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t~ "I give thefe Booh
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IWO COUXllA FOLK FROM Till.: NEIGHBORHOOD OF
RA(;U.SA, DAL.M.ATIA

OLD HOMES OF NEW
AMERICANS
The Country and the People of the
Austro-Hungarian Monarchy
and Their Contribution
to the Ncav World
BY
FRANCIS E. CLARK
Author of " Tkt CoHtinenl of Opporlunily," "A Nev)
Way round an Old World,'^ ** Christian
Endeavor in All I^nds," etc,, etc,
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS FROM
PHOTOGRAPHS

BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
(Cbe dibet^ibe j^ttg^ Cambcibge
i9'3

COPYRIGHT, I913, BY FRAMCIS E. CLAKK
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Published February igij

3 1 3£>

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
While much of this book is the result of personal
observation and study of the people in the countries
herein described, I desire to render especial acknow
ledgments : —
To Professor Morfill's "Poland" in The Story of
the Nations series ; to Professor Vambery's " Story of
Hungary " in the same series ; to Count Liitzow's
History of Bohemia; to Miss A. M. Birkbeck's
Gleanings from Eastern Europe ; to Our Slavic
Fellow Citizens, by Professor Emily Greene Balch ;
to The Whirlpool of Europe, by Archibald R. Col-
quhoun and Ethel Colquhoun ; to Dr. Julius de Vargha,
Director of Statistics of the Kingdom of Hungary, for
his illuminating book on Hungary ; to Races and Im
migrants in America, by Professor John R. Com
mons ; to Aliens or Americans? by Dr. Howard B.
Grose ; to the Reports of the Commissioner-General
of Immigration of the United States for 1 9 1 1 and 1 9 1 2 ;
to President Taft and to former President Roosevelt
and others for letters of introduction that opened to me
many sources of information.
F. E. C.

CONTENTS
Introduction — Why this Book avas Writ
ten  xi
I. The Austro-Hungarian Monarchy as
A Whole — A Preliminary State
ment  I
II. The Ro.MANTic Story of Bohemia
AND Moravia  lo
III. Country Life in Bohemia and Mo
ravia  49
rV. The People without a Country . 59
V. Some Polish Writers  81
VI. Polish Country Life in Ancient
Days  87
VII. The Poles in America  95
VIII. Our Ruthenian Neighbors and their
Old Homes  100
IX. Where Sea and Mountains Marry. 113
X. Hungary, the Land of the Free and
the Brave  127
XI. Hungary — The America of* the Old
World  170
vii

Contents
XII. The Croats in Croatia and in Amer
ica  189
XIII. The Slovenians and their Contribu
tion to America  206
XIV. Our Neighbors the Slovaks at Home 2 1 2
XV. On the Easternmost Edge of Aus
tria-Hungary — The Bukowina and
Transylvania  221
XVI. The Great Cities of the Dual
Monarchy  231
Index.-  263

ILLUSTRATIONS
Two Country Folk from the Neighbor
hood of Ragusa, Dalmatia . . Frontispiece
Hungarian Houses of Parliament ... 2
Old Market-Place, Prague  42
Sho-wing the Teyn Church (Hussite) and the Old
Town HaU with Famous Clock
A Croatian Couple in Holiday Costume . 56
CuRzoLA, Capital of the Island of Cur-
zoLA, ON THE Dalmatian Coast . . .114
The Arena at Pola, Dalmatia . . . .118
One of the Long-horned White Oxen of
THE Alf6ld of Hungary  128
Hungarian Shepherds  128
A Street in Debreczen  186
Kronstadt, the Capital of Transylvania 228
The Market Square of Kronstadt. . .228
The Charles Bridge, Prague, with the
Hradschin, or Citadel, containing the
Palaces, the Cathedral, etc  242
Karlstein, Old Castle near Prague . . 242
ix

Illustrations
The Bastion of Budapest on the Buda
Side of the Danube  248
The Francis Joseph Bridge, Budapest - . 248
Grand Canal, Trieste  258

INTRODUCTION
WHY THIS BOOK WAS WRITTEN
My object in this book is to set before the
reader the characteristics of tAvo connected
countries that compose the Austro-Hunga
rian Monarch}', from Avhich a great stream
of emigrants is pouring into America every
year. I have long been impressed with the crass
ignorance that many people exhibit concern
ing the neighbors who jostle them on every
side. Not only do they not distinguish be
tween Slavs and Magyars, or between Bo
hemians and Poles (this might be excusable,
since they are ruled by the same emperor,
though the difference is fundamental), but
people that come from entirely different
points of the European compass are surpris
ingly mixed, and all are often embraced
under the one contemptuous title, " Dago."
The noble history, the patriotic struggles,

Introduction
the famous literature, the great statesmen,
poets, and artists of the countries from -which
these new Americans come are unknown
or forgotten, and the organ-grinder of the
Bowery is considered the typical descendant
of the ancient Roman.
The magnificent modern cities from which
some of these emigrants hail, like Budapest
and St. Petersburg, the interesting and pic
turesque mediaeval towns, with their wealth
of history, like Cracow, Lwow, or Czerno-
witz, the comfortable cottages and cultivated
fields, the rugged mountains and peaceful
valleys they have left to seek larger oppor
tunities in America, are seldom considered;
and we are too apt to think of them only in
the squalid East Side tenement, or in the
prairie shack, Avhere they are getting their
first start in America.
This ignorance would not so much mat
ter did it not breed not only indifference,
but often downright contempt, brutality,
and class hatred. A story told in a popular
magazine illustrates this hideous unconcern.
Speaking of a great railway tunnel, recently

Why this Book was Written
completed, the writer reports a conversation
he had with an assistant contractor.
"To think," I exclaimed, "that not a man was
killed!" "Who told you that?" asked the young assistant.
"Why, it's here in this report sent to the news
papers by your press-agent. He makes a point of
it." The young assistant smiled. "Well, yes, I guess
that's right," he replied. "There wasn't any one
killed except just wops."
"Except what?"
"Wops. Don't you know what 'wops' are ?
Dagos, niggers, and Hungarians — the fellows that
did the work. The>- don't know anything, and they
don't count." «
We need not imagine that there is every
where such calloused brutality as this, but
it is certain that there is abundant indiffer
ence and carelessness concerning our fellow
citizens, Avhich must be replaced by sym
pathy and active interest if America is to
become the great, homogeneous nation, the
land of the free and the home of the brave
from every quarter of the globe, for which
we all hope and pray.
This sympathy and interest can be awak-
xiii

Introduction
ened only by a greater knowledge of our
new neighbors, of their old homes, of the
lands they call " Fatherland," of the history,
characteristics, and present condition of these
countries. As a contribution, however slight,
to this knowledge, this book, the outcome
of thousands of miles of travel in the lands
of which it treats, and of much reading of
ancient history and present-day literature,
is given to the public.
Never did a country have such problems
of immigration to face as ours. Never was
the fate of any land so interwoven with the
fate of other lands, and with the men and
women these lands send to our shores.
There is a common impression in many
quarters that most of the crimes and mis
demeanors for which America is held up to
the execration of the world by foreign critics
are committed by newly arrived immigrants
from the slums of Europe. A political writer
has recently averred that "the flood-gates
of Europe are opened and a million of her
criminals and paupers are every year dumped
upon our shores." Nothing could be further
xiv

Why this Book was Written
from the truth, and the facts quoted a little
later in this Introduction from the latest report
of the Commissioner of Immigration will
show how baseless these charges are.
If this charge of lawlessness and crime
can be laid against any one class of our citi
zens, it is not of the first generation of for
eigners, by any means. To be sure, " foreign
names are common on the blotters of our
station-houses," says District- Attorney Whit
man, who has so bravely ferreted out the
connection of the criminals with the police
of New York City, " but a large proportion
of the sins which will be found charged to
them are due not to malice or depravity, but
to ignorance of our laws. The push-cart
peddler who, finding his trade brisk, lingers
too long by a certain curb, is not necessarily
criminal at heart, although he may be haled
before a magistrate for this offense. The
washtub or the flower-pot or the mattress
which obstructs a fire-escape is not usually
an evidence of desperately criminal intent
upon the part of the person who so placed
it. The man who violates traffic ordinances
, XV

Introduction
because he does not know what they are is
not a candidate for Sing Sing. Thus, in figur
ing up our morals, statistics of arrests must
be utilized with utmost care. Even statistics of
police-court convictions are reasonably sure
to be misleading as a standard from which
to judge our righteousness or sinfulness."
I have striven to write in a sympathetic
but not eulogistic mood of two of these coun
tries. I have not shut my eyes to their de
fects, but I have at least endeavored not to
exaggerate them. Chiefly, however, my effort
has been neither to praise nor to blame, but
to describe the people and their native lands
as they look to a traveler to-day and to a
student of their history, that I may fulfill my
purpose of making my readers better ac
quainted with the old homes of the new Amer
icans who crowd them on the street or live
around the next corner. The country with
which this book deals is the most complex
in Europe : the Empire of Austria-Hungary.
From this dual monarchy come Magyars,
Germans, Jews, and Slavs. The Slavs alone
are divided into Bohemians and Moravians,
xvi

Why this Book was Written
Croatians, Slovaks, Slovenians, Serbs, Poles,
andRuthenians. From this land of many races
and many languages comes an ever-increas
ing host of emigrants, — enough sometimes
in a single year to populate a eity larger than
Denver, Colorado, or Indianapolis, Indiana.
The Report of the Commissioner of Im
migration gives us many interesting facts, if
we can but pick them out from his compli
cated statistics, concerning the numbers of
these different races who seek our shores.
The very latest Census Report shows us that
in the year ending June, 191 2, more than
85,000 immigrant aliens were admitted to
the United States from Austria, and over
93,000 from Hungary, a total of 178,882.
In 191 1 the arrivals from Austria were about
the same in number, while Hungary sent
some 15,000 fewer people. In 1910 a grand
total of over 260,000 people reached America
from the Dual Monarchy, a larger number
than from any other country that sends its
people to the United States, though in the
two succeeding years Italy outnumbered
Austria-Hungary in the number of its emi-
xvii

Introduction
grants. These solid facts, for which the Com
missioner-General of Immigration vouches,
are enough to make the countries from which
this great living tide flows of supreme interest.
We find also that in the year ending June,
191 2, this swelling tide of new Americans
was composed of nearly 27,000 Croatians
and Slovenians, almost exactly the same
number of Magyars, the true Hungarians
(singularly enough a difference of only four,
among all the thousands, and this difference
in favor of the Magyars), a few more Slovaks,
to the number of 27,342, more than 91,000
Poles (probably more than half of them
from the Austro-Hungarian Empire), almost
27,000 Ruthenians, some 21,000 Germans,
nearly 10,000 Bohemians and Moravians,
while about 4000 Dalmatians, Bosnians, and
Herzegovinians made up the quota from
Austria-Hungary. The year from which these statistics were
gathered was also the year of great emigra
tion as well as of immigration. More than half
a million foreigners returned from America
to their old homes. Among these were nearly

Why this Book was Written
26,000 Magyars, leaving a net Magyar gain
for America in that year of only 953. The
influence of these returning emigrants can
hardly be overestimated. They carry back to
their old homes new ideas, new aspirations,
new methods of work, new ideals, while
doubtless some of their old ideals have been
shattered, for the reflex influence of America
upon the old homes of the races who are
seeking her shores is not by any means all
good. When we consider the other races of
Austria-Hungary beside the Magyars, we
find that 8000 more Croatians and Slavonians
came to America than went back to their
old homes; 10,000 more Slovaks, and nearly
50,000 more Poles. Between all these coun
tries and America the shuttle is constantly
flying back and forth, and each nation acts
and reacts upon the other, for good or ill.
That these peoples are by no means the
least desirable of our immigrants is proved
on another page of the Commissioner's Re
port, where we read that of the nearly 27,000
Magyars who embarked for the United States

Introduction
in the year ending June, 1912, only 225 were
debarred from entering, a much smaller pro
portion than of the Southern Italians, the
Greeks, the Mexicans, the English, or the
Irish. Of the more than 27,000 Slovaks who
attempted to enter America, only 249 were
debarred; and of the nearly 27,000 Ruthen
ians, only 391 were not allowed to land.
When we consider the Bohemians and the
Moravians, the showing is still better; for of
the 9087 who sought our shores in the twelve
month ending with June, 191 2, only 38 were
sent back to their old homes for any of the
many causes which prevent an immigrant
from landing at Ellis Island.
When it is remembered that the laws are
far more strictly enforced than formerly, and
that idiots and feeble-minded, the insane,
epileptic, tubercular, and those with conta
gious diseases, vagrants, paupers, contract
laborers, assisted aliens, polygamists, anarch
ists, and many other classes are excluded at
Ellis Island, the general physical and moral
health of these people, so far as it can be
learned by the Bureau of Immigration and
xx

Why this Book was Written
Naturalization, is seen to be of a compara
tively high order ; and few come with a
better bill of health than those who hail from
Austria-Hungary. Yet in spite of the vast numbers and the
high average of the peoples who come from
the Dual Monarchy, there is, as I have inti
mated, no country less understood or about
which it is harder to get accurate and reli
able information. This is partly due to the
fact of its complexity; that it is a country
made up of many countries. If I can in any
degree unravel this tangle for my fellow
countrymen who read this book, if I can in
any measure make them better acquainted
with the Magyars and the Slavs, more appre
ciative of their national genius and their gen
erous qualities, more lenient to their faults,
more glad to welcome them to our shores,
my object in writing this book will be
accomplished. Finally, let me commend to the perusal
of every American, who is inclined to think
or speak slightingly of the men from many
lands who seek a new and larger oppor-
xxi

Introduction
tunity in our Republic, the verses that
follow. The poem by Robert Haven Schauffler I
regard as one of the noblest ever penned by
an American. Few greater appeals for the
broadest fellowship and sympathy have ever
been written. It should be memorized in
our schools, and it should be known by
every lover of mankind, as well as by every
true patriot. "SCUM O' THE EARTH"
I
At the gate of the West I stand.
On the isle where the nations throng.
We call them ' ' scum o' the earth " ;
Stay, are we doing you wrong,
Young fellow from Socrates' land ? —
You, like a Hermes so lissome and strong
Fresh from the master Praxiteles' hand?
So you 're of Spartan birth ?
Descended, perhaps, from one of the band —
Deathless in story and song —
Who combed their long hair at Thermopylae's pass ? . . .
Ah, I forget the straits, alas !
More tragic than theirs, more compassion-worth,

Why this Book was Written
That have doomed you to march in our " immigrant
class "
Where you 're nothing but " scum o' the earth."

II
You Pole with the child on your knee.
What dower bring you to the land of the free ?
Hark ! does she croon
That sad little tune
That Chopin once found on his Polish lea
And mounted in gold for you and for me ?
Now a ragged young fiddler answers
In wild Czech melody
That Dvorak took A\-hole from the dancers.
And the heaA^y faces bloom
In the wonderful Slavic way ;
The little, dull eyes, the brows a-gloom,
Suddenly daAvn like the day.
While, watching these folk and their mystery,
I forget that they 're nothing worth ;
That Bohemians, Slovaks, Croatians,
And men of all Slavic nations
Are " polacks " — and " scum o' the earth."
Ill
Genoese boy of the level brow,
Lad of the lustrous, dreamy eyes
Astare at Manhattan's pinnacles now
In the first, sweet shock of a hushed surprise ;
Within your far-rapt seer's eyes

Introduction
I catch the glow of the wild surmise
That played on the Santa Maria's prow
In that still gray dawn,
Four centuries gone,
When a world from the wave began to rise.
Oh, it 's hard to foretell what high emprise
Is the goal that gleams
When Italy's dreams
Spread wing and sweep into the skies.
CsBsar dreamed him a world ruled well ;
Dante dreamed Heaven out of Hell ;
Angelo brought us there to dwell ;
And you, are you of a different birth? —
You're only a "dago," — and "scum o' the earth" !
IV
Stay, are we doing you wrong
Calling you " scum o' the earth,"
Man of the sorrow-bowed head,
Of the features tender yet strong, —
Man of the eyes full of wisdom and mystery
Mingled with patience and dread ?
Have not I known you in history,
Sorrow-bowed head ?
Were you the poet-king, worth
Treasures of Ophir unpriced ?
Were you the prophet, perchance, whose art
Foretold how the rabble would mock
That shepherd of spirits, erelong.
Who should carry the lambs on his heart
And tenderly feed his flock ?

