita," '• the street." This, 
 after all, is the natural method of learning a 
 language, and therefore more effective than the 
 method of compulsion by sabre and cannon. 
 
 In this matter of the Americanisation of the 
 Poles, I quote the following extract from an ar- 
 ticle on " The Polish Community in the United 
 States'' in the weekly 2IysJ Polsl;a {Polish 
 Thoitf/ht), of Warsaw, of April 20, 1907, by Louis 
 Wlodek, who recently made a tour of the Polish 
 colonies in the United States. Mr. Wlodek 
 writes : 
 
 " The degree of denationalisation is defined by 
 two factors : the affection for the old fatherland 
 that they have left, and the relation to the new 
 fatherland, America. The affection for the na- 
 tive land, as a feeling based on a real substruc- 
 ture, on the love of the land, exists very vividly 
 in the first generation of the immigrants, but it 
 cannot exist in the second generation, which has 
 been born in America. The affection of the first 
 is expressed most strongly in the sending of all 
 their savings to the old country (Galicia, and in 
 a smaller part, the Kingdom) for the buying of 
 land there, less frequently in a return to the 
 fatherland. The patriotism of the second is 
 
 332 
 
THE POLES IN AMERICA 
 
 more platonic, is based on the love of the his- 
 torical traditions, especially the tradition of the 
 struggles for independence, and also on hatred 
 to the foes of Poland, the three spoliatory 
 powers. These feelings must be called platonic, 
 for they are expressed in resolutions adopted at 
 mass-meetings, in addresses at such meetings; 
 never, however, can they impel to action. There 
 is, however, one exception : the idea of an armed 
 insurrection enjoys great popularity among the 
 Pok's in America. 
 
 " Obviously Americanisation proceeds first of 
 all along lingual paths. The immigrant whose 
 first steps in this land were made enormously 
 difficult, and whose whole life is still made diffi- 
 cult by his ignorance of the English language, 
 wishes to save his children from this obstacle, 
 and he therefore willingly sends them to the 
 English school, willingly sees the adoption by 
 them of the local customs, and their growing into 
 the American relations. The less cultured the 
 peasants, the more distinctly do these charac- 
 teristics appear; and the children's knowledge 
 of the Polish language and their Polish feelings 
 are in direct relation to the home surroundings 
 and home education, to the degree of the affection 
 of the parents for Polonism. The children in 
 the majority of cases become accustomed to 
 speak and to think in English ; this language be- 
 comes their daily language, while the Polish Ian- 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 guage and Polonism are the synonyms of the 
 festal celebration of the Polish holidays. Hence, 
 we see children who on the platform hare just 
 sung Polish songs or declaimed Polish verses, 
 speaking familiarly with one another in English 
 as they are descending from the platform. These 
 children later, when they grow up, will speak 
 familiarly with one another likewise in English, 
 carrying on at the same time a conversation with 
 guests in Polish. There now arises a new intelli- 
 gent class, born on American soil, by feeling and 
 tradition Polish, by disposition and habits Ameri- 
 can, by language belonging to Poland and to 
 America, with a certain predominance in favour 
 of the latter." 
 
 It will be interesting to refer, briefly, to some 
 of the best-known American Poles. One of the 
 most eminent of this race, most of whose career 
 was passed in this country, was Dr. Henry Kor- 
 win Kalussowski, who died in 1S94, at the age of 
 eighty-eight. Dr. Kalussowski's father was cham- 
 berlain to Stanislaw Poniatowski, the last of the 
 Polish kings. The younger Kalussowski fought 
 in the Polish insurrection of 1S30. In 1838 he 
 came to the United States. Speaking fluently 
 fourteen languages, he soon secured lucrative 
 employment as a teacher of French and Latin in 
 New York. In 1848 he returned to Europe and 
 participated in the revolutionary movement of 
 that year. Later he served as a Polish member 
 
 334 
 
THE POLES IN A:\IERICA 
 
 of the German Parliament from the grand duchy 
 of Posen. He was afterward, however, expelled 
 bv the Prussian government, and returned to the 
 United States to live permanently. During our 
 own Civil War he raised the 31st New York Regi- 
 ment. He also served the government in various 
 capacities, occupying several positions in the 
 Treasury Department, and translating from the 
 Russian all the official documents relating to the 
 purchase of Alaska. Dr. Kalussowski was chief 
 organiser of the " Association of the Poles in 
 America," founded in 1842 by those patriots who 
 had participated in the revolution of 1830. 
 
 Another patriot, warrior, and statesman who 
 contributed to our national life was Professor 
 Leopold Julian Boeck. This patriot served in 
 the Hungarian revolution under Louis Kossuth. 
 It was through the intervention of the United 
 States Minister at Constantinople that the Ot- 
 toman government refused to give up Dr. Boeck, 
 then a prisoner of state at the Turkish capital, 
 to the Russian and Austrian authorities. After 
 a few years, as professor of higher mathematics 
 in the Sorbonne at Paris, Professor Boeck, un- 
 able to breath freely in the empire of Louis 
 Napoleon, came to New York. Here he founded 
 the Polytechnic Institute, said to be the first in 
 the United States. After the Civil War Profes- 
 sor Boeck was called to the chair of mathematics 
 and engineering in the University of Virginia. 
 
 335 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 In 1873 President Grant appointed him Ameri- 
 can Educational Commissioner at tlie Universal 
 Exposition in Vienna. Three years later, Pro- 
 fessor Boeck represented the National Govern- 
 ment at the Philadelphia Exposition in the same 
 capacity. When he died he was professor of 
 languages at the University of Pennsylvania. 
 
 The science of war in its modern aspect owes 
 much to Edmund Louis Gray Zalinski, soldier, 
 patriot, and inventor of the pneumatic torpedo 
 gun. Major Zalinski was born in Prussian 
 Poland in 1849, coming with his parents to New 
 York State when only four years of age. He 
 received an American education, entered the 
 United States army as volunteer, served on the 
 staff of General Miles until the close of the War 
 of the Rebellion, was promoted for gallantry, 
 mustered out of service in 1865, and reached 
 the rank of major in April, 1904. Major 
 Zalinski became professor of military science 
 in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 
 and occupied chairs of a similar nature in other 
 institutions. He also studied at the United 
 States Artillery School at Fortress Monroe, and 
 the School of Submarine Mining at Willets' 
 Point, New York. He devoted six or seven years 
 to the development and perfecting of the pneu- 
 matic dynamite torpedo gun. In 1889 he was 
 gent abroad to study military science in Europe. 
 Among his inventions are an intrenching tool, a 
 
THE POLES IN AMERICA 
 
 telescopic sight for artillery, and a system of 
 range and position finding for sea coast and artil- 
 lery firing. He retired in 1894 and at present 
 lives in New York City. 
 