Why this Book was Written
Man — lift that sorrow-bowed head.
Lo 1 't is the face of the Christ 1
The vision dies at its birth.
You 're merely a butt for our mirth.
You 're a " sheeny " — and therefore despised
And rejected as "scum o' the earth."
V
Countrymen, bend and invoke
Mercy for us blasphemers.
For that we spat on these marvelous folk.
Nations of darers and dreamers.
Scions of singers and seers.
Our peers, and more than our peers.
" Rabble and refuse," we name them
And " scum o' the earth," to shame them.
Mercy for us of the few, young years.
Of the culture so callow and crude.
Of the hands so grasping and rude.
The lips so ready for sneers
At the sons of our ancient more-than-peers.
Mercy for us who dare despise
Men in whose loins our Homer lies ;
Mothers of men who shall bring to us
The glory of Titian, the grandeur of Huss ;
Children in whose frail arms shall rest
Prophets and singers and saints of the West.
Newcomers all from the Eastern seas.
Help us incarnate dreams like these.

Introduction
Forget, and forgive, that we did you wrong.
Help us to father a nation, strong
In the comradeship of an equal birth,
In the wealth of the richest bloods of earth.
The following poem by Bishop Mclntyre
scores a common American fault, and should
be taken to heart by every one who thought
lessly or willfully brands and belittles one of
his fellow countrymen with one of the oppro
brious names which is so often upon the lips
of many : —
Dago and Sheeny and Chink,
Greaser and Nigger and Jap.
The Devil invented these terms, I think,
To hurl at each hopeful chap
Who comes so far o'er the foam
To this land of his heart's desire,
To rear his brood, to build his home,
And to kindle his hearthstone fire.
While the eyes with joy are blurred,
Lo ! we make the strong man shrink
And stab the soul with the hateful word —
Dago, and Sheeny, and Chink.
Dago and Sheeny and Chink,
These are the vipers that swarm
Up from the edge of Perdition's brink
To hurt, and dishearten, and harm.
xxvi

Why this Book was Written
O shame ! when their Roman forbears w.-ilked
Where the first of the Cajsars ti-od.
O shame ! when their Hebrew fatliers talked
With Moses and he Avith God.
These swarthy sons of Japhet and Shem
Gave die goblet of Life's sweet drink
To the thirsty world, which noAV gives them
Dago, and Sheeny, and Chink.
Dago and Sheeny and Chink,
Greaser and Nigger and Jap.
From none of them doth Jehovah shrink.
He lifteth them all to His lap ;
And the Christ, in His kingly grace.
When their sad, low sob He hears.
Puts His tender embrace around our race
As He kisses aAA-ay its tears.
Saying, " O least of these, I link
Thee to Me for whatever may hap " ;
Dago and Sheeny and Chink,
Greaser and Nigger and Jap.

OLD HOMES OF NEW
AMERICANS I
THE AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN MONARCHY AS A
WHOLE — A PRELIMINARY STATEMENT
The Complicated Relations of the Hapsburg Monarchy —
The Many Titles of Francis Joseph I —The Relation of Hun
gary to Austria — The Dual Monarchy largely Slavic and
Magyar — The Ost-Mark of the Prankish Empire — The
Claim of Bohemia — The Racial Aspirations of Croatians,
Poles, Ruthenians, and Slavonians — The Conservatism of
the Hapsburg Family — Its View of the Reformation and of
Modern Progress — The Universities and Schools of Austria
— Why Americans should be interested in the Races of Aus
tria-Hungary. It is not easy for the uninitiated to under
stand the complicated relations of the Haps
burg Dynasty which rules over the destinies
of Austria-Hungary. There is really no
Empire of Austria, though there is an Aus
trian Emperor; for the Austrian nation is
made up of many provinces, each of which
has a distinct history, and each of which re
tains, to a certain extent at least, its own in-
I

Old Homes of New Americans
dividuality. Thus Emperor Francis Joseph I
is the King of Bohemia, Galicia, and Dalma
tia; the Margrave of Moravia and Istria; the
Archduke of Upper Austria and Lower
Austria; the Duke of Salzburg, Styria, Car-
inthia, Carniola, Silesia, and the Bukowina;
and the Prince of the Tyrol. Hungary, as
we shall see in other chapters, is not a part
of Austria, nor a province of Austria-Hun
gary, but a distinct and separate kingdom,
in many matters as separate from Austria as
England is from France, but recognizing the
authority of the same reigning house.
In both Austria and Hungary the heredi
tary ruler, according to the law of the lands,
must come from the Hapsburg-Lorraine
Dynasty, and the law also provides that the
monarch must belong to the Roman Catho
lic Church. Thus the Emperor of Austria is
the Apostolic King of Hungary, and, to speak
correctly, we must say that he is the ruler
of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. A Hun
garian will be very quick to tell us, if we
make a slip in these particulars, that there is
no such thing as the "Austro-Hungarian

The Austro-Hungarian Monarchy
Empire"; that Hungary is not a part of any
empire, that it is a kingdom by itself; and
that for good and sufficient reasons it is united
with Austria in its foreign relations, in its
military and naval affairs so far as they are
connected with common defense, and in
finance so far as it relates to affairs that the
two nations have in common. The relation
between these two countries is not nearly
so close and intimate as that of the several
states of our Union; and at any time when
the conditions of union do not suit the Hun
garian people, they will doubtless feel at
liberty to sever the tenuous bonds which
now unite them to Austria, and to set up for
themselves in all internal and external rela
tions. In ordinary speech the "Austrian
Empire" or the "Austro-Hungarian Em
pire " is frequently alluded to, but it will be
understood that if one speaks with the utmost
accuracy, he must remember the vital dis
tinctions here recorded, difficult as they are
for a foreigner always to bear in mind.
Since 1866, when Austria cut the cables
which had hitherto bound her more or less
3

Old Homes of New Americans
to western Europe, as the result of the war
in which she was so ingloriously defeated,
she has looked to her provinces in the East
and to the Kingdom of Hungary as the source
of her strength and power. Thus it happens
that though the ruling family is of German
descent and many of the nobles and high
officials confess their Teutonic origin, the
monarchy is largely composed of Slavic and
Magyar peoples, with a comparatively small
element of Germans.
In succeeding chapters we shall see how
the kingdoms and the provinces which make
up the Austro-Hungarian monarchy have
formed the outposts of Western civilization.
"Austria," it is said, " began its career as the
Ost-Mark of the Frankish Empire. It was an
outpost against the pagan and savage hordes
outside the pale of Teutonic and Catholic
Europe. As a duchy, it was given to a Teu
tonic family, the Babenbergs, who were suc
ceeded by the Hapsburgs, and by the energy
and capability of the latter family it became
the centre of a collection of hereditary pos
sessions as large as many kingdoms."
4

The Austro-Hungarian Monarchy
Though the different Slavic races of Aus
tria are restive under Austrian rule, and are
yearning for complete independence, they
have not, like the Magyars, been able to
obtain it. The Bohemians claim to belong
to a separate kingdom, but the Emperor has
never acknowledged that claim or been will
ing to be crowned at Prague. The Croatians,
the Poles, the Ruthenians, the Slavonians,
all have racial aspirations which, if they
were allowed to indulge fully, would make
of them separate principalities as independ
ent as Hungary is to-day. But while Austria
gives them many privileges, and recognizes
in many ways their racial distinctions, she
has not yet been compelled to allow them
any great measure of independence, though
in many waj's she is a less harsh stepmother
than Russia or Germany. What will happen
when a new emperor comes to the throne,
as he inevitably must in the course of a few
years, no one is wise enough to predict.
More than any other nation in Europe,
with the exception of Russia, the Hapsburg
family has been able to maintain a conserva'
5

Old Homes of New Americans
tive and reactionary attitude. Every conces
sion to the spirit of modern progress has
been grudgingly made; every recognition of
the racial integrity of the provinces has been
wrung from the monarch by fear of worse
things that might happen if he did not grant
a certain measure of autonomy. The Re
formation was an abomination to the Haps
burgs of old, and no less an abomination to
the venerable ruler who occupies the throne
to-day. The Jesuits were supreme for cen
turies in Austrian politics and social life, and
their influence is still felt in every reaction
ary edict. The aristocracy of the Austrian
capital is, as might be expected after these
centuries of conservatism, proud and exclu
sive. The best thing that can be said of it is
that the millionaire has very little chance to
get within its sacred precincts because of
his gold. Its characteristics are not luxuri-
ousness or ostentation, but it looks down
upon trade and commerce, and its intellect
ual life has been stunted by exclusiveness
and remoteness from the common affairs of
life. 6

The Austro-Hungarian Monarchy
The universities of Austria have no world
wide fame, except the medical faculty of
Vienna; and in literary and artistic lines the
Austrian has not greatly influenced the world.
The musicians, to be sure, who have made
Austria their home — Haydn, Mozart, Bee
thoven, and Schubert — are world-renowned,
though we are told that " Beethoven, in his
lifetime, was little appreciated in Vienna,
and the poverty to which he was left in the
imperial city was relieved by the London
Philharmonic Society."
In many parts of Austria the common
schools are numerous, and the elementary
education that is given is thorough, so far as
it goes; but there is a great difference in the
different provinces, and the Poles have long
complained of the poor opportunities offered
their children to obtain a decent education.
So that, taking the country over, we read
that "at the beginning of this century, out
of twenty-six millions of people more than a
"third could neither read nor write."
In considering the many races within the
boundaries of Austria, the Jews are always
7

Old Homes of New Americans
to be reckoned with. As in so many other
countries, they are here the bankers and the
financiers. The Stock Exchange, both at
Vienna and at Budapest, is said to be entirely
controlled by the Jewish element. In smaller
places the Jews, because they have been
crowded out of many professions and trades,
have become the money-lenders and the usu
rers, the saloon-keepers and the pawnbrok
ers; and gradually, through the improvidence
of the people, especially the Slavs, have be
come the landowners and, it must be ad
mitted, often the tyrants and the Shylocks
of the land. It can easily be seen how racial
animosities have thus been fostered, and how
through denial of rights on the one side, and
shrewd and often unscrupulous dealings on
the other, the hatred thus engendered has
resulted sometimes in massacres and whole
sale emigration to other lands.
It is not within the province of this book
to discuss at length the politics of the na
tion, its religious life, its army and navy, its
finances, or its foreign relations; since my
object is to describe the people as I have
8

The Austro-Hungarian Monarchy
seen them, to tell something of their history
and social customs as related to their present
development, especially the history and cus
toms of the classes and races who are emi
grating to America by the hundred thousand,
and who will form an element in the Amer
ica of the coming centuries. For this reason
I need say little about the German Austrians,
or their beautiful capital of Vienna, for as
compared with the great masses of Slavs
and Magyars they do not come in great
numbers to our shores, and those that do
come are scarcely distinguishable from other
German emigrants. But the other races of
Austria-Hungary, speaking a dozen lan
guages and dialects, who look to Vienna and
Budapest as their capitals, are of supreme
interest and importance to us of America, as
we think of the new life-blood which is con
stantly infused into our veins from the lands
of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy.

II

THE ROMANTIC STORY OF BOHEMIA AND
MORAVIA
Why the History of Bohemia is interesting, especially to
Americans — One Bohemian in Fifteen lives in America —
The "Incomparable Moravian," Comenius — Characteristics
of Czechs in America — The Provress of Blind King John —
John Huss, the Patriot Reformer — His Trial and Martyrdom
— The Sixth of July — John Ziska, the Great General of his
Army of Farmers — Prokop the Great and his Ironclad
Wagons— The Fatal Battle of the White Mountain — The
Massacre of the Twenty-seven Nobles — The Decline of Bo
hemian Liberty — Bohemia under Francis Joseph — Why
Bohemians come to America.
The map of the Austro-Hungarian Mon
archy during the last seven hundred years
has changed its shape with almost every
century, and frequently many times in a cen
tury. Sometimes this map has taken in a
large part of Italy. Sometimes it has an
nexed Germany, or Germany has annexed
the Hapsburg Empire with a Hapsburg Em
peror. At one time, in the sixteenth century,
a Hapsburg ruled the greater part of Europe,
except Russia, France, and England. Not
only Germany and Austria, but Italy, Sicily,
ID

Bohemia and Moravia
Spain, Holland, and Belgium were within
the boundaries of the empire of Charles the
Fifth. The Hapsburg Dynasty, which origin
ated in a certain small district within the
present borders of Switzerland, gradually by
conquest and diplomacy spread eastward and
afterwards westward. Austria, however, has
for centuries been its centre and most be
loved home, and the Hapsburgs, whether
losing or gaining outlying possessions, have
made Vienna their capital, and ever sought
chiefly the glory and aggrandizement of
Austria. Sometimes Hungary has been in
dependent, sometimes in alliance, and again,
as now, part of the Dual Monarchy as an in
dependent kingdom. Bohemia has had her
periods of independence. Poland was for a
few years the dominant power of Europe,
and free from Austrian and Prussian control;
but Austria has always been true to the Haps
burgs, the oldest and, with the exception of
Russia, the most conservative and reaction
ary dynasty in Europe.
It is simply with the present Dual Mon
archy, the old home of millions of new

II

Old Homes of New Americans
Americans, that this book has to do. To-day
we find that Austria-Hungary embraces two
great kingdoms : Hungary, a comparatively
compact, homogeneous country in the centre,
practically independent of her partner in all
internal affairs, and Austria surrounding her
neighbor Hungary on all sides but the south
east. The Austrian part of the monarchy is
by no means so homogeneous. Hungary is
the kernel, Austria is the surrounding shell;
or, if this comparison seems invidious (it is
not meant in this sense, but only as a de
scriptive simile), let us say that the Hun
garian centre is surrounded on almost every
side by the Austrian outposts of empire. In
these outposts are peoples of many races and
many languages, — millions of Germans, more
millions of Slavs, other millions of Jews, while
the Slavs are of half a dozen varieties, speak
ing as many different languages or dialects.
Concerning the leading section of these races
we must learn something of their history,
their home life, their capabilities, their aspira
tions, in order to understand more intimately
and sympathetically our new fellow citizens.
12

Bohemia and Moravia
There is no better place to begin than with
the northwest corner of the Dual Empire,
where Bohemia juts out, with its rounded
contour, into Germany. Bohemia is interest
ing to every reader, because of its thrilling
history, replete with deeds of patriotic cour
age, and because of its sturdy, industrious,
progressive people, who, against terrific odds,
are again reviving the ancient glories of their
race. Bohemia is especially interesting to the
American reader, since there are at least four
hundred thousand men, women, and children
of Bohemian parentage in America, of whom
more than one half were born on Bohemian
soil, and because this great army is rein
forced by an average of more than ten thou
sand new recruits every year. Think of a
cit}'^ the size of Milwaukee or of New Or
leans, where every man, woman, and child
was of Bohemian birth, and we can realize
the contribution which this noble nation has
made to our Republic. One Bohemian out
of fifteen in all the world lives in America
to-day, and every year America is making
13

Old Homes of New Americans
larger inroads on the population of Czech
countries. In this enumeration I count the
Moravians with the Bohemians, because
they speak practically the same language
(all are Czechs), because their history is in
terwoven one with another from the earliest
days, and because they are not distinguished
in the Census Reports of the United States.
If the Bohemians and Moravians, as citi
zens of the United States, are weighed as
well as numbered, they will not be found
wanting. One of the earliest would-be emi
grants to America was the noted scholar and
religious leader, Comenius, who, next to
Zinzendorf, is held in highest honor by the
noble, self-sacrificing denomination of Christ
ians called Moravians. He was invited to
become president of Harvard College. Of
him Cotton Mather writes in his " Ecclesi
astical History of New England " : " That
brave old man Johannes Amos Comenius,
the fame of whose worth has been trumpeted
as far as more than three languages could
carry it, was agreed withal by our Mr. Win-
throp in his travels through the Low Coun-
14

Bohemia and Moravia
tries to come into New England and illum
inate this college and country in the quality
of President. But the solicitation of the
Swedish ambassador directing him another
way, that Incomparable Moravian became
not an American.'"
Though this "Incomparable Moravian"
did not become an American, many of his
fellow countr3'men and co-religionists did
come as early as 1736. They were driven out
of Bohemia by the savage persecutions that
followed the Hussite movement, which were
more prolonged, cruel, and bloodthirsty than
the persecutions that drove the Huguenots
from France. From Bohemia these "Bre
thren " took refuge in Moravia, where they
became known as "Moravian Brethren."
Driven from Moravia by the same bloody
persecution, they found a home in Saxony,
under Count Zinzendorf's patronage. Some
of them followed the Count to Georgia,
where he had a grant of land and where
John Wesley dedicated their church. A few
years later, in 1741, we find some of them
settling in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, which
15

Old Homes of New Americans
3s to-day the chief centre of the Moravian
Brethren of the United States. Here is the
archive house of the denomination, which
<;ontains invaluable records of these early
settlers, who would risk any peril, endure
any privation, conquer any wilderness, do
anything, indeed, but fight their neighbors.
There are many Moravian churches in the
United States, and next to Bethlehem, Win
ston-Salem, in North Carolina, is the chief
centre of their schools and publications. No
nobler denomination of Christians exists in
the world to-day. Their missionary zeal is
proverbial. They seek out the hardest and
most forbidding fields for their labors, where
no one else will go : the fever-haunted
jungles of Guiana, the inhospitable shores
of Greenland, the leper settlements of many
coasts. No field is too hopeless for these
heroic Christians, who have added their sav
ing salt to the great unleavened American
lump. Not until 1850, however, did the tide of
American immigration set in from Bohemia,
and this was due to economic causes rather
16

Bohemia and Moravia
than to religious persecution. But these emi
grants have largely been of a superior class,
intellectually and from the industrial stand
point. Ninety-seven per cent of them can
read and write. Of late years, since manu
factures have been encouraged by the Bohe
mians at home, many of the emigrants are
skilled workmen, though in the early days,
when they went chiefly to Wisconsin, they
were largely agriculturists. In some towns of
that state they still form a very large minority
of the population. Chicago numbers a hun
dred thousand Bohemians among its cosmo
politan peoples, being surpassed in the whole
world as a Czech city only by Prague and
Pilsen. A certain religious isolation, owing to
the persecutions and repressions in the home
country, is characteristic of them in Amer
ica, and unfortunately Freethinkers' societies
have obtained a strong hold on the Bohe
mian emigrants, many being professed infi
dels and Socialists of the ultra, non-Christian
sort. Dr. Grose in his valuable book, " Aliens
or Americans," well characterizes the Czechs
17

Old Homes of New Americans
in America: "They are a home people, social
and fond of organizations of every kind. Mu
sic is their passion, and their clubs, mutual
benefit and loan associations, successfully
run, show large capacity for management.
Their freethinking is not all of it by any
means' of the dogmatic sort, which has its
catechism of atheism. There is another class
represented by an old woman with a broad
brow, over which the silvery hair is smoothly
parted, who said to the missionary: 'I have
my God in my heart. I shall deal with him. I
do not want any priest to step in between us.'"
The intellectual activity of the Bohemians
in America is indicated by the fact that no
less than seventy Czech papers are printed
in the United States, and that the revival of
the beloved language has developed many
distinctive Bohemian scholars in the new
world as well as in the old.
Let us turn from the Bohemians in Amer
ica to the Bohemians at home, that we may
know the fountain from which this great
living stream flows to the new world. The
i8

Bohemia and Moravia
country of the Czechs is about the size of
the states of New Hampshire and Vermont
combined, and contains nearly ten times as
many people as those two states, or about as
many as the State of Pennsylvania, — some
thing over six million. We find a climate not
unlike southern New England, and a great
variety of natural scenery, mountains and
smaller hills, charming valleys, sparkling
brooks, and a great central plain where the
agricultural wealth of the country lies, while
the manufactures and minerals are largely
among the mountainous borders.
A romantic and heroic history is the proud
heritage of every Bohemian and Moravian.
It centres largely around certain great names,
like the blind King John; John Huss, the
reformer, to whom Protestantism owes more
than to any man save Luther; John Ziska, and
Prokop. As the history of the United States
can be read in the biographies of Washing
ton, Franklin, Webster, Lincoln, and Grant,
so the story of the Golden Age of Bohemia
is written in the lives of the three Johns, and
of Prokop the Great. 19

Old Homes of New Americans
King John, the first of the nation's heroes,
comes on the stage in the early part of the
fourteenth century. He was by no means a
model, either as father or king, but he had
the redeeming trait of courage, which en
deared him to his people and has caused him
to live in song and story. Ten years before
his death he became totally blind, but he still
continued to lead his people in battle, and
often to victory. A grim humor attaches to
the story that during the siege of Cracow,
the Polish King Casimir challenged him to
single combat, agreeing that whoever won,
to him should be accorded the victory for
his country as well. King John replied that
he would accept the challenge with pleasure,
but on one condition, — that King Casimir
should allow both of his eyes to be put out,
so that they might fight on equal terms.
Needless to say the siege went on.
In 1346 was fought the decisive battle of
Crdcy, reckoned as one of the fifteen most
important battles in the world's history.
Edward III, King of England, was waging
war with Philip, King of France. The blind
20

Bohemia and Moravia
King John of Bohemia sided with his old ally
of France, who had also the King of Ger-
many for an ally. The battle went against
the French, and his nobles informed King
John of the fact, and advised him to follow
the example of his allies and fly with them.
" So will it God," answered the brave, blind
king ; " it shall not be said that a king of Bohe
mia flies from the battle-field." Count LUtzow
tells us that King John then ordered two of
his bravest knights to attach their horses to
his, and to guide him to where the Black
Prince, King Edward's son, stood. "He then
gave the watchword, 'Praha' (Prague), and
the knights and nobles, following close be
hind their king, charged in the direction of the
French army. Passing rapidly through the
flying Frenchmen, they penetrated, wedged
close together, into the thickest of the Eng
lish ranks, and for a moment nearly reached
the spot where the Black Prince stood; but
they were beaten back by overwhelming
numbers. King John fell from his horse, mor
tally wounded, and fifty of the chief nobles
soon lay dead around their king. Hardly any
21

Old Homes of New Americans
of the Bohemians survived, and the flower
of the Bohemian nobility perished on the
battle-field of Crecy. " King Edward was a
generous conqueror, for he caused the blind
king to be brought into his own tent, where
he died, while King Edward exclaimed, with
tears on his bronzed cheeks: 'The crown
of chivalry has fallen to-day; never was any
one equal to this King of Bohemia!' King
John's last words, we are told, for genera
tions were the proud watchwords of patriotic
Bohemians." Brave as was King John, there was another
John of Bohemia just as brave, who ex
erted a far greater influence, not only in his
own country but throughout the world. This
was John Huss, who has been rightly called,
by an eminent authority, "the most promi
nent representative of the Czecho-Slavic
race in the world's history." This is high
praise, but it is not extravagant when we
remember that every nation in Europe was
directly influenced by the doctrines, the
preaching, the life, and, more than all, by
the death of Huss. The story of Bohemia
22

Bohemia and Moravia
cannot be told if John Huss is left out of it.
For hundreds of years after his death his
name was the patriotic rallying-ci}-, and to
day, among Catholics and Protestants alike,
his memory is the most honored of all the
sons of Bohemia.
The visitor to the beautiful town hall of
Prague will see a splendid oil painting by
Bohemia's most distinguished artist hung on
the most conspicuous wall, representing Huss
at the Council of Constance. There he was
tried, condemned, and burned at the stake,
but there, too, he triumphed gloriously. The
significance of this portrait is greatly en
hanced when we remember that the Roman
Catholic rulers of a Roman Catholic nation
thus honor the arch heretic, the great fore
runner of Protestantism, because they see in
him their nation's greatest patriot. For two
hundred years after the death of Huss, the
ferment of the new and liberal ideas in church
and state seethed in Bohemia, until at the battle
of White Mountain in 1620 the enemies of
Huss and of progress triumphed, and Bohe
mia's long era of serfdom and decay set in. It
23

Old Homes of New Americans
is not too much to say that, though defeated
in Bohemia, the principles of Husstriumphed
on the larger battle-field of the world. His
ideas prevailed in Germany, England, Scan
dinavia, and the Netherlands. They were
adopted by the Puritans. They came to
America with the Pilgrims in the very
year that they met their final overthrow in
Bohemia. They rule the religious life of the
dominant nations of the world to-day.
Were we indebted to Bohemia for nothing
else than the life and influence of John Huss,
the debt would be impossible to repay. This
great world-hero was born in the year 1374,
of humble parents, but he received the best
education which his time and country could
afford, and became a Master of Arts of the
University of Prague when he was twenty-
two. At the age of twenty-eight we find him
dean of the philosophical faculty, and at
twenty-nine the president of the university.
He was renowned not only as a scholar but
as an orator, and peasants and scholars alike
acknowledged the spell of his eloquent lips.
Nor was he a recluse of the library, dealing
24

Bohemia and Moravia
with academic themes alone. He took hold
of the problems of the day, threw himself
into the thick of the fight against popular
abuses, against the priestly hierarchy, and in
favor of the common people. He had genu
ine and grievous evils to contend against in
church and state. He fought no windmills,
but embodied wrongs.
In 1408 the storm broke out. The Pope
gave orders to burn the books of Wyckliffe,
"the Morning Star of the Reformation,"
whose doctrines for a whole decade Huss
had been preaching. He also forbade all
preaching except in parish churches and con
vents, a decree that was meant to muzzle
Huss, since he was accustomed to preach in
a private chapel. From this moment the
issue was joined, and it was a battle of Titans.
On the one side were the authorities of the
church, intrenched in traditions of the ages,
fortified by enormous ecclesiastical patronage
and political favor. On the other hand was
a lone scholar, with a marvelously persuasive
voice and an undaunted heart, supported,
too, by the love and loyalty of the common
25

Old Homes of New Americans
people. His king, Wenceslas of Bohemia,
and the Queen Sophia were also his friends,
at least half-heartedly, but all the other roy
alties of Europe were against him, and re
joiced in his overthrow. It was practically
one man and the people of Bohemia against
the kings and popes and priests and people
of the world.
I have said "popes" advisedly, for there
were at this time three popes recognized by
different parts of the Catholic world, though
all were united in their hatred of Huss. The
two popes of greatest power and pretension
were Pope John XXIII and Pope Gregory,
who was supported by the King of Naples.
Pope John tried to enlist the people of
Bohemia against the King of Naples and in
cidentally against his rival. Pope Gregory, by
sending envoys to Prague to sell indulgences
that he might raise money for his campaign.
The Pope's preachers entered Prague in
great state, with drummers going before them
to the market-place. Here they called upon
every one to contribute in cash or goods,
promising in return immunity from hell and
26

Bohemia and Moravia
a shortened term in purgatory. This was
more than the righteous soul of lluss could
stand. He did not wish to take sides with
either pope, but he declared that to avoid
hell and to purchase heaven by enabling
Pope John to kill the soldiers of the King of
Naples, who were bound bj' their oaths to
support their king, was abominably wicked.
He was supported by another fiery orator,
Jerome of Prague, afterwards a fellow martyr
with Huss, and together they carried the
hearts and consciences of the common people
and the students of the university, though
against them were all the authorities, secu
lar and ecclesiastical, except the vacillating
king. In the course of the uproar about the
indulgences, three young men, who tried to
prevent their sale, were publicly executed;
whereupon a band of students seized their
bodies, and singing, "These are the Saints 1"
triumphantly carried them off to burial. .
Now the war between the people and the
authorities, between an awakened conscience
and the buttressed traditions, waxed hotand
bitter. The Pope excommunicated Hugs.
27

Old Homes of New Americans
Every one who might give him a cup of cold
water or a crust of bread was also excom
municated. If he entered another town, the
ban was on that town. No religious services
could be held in it, the dead could not be
buried, children could not be baptized, lovers
could not be married. At the earnest request
of the King, and to avoid further bloodshed,
Huss left Prague for a little time and lived
in the castle of one of his friends, as after
wards under similar circumstances Luther
retired to the Castle of Wartburg. Huss, too,
like Luther in later years, improved this time
.of exile to launch many of his thunderbolts
against the evils of the day, both in Latin and
in Bohemian, so that the Pope's bull and the
exile of Huss harmed rather than helped the
cause of Pope John.
King Sigismund of Hungary now comes
upon the scene. He persuaded the Pope to
call a general council of the church at beauti
ful Constance in Switzerland. At the same
time he summoned Huss to appear at Con
stance, and persuaded his brother Wenceslas,
King of Bohemia, that this would be the
28

Bohemia and Moravia
best solution of the trouble for all parties.
Moreover, he assured Huss of a safe-conduct
to Constance, free discussion there, and safe
return, even if he did not submit to the de
cision of the Council. Volumes have been
written on the meaning of this safe-conduct,
both for and against King Sigismund. As a
matter of fact, it was a mere scrap of worth
less paper, for Huss was imprisoned as soon
as he reached Constance, and was set free
only by the flames which soon enveloped
his body and liberated his soul.
However, Huss was permitted to appear
before the Council on the 5th, 7th, and 8th of
June, 1415, but he was never allowed freely
to state his case, and all sorts of absurd and evil
stories were set on foot to prejudice the people
against him and to justify his fate, which had
been prejudged. One of these wicked libels
was that Huss had declared that there were
four persons in the Godhead: The Father,
The Son, The Holy Ghost, and John Huss.
A month was allowed to elapse, and again
he was brought before the Council, on July
6. But he would not recant. It was his last
29

Old Homes of New Americans
chance. His condemnation was foreordained.
It was that he should suffer the most cruel
of deaths. He was led from the council
chamber of the cathedral to a green meadow,
half a mile from the city, and there the flames
that mounted to heaven proclaimed the lib
eration of Huss from his enemies, who at
the same time lighted the torch of Liberty
of Conscience which has never been extin
guished. His loud prayers could be heard
while the flames leaped around him, but the
dense smoke driven into his face by a merci
ful wind soon ended his sufferings by suffo
cation. In their impotent rage his enemies
carefully gathered up his ashes and threw
them into the Rhine, to prevent his country
men from treasuring them. This act was an
unconscious prophecy. Though Bohemia
could not preserve his remains, and, after a
struggle of two hundred years, lost the faith
for which Huss stood, the Rhine carried his
ashes through Switzerland, Germany, and
Holland ; and all of these countries afterwards
adopted his beliefs and became the bulwarks
of his teachings. 30

Bohemia and Moravia
Jerome of Prague is anotlier name to con
jure by in Bohemia, though his influence was
and is by no means comparable to that of John
Huss. His eloquence was even more fiery
and persuasive than that of his older friend,
but he lived much of the time away from
Bohemia, and was not so thoroughly identi
fied with her interests. He visited Huss at
Constance, and for that imprudent interview
was imprisoned, and in less than a year
suffered the same fate as Huss. He met it so
bravely that even an Italian priest, a legate of
the Pope, was obliged to say of him: "None
of the Stoics with so constant and brave a
soul endured death, which he rather seemed
to long for."
The news of the burning of Huss created
a tremendous sensation and nation-wide grief
in Bohemia, as can well be imagined, for the
vast majority of the people were his devoted
friends and disciples. The reaction against
the priests knew no bounds. Every priest
in Prague who had opposed Huss was ex
pelled, and ministers of the Reformed re
ligion were appointed in their place. I luss
31

Old Homes of New Americans
was proclaimed a holy martyr by the Uni
versity of which he had been the Rector,
and the 6th of July was made a holy day to
commemorate his death and perpetuate his
memory. For nearly two hundred years it
was kept as a holiday, and as late as 1592,
we are told, a Roman Catholic abbot at
Prague "was attacked by the people, and
threatened with death, because he had let
some of his laborers work in his vineyards
on the 6th of July."
Another John was the successor of John
Huss as the popular leader and hero of the
Bohemians. John Ziska was a warrior rather
than a scholar, orator, and prophet. But as
a military leader he was as great as Huss
had been as a theologian and statesman. He
has been compared by more than one author
to Oliver Cromwell. He had, indeed, not a
little of the great Puritan's simplicity and
courage, and even more than Cromwell's
military sagacity. Think of the material that
John Ziska had out of which to forge an
army that should successfully defy the united
armies of Europe. Peasants, small landown-
32