 Besides Kalussowski and Zalinski, a number 
 of other Poles served in our Civil War, among 
 them Colonel Krzyzanowski, Louis Zychlinski, 
 and Colonel Joseph Smolinski, the last named 
 being only sixteen years of age at his commission, 
 the youngest cavalry officer who served during 
 the war. Colonel Smolinski is a veteran news- 
 paper correspondent. He is also prominent in 
 G. A. E. work, and interested in bibliographical 
 work in the War Department. He was the prime 
 mover in the idea that finally culminated in the 
 erection of the Pulaski monument in Washing- 
 ton, to the fund for which the National Govern- 
 ment contributed $50,000. General Leon Jas- 
 tremski, an ex-Confederate veteran, was promi- 
 nent for many years in Louisiana politics. In 
 1907 be was the Democratic candidate for Gov- 
 ernor but died before the election took place. 
 
 One of the most famous women of Polish na- 
 tionality, whose career is bound up with Ameri- 
 can life, was Dr. Mary Elizabeth Zakrzewska. 
 When only eighteen years of age this lady began 
 the study of medicine in the Eoyal Hospital of 
 Berlin, afterward becoming a member of the 
 staff of that institution. Hearing that in the 
 United States women could become full doctors 
 
 337 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 of medicine, Dr. Zakrzewska resigned her posi- 
 tion and emigrated in 1S53. Three years later 
 she graduated from the Western Reserve College 
 of Medicine at Cleveland. She was associated 
 with Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell in establishing the 
 New York Infirmary for Indigent Women and 
 Children. Mrs. Linda Fulton, nee Kowalewska, 
 of Buffalo, daughter of a veteran of 1831, has 
 been identified for years with New York State 
 public activity through various clubs. 
 
 An eminent Polish-American sculptor, some of 
 whose works, including two busts of Kosciuszko 
 and Pulaski, are now in the Capitol at Washing- 
 ton, was Henry Dmochowski. This patriot was 
 killed in the Revolution of '63. Two other Polish 
 sculptors of eminence are Casimir Chodzinski, 
 the creator of the Kosciuszko monument in 
 Chicago, to whom the United States government 
 has intrusted the work on the Pulaski monu- 
 ment in Washington, and Anthony Popiel, who is 
 making the Kosciuszko monument, also in Wash- 
 ington. 
 
 Among poets, novelists, and musicians of 
 Polish nativity who distinguished themselves 
 in this country were Edward Sobolewski, 
 Mrs. Samolinska, Julian Horain, and Helena 
 Stas. 
 
 In connection with the progress of Polish or- 
 ganizations in the United States, I should not 
 omit to refer to T. M. Helinski, formerly post- 
 master of Duluth, Minnesota, who was for many 
 
 338 
 
THE POLES IN AiMERICA 
 
 years General Secretary of the Polish National 
 Alliance and afterwards treasurer of the Polish 
 Bank in Chicago, and Maryan B. Stenczynski, of 
 Chicago, for several terms president of the cen- 
 tral governing board of the Polish National Alli- 
 ance. 
 
 Noteworthy among physicians who have a 
 reputation extending beyond their own State is 
 Dr. Francis E. Fronczak, who has been for many 
 years a member of the Buffalo Board of Health. 
 
 Prince Andrew Poniatowski, a direct descend- 
 ant of the celebrated Joseph Poniatowski, one of 
 Napoleon's marshals, has had an eminent ca- 
 reer as a capitalist. He now resides in Cali- 
 fornia. 
 
 The first Polish bishop in the United States, 
 was Et. Eev. Paul P. Rhode. Bishop Rhode was 
 born September 16, 1871, in Weyerowo, Prussian 
 Poland, being the only son in the family. His 
 father, Augustin, died while the boy was quite 
 young. Paul studied four years in the Prussian 
 schools and when he was nine years old, in 1880, 
 he came with his mother, Krystina, to America, 
 settled at Chicago, where he finished the paro- 
 chial School of St. Stanislaw. Afterwards he 
 studied in the College of the Polish Resurrection- 
 ist Fathers at St. Mary's, Kentucky ; later in the 
 Jesuit College of St. Ignatius in Chicago, where 
 he completed the classical and philosophical 
 courses. Theology he studied in St. Francis, Wis- 
 consin, where he was ordained priest on June 
 
 339 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 16, 1894, bj Archbishop Katzer of Milwaukee. 
 For two years following he was assistant in St. 
 Adalbert's Church at Chicago, organising at the 
 same time a new congregation of Saint Peter 
 and Saint Paul, of which he was pastor until 
 1897. On October 31, 1897, he was appointed 
 pastor of St. Michael's Church in South Chicago. 
 Bishop Rhode was consecrated in the summer 
 of 1908. 
 
 The appointment of an American Polish 
 bishop must be credited largely to the patient, 
 patriotic devotion and zeal of Father Waclaw 
 Kruszka, of Ripon, Wisconsin, who is among the 
 many devoted and industrious Polish clergy in 
 this country, and one of the most patriotic. 
 Father Kruszka has been prominently identified 
 with the movement for the creation of Polish 
 bishops in this country for years. He has re- 
 cently completed a monumental work, a ten- 
 volume " History of the Poles in America." 
 
 An editorial political writer of note, at pres- 
 ent editor of the journal Dziennik Narodoicy. of 
 Chicago, is Stanislaw Osada, who has recently 
 completed a " History of the Polish National Al- 
 liance and of the Development of the Polish 
 Movement in America." Michael Kruszka, once 
 a Wisconsin State Senator, is largely inter- 
 ested in the publishing business. He is the pro- 
 prietor of the Knryer Polski (daily) and the 
 Kuryer Ilustrowany (monthly), and President 
 
 340 
 
THE POLES IN A]MERICA 
 
 of the Polish Newspaper Association of which 
 the organ is the Prasa Polsha. W. Dyniewicz, of 
 Chicago, for many years has published the old- 
 est Polish newspaper in the United States, the 
 Gazeta Polska. Waclaw Perkowski also is a 
 journalist who contributes regularly to the 
 metropolitan press and some of the best Ameri- 
 can magazines. 
 