Bohemia and Moravia
ers, shopkeepers, priests who had renounced
the Pope, — these were the men who rallied
around his banner and composed his invin
cible army that never knew defeat. What
were their arms? At first only flails shod
with iron, or short spears, while their oppo
nents knew the use of gunpowder, and had
the best arms and coats of mail that Europe
could supply. Ziska invented a unique sys
tem of warfare, and maybe called the father
of the modern ironclad; but his ironclads
ploughed not the seas, but the Bohemian
plains. Indeed, it was an early adaptation of
the modern mailclad ship to the prairie
schooner of the Middle Ages. The wagons
of the Bohemian farmers were linked to
gether by strong chains, and were plated
with steel or iron. In these wagons were the
warriors, and in time of battle the women
and children took shelter in them. They
formed a kind of movable fort or series of
forts. Ziska also soon developed a body of
sharpshooters with the best guns procurable,
and stationed them next to the horses to pick
off the oncoming enemy. His cannon, too,
33

Old Homes of New Americans
though we should consider them clumsy
and ineffective, soon proved that they were
aimed with more skill than those of the
enemy. The stories of these old battles read like
romances. In one of the earliest of them
Ziska's forces were surprised by the enemy,
and he had barely time to back his ironclad
wagons against a small hill, while they were
secured from attack on another side by a
fish-pond. The enemy came on with ten
times the number of Ziska's troops, but were
obliged to dismount from their horses. The
women spread their long veils across the
only road by which the enemy could march,
and these veils became entangled in the
spurs of their opponents. Then they retired
to their wagons, while Ziska's sharpshooters
decimated the Catholic troops, who were
finally routed with great slaughter.
Over and over again crusades were planned
by the neighboring nations against the Huss
ites. Many electors of Germany, Hungari
ans and Poles united their forces, but could
never prevail. The mailclad chariots, the
34

Bohemia and Moravia
brave warriors, and above all the military
genius of Europe's greatest general, John
Ziska, beat back no less than five of these
formidable crusades. In one battle fully
twelve thousand Hungarians, led by King
Sigismund himself, were slain, and the whole
army was routed.
Unfortunately, dissensions broke out in the
Reformed party itself. They were divided
into two hostile ranks, the Conservative Pro
testants and the Radicals. The latter de
stroyed churches, works of art, libraries, and
treasures of all sorts, which they deemed an
abomination. The Conservatives resented
this, and sometimes were driven to fight
their co-religionists. Thus at times John
Ziska was waging a civil war; but when for
eign invaders attacked Bohemia these moder
ates and radicals all united under their great
leader, and when thus united were never de
feated. How different would the fate of Bo
hemia have been had the people united their
forces in later centuries, and found other
great generals to lead them on to victory.
She would to-day, doubtless, be a leading,
35

Old Homes of New Americans
independent, Protestant power of Europe,
instead of being for centuries the football of
misfortune, and in this twentieth century tied
hand and foot to the most reactionary Catho
lic power in Europe.
John Ziska, who was of about the same
age as John Huss, survived him by nearly
ten years, and died of the plague near the
Moravian frontier, whither he was marching
at the head of his victorious army. During
the last years of his life, while winning some
of his most important victories, he, like King
John, was totally blind, his eyes being pierced
by an arrow in one of his early battles.
Catholic authorities assert that Ziska died
blaspheming, and ordered that his body
should be flayed, his skin used as a drum,
and the carcass thrown to the wild beasts.
The Protestant writers, quoting a contem
porary and probable eye-witness, state that
"he gave his last charge to his faithful Bo
hemians, saying that, fearing their beloved
God, they should firmly and faithfully defend
God's law, in view of his reward throughout
eternity. Then Brother Ziska commended
36

Bohemia and Moravia
his soul to God, and died on the Wednesday
before the day of St. Gallus." Wc will leave
it to our readers to decide which version of
his death is more credible, in view of the
devout and godly life of the greatest military
leader and patriot of his age.
One more great leader of the Bohemians
must be mentioned, who led her armies be
fore her sun began to decline. This was Pro
kop, called the Great, in distinction from
another less distinguished general, Prokop
the Less. Prokop the Great was the direct
successor of Ziska, and adopted his tactics.
He even carried the war into the enemy's
country, invading Germany on one side and
Hungary on the other, and rivaling both the
Germans and the Hungarians in the desola
tion which he left behind him.
Another great crusade by the allied arm
ies was planned, and one hundred and
thirty thousand seasoned soldiers were sent
against Bohemia in the last desperate effort
to subdue her. Prokop could not muster half
as many Bohemians to oppose them, but his
courage and generalship were worth a hun-
37

Old Homes of New Americans
dred thousand troOps. The invading cru
saders were encamped on a plain when they
heard the ominous rattle of the mailclad
wagons of the Bohemians, and heard their
war-song, " All ye warriors of God," which
the whole army chanted in solemn measure
and with stentorian lungs. More than two
miles distant these sounds struck terror to
the hearts of the allied armies, and they fled
in dire confusion, leaving large stores and
all their camp equipment behind them, while
the Bohemians, with scarcely the loss of a
man, pursued the flying enemy. This was
the bloodless victory of Domazlice, and
marked the climax of Bohemia's Golden
Age. She had Europe at her feet. She could
dictate her own terms. But she was content
with ridding her own soil of invaders, and
never attempted to impose her rule on her
neighbors. From this date, 143 1, the power of Bo
hemia gradually declined. No other great
leader arose, either as statesman, theologian,
or warrior, to take the place of King John,
John Huss, John Ziska, and Prokop. But the
38

Bohemia and Moravia
decline was very gradual, and was brought
about by internal causes quite as much as by
external pressure. The nation at this date
was almost wholly devoted to the Reformed
religion, what was called, after Luther's day,
"Protestant." But this faith showed the
serious weakness which seems to adhere in
Protestantism: the people could not agree
among themselves. Warring sects arose
among the Reformers. The Catholic Church
itself was reformed in some particulars. The
Jesuits became exceedingly active, and un
doubtedly were the most influential cause in
driving Bohemia back to the ancient church.
Austria's power was wholly exerted to this
end, when the House of Hapsburg suc
ceeded to the Bohemian throne.
Many Bohemian nobles married Spanish
and Italian wives, who threw their influence
in favor of the Jesuits, whose proselyting
zeal knew no bounds. In later years Spain,
Italy, Poland, the Catholics of Germany, and
even Saxony, whose people had become Pro
testants of the Lutheran type and who hated
the Calvinists of Bohemia even more than
39

Old Homes of New Americans
their Catholic neighbors, united to crush out
the national life of Bohemia. This was nearly
two hundred years after the glorious days of
Huss, Ziska, and Prokop. In the kaleido
scopic changes of the Bohemian throne,
Frederick, the son-in-law of King James the
First of England, had become, by election.
King of Bohemia. Even King James was
lukewarm in the support of his son-in-law,
and while he dallied with the situation and
wrote letters of good advice, he became "the
laughing-stock of the Catholics of Europe."
Such was the situation when the great bat
tle of the White Mountain occurred in 1620,
the battle so fatal to Bohemian prosperity
and national aspirations, from the effects of
which, though nearly three centuries have
rolled by, she has not yet recovered. The
causes of this disastrous defeat are not far to
seek. Since the days of Huss serfdom had
been introduced into Bohemia. The peasants
were no longer freemen, but slaves of the
soil. The spirit of democracy which ani
mated the people in the early days had fled.
The battle of the White Mountain was fought
40

Bohemia and Moravia
by mercenaries on both sides, but the mer
cenaries of the enemy were better paid and
better equipped. King Frederick was a weak
and pusillanimous ruler, who was actually
entertaining some foreign envoys at a ban
quet in Prague when the battle of the White
Mountain was being waged and his people
were being slaughtered. The Protestants
were disheartened and divided, the Calvin
ists and Lutherans hated each other bitterly,
while the Romanists, embracing all the
forces of the allied armies, were united and
confident. All these causes were enough and
more than enough to account for the terrible
disaster of that fatal Sunday, November 8,
1620, when the independence of Bohemia
was lost, and she became a vassal of the
Hapsburg Dynasty.
Ferdinand, the conquering emperor, who
now annexed Bohemia to his domains, was
not slow in making his power felt in a hide
ously cruel way. All the leading Bohemian
nobles were captured, and a few months
afterwards, one after another, were led to the
market-place in Prague and there beheaded.
41

Old Homes of New Americans
No one of them showed the white feather,
but like the bravest Bohemians of former
days, as Huss and Jerome would have done,
pleasantly bade good-bye to one another, as
they were taken from prison to the execu
tioner's block, " just as if they were prepar
ing to go to a banquet or some pastime."
Their heads were nailed to the bridge tower
of the old town, where they remained for ten
years, a ghastly proof of the destruction of
Bohemia and her liberties. Then in 163 1, in
the temporary triumph of a Saxon invasion of
Bohemia, they were removed by the return
ing exiles, and solemnly buried in a church of
Prague. These twenty-seven nobles have
been enrolled by the people of Bohemia in
later years, by Protestants and Catholics alike,
in the national temple of fame among Bohe
mia's greatest heroes and martyrs. " These
melancholy executions mark the end of the
old and independent development of Bohe
mia," we are told. " The destiny of the coun
try was henceforth in the hands of foreigners,
who had neither comprehension nor sym
pathy with its former institutions."
42

Bohemia and Moravia
The year of this disaster of the White
Mountain is significant. On the very day that
the Pilgrim Fathers were drawing near to
America to found a great, free democracy,
the democratic forces of Bohemia were de
feated, and her star went down in bloodshed
and carnage. We cannot dwell at length on
the melancholy years that succeeded. The
Thirty Years' War followed, or at least
twenty-eight of these dreadful thirtj', for the
battle of the White Mountain was one out
standing event of its early years. Bohemia
and Moravia were ravaged time and time
again. Whole towns and villages were blotted
out, fields were left untilled, industries were
destroyed, Prague itself, once the proudest
city of Europe and the capital of a vast
empire, became almost a deserted village,
and the population of the Czech countries of
over three millions was reduced to less than
one. The Thirty Years' War was a religious
conflict, and of course the Protestants of
Bohemia were the sufferers under the new
regime. They were despoiled of their pos-
43

Old Homes of New Americans
sessions, driven from their homes, exiled from
their country, and murdered on every pre
text. It was the boast of Ferdinand III that
he would not rest until he had killed or driven
out of Bohemia every Protestant heretic. He
nearly succeeded in carrying out his threat,
and, contrary to the general opinion that
persecution cannot kill a religion, Bohemia
is an example of a country where, by means
of the sword and the inquisition, one faith
has almost entirely supplanted another.
Little by little the Austrian Government
not only suppressed the religion, but abolished
all the rights and liberties of ancient Bohemia.
At last she attacked the spirit of nationality
at its fountain-head, and a hundred years ago
forbade the use of the national language in
every school and law-court in the land. In
this, however, she overreached herself, and
by this act of foolish tyranny promoted a
reaction in favor of the Czech language.
Through this, the national spirit has been re
vived, and the old flames of patriotism have
been kindled afresh. Since then, a new
Bohemia has arisen, not yet free from Aus-
44

Bohemia and Moravia
trian domination, but an industrious, pro
sperous, comparatively happy Bohemia, that
honors its ancient heroes and glories in its
ancient history. Prague has regained much
of its old importance, not as the capital of
an empire, but as the capital of the Czech
race, and as a city famous throughout the
world for its modern schools and its public
institutions, as well as for its thrilling his
tory and its checkered career of victory and
defeat. The present Emperor, Francis Joseph,
who began his reign in 1849 as a reaction
ary of the severest type, has been obliged by
force of circumstances to give the Czechs
more and more liberty and constantly aug
mented privileges. Their beloved language
has been restored to them in the schools
and the courts; local government has been
accorded them; and though they have not
yet achieved an independence like that of
Hungary, the Czechs look forward to the
time when they shall be equally free from
the dominion of Austria.
It should have been said that serfdom was
45

Old Homes of New Americans
abolished more than a century and a quarter
ago. Now free and compulsory education
has been adopted. Manufactures, many of
them under purely Czech management and
capital, are springing up everywhere, and
there are to-day few more prosperous sec
tions of Europe than the ancient Kingdom
of Bohemia. It may be asked. If this is so,
why the constant and swelling tide of emi
gration to America.? Many answers may be
given to this question. When such a stream
once starts, it is hard to stop its flow. Brother
calls for brother across the Atlantic. The
children, when they become prosperous, send
for the old folks to join them. Neighbor
writes home to neighbor, telling of the vastly
greater opportunities for enterprise and in
dustry in the new world, and the American
neighbor is soon joined by the old neighbor
from the old home. The spirit of adventure
urges the most enterprising to try their for
tunes in the new world. The agents of the
steamship companies are constantly solicit
ing patronage for the steerage. The dislike
of military conscription drives others to take
46

Bohemia and Moravia
ship for America. Thus all these causes,
working together, keep up the supply, and
the steerage accommodations of the ships
that sail from Trieste and Hamburg, Antwerp
and Bremen, are never vacant.
" On the whole," says a careful writer,
who has personally investigated the matter on
the ground, " I found surprisingly few cases
of emigrating ne'er-do-wells, and in nearly
ten months' investigation, I could hear of
only one case of assisted emigration." Most
of the emigration from Bohemia has been
from the southern slopes, where the soil is
poorer and the climate more rigorous than
in the north. Here, too, wages are much
smaller than in the cities like Prague and
Pilsen, and we cannot wonder that laborers
are willing to exchange the twenty-five-cent
wage for a day of ten hours for an eight-hour
day and a two-dollar wage, even if the ex
pense of living in the United States is large
enough to eat up part of the difference. No
wonder that a domestic servant, who can earn
two dollars a month in Bohemia, is attracted
by the tales of importunate and humble mis-
47

Old Homes of New Americans
tresses in New York, Boston, and Chicago
who will, figuratively speaking, get down on
their knees to persuade the newly arrived
emigrant to grace their kitchens at a stipend
of six dollars a week.