 The Poles in the United States are proad also 
 of Felix S. Zahajkiewicz, former editor of the 
 Xarod Polski, of Chicago, now an instructor 
 in one of the schools of that city. Mr. Zahajkie- 
 wicz is a fiction writer, a poet, and a playwright, 
 whose poems and songs are rendered at na- 
 tional celebrations. His historical tragedy, 
 " Krolowa Jadwiga," was first produced in Chi- 
 cago in 1895. One of the best-known names in 
 Polish-American music is that of Jaroslaw Zie- 
 linski, descendant of an ancient noble family 
 of Austrian Poland. Mr. Zielinski took part in 
 the Polish insurrection of 1863, and also served 
 in our Civil War. Since that time he has devoted 
 himself to the profession of music. For many 
 years known as a pianist and musical composer, 
 he has been three times President of the New 
 York State Music Teachers' Association. 
 
 Zygmunt Ivanowski and Wladyslaw Benda 
 are two Polish painters living in this country 
 with whose work the readers of the leading 
 American fiction magazines are familiar. 
 
 341 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS' 
 
 The violent death (April 1, 1903) in the auto- 
 mobile hill-climbing race between Nice and La 
 Turbie, France, of the New York society leader 
 and famous polo player and horseman, Count 
 William Elliott Zborowski, recalled the fact that 
 Zborowski is the original Polish form of the 
 name Zabriskie, which is so well known in Amer- 
 ica on account of the social prominence of so 
 many members of the family. The Zabriskie is 
 an interesting family which has had much to do 
 with social and business affairs in and about 
 New York for 250 years. Indeed the Zabriskies 
 are perhaps the oldest family of Polish origin in 
 the United States. There are several branches, 
 the best-known residing in New Y'ork City. The 
 original Zborowskis settled near Hackensack, N. 
 J., and were agriculturists for several genera- 
 tions. Martin, one of the original three brothers, 
 studied law in New York, devoting himself par- 
 ticularly to the real estate branch uf that pro- 
 fession, soon building up an immense and lucra- 
 tive practice. Martin ZboroT\'ski later married 
 Anna E. Morris, a member of the Gouverneur 
 Morris family. At the outbreak of the Civil War 
 he had already acquired a great deal of valuable 
 real estate in New York City. By shrewd in- 
 vestments this estate has been vastly increased in 
 value. Occupying as it does many holdings on 
 Upper Broadway, the estate now exerts a power- 
 
 342 
 
THE POLES IN AMERICA 
 
 ful interest in New York business life. At the 
 death of Elliott Zborowski his fortune was esti- 
 mated at over $10,000,000. It is a very large 
 family with many widely separated branches. 
 At the fourteenth anniversary of the Polish in- 
 surrection of 1830 there were present Zborowski 
 descendants of Poles who had settled in the 
 United States one hundred and eighty years 
 before. 
 
 Poles have been eminent in other countries of 
 the Western Hemisphere besides our own. In 
 Chile, the eminent geologist, Ignatius Domeyko, 
 was rector of the University of Santiago for a 
 quarter of a century. General Carlos Eoloff, the 
 Treasurer of Cuba, who died during the year 
 1907, was a Pole, and aided the Cubans in their 
 revolution under Gomez. Marrying a sister of 
 President Palma, he settled down on a sugar 
 plantation. He commanded a division in the 
 last war against Spain, also spending much time 
 in New York, working with the Junta. When 
 Palma became president. General Eoloff was ap- 
 pointed treasurer, continuing in that office under 
 Governor Magoon's administration. 
 
 To Polish editors in this country, indeed, who 
 are among the brightest of their race here, is due 
 much credit for the general education of their 
 countrymen. Together with the parochial 
 schools, and the many benevolent and fraternal 
 
 343 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 organisations of Poles, tlie Polish-American 
 press lias done and is doing a very considerable 
 educational work. Polish-American journalism 
 is represented by some fifty newspapers, most of 
 them published in the Central or Western States. 
 Among these, the most prominent, perhaps, are 
 Zgoda {Harmony, weekly), Dzicnnik Chicagoski 
 {Chicago Daily), Dziennik Xarodowy {National 
 Daily), the Gazcta Polska {Polish Gazette), the 
 Gazcta Eatolicka {Catholic Gazette), all in 
 Chicago; the Kurycr Polski {Polish Courier), 
 (Milwaukee), and the Dzicnnik Polski {Polish 
 Daily) ^ (Detroit). During 1907 there first ap- 
 peared the Prasa Polska (Polish Press) in Mil- 
 waukee, a mouthy printed one-half in English 
 and one-half in Polish, and the Kuryer Ilustro- 
 icany {Illustrated Courier), monthly, Milwaukee. 
 "With all their national love for ceremony and 
 social intercourse, the American Poles have 
 many organisations through which they satisfy 
 their social and military instincts. The Polish 
 National Alliance, educational and benevolent, 
 with a membership of over 60,000, is the strong- 
 est of these organisations, but there are many 
 others with more limited fields. In the United 
 States the Polish national movement is con- 
 ducted under the auspices of this Polish National 
 Alliance (Zwianzek Xarodowy Polski). The 
 membership of this organisation is increasing at 
 the rate of from six thousand to seven thousand 
 
 344 
 
THE POLES IN AMERICA 
 
 a year. The Alliance has notliing to do with 
 party polities, but aims primarily to make the 
 Polish residents of the United States good citi- 
 zens of the land of their adoption without for- 
 getting their Polish tongue and traditions. It 
 endeavours to perpetuate the knowledge of the 
 Polish language, literature, and history, and to 
 lend organised assistance to the cause of Polish 
 independence in Europe. In the Alliance build- 
 ing in Chicago is published the Zgoda, the of- 
 ficial organ of the Alliance, a well-edited weekly 
 magazine with a circulation of fifty thousand. 
 The Alliance library, in the same building, has 
 the largest collection of Polish books in the 
 United States. There are about five thousand 
 volumes in the Polish language, and about two 
 thousand in the Lithuanian, Latin, and English 
 languages. Here also are located the insurance 
 offices of the organisation, every active member 
 of the organisation being required to carry a 
 policy. The National Alliance has a Board of 
 Education which is active in organising educa- 
 tional circles and libraries in the various Polish 
 colonies. Besides this the Board publishes edu- 
 cational and political pamphlets and extends 
 financial aid to the sons and daughters of the 
 Alliance attending higher schools. The Alli- 
 ance also supports a Commission of Schools, the 
 object of which is to erect other institutions and 
 collect funds for the erection of a Polish univer- 
 
 345 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 sity in this country; a Commission of Immigra- 
 tion; a Commission of Trade and Industry 
 (which watches for work and business opportuni- 
 ties for Poles, publishing the results of its re- 
 search in the Zgoda) ; a Commission of Agricul- 
 ture and Colonisation, and an Aid Department, 
 the last named for indigent members of the Al- 
 liance. The strongest Polish institution of 
 learning in the United States is the Seminaryum 
 Polskie (Polish Seminary), situated at Detroit, 
 and receiving the support of the National Alli- 
 ance. It has about three hundred students, all 
 but forty being in the academy, and a faculty of 
 nineteen professors and instructors. Several 
 men of distinguished scholarship and ability have 
 served on this faculty. There is Professor 
 Thomas Siemiradzki, now editor of the Zf/oda, 
 whose " Post-Partition History of Poland "' was 
 recently issued by the Alliance. This vigorous 
 narrative has not yet been transhited. Profes- 
 sor Siemiradzki was born in Litliuania in 1850, 
 and was educated in the universities of Leipzig 
 and Berlin. He was professor of Greek and 
 Latin four years at Kielce, near Warsaw, and 
 afterward at Lomza and Odessa. He was ap- 
 pointed professor of law in the University of 
 Kazan, Eussia, but was arrested before reach- 
 ing his post. In 1890 he was arrested in War- 
 saw for complicity in the patriotic work of the 
 National League, and contined for three months 
 
 3-16 
 
THE POLES IN AMERICA 
 
 in the citadel at Warsaw, and then for six months 
 in the Cross prison at St. Petersburg. After this 
 he was forbidden to live in the Kingdom of Po- 
 land, which was the chief cause of his emigration 
 to America. He came to the United States in 
 1896, on the invitation of the Polish National 
 Alliance. In 1901 he was elected editor of the 
 Zgoda. 
 
 The Poles in the United States have always 
 maintained their race's reputation for idealistic 
 conduct. They have fought in our wars. Nor 
 have they failed to show the idealistic qual- 
 ities in civil life. It was reserved for a Pole, the 
 late Peter Kiolbassa, for many years treasurer 
 of the second city in America, to be the first 
 municipal official that refused to accept for him- 
 self the interest on city money (invested) during 
 his term of office. Mr. John F. Smulski, a Pole, 
 who was one of the most respected city attorneys 
 in the history of Chicago, is at this writing 
 (July, 1907) State Treasurer of Illinois. 
 
 347 
 
NOTE ON THE PRONUNCIATION OF 
 POLISH 
 
 IT has been asserted that the Polish conso- 
 nants are hard to pronounce. Vtliv only the 
 consonants? The Polish vowels also are 
 hard to pronounce. Both consonants and vow- 
 els are hard if you do not know how to pronounce 
 them; both the vowels and those terrible conso- 
 nants are easy if you do know how to pronounce 
 them. And this is where the beauty of the Polish 
 pronunciation comes in, for each letter (with the 
 exception of ic) has one sound, and only that 
 sound. Take the English language : what vowel 
 has but one sound? And the consonants: are 
 there not many that vary in pronunciation? Of 
 course, if the reader persists in giving English 
 values to Polish letters, the combination will be 
 agreeable neither to his jaw nor to the Polish 
 word, but, pronouncing them in the right way 
 (which, by the way, is the easiest way), he will 
 not find any difficulty. Following is a list of 
 those Polish letters that require explanation. 
 Armed with the information contained in this 
 list, the Anglo-Saxon reader can safely venture 
 
 348 
 
PRONUNCIATION OF POLISH 
 
 to meet those formidable Polish words, as the 
 pronunciation is always uniform for the same 
 letter : 
 
 a — as a in father, 
 
 a — as ong in song, 
 
 c — as ts in Tsar, 
 
 cz — as ch in church, 
 
 c — as a very soft ch, 
 
 e — as e in met. 
 
 e — as cng in strength, 
 
 g — as g in good, 
 
 i — as c in mete, 
 
 j — as y in yet and in boy, 
 
 i — as ic in will, 
 
 n — as n in canon, 
 
 o — as u in but, 
 
 6 — as 00 in hood, 
 
 rz is a combination of r and the French j in 
 jour; occurring in the body of a word, it may for 
 all practical purposes be pronounced as sh. 
 
 s — as s in sit, 
 
 sz — as sh in bush, 
 
 s — as a very soft sh, 
 
 u — as ;( in put, 
 
 w (at beginning of a syllable) — as v in vine, 
 
 w (at end of syllable) — as ff in cuff, 
 
 J — as / in it, 
 
 z — as English z, 
 
 i — as French / in jour, 
 
 z — ^as a very soft French ;. 
 349 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 The accent, except in foreign words and in 
 compounds, is constantly on tlie penultimate syl- 
 lable, as Pdlak, a Pole; Poliika, genitive; Po- 
 lakdwi, dative. 
 
 That is the whole scheme, and the whole secret 
 of the matter. Here are a few of the most diffi- 
 cult Polish words appearing in this volume : 
 
 PRONOUNCED 
 
 Chlopicki 
 
 Chmielnicki 
 
 Chocim 
 
 Czestochowa 
 
 Dabrowski 
 
 Jasna Gdra 
 
 Kamieniec 
 
 Kosciuszko 
 
 L6dz 
 
 Lwow 
 
 Matejko 
 
 Miod 
 
 Podbipieta 
 
 Potocki 
 
 Przybyszewski 
 
 Putaski 
 
 Sejm 
 
 Sienkiewicz 
 
 Skrzetuski 
 
 Wisniowiecki 
 
 Wotodyjowski 
 
 Wroclaw 
 
 Hwupp-eets-kee 
 Hmyell-neets-kee 
 Hotsim 
 
 Chens-to-hoh-vah 
 Don^-bruff-skee 
 Yas-nah Goo-rah 
 Kam-yehn-yets 
 Kosh-tsyoosh-ko 
 Woodzh 
 Lvoof 
 Mah-tay-ko 
 Mute 
 