Ill
COUNTRY LIFE IN BOHEMIA AND MORAVIA
The Similarity of Modern Cities the World over — The
Goose-Girls of Bohemia — Human Labor and Wire Fences
— "Full Peasant"and "Half Peasant" — The Ribbons of
Land — A Typical Moravian ^'illage — "Horse Peasant"
and "Ox Peasant" — The Dowry of a Peasant's Daughter —
The Kind of People America needs — Whose Fault will it be?
— The Good Blood of the Czechs.
Since we have learned something of the
heroic but bloody history of Bohemia, let us
look at the more pleasing picture of Bohe
mian life in this peaceful twentieth century.
The larger cities are much like all modern
cities in every part of the civilized world,
for the tendency is for all great agglomera
tions of men to become uniform, dull in
appearance, and lacking in individuality.
Evening dress is the same in New York and
Prague, the same in Chicago and Czernowitz.
Hotel waiters, too, assume the same spike-
tail coat and ample shirt-bosom in the cafes
of Boston and Budapest. You must visit the
country districts to find individuality of cos-
49

Old Homes of New Americans
tume and custom. Here the shepherds pat
ronize their own flocks for clothing, and are
immensely picturesque in their stiff sheep
skin cloaks, which serve as shelter from the
rain and snow in winter and from the sun in
summer. Sometimes these cloaks are beau
tifully embroidered. In other districts the
woolly side is left out and the skinny side
in; but however they are worn, they always
form a striking feature of the landscape, as
their owners lounge on hillside or plain, staff
in hand, while their docile flocks graze peace
fully near by.
The goose-girls also attract the unaccus
tomed eye. All through the Slavic countries
they may be seen from every car window,
watching their feathered flock. Their gay
petticoats and bright kerchiefs, the distaff
and shuttle which they hold in their hands,
or the long stockings which they are knitting,
all seem to carry one back from the twenti
eth century to the sixteenth. Shepherds and
goose-girls have not changed with the pass
ing centuries as have their city neighbors.
While watching them you forget that there
5°

Country Life in Bohemia
are such things as trolley cars and telephones,
X-rays and wireless telegraphy, to disturb
one's peace.
One Bohemian peasant was heard to berate
the extravagance of a farmer who built a
fence around his pasture instead of having a
man to watch his sheep and a girl to watch
his geese. That remark, as has been said,
tells volumes concerning the difference be
tween farm life in America and in the Slavic
countries to-day. In one country, wire fences
are cheaper than human labor. In the other,
human labor is cheaper than wire fences.
Yet wire fences and farm automobiles and
threshing-machines have brought with them
losses as well as gains, and it is not as yet
a closed question whether the farmer is
happier in the old world than in the new,
though there is no question as to where he
is the more prosperous.
Up to the year 1848 the peasant's lot in
Bohemia was indeed hard, for though actual
serfdom had been abolished, yet all the land
was owned by the lords. To be sure, the
peasant had hereditary rights in the land,
51

Old Homes of New Americans
yet he could not sell or mortgage it, or even
give it up, without his lord's permission. He
must do a certain amount of work for his
lord, and render certain tribute in the shape
of butter, eggs, and poultry, for which he
received nothing.
A mighty upheaval came to all Europe in
1848. Paris was in revolt against the King.
The German princes were compelled to call
a national parliament at Frankfort. Kossuth
was fighting for liberty in Hungary, and
Bohemia shared in the blessed movement for
the rights of the people. From that time the
peasants were allowed actually to own the
land they cultivated, though it took them some
years to repay to the state the redemption
money which had been advanced to the lords.
It must not be supposed that the word
"peasant" in Bohemia, or indeed in Austria-
Hungary generally, implies degradation or
anything derogatory. It corresponds more
to our word "farmer" than any other, and
some of these peasants are very considerable
farmers, too. A "full peasant" owns from
fifty to one hundred acres of land, a "half
52

Country Life in Bohemia
peasant" half as much, a " quarter peasant"
a still smaller amount, while below the
quarter peasants are still smaller fractions,
and also day laborers and workmen who
own not a rood of land.
Let us visit one of the peasant homes. It
is a small but comfortable adobe house, made
of wattle and plastered with mud, and white
washed on the outside, while the roof is a
generous overhanging thatch. If our host is
a "full peasant" of thebetter class, his house
is of brick, or even stone, perhaps, with a
tile roof. His barns and outbuildings are
commodious, and great stacks of hay sur
round the house, at which the cattle may
nibble throughout the winter. Geese hiss,
turkeys gobble, hens cackle about the door-
yard, and a loud-mouthed watchdog gives
notice of our approach. Altogether it is a
pleasant domestic scene, and we do not see,
at first, why the boys from such a farm should
care to risk their untried fortunes in far-off
America. But this is a "full peasant's " house that we
are visiting. A "quarter peasant" or a "cot-
53

Old Homes of New Americans
tage," with a single acre or two, might tell a
very different story. Even at the door of a "full
peasant's " house we see no automobile, as we
should very likely see in the yard of a Kan
sas or a Dakota farmer, and we certainly see
no steam gang-plows about the premises,
capable of breaking up a hundred acres
in a day or two. Instead, we see the land
divided up into long, narrow ribbons, a few
yards wide, and running out into the distance
almost as far as the eye can reach. These
narrow strips of land are so divided because,
according to immemorial custom, every son
inherits his proportion of the family estate,
which is divided lengthwise so that none shall
have the advantage of the others in location
or in quality of the soil.
Miss Balch, in her interesting book on
" Our Slavic Fellow Citizens," tells us that
she has counted thirty men ploughing at the
same time, each working his share of the
same big, unbroken field, each man's share
marked not by hedge, fence, or wall, but only
by a furrow about a foot wide. It is said,
and I believe the case has actually occurred,
54

Country Life in Bohemia
that the strips are sometimes so narrow that
a man must walk on his neighbor's land to
lead the plough-horse on his own. She de
scribes a typical Moravian village, where
the houses stand in a row on each side of the
street, which is lined with a solid facing of
house-fronts and high }ard walls or gates.
Back of this village street stretch cultivated
fields in long strips. In this village of Prikazy
are no " whole peasants," nothing above
" half peasants " ; but there are fifty-six of
these " half peasants," with farms of about
fifty acres each. These farms are cut up into
shoestring strips of land, so that the same
farmer may own a little strip in a dozen dif
ferent places and even on different sides of
the town. Besides the " half peasants " are
humbler folk, with only twelve or fourteen
acres. The larger farmers usually own three
horses, and the horse determines a man's so
cial standing, for his poorer neighbors must
plough the soil with the aid of only an ox.
Sometimes a poor aristocrat keeps a pair of
horses that he cannot afford, simply for the
55

Old Homes of New Americans
sake of being reckoned a " horse peasant " in
stead of an " ox peasant." Substitute " auto
mobile " for " horse," and we find that human
nature is much the same in America as in
Moravia. Inside the house, and even about the
farm, the mother and daughter may go bare
foot, without in any way losing their social
standing, though they maybe abundantly able
to purchase American shoes, which are the
standard of comfort and elegance in this part
of the world. The women, too, will help on
the farm when need demands, and consider
it no reflection on their womanly character.
For my part, I see nothing derogatory to
woman in farm labor. It is a hundred times
healthier and happier work than that which
many of these same Bohemian women may
be driven to in the sweat-shops of America.
Strange as it may seem, we are told on good
authority that the dowry of a peasant's daugh
ter in this same Moravian village of Prikazy
is from five to twelve thousand dollars, and
hundreds of dollars more will be spvent on
the wedding festivities.
Not all, to be sure, who come to America
56

Country Life in Bohemia
from Bohemia are of the land-cultivating
class. Many skilled workmen emigrate, espe
cially of later years. There are also labor
ers and house-servants. But nearly half the
people of Bohemia are agriculturists, and a
much larger portion of the people of Hun
gary, Galicia, and Dalmatia, whom we shall
consider later. So by far the largest number
of the new Americans from the old homes
of Austria-Hungary are genuine sons of the
soil, the very people whom America most
needs, — honest, frugal, hard-working, obe
dient to law, respectful to superiors and yet
self-respecting, as those people are bound to
be who have belonged to a settled social
order. They have acknowledged the rights
of superiors, to be sure, but most of them,
even the "half" and "quarter peasants,"
have people beneath them in the social scale,
who look up to them and to whom they owe
oversight and protection.
If Bohemian and Moravian emigrants do
not make good American citizens, it will
be the fault of America and not of Bohemia
and Moravia. If they huddle together in the
57

Old Homes of New Americans
great cities or coal-mining towns, instead of
cultivating the prairie soil (since the soil has
been their inheritance for centuries), if the
children grow up unruly and untamed, look
ing down upon their parents as "foreigners,"
if our jails and reformatories are recruited
from their ranks, American environment and
training will have more to do with this moral
deterioration than the countries from which
the people come.
The Czechs are the descendants of heroes.
Crecy and Domazlice were as bravely fought
as Culloden or Marston Moor. The Czechs
have good blood in their veins, good sinews
in their arms, stout hearts, honest purposes,
as they begin life anew in a new world, far
from their old homes. The kind of Ameri
cans that they will make, whether worthy or
unworthy, will depend upon the schools and
churches of America, and still more upon the
neighborly influences and examples which
they find in their new homes.

IV
THE PEOPLE WITHOUT A COUNTRV
Poles but no Poland — A PatheUc Epitaph— Where is
Galicia? — Its Historic Cities — The Four Millions of Poles
in the United States — The Novelist Sienkiewicz — Poland's
Weak and Wicked Kings — Henri de Valois and the Demo
cratic Spirit of Poland — How a King stole away from his
Kingdom — Sobieski elected in spite of himself — His Defeat
of the Turks — His Letter to his Wife — Dr. South's Opinion
of Sobieski — The Decay of Poland — The Revival of the
Spirit of Liberty under Kosciuszko — His Share in Our Own
Revolution — The Poles and Napoleon I — Poland's Last
Struggle for Freedom — The Poles in Russia, Prussia, and
Austria. If the people of Polish ancestry, most of
them in the first generation, who live in the
United States were massed in New England,
they would occupy five states as populous
as Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Con
necticut, and Rhode Island. Five sovereign
states like these, if not the largest, are to be
reckoned with in the sisterhood of common
wealths; and a country that in a generation
can populate five such states, and is likely
in another generation to people as many
59

Old Homes of New Americans
more, is worth the sympathetic consideration
of every American.
There are Poles, but alas ! there is no Po
land to-day, not even in the sense that there
is a Bohemia or a Moravia. These lands,
though provinces of another power, are little
nations within a great nation. They have
their own language and laws. Poland is like
a garment rent in three pieces and divided
among as many different owners. No won
der that the Poles, bereft of their national
ity, have looked with longing eyes, and ever
more and more, to the Land of Promise,
where Russian, Prussian, and Austrian can
vex them no more.
The pathetic epitaph which Niemcewicz,
the Polish poet and revolutionist, wrote for
his own tombstone, shortly before his death,
expresses the feelings of the patriotic Pole
in many a land : —
" O ye exiles, who so long wander over the world.
When will ye find a resting-place for your many
steps ?
The wild dove has its nest, and the worm a clod of
earth.
Each man a country, but the Pole a grave."
60

The People without a Country
No more ruthless rapine of a nation is re
corded in the history of the world than the
division of Poland between Russia, Prussia,
and Austria. In this division, Russia took
the lion's share (about one half of the terri
tory and of the people) ; but Austria, with
whose Polish inhabitants we have most to
do in this book, took a very considerable
slice of territory and many millions of in
habitants. Though the Poles acknowledge
unwilling allegiance to all these powers, yet
they have so many traits in common that a
description of the Austrian Poles may serve
for all. They live for the most part in
Galicia. There is not even an " Austrian
Poland," so called, as there is a " Russian
Poland"; but they occupy a province which
they share with Ruthenians and Jews, whom
they hate as devoutly as they do the Aus-
trians themselves.
I imagine that many of my readers are
somewhat hazy as to the geographical loca
tion of Galicia. As a recent writer has said,
"Most people are in doubt as to whether
Galicia is in Spain, or is the land of the peo-
6i

Old Homes of New Americans
pie to whom St. Paul once wrote an epistle."
A study of the map will show that Galicia is
neither the Galician province of Spain, nor
ancient Galatia in Asia Minor, but the most
northern province of Austria, stretching, with
its neighbor, the Bukowina, around the north
eastern edge of the Kingdom of Hungary,
with Russia on the north. It joins Bohemia
and Moravia on the west, with the narrow
little province of Silesia between. It is about
the size of West Virginia, and is the largest
of the Austrian provinces.
For the most part, Galicia is one seemingly
interminable prairie ; and as one travels across
it in winter, it gives him a sense of dreary
desolation that few parts of the world sug
gest. Yet it is by no means an uninteresting
land. Its history is alive with great historic
characters and stirring events. Its ancient
cities, like Cracow and Lemberg, delight the
traveler far more than the modern towns of
Europe and America, which look as though
they might be built by machinery from the
same brick-kiln. Its people are of supreme
interest to Americans, since so many tens of
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The People without a Country
thousands of new Americans are constantly
coming from these old homes of Galicia. But
with all its interest, it is a hard and rugged
country, cold and wind-swept in winter,
and baked by the summer's suns. Yet it is
from just such countries that the hardiest
people come; those who, other things being
equal, make the best citizens.
Of the three chief nationalities of the pro
vince, Poles, Ruthenians, and Jews, the Poles
and the Ruthenians are about equal in num
bers, and the Jews a scant ten per cent of the
whole population, but a mighty factor, after
all, in the commercial world of Galicia. The
Poles occupy the western end of this queer-
shaped, jagged province, the Ruthenians
the eastern end; and though there is some
overlapping territorially, there is, to put it
mildly, no love lost between the races.
The four millions of Poles in America
come from Russia and Prussia as well as
Galicia, but they are much alike in racial
characteristics and temperament, and all look
back to the same splendid history, the same
heroic leaders, the same glorious golden
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Old Homes of New Americans
day when Poland stretched from the Baltic
almost to the Black Sea, and when she was
able to decide the destinies of Europe. The
Poland of to-day cannot be understood apart
from her history. The meanest Pole who
lands at Ellis Island has a heritage in the
annals of a noble ancestry. He is proud of
his country, even in its disembodiment, proud
of the story of her great achievements, proud
of her language, which has been the vehicle of
song and story and splendid prose.
No modern novelist has commanded a
style more nervous and at the same time
more elevated than Sienkiewicz, whose great
religious novel, "QuoVadis," is as popular
in America as in Poland. No wonder that a
Polish poet writes : —
Let the Pole smile with manly pride when the
inhabitant of the banks of the Tiber or Seine calls
his language rude; let him hear with keen satisfac
tion and the dignity of a judge the stranger who
painfully struggles with the Polish pronunciation,
like a Sybarite trying to lift an old Roman coat of
armor, or when he strives to articulate the language
of men with the weak accents of childhood, . . .
Our language has its harmony, its melody, but it is
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The People without a Country
the murmur of an oak of three hundred years, and
not the plaintive and feeble cry of a reed swayed by
every wind.
The story of such a people, with such a his
tory and such a language, should be familiar
to all their fellow Americans. Poland differs
from her near neighbor, Bohemia, in that she
lacked in the days of her earlier history great
kings and leaders, such as made Bohemia fa
mous and powerful. Neither did the Reforma
tion make much headway in Poland. Po
land has no blind King John, no John Huss
or John Ziska or Prokop, or any long line of
heroes and reformers in her early days to
make her illustrious. Her people, to be sure,
were equally brave and virtuous, but in read
ing her history we have to search through a
long line of weak and wicked kings and magis
trates, who robbed the people of their rights,
and constantly increased their own power
and that of the nobles at the expense of the
peasants. The Boleslas kings, the Casimirs,
the Jagiellos, all were wanting in true kingly
traits. Some were weak, some stupid, some
stubborn, some licentious; almost all sought
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Old Homes of New Americans
their own advantage rather than the good of
their subjects.
The year after the massacre of St. Bar
tholomew, the brother of the execrated King
of France, Charles IX, who ordered the
massacre, was invited to become King of
Poland, and the invitation was accepted. A
most gorgeous embassy was sent from Po
land to Paris to bring the new king to his
new throne. The splendor and pomp of this
embassy, the magnificence of its apparel, the
erudition of the ambassadors, who could
speak fluently in Latin, French, German,
and Italian, while the French nobles when
addressed in Latin could only stammer or
reply by signs, all these indications of Po
land's wealth and learning astonished Paris
and indeed all Europe.
The terms imposed on Henri de Valois
when he became king showed that the Po
lish nobles at this time could boast not only
education but spirit and common sense. The
King was obliged to sign a compact in which
he agreed that he should have no voice in
the choice of his successor; that the non-
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The People without a Country
Catholics should have equal rights with
others ; that no foreigner could hold any pub
lic office; and that the King must neither
marry nor divorce his wife without the con
sent of the National Diet. These terms
showed the democratic spirit of Poland at
this date, or at least the power of the nobles,
and it can well be imagined they were par
ticularly offensive to a brother of Charles IX,
especially the provision that secured the
rights of non-Catholics. However, he had to
sign the decree, though he soon got tired of
his bargain, and five months later ran away
from Cracow and escaped to France, leav
ing his Polish capital in the night and se
cretly, like a runaway schoolboy. His bro
ther, the murderer of the Protestants, had in
the mean time died, and he had inherited
the throne of France. He never returned to
Poland. The story of a king clandestinely es
caping from his own throne, and being pur
sued by his subjects, who tried to bring him
back to his duty, is one of the humors of
history; but Poland was well rid of a worth
less king. 67