 Pudd-bee-pyeng-tah 
 Po-tutts-kee 
 Pshih-bee-shev-skee 
 Poo-wah-skee 
 Same 
 
 Syenn-kyeh-veech 
 Skshe-toos-kee 
 Veesh-nyo-vyetts-kee 
 Vo-wo-dee-yuff-skee 
 Vrots-wahv 
 350 
 
PRONUNCIATION OF POLISH 
 
 Following is a list of the principal Polish 
 Christian names used in this volume (except in 
 the chapter on " Poles in America," where 
 English forms are used), with their English 
 equivalents : 
 
 Boleslaw 
 
 Boleslaus 
 
 Henryk 
 
 Henry 
 
 Ignacy 
 
 Ignatius 
 
 Jadwiga 
 
 Hedwig 
 
 Jan 
 
 John 
 
 Jeremi 
 
 Jeremiah 
 
 Karol 
 
 Charles 
 
 Kazimierz 
 
 Casimir 
 
 Ludwik 
 
 Louis 
 
 Ludwika 
 
 Louise 
 
 Marya 
 
 Mary 
 
 Stanislaw 
 
 Stanislaus 
 
 Stefan 
 
 Stephen 
 
 Tadeusz 
 
 Thaddeus 
 
 Wincenty 
 
 Vincent 
 
 Wojciech 
 
 Adalbert 
 
 Wladyslaw 
 
 Ladislaus 
 
 Wlodzimierz 
 
 Vladimir 
 
 Zygmunt 
 
 Sigismund 
 
 Translators of Polish novels have recently 
 adopted the rule of spelling Polish names accord- 
 ing to their idea of how English readers can best 
 grasp the pronunciation, and the reading public 
 
 351 
 
POLAND: THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS 
 
 meets -n-ith the names of the greatest characters 
 in Polish history spelled in every imaginable way 
 but that of the encyclopedias. Believing that 
 this must be as distasteful to the Poles as a like 
 treatment of American names would be to Ameri- 
 cans, the author of this volume has spelled in the 
 preceding pages Polish names as they are spelled 
 by the Poles. There are but few exceptions to 
 this. The a and e with a cedilla, thus, a, e, giving 
 the nasal sound, has not been used. An /( or an 
 m has been inserted after the ^simple English let- 
 ter in these cases. Nor have Polish crossed 
 /'s been used. The writer has also used the Polish 
 forms of the names of places, except in a few 
 cases in which the names have become so well 
 known in their English form as to render the 
 Polish form unrecognisable, e.g., Warsaw, not 
 Warszawa; Cracow, not Krakdw; Posen, not 
 Poznad. 
 
 Waclaw Pehkowski. 
 
 352 
 
p— 1 Territories taken «m Territories taken 
 *— * by Russia «^ by Austria 
 
 t I Territories taken by Prussia 
 
 Ll.n>«Ttl IHSA'S CO., N.T. 20 
 
 INDEPENDENT POLAND AT ITS GREATEST EXTENT 
 
 (The colored outlines indicate the partitions -see pages 20. 21 and 22. The 
 red line indicates tlie present boundary between Russia. Austria and Germany, 
 as determined by the Conirress of Vienna in 1815.) 
 
INDEX 
 
 Adalbert, St., see Wojciech, 
 
 St 
 America. Poles in. 326-347 
 Aristocracy, in Warsaw, 133 
 Art. sec also Paintins. chap- 
 ter on Polisli. 274-286 
 Asnylc. Adam. 282 
 Austria. Polish autonomy 
 under. 3<i-43 : diverse 
 races of, 37-40: Catholi- 
 cism in. 30-40 ; foreign 
 politics of, 41 ; Poles in, 
 42, 43 
 
 Balzac, see Madame Hanska 
 
 Benda, Wladyslaw. 341 
 
 Berlin, the dominating Eu- 
 ropean capital, 70. SO 
 
 Bismarck, on Germany's 
 foreign policies. 77, and 
 the Poles, 87 ; tribute of, 
 to Polish women, 223 
 
 Boecli. Professor Leopold 
 Julian. 335 
 
 Bognslaw. of " The Deluge," 
 310. 321 1 
 
 Bohemians, see Czechs 
 
 Boleslaw the Great, rec- 
 ■OLrnised king of Poland, 
 7."). 7r. 
 
 Boze Cialo. celebration in 
 Cracow. Ii1-6.t 
 
 Brandes, Georg, on Poland, 
 12 
 
 Brandt, 277 
 
 Bureaucracy, see Eussiflca- 
 tion 
 
 Campbell (English poet), 
 on Kosciuszko, 174 
 
 Catholicism, in Russia. 106, 
 107; and nationality in 
 Poland. 102 
 
 Chelmonski. 277 
 
 Chmielnicki. begins war 
 against Poland, 182. 183 
 
 Chodzinski. Casimir. 340 
 
 Chopin, significance of mu- 
 sic of. 271. 272 
 
 Colonisation Comm i s s i o n 
 (Prussian), 80. 00 
 
 Conde. Prince of. candidate 
 for the Polish throne. 141 
 
 Copernicus. the geogra- 
 pher of the heavens. 287- 
 203; studies at the Uni- 
 versity of Cracow. 287. 
 280; claimed by Prussia. 
 2S,s ; born in Thorn. 2S0 ; 
 lectures at Bologna. 289 ; 
 goes to Rome, 280 ; toils 
 at his book, 291 ; book 
 printed in Nuremburg, 
 201; dies. 202 
 
 Corpus Christi, see Boze 
 Cialo 
 
 Cossacks, in Warsaw. 128 ; 
 kill an aged .Jew. 200 
 
 Cracow, the Heart of Po- 
 land. 44-i';9: University of, 
 44-40 ; second Polish capi- 
 tal. 40 ; insurrection of 
 ]S4(i. .jl : churches of. 00; 
 theatre of. G.j ; Jews of, 
 248. 1'A. 2.-.") 
 