Old Homes of New Americans
One bad or weak king succeeded another,
with only an occasional brief interregnum
of valor and prosperity, as in the reign of
Stephen Bathori, Prince of Transylvania,
who ruled from 1576 to 1586. After this a
hundred years more of gradual decay under
incompetent rulers set in for poor Poland,
when her national spirit flamed up again, and
the sun of her old-time glory seemed about
to rise once more. This was in 1674, when
in one of the frequent kingly elections, So
bieski, a famous general, who had already
shown his prowess against the Turks, pro
posed in the Diet the name of the Prince of
Conde for king. While this was being dis
cussed, in a sudden burst of inspiration one
of the nobles of the Diet cried out, " Let a
Pole rule over Poland ! " The cry reached
the popular heart, and Sobieski, in spite of
himself, was elected King of Poland, and as
the event proved, added a lustrous page to
her history. The story reminds us of one
of our own American Presidents, who was
nominated practically while naming, and in
good faith, another for the presidential chair.
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The People without a Country
During Sobieski's reign (his kingly title
was John III), the Turks were threatening
to overrun Europe. In fact all southeastern
Europe was in their power. Servia, Hungary,
parts of Poland were in the grasp of the Tar
tars, and it looked as though all Europe might
become a vassal of the great Mohammedan
power. The resources of Hungary and the
other buffer states, which had so long kept
the might of Islam at bay, though at their
own expense, were well-nigh exhausted. In
1683 the Turks, with enormous forces of
infantry and cavalry and uncounted camp-
stores, left Belgrade on their march to Vi
enna; if they conquered that city, Europe
would be at their feet. The cowardly Em
peror Leopold fled from his capital, and all
the wealthier inhabitants, to the number of
sixty thousand, followed suit, leaving only
as many more of the poorer people and some
twenty thousand soldiers to defend the city.
The fate of Vienna, of Austria, perhaps of
Europe, seemed sealed.
But at last relief came to the beleaguered
city. Sobieski set out from Cracow at the
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Old Homes of New Americans
head of his Polish veterans. He was joined
by the Elector of Saxony, and together they
commanded an army of seventy thousand
men. The Polish cavalry was especially
conspicuous, with its fine horses and splen
did equipment. Sobieski himself led the way,
shouting in Latin : " Not unto us, O Lord,
not unto us, but unto thy name give glory."
The united armies were victorious all along
the line. The Turks fled in wild dismay.
Many thousands were killed, including six
pashas, while the Grand Vizier himself, with
a mere remnant of his army, managed to
reach Belgrade. This was the 12th of Sep
tember, 1683. On the following day Sobieski
wrote a most interesting letter to his wife,
which tells of the tremendous extent of his
victory. Only Joy of my Soul [he wrote]; Charming and
Much-Beloved Mariette! God be praised forever!
He has given the victory to our nation! He has
given such a triumph as past ages have never seen.
All the camp of the Mussulmans, all their artillery,
infinite riches, have fallen into our hands. The ap
proaches to the city, the fields around, are covered
with the dead of the infidel army, and the remains of
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The People without a Country
it are flying in consternation. Our people are bring
ing us every minute camels, mules, oxen, and sheep,
which the enemy had with him, and besides an in
numerable quantity of prisoners. ... It is impos
sible to describe all the refinements of luxury which
the Grand Vizier had collected in his tents. There
were baths, little gardens with fountains, even a
little parrot, which our soldiers pursued but could not
capture. To-day I went to see the city. It could not
have held out five days longer. It is all riddled with
bullets. Those immense bastions perforated and
half tumbling to pieces have a terrible aspect; one
would think they were great masses of rocks. All
the soldiers did their duty; they attribute the vic
tory to God and ourselves. ... All have embraced
me and called me their savior. I have been in two
churches where the people kissed my hcuids, feet,
and clothes. Others who could only touch me at a
distance cried out, "Ah! let me kiss your victorious
hands!" I have quoted at some length from this
long letter, which Professor Morfill tells us
was discovered by accident nearly two cen
turies later, because it tells in graphic lan
guage the story of one of the world's decisive
battles in the words of the great general who
won it. Incidentally, it shows Sobieski to be
a writer of no mean power, combining in
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Old Homes of New Americans
himself gifts of the sword and the pen, as did
Julius Caesar and Napoleon. It shows him,
too, in the light of a devoted husband, whose
first account of the victory was to his beloved
wife. The next day after the battle a solemn
service was performed in the Cathedral of
Vienna, at which John Sobieski was present,
and the priest preached from the text: "There
was a man sent from God, whose name was
John" — a case surely where an "accommo
dated text " was most appropriate.
The King lived thirteen years after his
great victory, but his later years were em
bittered by dissensions at home and trouble
abroad. The Polish nobility were factious
and treasonable, as was their habit. Sobieski
was snubbed by the foolish, cowardly King
Leopold of Austria, whose kingdom he had
saved. Louis XIV of France plotted against
him, and tried to accomplish his overthrow.
The common people were harassed by the
constant wars that Sobieski had to wage
against his enemies. At last the old king,
worn out in body and soul by the intrigues
of his enemies and the ingratitude of his
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The People without a Country
nobles, died, saying with his last breath:
"Corruption universally prevails. Judgment
is obtained by money. The voice of conscience
is not heard, and reason and equity are no
more." This was not merely the pessimistic
utterance of a sick old man. It too well in
dicated the condition of Poland, whose decay
had set in long before the time of Sobieski.
The following description of the great king
and general is interesting because it was
written by a personal acquaintance, and that
acquaintance no other than the famous divine.
Dr. South, whose sermons are so much ad
mired by modern scholars, and who was
chaplain to an English embassy that visited
Poland during Sobieski's reign.
As to what relates to his Majesty's person [wrote
Dr. South], he is a tall and corpulent prince, large-
faced and full eyes, and goes always with the same
dress as his subjects, with his hair cut round about
his ears like a monk, and wears a fur cap, but ex
traordinarily rich with diamonds and jewels, large
whiskers, and no neck-cloth. ... He never wears
any gloves, and his long coat is of strong scarlet
cloth, lined in the winter with rich fur, but in the
summer only with silk. Instead of shoes he always
wears, both abroad and at home, Turkey leather
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Old Homes of New Americans
boots, with very thin soles and hollow deep heels
made of a blade of silver bent hoopwise into the
form of a half-moon. He carries also a large scimitar
by his side, the sheath equally fiat and broad from
the handle to the bottom, and curiously set with
diamonds. After the death of Sobieski the decay of
Poland went on apace under the succession
of Saxon kings. We can understand better
how a century later Poland came to be di
vided into three parts, when we read what
a French abbe, a vigorous contemporary
writer, tells us, as quoted by Professor Mor
fill:— The nobility of Poland had power of life or death
over the serfs, so that they could put them to death
whenever they chose. The nobles were splendid in
their dress. They shaved their heads, with the ex
ception of a tuft on the top. They did not wear
beards, but long, thick mustaches, which almost
entirely covered their mouths. The ladies were
dressed in the French style. If one of them left her
house to go to church or to pay a visit at but a dis
tance of twenty paces, she always went in a carriage
drawn by six horses. The peasants were obliged to
work five days a week on their masters' estates. If
they neglected this duty, they were liable to personal
chastisement. 74

The People without a Country
Here is the story, in a paragraph, of the
causes of the fall of a great kingdom and a
vigorous, gifted people: weak and imbecile
kings; luxurious, pleasure-loving, selfish,
autocratic nobility; a depressed, despised,
and down-trodden peasantry, working five
days out of the seven for their feudal masters
and two da3^s for themselves. No wonder
that Poland at last fell an easy prey to the
three rapacious and unscrupulous powers
that finally divided her vast and fair domain
among themselves. With truth the poet sings,
"Each man hath a country', but the Pole a
grave." The last gleam of hope for Poland as an
independent country appeared on her hori
zon in 1 79 1, the year so pregnant with great
events for all Europe. Poland called herself
a republic, but she was really a kingdom,
ruled, as we have seen, by a line of corrupt
kings and a scarcely less corrupt nobility.
In that year of turmoil and the assertion of
popular rights throughout the world, a better
spirit seemed to come to the Polish leaders.
Even the weak Saxon king, Stanislaus, who
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Old Homes of New Americans
was then on the throne, showed signs of a
more unselfish spirit. A new constitution,
based largely on that of the United States,
the young power which was just emerging
into prominence on the other side of the
Atlantic, was adopted by the Diet. It was
somewhat vague, to be sure, and not free
from the rhodomontade of the age; and those
who have studied it critically declared that
it contained a "joker," which still deprived
the peasants of their rights. But it was an
advance on anything in the past, and hope
sprang up once more in the hearts of the
patriotic Poles.
But Prussia and Russia objected to this
new constitution, with its professions of
"liberty, equality, fraternity," and deliber
ately decreed the division of unhappy Poland
between themselves, and sent their armies
to enforce the decree. Austria at this time
had troubles of her own, chiefly with France,
and was disregarded as a negligible quantity
in this first rape of the republic.
Then the candle of Liberty flamed up in
its socket. The people, maddened by this
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The People without a Country
cold-blooded disruption of their beloved land,
rose in arms against their enemies, under the
renowned Thaddeus Kosciuszko, who is not
only a Polish but a world's hero. He won a
brilliant victory at Warsaw, and compelled
the Russian troops in 1793 to abandon the
siege. But his triumph was short-lived, for
the following year he was defeated and taken
prisoner by the Russians, and Poland's
struggle for freedom was over.
Kosciuszko's story is of special interest to
Americans, for he loved our country and
fought for her liberties. Very early in the
War ofthe Revolution he sailed for America,
and threw in his lot with the struggling col
onists. He rose to be a brigadier-general,
distinguished himself at the battles of Yellow
Springs and Saratoga, and was afterwards
governor of the Military Academy at West
Point. After his defeat at Warsaw and his
release from a Russian prison, he lived again
in the United States. Later he declined many
positions of honor, even from the Russians, his
former enemies, and he died in Switzerland
nearly a quarter of a century after his last
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Old Homes of New Americans
heroic eflEbrt to deliver his beloved country
from the despoilers. His devotion, self-sacri
fice, and unselfish patriotism, however, were
not in vain. His name is the synonym for
patriotism the world around, and Campbell's
eulogy is not yet forgotten, though perhaps
it is too much to say that now, as fifty years
ago, every American schoolboy knows that
" Freedom shrieked as Kosciusko fell."
The story of the succeeding century of
Polish history is heart-breaking to the lovers
of liberty. Her aspirations for freedom have
never been quenched, though continually
thwarted. A people who can keep alive
within their hearts, under such awful disas
ters, the love of liberty and equality, and
never allow the flame of patriotism to be
wholly extinguished, have in them qualities
which should make them welcome to our
shores, for they have the true spirit of Amer
icanism. In the heroic days of Napoleon I, the Poles
sided with the great general, and long hoped
that he would deliver them from bondage.
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The People without a Country
But he, selfish in this as in all things, did
not deem it to be to his advantage to do so,
and turned the cold shoulder on them, even
though the Poles furnished sixty thousand
soldiers for his fatal expedition to Russia.
In 1830, and again in i860, Poland made
other futile struggles for freedom, which,
though marked b}' desperate valor on the
part of individuals, onl}- served to rivet the
chains of their conquerors more firmly. Aus
tria had become one of the trio of despoilers
of Poland by this time, and now rules about
one quarter of the ancient kingdom. Prussia
owns another quarter, while Russia retains a
generous (or ungenerous) half.
In Russia the Poles enjoy much economic
prosperity, and Warsaw, Lodz, and other
manufacturing towns are wealthy and pro
sperous, but the liberties of the people are
sadly shackled. Being Slavs, like themselves,
the Russians seem to have a fellow-feeling
for this subject race, which the other nations
lack. "The Russian," it is said, " alternately
caresses and punishes his Polish brother."
In Prussia the Pole is systematically Ger-
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Old Homes of New Americans
manized. He is not abused and maltreated
so that the other powers are led to interfere,
but his language, his ancient customs, the
very spirit of his national life, is denied him,
and he is losing his individuality more rap
idly than in the neighboring lands.
In Austria he retains his language, and has
a voice in the local government. He is the
ruling factor in Galicia, but Galicia is poor,
and much of it sterile, and his economic
position there is probably worse than in the
other lands.
From the boundaries of these three coun
tries comes a constant stream of emigrants
to America. May they find under the Stars
and Stripes the freedom of which they have
so long dreamed, and for which they have
fought so bravely!

V
SOME POLISH WRITERS
The Prince of Historical Novelists — Mickiewicz, Poland's
Greatest Poet — Anton Malczewski and his Writings — A
Polish Tolstoy — His Simplicity and Eccentricities — Kras-
zewski and his Many Novels.
It does not come within the scope of this
book to describe at length the literature or
social life of Poland. It would require many
volumes larger than this to do justice to
these themes. But they should not be en
tirely overlooked, for they have a bearing
upon the life of America's Polish citizens,
and we cannot fully understand them if we
ignore these sides of their national life.
The literary proclivities of educated Poles
have always been marked. They honor their
men of letters, and set up beautiful monu
ments to them in their market-places. One
of the most popular novelists of modern
times is Sienkiewicz. Indeed, he is the prince
of the historical school of novelists. Few
have approached him in vividness of descrip-
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Old Homes of New Americans
tion or in thrilling narrative, and the tone of
his writings is noble and exalted, and often
profoundly religious.
The greatest poet of Poland is Mickiewicz,
who, though living in Poland's darkest day,
has left imperishable pictures of Polish life
and manners. He has been declared the
equal of Wordsworth or Shelley in his de
scription of natural scenery.
I will quote some lines translated from an
other lesser-known poet, Anton Malczewski,
who died when he was only thirty-three, and
whose verses became immensely popular
after his death : —
" Cossack on thy flying steed, whither art thou bound
ing.?
Is 't the fleet hare thou wilt catch on the steppe sur
rounding ?
Or dost in thy fancy taste liberty the sweetest ?
Or wouldst try the Ukraine winds which of you is
fleetest.?
Maybe thou dost soothe thy soul with that song's sad
cadence,
Thinking of thy far-off love, comeliest of maidens.
O'er thy brow the cap is pressed, slackened is the
bridle ;
Clouds of dust along thy path show thy course not idle.
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Some Polish Writers
Lo ! that sunburnt face of thine with what ardor glow
ing!
How thine eyes enraptured shine, joy its sparkles
throwing ;
Thy wild steed obeys like thee ; then fleet as tlie swal
low.
With his eager neck outstretched, leaves the wind to
follow.
Out ! poor peasant, from the road, lest a woe betide
thee ;
Lest the courier spill thy goods, yea ! and override thee.
And thou dark bird of tlie sky everj-thing that greetest,
Tho' around thou wheel'st thy flight, man and steed
are fleetest.
Croak thou may'st, but croak'st in vain, of ill-luck
the prophet ;
Hide thy secret — for he 's gone — thou 'It tell nothing
of it.
On lit by the setting sun ; onward ever driven ;
Like some messenger he seems, sent to men from
heaven.
You may hear his horse's hoof echo half a mile hence ;
Over all that mighty steppe lies a brooding silence.
Never merry sound of knight nor of squire careering.
Sad wind whispering in the wheat, that is all you 're
hearing.
In among the grass of graves, wizard voices sighing
Where with wither'd wreaths the brave all unreck'd
are lying.
'T is a music wild and sweet, voice of Polish nation.
Which preserves her memory fond for each generation.
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Old Homes of New Americans
Only from the wild flowers now they their splendor
borrow ;
Ah ! what heart that knows their fate, feels no pang
of sorrow I "
Lelewel was another interesting character
of Poland of the nineteenth century. His
works on history, ancient geography, and
numismatics were recognized in many lands.
He seems to have been a sort of Polish Tol
stoy, living in the style of the poorest arti
sans, though he was honored and revered
throughout his own and other countries. He
was librarian of the University of Warsaw,
and afterwards a Professor in Wilno; but
political troubles drove him to Brussels,
where he lived for nearly a generation in
voluntary poverty, being willing to take
only a franc a day for his work when en
gaged by the city of Brussels to catalogue
and arrange the very valuable collection of
coins belonging to the city, a work which
only a specialist like himself could accom
plish. The following account of Lelewel's sim
plicity and eccentricity is entertaining: —
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Some Polish Writers
He lived worse than the poorest Brussels artisan,
but would never receive any contribution from his
richer countrymen. As he sat in the winter in a
room that could not be warmed, a Polish lady during
his absence caused a stove to be put in ; but when he
came back, he turned it out of the room — just as
Dr. Johnson did with the shoes which had been
given him — and only at last allowed a pipe to be
introduced into his own from a neighboring room,
which was well Warmed. He frequently, however,
opened the windows during the severest frost. Cof
fee was a great refreshment to him, but he enjoyed
it only once a week ; on other days he breakfasted on
bread and milk. When Poles who visited him en
titled him "Your Excellency," as he had formerly
been a minister, he forbade it, and would not allow
himself to be called "Mr." but only "Citizen."
During the morning hours he sat at his work with
bare feet in felt shoes and in an old gray cloak, with
a pocket-handkerchief, which had at one time been
white, but had now become brown, pinned to his
knees. This he wished to have conveniently at
hand, as he was a great snuff-taker. His linen, how
ever, was always very clean. At midday he went
dressed in a blue workman's blouse to a poor little
public-house to get a humble meal among the arti
sans who frequented it.
Many Polish authors have done excellent
work along lines of historical research, and
her novelists are by no means least among
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Old Homes of New Americans
the world writers of fiction. It is needless to
tell American readers of the vigor and deep
interest of Sienkiewicz's historical novels, to
which I have before alluded, but they are
not so well acquainted with the works of
Kraszewski, who also wrote many historical
novels. When he had been in the field of
authorship for fifty years, his published works
of all kinds reached the amazing number of
two hundred and fifty titles.
It is evident that our Polish citizens in
America come from a land where literature
is honored and cultivated, and we may well
believe that in the future they will add not
a little to the value of the literary output of
America.