 Customs. Polish country life 
 and. 204-312 : hospitality- 
 in Poland. 20.5; the Polish 
 dwor. 200 ; festivities of 
 Carnival, 208, 303, 304; 
 
INDEX 
 
 Christmas in Poland. "200, 
 31 «: Candlemas Day, 304. 
 .30.-,; Reukawka. 3 07 : 
 Smigus. .30": Gromniczna. 
 3 4 ; Zielone swiautki. 
 30S ; Dzien zaduszny (All 
 Souls' Day). 300; family 
 life, 309. 310; social caste 
 system. 310. 312 
 
 Czechs, and St. Wojciech, 
 71, 73 
 
 Czenstochowa, siece of, by 
 the Swedes, 192-206 
 
 Delbruece. Professor 
 Ha.xs. on the " Polish 
 danger." 94 
 Dmothowski. Henry, 340 
 Dombrowski. and the Polish 
 
 Legion. 179 
 Domeylio. Ignatius, 343 
 Drama, in Warsaw, 132, 133 
 Duma, the Russian, and Po- 
 land, 111, 113 
 
 Falat, 27S. 279 
 
 "Finis Polonice." Kosciuszko 
 
 denies sarin;:. 174. 17." 
 France. and America " rec- 
 
 conciled " by Kosciuszko, 
 
 161. li;2 
 Franklin. Benjamin, on 
 
 Kosciuszko. ir>9 
 Fronczak, Dr. Francis E., 
 
 340 
 
 Gansiobowski, W a c l a w . 
 2S2 
 
 Galicia. general condition 
 of. 31-30 
 
 Gates. Gen., aided by Kos- 
 ciuszko. 160 
 
 Germanisation, failure of, in 
 Poland. S.T 
 
 Germany, world dream of, 
 and the Poles. 79-98; for- 
 eign policies of, 77, 78; 
 
 and the Slav, SO; and 
 
 Scandinavia. S2. S3 
 Glowacki. Bartos. exploit at 
 
 Raclawice. 172 
 Godebski. Cyprian, sculptor, 
 
 279. 2Si I 
 Guesen. history of. 71-7.J 
 Greene (Gen.), aided by 
 
 Kosciuszko. IGO 
 Gromnice, feast of. 247 
 Grottger, Artur, paintings 
 
 of, 270 
 Gurowski, Adam, 327 
 
 H.icrE Peace Conference 
 (the first), memorial of 
 American Poles to. 20 
 
 Halka, richness of themes 
 of, 271 
 
 Hanska (Madame) and Bal- 
 zac, 223 
 
 Hejnal. ."3. ."4 
 
 Horain. Julian. 340 
 
 Hungary, attitude of, to- 
 ward Austrian imperial- 
 ism. 40 
 
 Husiatvn. a visit to. 211, 
 212: Jews at, 2.>S, 260 
 
 Ivaxowski. Ztgmunt, 341 
 
 J.iDwiGA. QiTEN, saintlv life 
 
 of, 224. 22.-) 
 Jasiello. Duko of Lithuania, 
 
 224. 22.- 
 Jajian. Russia's war with. 
 
 112 
 Jasua Gora. 192-206 
 Jefferson. Thomas, entrusted 
 
 with will of Kosciuszko, 
 
 162 
 Jew. Herman Rosenthal in 
 
 Jewish Encyclopedia on. 
 
 12 : of Kamieniec. 217. 
 
 21S; enters Poland. 249; 
 
 in Poland. 248-264; mint- 
 ing Polish coins. 2.-)0 ; 
 
 valour of. 2oO; killed by 
 
 354 
 
INDEX 
 
 Cossacks, 2C0 : prnised by will to Jefferson, 1G2 : 
 Mickiewicz. 250 : GO-vevst " reconciles " France and 
 law in Rnssin, 2(51 ; in the America, IGl. 1(12 ; founds 
 pale. 2(J2 : in Warsaw, scliool in Newark, Xew 
 202 : in America, 2.':i2. 2ri,S, Jersey. 163 ; friendship 
 2"'.i ; in Cracow, 2.")4. 2."."i : with Thomas Jefferson, 
 desradation of. 254-250 ; 103 ; made a ma.ior gen- 
 home life of, 257 eral in the Polish army, 
 
 Jewish Encyclopedia, article 104 ; receives contribu- 
 
 on Polish Jew in, 12 tions from coal-heavers of 
 
 Cracow, 100 ; defeated at 
 
 Kalcssowski, Dr. Henkt Szczekocin, 173. at Macie- 
 
 IC. 334 jowice, 174 ; denies say- 
 
 Kamieniec. siege of. by the ing " Fhiis Polonia" 174, 
 
 Turks, 207-220 ; Jew of, 175 ; relations with Na- 
 
 253 poleon, 178 ; monument 
 
 Kazimierz the Great, founds to, in Cracow. ISO 
 
 Uuivt-rsity of Cracow, 45 ; Kosciuszko, Ludwik, death 
 
 and his love for the Jew- of, 155 : wife of and 
 
 ish Esther, 248 mother of Tadeusz, 155 
 
 Kazimierz of Cracow, the Kossak, 277 
 
 Jew in the. 2.54. 255 Kosyniei-y, in army of Kos- 
 
 Kinirdom of Poland, see ciuszko at Raclawice, 171, 
 
 Warsaw 172 
 
 Kiolbassa, Peter. 347 Kozak, dirge of the steppes, 
 
 Kouopnicka. Marya. 282 270 
 
 Kordecki, statue of, 198, Krakau, see Cracow 
 
 204 Krakow, xrc Cracow 
 
 Kordjan, performed in the Krakus, builds the Wawel, 
 
 Cracow theatre, 00. 69; 49 
 
 compared to " Faust." 281 Krasinski. 281 
 
 Kosciuszko, Tadeusz. not Kraszewski, writings of 
 hero of " Thaddeus of 281. 2S2 
 Warsaw." 8: wreaths laid Krolestwo Polskie, sec War- 
 on tomb of, 40, 47 : oath- saw 
 
 tablet in Cracow. .52. 53 : Kruszka. Rev. Waclaw, 341 
 the " Real Thaddeus of Krzesz, Joseph, 278 
 Warsaw," 1.53-180; patri- Krzyzanowski, Col.. 339 
 otism of, 154; genealogy Kulczycki. and Vienna rolls, 
 of. 154 : travels and 150. 151 
 studies in France. 157 ; Kunegunda. gives her dowry 
 enlists under Washington, to Poland, 224 
 159. 100 ; teaches fort con- 
 struction to the American Land, how the Poles cling 
 army under Gates and at to the. 88 
 West Point. 100: statue Language (Polish), and 
 in Chicago. 100 ; writes on Prussian schools, 90. 91 ; 
 artilleiy, 102 ; leaves his and Russian law, 105, 106, 
 