VI
POLISH COUNTRY LIFE IN ANCIENT DAYS
Picturesque Poland — The Gulf between Rulers and Ruled
— What constituted a Noble — Hauteville's Racy Account of
the Habits of the Nobles — Doings in the Banqueting-Hall —
Free Peasants and how they were stripped of their Freedom
— The Hard Lot of the Peasants — The Ancient Inns of
Poland — The Polish Jew.
Life in the cities to-day tends to uniform
ity the world around. As the frock coat and
evening dress reduce mankind to a dull uni
formity, so all modern life tends to sameness
and monotony. Educated men are much the
same in all lands. Professional men have the
same earmarks in Poland as in America. In
the country districts, to be sure, one finds
more variety of costume and custom, but even
here Paris fashions are creeping in, though
perhaps a year behind the times. To find
what is most picturesque in the social cus
toms of Poland, one must go back a century
or more.
The people of unhappy Poland were di-
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Old Homes of New Americans
vided into two great classes, the nobles and
the peasants ; and it was largely because of
the overbearing domination of the former
and the pitiful serfdom of the latter, without
any great middle class between, that the
downfall of Poland was so complete. Be
cause of the great fixed gulf between the
rulers and the ruled, Poland has been swept
off the map of the world.
A noble was a man who possessed land,
or whose ancestors had possessed land. He
might be as poor as poverty, and, barefooted,
drive his one hired horse before his plough,
but he was still a noble and had a right to
wear a sword, though it might be a rusty
one and tied by a string to his girdle. But
he must not learn a trade or engage in busi
ness, or he would lose his patent of nobility.
This threw the business of the country into
the hands of the Jews, who fattened on the
foolishness of the nobility and the necessities
of the peasants.
A French writer, Hauteville, gives us a
racy and amusing account of the habits of
the nobles two hundred years ago, when
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Polish Life in Ancient Days
Poland was still a very considerable factor
among the nations of the world. He writes : —
When the Polanders make a feast, all the guests
who are invited must bring a knife, fork, and spoon
along with them, because it is not a custom to lay
any of these utensils upon the table ; they sew a piece
of linen round the tablecloth, which serves for nap
kins. After all the guests are come, the gates are
shut and not opened till all the company are risen
from the table and all the plate is found ; for if they
did not use this precaution, the footmen would steal
part of it ; and this is also the reason why they lay
neither knives, spoons, forks, nor napkins upon the
table. Every person of quality has a hall in his
house, which they call the banqueting-hall, in which
there is a place for a side-table, surrounded with
balusters. This side-table, from which the cloth is
never taken off till it is very dirty, ia covered with
abundance of plate, and over it is a place for the
music, which is usually composed of violins and
organs. Those who are invited to the feast bring
their footmen with them, and as soon as they are
seated at the table, every one of them cuts off one
half of his bread, which he gives with a plate full of
meat to his servant, who, after he has shared it with
his comrade, stands behind his master and eats it.
If the master calls twice for a glass of wine or other
liquor, the servant brings as much more, and drinks
in the same glass with his master without rinsing it.
Though there is a great deal of meat brought to the
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Old Homes of New Americans
table, there is nothing carried back to the kitchen,
not even of the last course; for the servants seize
upon all the meat, and their ladies make each of
them carry a napkin to bring away the dry sweet
meats or fruits that are brought to the table.
This seems to be not unlike the modern
Japanese custom, where it is polite to wrap
up in a paper napkin the fruit and sweet
meats you do not eat, tuck them into your
wide sleeve, if you wear a Japanese costume,
and take them home with you.
In the earlier and happier days of Poland,
one class of so-called free peasants had some
rights, but gradually these were taken away,
and with the lower class of peasants all prac
tically became slaves of the nobles, who
had a right to all of their labor and even
to their lives; for if a noble killed a peas
ant, his punishment was only a nominal
fine. No peasant could own a foot of land. He
could not change his home or leave his
owner's estate. He was bound body and soul
to his master. No wonder that under such a
system, the life-blood of the nation gradually
90

Polish Life in Ancient Days
grew thin and weak. It was as bad for the
nobles as for the serfs in the end.
In another chapter has been described the
elegance and luxury of the Polish nobles
who went as a deputation to Paris to invite
Henry of Valois to become their king. Con
trast this with the condition of the Polish
peasants, as described shortly before this by
the French author I have before quoted : —
The furniture of their houses consists of some
earthen or wooden dishes, and a bed which they
make of chaff or feathers, with a sort of coverlet
over it. Their stoves have no chimney to let out the
smoke, which has no other passage but a small win
dow about four feet from the ground. When they go
into their cottages they are forced to stoop that they
may not be stifled with the smoke, which is so thick
above the little window that one cannot see the roof,
and yet 't is impossible to go to bed in the winter
without stoves.
There are no inns in Poland where one may lodge
conveniently and be accommodated with a bed.
The only houses of entertainment are places built of
wood, which they call karczma, where travelers are
obliged to lodge with the horses, cows, and hogs in a
long stable made of boards, ill-joined, and thatched
with straw. 'T is true that there is a chamber at the
end of it with a stove, but 't is impossible for one to
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Old Homes of New Americans
lodge in it in the summer, for they never open the win
dows even in the hottest weather; so that strangers
choose rather to lie in the stables in the summer
than in the chamber. And, besides, the gospodarz,
or innkeeper, lodges in that room with his children
and whole family. Those who have occasion to
travel in the summer may avoid part of these in
conveniences by lying in a barn on fresh straw; for
the gospodarz gathers and locks up every morning
the straw which was given at night to those who
lodged in the stable or chamber, in order to reserve
it for those who shall come to lodge after them.
It must be remembered, however, that
Poland was not the only country where the
peasantry lived in what would seem to us
the depths of destitution. It is doubtful if
the condition of the English peasantry in the
seventeenth century was much better, or
the lodging-houses much more comfortable.
Certainly many peasants' houses in Ireland,
even down to the close of the nineteenth cen
tury, were little better, though recent reforms
have for the most part greatly improved them.
The Jews were never a negligible quan
tity in Poland, having entered the country
in the early years of its history. They have
held the trade and commerce in their grasp
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Polish Life in Ancient Days
during all these centuries. The peasants
easily become victims to their commercial
shrewdness, and get head over ears in debt
to them, mortgaging lands and houses to
obtain the means of subsistence. This has
made them hated by high and low alike. In
the early days they were outcasts, and were
obliged to wear yellow caps to show their
nationality. In these days, though they are
allowed to discard their yellow caps, they
make themselves no less conspicuous by the
long corkscrew curls that hang down in
front of either ear, and their long coats
which come down to their heels. At least
this is true in Austrian Poland, with which
this book has chiefly to do, and a Jew in
Galicia is as unmistakable as though he
wore a placard on his forehead, proclaiming,
"I am a Jew." At every railway station you
see him, and in the towns you find him en
gaged in all sorts of business, from a push
cart enterprise to a big department store, but
you never see him following the plough or
employed in the factory. In Russian Poland
he has had to discard his curls, as they were
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Old Homes of New Americans
forbidden by the decree of Nicholas I, but
he clings to his long coat, his "Jewish gaber
dine," which almost sweeps the ground. No
wonder that, ostracized, hated, spit upon, he
seeks a new and more congenial home in
America.

VII
THE POLES IN AMERICA
Their Hereditary Rights in America — Zabriskie, Sodow-
sky, and Pulaski — Pioneers of Texas — The Poles in the
Connecticut Valley — One Person in Every Twenty-two in
America a Pole — In Michigan Every Eighth Person a
Pole — A People to be reckoned with.
The Poles may be considered to have a
hereditary right in America, since it is stated
on credible authority that a Pole, John of
Kolno, discovered the coast of Labrador in
1476, sixteen years before Columbus made
his memorable voyage. Not many years
after the Pilgrims landed in Plymouth and
the Cavaliers in Virginia, a distinguished
Pole settled in New Jersey, and founded the
well-known and numerous Zabriskie fam
ily, whose descendants have shed lustre on
American annals. One member of this fam
ily was a chancellor of New Jersey, another
was Dean of Harvard College, while their
blood, it is said, " also runs in the Veins of
such distinguished families as that of Gou-
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Old Homes of New Americans
verneur Morris, the Bayards, Jays, Astors,
and others." Other Poles were pioneers in
Manhattan, in Kentucky, and on the Missis
sippi. It is even said that Jacob Sodowsky
made a long voyage down the Ohio and
Mississippi until he reached New Orleans,
being one of the first white men to make
this adventurous journey. Some claim that
Sandusky, Ohio, is but a corruption from the
name of Jacob Sodowsky.
The Poles sympathized with America in
her revolutionary struggle and, as we have
seen, sent their greatest hero, Kosciuszko,
to fight our battles as a friend and aide of
General Washington. Pulaski was another
Polish revolutionary hero who has left his
name on the map of America, and still an
other was Niemcewicz, who wrote a valu
able biography of General Washington.
The Polish revolution of 1831 sent another
contingent of exiled patriots to America,
and Miss Balch quotes the reminiscence of
a lady who lived in Troy, New York, in
the early thirties, and who remembers see
ing there "a group of Polish gentlemen,
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The Poles in America
ragged, but obviously aristocrats, working at
the cobbled pavement of the streets with
bleeding fingers. A few days later, one of
these men looked at his fingers, drew out a
pistol, and shot himself."
The Poles, too, were among the pioneers
of Texas, and they have hard tales to tell
of the original Texans who "would take a
man out and beat him just for the fun of it."
"Several times," we are also told, "a Pole
bought a horse, and in the night it was stolen
from him by the man who had sold it." Yet
in spite of these early tribulations, the immi
grants flourished, and many colonies were
established in the Lone Star State.
Many Poles reached the Connecticut Val
ley, also, in the comparatively early days of
emigration, and were esteemed faithful, hon
est, and industrious laborers. The testimony
of a New England farmer who employed
many Poles and brought many others from
New York to work for his neighbors is worth
quoting: "They make good citizens. Almost
without exception they are Roman Catholics,
and faithful to their obligations. They are
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Old Homes of New Americans
willing to pay the price to succeed. That
price is to work hard and save."
In their Galician homes the vast majority
of them are farmers or farm-laborers, and
they do not lose their love of the soil when
they reach America, though many of them,
unfortunately, especially the Jews, congre
gate in the cities.
That the Polish contingent of American
citizens is no mean factor is evident from
the fact that in 1908 it was estimated that
there were, as I have said, four millions of
men, women, and children of Polish ancestry
in the United States; that is, one person in
every twenty-two whom you may meet on
the street has Polish blood in his veins. Most
of them are late arrivals, or the children of
late arrivals, for the great exodus from Po
land to America did not set in until about
1890. In Pennsylvania one person in twelve is a
Pole, in New York about one in fourteen,
in Massachusetts about one in ten. In Wis
consin and Michigan every eighth person is
a Pole. These facts are enough to convince
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The Poles in America
us that they are " a people to be reckoned
with," and should make Poland's history,
her literature, and the habits and customs of
her people of exceeding interest to every
thoughtful American.

VIII
OUR RUTHENIAN NEIGHBORS AND THEIR
OLD HOMES
Their Many National Names — Not a Negligible Race — A
story of Oppression and Uprisings — Their Illiteracy — Their
Religion — Their Priests and their Churches — Their Ances
tral Love of Freedom — Their Folk-Songs — The First Ru
thenian Emigrant to America — How Emigrants escape from
their Old Home — The Ruthenians and the American Dollar
— Lemberg, the Capital of Galicia — How the Ruthenians
show their Colors — A Ruthenian's Tribute to Canada.
From the same part of Austria, namely,
Galicia, that sends to America so many
Poles, comes another Slavic race, the Ru
thenians, who also seem destined to have
no small part in shaping the future destinies
of America. They are called by various
names. Little Russians, Russniaks, Russini-
ans, etc., but the name given to them in Ga
licia, from which province the vast majority
who are now in America have come, is Ru
thenians. They are by no means a negligible
race, for they cover a large section of Russia,
and spill over into Austria and Hungary,
numbering some thirty millions in all. In-
lOO

Our Ruthenian Neighbors
deed, there are probably three times as many
Ruthenian as Greek-speaking people in the
world, and almost as many as there are who
call Italian their mother tongue.
For some reason the Ruthenians of Russia,
or Little Russians, have not yet begun to come
to our shores in large numbers, but there is
a constantly swelling tide of Austrian Ru
thenians crossing the Atlantic to the United
States and Canada, more than twenty-six
thousand having come in the year ending
June, 1912.
They can point to no such splendid ancient
history as can the Poles and Bohemians, yet
at one time they dominated all southern
Russia, and they have always been a liberty-
loving people. The blood of freedom has
always tingled in their veins, and their novel
ists and poets, of whom they can boast not a
few, have made this their constant theme.
The story of Mazeppa, as told by Byron, is
characteristic of Ruthenian life at its best,
life on the free, broad prairies, the life of the
horseman on his swift charger. But they have
been horribly oppressed at times by stronger
IOI

Old Homes of New Americans
powers, and in spite of frequent uprisings were
for centuries in cruel bondage. This has made
the peasantry poor and illiterate, and the pro
portion of emigrants who can neither read
nor write is larger than from almost any
European country, except southern Italy and
Portugal. The schoolmaster is coming into
his own, however, among the Ruthenians,
and while among the old people eighty per
cent are illiterate, of the boys between ten
and twenty only thirty-seven per cent cannot
read and write. Their ignorance has not been
their own fault. Galicia is a poor country, with
few manufactures and a comparatively sterile
soil. The Government in the past has pro
vided poor schools, and for many villages
none at all, so that sometimes a number of
peasants have been obliged to band together
and hire a private teacher that their children
might not grow up in total ignorance.
Religiously, like the people who live in
Great Russia, the Little Russians are very
devout, and in their churches one will see
them bowing reverently before their icons or
embossed pictures of Christ or the saints,
IQ3