 355 
 
INDEX 
 
 108 ; preserved by the 
 Polish women. 222 ; note 
 on pronunciation of, 3iS- 
 352 
 
 Lelewel. historical writings 
 of, 281 
 
 Lemberg, in history, 210 
 
 Leopol. see Lemberg 
 
 Leopold of Austria, at siege 
 of Vienna. 145 
 
 Leszczyuska. Marya, and 
 Louis XV.. of France, 223 
 
 Literature, in Warsaw, 133 ; 
 of present-day Poland, 
 281, 282 
 
 Lodz, growth of. 125 
 
 Louis XIV., of France, ri- 
 valry of, with Austria, 
 115, 146 
 
 Lwow, see Lemberg 
 
 JIaciejowice. battle of. 174 
 
 JIahan, Captain, on Russia's 
 vulnerability. 100 
 
 Malczewski. 277. 278 
 
 Mary, the Virgin, see Panna 
 Marya 
 
 Marysienka (Queen Marya 
 KazimieraV 144. 145 
 
 Mate.iko, Jan. restores the 
 church of Panna Marya, 
 60 ; founded the Cracow 
 academy, 6.i : historical 
 paintings of. 70 : house 
 preserved in Cracow. 274 ; 
 methods and qualities of, 
 274. 276 
 
 Matka Boska, legends of, 
 245-247 
 
 May 3. 1701. Constitution of, 
 24. 165 
 
 Mazepa. storv of. 207 
 
 Mehoffer, 278. 279 
 
 Mickiewicz. praises the Po- 
 lish Jew. 2.50 : monuments 
 to, in Cracow and War- 
 saw, 279, 281 
 
 356 
 
 Modjeska, Helena, introduc- 
 tion to this volume by, 7 ; 
 artistic career of, 282- 
 285 
 Modjeski. Ralph. .329 
 Moniuszko, see Halka 
 Morfill. W. R.. on Poland, 12 
 Music, and the Slav temper- 
 ament. 205-273 
 German critics on Polish, 
 2S5 
 
 Napoleon, on Warsaw, 129; 
 and Kosciuszko, 178. 179; 
 and Madame Walewska, 
 
 National Alliance (Polish'), 
 in the United States. 344, 
 345, 346 
 
 Nlemcewicz, with Kosci- 
 uszko in the United 
 
 States, 
 
 Orzeszko. Eliza. 282 
 Osada, Stanislaw, 341 
 
 Paderewski, an estimate of, 
 
 272 
 Painting, a race of artists 
 
 by birth, 274-2S0 
 Pale, the .Tew in. 262 
 Pan Jlichael, the country of. 
 
 207-220 
 Pan-Slavism, failure of. 123 
 Panna Marya, church of, 
 
 60, 01 
 Paul (Czar) to Kosciuszko. 
 
 175-177 
 Peasants, and the future of 
 
 Poland. 232-247: life of. 
 
 234-230; wedding among. 
 
 230-242: schools in Gali- 
 
 cia, 243. 244 : Xamyslaw- 
 
 ski's orchestra. 270 ; in 
 
 America, 327-332 
 
INDEX 
 
 Perkowski. Waclaw, 341 ; statement, 30 : in Prussia, 
 
 note on pronunciation of 84; in Russia, 100 
 
 Polisli. 3-tS-o.j2 Polonism, see Polish ques- 
 
 Peter tlie Great, policy of, tiou 
 
 toward Europe, 115, 117 Pouiatowski, Prince An- 
 
 Planty, circular boulevard drew, 340, 341 
 
 of Cracow, 55 Poniatowski, Stanislaw, the 
 
 Plater. Emilia, fights as a last Polish king, 158 ; and 
 
 ■man in the Polish armies, Suwarrow. 127. 128 
 
 225 Posen, importance of mod- 
 
 Podbipieuta. errand to King ern, 73 
 
 Jan Kazimierz, 184 Potocka, Countess of (paint- 
 Poland, best book on, by a ing), 231 
 foreigner. 8 ; reconstruc- Poznaii, see Posen 
 tion of, 10 ; compared with Praga, Sunday park in, 135, 
 the United States, 11; 137 
 
 role of. in history, 17-20 ; Press, the Polish, in Amer- 
 
 Victor Hugo on. 18 : Mor- ica, 344 
 
 fill. Brandes. and Rosen- Prus, Boleslaw (Alexander 
 
 thai on, 12; champion of Glowacki). novels of. 282 
 
 West against East, 19; Prussia, see also Germany; 
 
 peasant of, 232-247 ; at a fief of the Polish crown, 
 
 greatest extent. 21 : politi- 70 ; and the Teutonic 
 
 eal constitution of. 22. 23 ; Knights, 73 ; and economic 
 
 characteristics of Russian, progress in Polish prov- 
 
 100, 103 : labour laws in inces. 91, 92 
 
 Russia, 107: political Przybyszewski, Stanislaw, 
 
 parties in, 107-110 ; wo- 282 
 
 men of. 221-231 : history Pulaski. Kazimierz, in Amer- 
 
 of Jews in 248-204 i^a, 326 
 
 Poles, temperament of, 22, 
 
 23. 25. 26. 27: and Ger- Quo Vadis? How Sienkie- 
 
 many's world dream, 70- wicz wrote, 317, 318 
 98 : grateful to Austria, 
 
 31 : relation to land in Raclawice, battle of, 168, 
 
 Germany. 86 : increase of, 170-173 
 
 in Prussia, 86, 89 ; and the Religion, devotion of the 
 
 language question in Ger- Poles, 192-206 
 
 man schools, 91, 92 : Reszkes, Polish homes of 
 
 economic position of. in the. 273 
 
 Prussia. 91. 92 ; in Russia Reymont, Wladyslaw, 282 
 
 and Germany. 95 : future Rhode, Bishop, appoint- 
 
 relations with Russia. 121, ment of, 339 
 
 122 : religion among. 192- Rodziewicz, Marya. 282 
 
 206: traces of Orient in, Roloff, General Carlos. 343 
 
 267, 268 ; in America, 326- Rosenthal. Herman, on the 
 
 347 Polish Jew, 12 
 
 Polish question, general Russia, see also Warsaw ; 
 
 357 
 
INDEX 
 
 European door of, 00-122 : 
 reached via Poland. 00. 
 100 ; and the Polish prob- 
 lem, 1< >0 : exjiansion of. 
 11-1. 122: an agricultural 
 state, lis. 110; and a 
 Pacific water-front, 120. 
 121, future of Poland and. 
 121, 122 : a Polish Idn? of, 
 128, 120: and the Jew, 
 240, 2.-M. 2.j3. 2r)S-2t;:; 
 Russification, 104, lOo, 100, 
 111, 112 
 
 Samolixski, JIrs., 340 
 
 Scandinavia, and Germany. 
 82. s;3 
 
 Schools. Poles in Prussian, 
 01 : for peasants in Gali- 
 cia, 24,3, 244 
 
 Sembrich, JIarcella, art of, 
 273 
 
 Shrines, wayside, in Galicia, 
 1S.J 
 
 Siemiradzki, painting of, 
 277, 278 
 
 Siemiradzki, Professor 
 Thomas. 34G, 347 
 
 Sienkiewicz. Ilenryk, on 
 Slav characteristics. 2.1 : 
 an inspiration to Prussian 
 Poles. ;ii) : on " (icrman- 
 ism," 00, 07 : Trilogy of, 
 181, 182: read by more 
 Russians than Tolstoi, 
 280 : Poland's modern in- 
 terpreter. 313-325 
 
 Skrzetuski. heroism of. 100 
 
 Slav, characteristics. Sien- 
 kiewicz on. 2." : tempera- 
 ment of the, 103; music 
 and. 20,--273 
 
 Slowackl. 281 
 
 Smolinski. Col. Joseph, 337 
 
 Smulski, John F.. 347 
 
 Sobieski, King John (paint- 
 ing, " Sobieski before 
 
 Vienna"), 70; relations 
 to Warsaw, 1.30. 131 : 
 elected King of Poland, 
 140-144: speech at elect- 
 ins convention, 143 : sends 
 Pan Michael to Kami- 
 eniec. 20'.». 210; saves 
 Trembowla. 211 
 
 Siibolewski. Edward. 340 
 
 Sosnowska. Ludwika. court- 
 ed by I^osciuszko, l."i7. 1.jO 
 
 Sosnowski. .Joseph, befriends 
 Kosciuszko. I.jG 
 
 SciUth America, Poles in, 
 
 Stachicwicz, Piotr. 270 
 
 Stas. Helena, .340 
 
 Stejipes. a voyage over the, 
 
 207-22(1 ; sadness of the, 
 
 2(;."i-2i;8 
 Sukiennice, 53 
 Suwarrow, and the Polish 
 
 constitution, 100 : kills 
 
 Poles at Warsaw, 127. 
 
 128 ; executes Jews at 
 
 Praga, 251 
 Sweden, wars with Poland, 
 
 105 ; armies of. besiege 
 
 Czenstochowa, V.Hi ; King 
 
 Charles Gnstavus of, and 
 
 Poland, 105. 100 
 Szczekocin, battle of, 173 
 
 T.\RX0P0L, in history, 210, 
 211 
 
 Teutonic Knights, founda- 
 tion of the order of. 73. 74 
 
 Trembuwla. rescued bv So- 
 bieski, 211 
 
 Trilogy. of Sienkiewicz's 
 novels, 181. 182 
 
 Turkey. Sultan of. invades 
 Hungary, and besieges 
 Vienna, 145 ; general of, 
 besieges Kamieniec, 207- 
 220 
 
 Tyssowski, 327 
 
 358 
 
INDEX 
 
 Ukraine, first mention of, 
 207, ::us 
 
 Veto. Sobieski threatens to 
 exercise the riglit of. 143 
 
 Vieunu. wliat V. owes to 
 Jolin Sobieski, 43 ; Con- 
 gress of. 04. IfHj. 101. 109 ; 
 Low V. escaped tlie Turk, 
 13S-152 
 
 Virgin Mary, see HatUa 
 Boska 
 
 Voltaire, on Polish trade In 
 the Middle Ages, 35 
 
 " Vyedomosti " ( St. Peters- 
 burs), on autonomy for 
 Poland, 112 
 
 Walewska (Madame), and 
 Napoleon. 223 
 
 Wanda, daughter of Krakus, 
 49. 224 
 
 Warsaw, " Thaddeus of." 8 : 
 the geographical centre of 
 Europe. 123-137 ; a western 
 European city, 124 : trade 
 of, 124, 12.5: history of, 
 126; "order" in. 128: 
 literature in, 132, 133: 
 drama in. 133 : aristocracy 
 in. 133 : popular theatre of, 
 134 
 
 Wawel. the Westminster 
 Abbey of Poland, 46, 48, 
 49 ; riches and decorations 
 of, 50-riO 
 
 West Point. Kosciuszko the 
 engineer in constructing, 
 160 
 
 Wianki, celebration of, in 
 
 Cracow, 59 
 Wieniawski, violinist, 273 
 Wojciech, St., holy deeds of, 
 
 71, 73 
 Women, of Poland. 221-231; 
 
 among the peasants, 239- 
 
 242 : " Poland is not yet 
 
 lost," 221 
 Wyczolkowski, 278 
 Wyspianski, 282 
 
 Yeemak, founder of Russia's 
 Asiatic empire, 114 
 
 Zabriskie, see Zborowskl 
 
 Zagloba, at Zbaraz, 191 ; 
 character of. 31'.;i. 321, 322 
 
 Zahajkiewicz, Felix S.. 341 
 
 Zakopane, visit to Sienkie- 
 wicz at, 315 : style of 
 architecture and decora- 
 tion, 315 
 
 Zakrzewska, Dr. Mary Eliz- 
 abeth, 337 
 
 Zal, meaning of, 269, 270 
 
 Zalinski, Major Edmund 
 Louis Gray. 3.36 
 
 Zaporogian Cossacks, 208, 
 209 
 
 Zbaraz, siege of, 181-191 
 
 Zborowski (Zabriskie), the 
 family in America, 342, 
 343 
 
 " Z Dymem Pozarow," musi- 
 cal score of, 67, 68 
 
 Zielinski, Jaroslaw, 341 
 
 "Zgoda." 344 
 
 Zwianzek Narodowy Polski, 
 see National Alliance, 
 Polish 
 
 Zychlinski, Louis, 339 
 
 359