Our Ruthenian Neighbors
their hair sweeping the ground, after they
have kissed the picture with passionate ear
nestness. In Austria the Ruthenians, though
having the peculiar forms and ceremonies of
the Greek Orthodox Church, owe allegiance
to the Pope of Rome. Yet about the only dif
ference between their service and that of the
Great Russians is that they pray for the Pope
rather than for Emperor Nicholas. Their
priests are married like the Russian priests,
and their cross has three transverse pieces
like the Russian, instead of one like the Latin
cross. By this peculiar shape of the cross,
the many Ruthenian churches in the United
States and Canada may be distinguished, as
well as by the icons, where the sacred pic
tures are usuall}' covered with metal of some
sort, gold or silver or some baser metal, ex
cept the face and hands of the saints, which
appear as if in an embossed frame. They do
not allow an organ in their churches, but the
deep, mellow voices of the male choirs more
than compensate for its absence.
The Ruthenians are among the poorest of
the peasants who come to America, their
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Old Homes of New Americans
holdings of land in Galicia being very small
and not always of the first quality. But though
poor, and many of them illiterate, they are
not by any means the least desirable of the
peoples who are swarming to our shores.
They have not lost their ancestral love of
freedom. They are willing to work, and they
are not a people lacking in literary apprecia
tion and ability. Their multifarious folk
songs show this. One collector, we are told,
has found no less than eight thousand such
songs in a single district. The printing-press
was very early set up in their cities, even
before it was in use in England, and stirring
and dramatic novels and poems have come
from their press for centuries past.
Miss Balch tells an interesting story of the
first Ruthenian emigrant to America. He
came in the year 1878. This Ruthenian, who
lived in Radocyna, had a Polish neighbor
who emigrated to the new world, whither
many Poles had already gone. He promised
to write back to his Ruthenian friend if he
found America a good place to live in, and
if he considered it desirable for his friend to
104

Our Ruthenian Neighbors
emigrate. But the government at that time
tried to discourage emigration. It printed all
sorts of unfavorable news about America,
and even opened and suppressed private
letters that gave too rosy an account of the
new land. So the Polish friend, fearing his
letter would be intercepted, agreed to prick
the letter through with a pin if he did not
find America equal to his hopes and if he did
not advise his friend to leave Galicia. After
a time the letter came. It had no pin-prick,
and the pioneer Ruthenian started for New
York. But his troubles had only just begun.
He had lost his friend's address before he
reached New York. He was alone, indeed, in
a great strange world, the only man of his kind
among sixty millions of busy people, who
knew nothing about him and cared as little.
He could not speak English or German or
any of the common languages. He was three
days without food. He sat down and cried
in the street. What else could the poor man
do ? Fortunately, a Pole came by, recognized
his Ruthenian clothes, and asked him if he
was not a Ruthenian. We can imagine his
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Old Homes of New Americans
joy at seeing a friendly face and hearing a
friendly, familiar word. The Pole took the
Ruthenian to his home, found work for him,
and in six months he was able to send back
to Galicia for his wife, and send her money
for her passage. He had been obliged to steal
away so secretly that even his wife did not
know where he had gone.
But the first Ruthenian emigrant was not
the last. By 1899 the tide had swelled to
fourteen hundred. Then there was a very
rapid increase, at the rate of two or three
thousand a year, and since 1907 an average
of more than twenty-five thousand Ruthen
ians each year cross the ocean to try their
fortune in the new world. Truly this adven
turous Galician was the forerunner of a great
host, and no one can predict how many more
may follow in his train.
All sorts of expedients, legitimate and il
legitimate, were adopted by the Austrian
Government to keep the people at home.
Outrageous falsehoods were printed against
America. Indeed, there are few European
governments that do not like to magnify
106

Our Ruthenian Neighbors
America's defects and minimize her virtues.
But the Austrian Government of Galicia
went so far as to tell the people that they
would die of hunger in America, and com
manded the priests to proclaim this in their
pulpits, which the priests often pluckily re
fused to do.
Soldiers were stationed at the frontier to
turn the emigrants back. Miss Balch gives
two incidents of the shrewdness and courage
of the emigrants in running the gauntlet.
One man, as he reached the German frontier,
was arrested by a gendarme. The Ruthen
ian stopped, as if to tie his shoe, picked up a
handful of mud, and threw it in the gen
darme's face. Blinded by the mud for a few
moments, he did not see his wily prisoner
bound across the line into Germany, where
he could not follow to capture him and bring
him back.
Another would-be emigrant bought his
ticket only to the last station on the Galician
side, in order to avoid suspicion; but his wife,
who accompanied him thus far on his long
journey, was so overcome with grief at the
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Old Homes of New Americans
thought of parting from her husband, and
wept so copiously, that the suspicion of the
frontier guards was aroused, and the man was
put under arrest. He asked permission to go
back for his bundle to the third-class car he
had left, and, instead of getting it, slipped
into a second-class car, where the guard did
not think of looking for him, and thus he got
safely off to Bremen, and thence to America.
The Government, indeed, might as well
attempt to stop the flow of the Danube, or
like Mrs. Partington, with her broom, to
sweep back the Atlantic tides, as permanently
to keep the people from going where they
can better their condition. Old neighbor
writes home to old neighbor, husband sends
for wife, children send back for their parents,
and the Christmas and New Year's green
backs, which tell of prosperity and savings
in the new home, beckon the Ruthenians
away from the old homesteads.
Millions of American dollars find their
way to Galicia every year, and many are
used in buying land for the peasants when
the great estates are broken up, as they often
io8

Our Ruthenian Neighbors
are in these days. A number of peasants
band together to buy a tract of land, putting
in all the money they can command, and
then coming far short of the required amount.
Where shall they get the rest? Why, from
America, to be sure. And so they apply to
the neighbors and cousins who have pro
spered on the other side of the sea, and, sure
enough, the money comes back, and the land
is bought and paid for. Because of this
American money, some estates in Galicia,
which could hardly be given away forty
years ago, are in great demand at tenfold
the price asked for them then. It is only fair
that this money should come back to the old
country, since neighbors and relations were
and are most generous to the poor emigrants,
often loaning them money without interest
for their traveling expenses. The honesty of
the emigrants is shown by the fact that the
money is always repaid. Many a girl, we are
told, goes to America while her lover is
serving his compulsory three years in the
army, and in household service earns money
enough for his passage to America when his
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Old Homes of New Americans
term of service has expired. This money he
always scrupulously pays back to his fiancee,
and when he has earned enough to pay this
debt and get a little ahead, he marries his true
love. We may well believe that those who
show such constancy and such honesty will
" live happily ever after."
I was much interested when in Lemberg,
the capital of Galicia, to see the signs of
Ruthenian enterprise and national spirit.
Though Lemberg is in the very heart of the
Ruthenian country, the city itself is largely
inhabited by Poles and Jews. The Poles
dominate the city politically and industrially,
and their language is used in the courts and
schools. The Ruthenians, however, show
their colors on every possible occasion. On
their fast-days and national holidays, they
will march into Lehiberg, thousands strong,
from the country, the men wearing stovepipe
hats, and the women the latest Paris fashions,
or as near as they can approach to them, and
sporting eyeglasses and lorgnettes to show
that they, too, are educated people and even
of a literary turn, in spite of the general es-
IIO

Our Ruthenian Neighbors
timation in which they are held by their
Polish neighbors.
One of the finest buildings in Lemberg is
the Ruthenian Life Insurance Buildino;. It is
ornamented with beautiful tiles representing
the colored embroidery and art needlework
of Ruthenian women, and is a standing mon
ument, visible to every visitor, of the artistic
dexterity of these women.
As I have said, many Ruthenian emigrants
go eventuall}' to Canada, where we are told
they prosper more uniformly than any other
emigrants. Volumes concerning the Ru
thenian love of liberty and joy in their new
found freedom are told in the following ode
to Canada by Michael Gowda, translated
into vigorous English by E. W. Thomson.
The poem first appeared in the "Boston
Transcript": —
" O free and fresh — home Canada ! Can we.
Born far o'er seas, call thee our country dear ?
I know not whence nor how the right may be
Attained, through sharing blessings year by year.
" We were not reared within thy broad domains,
Our fathers' graves and corpses lie afar ;
III

Old Homes of New Americans
They did not fall for freedom on thy plains,
Nor we pour out our blood beneath thy star.
*<¦ From ancient worlds by Wrong oppressed we
swarmed,
Many as ants, to scatter on thy land ;
Each to the place you gave, aided, unharmed,
And here we fear not kings or nobles grand.
"And are you not, O Canada, our own ?
Nay, we are still but holders of thy soil.
We have not bought by sacrifice and groan
The right to boast the country where we toil.
" But, Canada, in Liberty we work till death !
Our children shall be free to call thee theirs.
Their own dear land, where, gladly drawing breath,
Their parents found safe graves, and left strong
heirs,
"To homes and native freedom, and the heart
To live, and strive, and die if need there be,
In standing manfully by Honor's part.
To save the country that has made us free."

IX
WHERE SEA AND MOUNTAINS MARRY
The Charming Adriatic Coast — How to see it — The Ster
ile Mountains — A Theatre of Stirring History — Pola and
its Arena — Diocletian's Palace at Spalato — The Ancient
Republic of Ragusa — Montenegro and its Brave People —
Bosnia-Herzegovina — Sarajevo, its Capital — Austria's Great
Seaport. If my readers will furbish up their geo
graphical knowledge, they will remember
that the eastern coast of the Adriatic belongs
largely to Austria, Hungary, and Turkey. It
embraces Istria, Dalmatia, Albania, and afew
yards, so to speak, of Herzegovina, and a
few more of the Montenegrin coast-line; and
there is outside the mainland, at a longer or
shorter distance, a fringe of islands, running
invariably north and south, while on the op
posite Italian shore of the Adriatic there are
no islands, and the wind-swept coast is very
different from the safe, island-protected har
bors of the eastern shore.
I fear that this is as far as the geographical
knowledge of many of my readers extends,
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Old Homes of New Americans
if I may judge them by myself, for until I
visited the eastern shore of the Adriatic, It
was a terra incognita to me. I had a vague
notion of the facts above stated; but I did
not know of the magnificent scenery, of the
land-locked fiords, rivaling those of Norway
or Iceland in beauty, of the rugged snow-
clad mountains, grand and mighty in their
very sterility, that rear their heads along the
whole route and wash their feet in the peace
ful Adriatic. I did not know much about the
many ancient cities, full of the memories and
monuments of the Caesars, that line the shore,
or of the possibility of making a journey into
the heart of the little Kingdom of Monte
negro, and of there seeing the bravest, most
stalwart, and handsomest people in all Eu
rope. All these surprises were in store for me
when I took passage on an Austrian Lloyd
steamer at Trieste for Cattaro, the most
southern town in Dalmatia and on the very
edge of Montenegro. By preference, we
chose a slow freight-steamer that dawdled
down the Dalmatian coast, stopping at every
114

Where Sea and Mountains Marry
little port to discharge huge boxes of Aus
trian merchandise and cans of American
kerosene oil, and to take on, as a fair exchange,
great barrels of olive-oil, hogsheads of wine,
sheep and goats and chickens, boxes of Dal
matian insect-powder, and anything else
which the Dalmatians had to offer. It is, in
deed a wonderful journey. In and out, out
and in, the steamer threads its way, almost
always in still water, and sometimes appar
ently completely landlocked, with the islands
on one side and the steep, sterile shores of
Dalmatia on the other.
Strabo described Dalmatia as barren and
rocky, and the country has not improved in
any perceptible degree since Strabo's time.
I had always supposed a New Hampshire
hillside farm to be the synonym for rocks
and sterility, and from my boyhood I have
been familiar with the joke about the sheep
that have to sharpen their noses before they
can pick out the grass-blades from between
the rocks, and about the farmers who have
to plant their peas and beans by firing them
out of a shot-gun. But the most sterile New
115

Old Homes of New Americans
Hampshire hillside farm I ever saw (and I
lived among the New Hampshire hills for
ten years) is a paradise of fertility compared
with hundreds of miles of the Dalmatian
coast. Yet here for thousands of years men
have lived, and grown old, and died. Here
battles have been fought, and dynasties have
been overthrown. Here Caesars have had
their palaces, and have built their temples
and their coliseums.
Dalmatia, which is one of the crown lands
of Austria, has been the theatre of much of
the world's most stirring history, from the
time of the Caesars to the day when Napo
leon I incorporated it in his short-lived
"Kingdom of Illyria." This was in 1810.
But in 1814 it was handed back to the Aus-
trians, who had possessed it for a few brief
years, from 1797 to 1805, when they had
ceded these coast-lands to Italy. Dalmatia's
history has, indeed, been a varied one.
Since the days of Caesar Augustus, Goths,
Avars, Slavs, Magyars, Turks, Venetians,
French, and Austrians have fought for and
successively ruled this stern and rock-bound
116

Whjere Sea and Mountains Marry
coast, whose magnificent harbors have ex
cited the cupidity of all these races. Barren,
rough, forbidding as it is, it has a beauty
and a grandeur all its own. Splendid moun
tains, some of them snow-crowned, as I have
said, tower up from the ver^• edge of the
water. Lovely fiords, as fine as anjlhing in
Norway, Alaska, or the Faroe Islands, pierce
the land in every direction, affording scores
of fine harbors for the na\y and the mer
chant vessels of the Austro-Hungarian fleet.
Charming islands shut away the boisterous
Adriatic, and would allow the traveler to im
agine that he is on an inland lake, did not the
large ocean steamer on which he is embarked
challenge the idea.
But, above all, this is the land of romance
and history. You can scarcely go ashore at
any little, dilapidated, gone-to-sleep town
without finding a beautiful Roman temple
or arena, or at least a splendid Corinthian
column, two thousand years old, standing in
the market-place. The arena at Pola, which
is Austria's chief naval station, is finer and in
far better repair than the Coliseum at Rome,
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Old Homes of New Americans
and Diocletian's palace in Spalato is more im
pressive than most of the ruins that travelers
rave over and that guide-books mark with
two stars.
Yet who in America ever talks of Spalato ?
Who crosses the ocean to see Pola's coli
seum, or its still more beautiful temple, built
nineteen years before Christ and still in a fine
state of preservation.? Who is interested in
Ragusa, the little republic which so long main
tained its independence when all the rest of
Europe was trembling at the advance of the
Turk ? Yet there is no more picturesque spot
in all the world than Ragusa, the bride of the
sea and the daughter of the mountains, sitting
regally on her narrow peninsula that the sea
and the mountains allow her.
But the most interesting part of all the
journey is the detour to Montenegro that one
makes from Cattaro, the most southern town in
Dalmatia, just over the Montenegrin border.
Here the mountains assume their grimmest
and most savage aspect. " Frowning moun
tains " is no name for them. They are hide
ously scowling mountains, these black hills
ii8

Where Sea and Mountains Marry
of Montenegro, from which the country gets
its name. Of solid dark-gray rock, so bleak,
wind-swept, and precipitous that scarcely a
green thing can find lodgment on them, they
tower over the peaceful fiord of Cattaro,
almost overhanging the water with their sul
len, dark brows. Up, up, up, b}' many zig
zags we climbed these tremendous rocks,
over a pass three thousand feet directly above
the sea; then a little stretch of comparatively
level but equally barren country; then up
another mountain and over another pass four
thousand feet high our road lay. For six
hours we climbed and climbed, and it was
quite dark before the twinkling lights of
Cetinje, the capital of Montenegro, blessed
our eyes. Here we found a country village
of about three thousand inhabitants, where
every man looks like a brigand, wearing his
belt stuck full of pistols and daggers. Yet
most handsome and mild-mannered brigands
they are, I must say, trying to get the better
of us in every bargain, as all Easterners do,
but plying their brigandage in no other way.
In this almost inaccessible mountain strong-
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Old Homes of New Americans
hold the Montenegrins of a thousand years
have defied the Turks and maintained their
independence, and within a short time
their beloved prince, Nicholas I, has of
his own accord given his people a consti
tutional government and has summoned a
parliament. There are only two hundred and fifty thou
sand Montenegrins, all told, living in the bar-
renest corner of this round earth, so far as I
have seen it. They are poor as poverty, too,
living for the most part in mud or stone huts,
with thatched roof and no chimney; but they
are men for all that, free, brawny, brave,
handsome, independent men, content with
their lot and proud of their fearsome moun
tains and awful chasms, — the finest race,
as a race, that I have seen in this part of the
world. And the reason is not far to seek.
They have been to the School of Liberty.
They have breathed the mountain air of free
dom for a thousand years. Every man is a
possible hero, every woman the mother of a
hero. Long live the freedom-loving Mon
tenegrins ! 120

Where Sea and Mountains Marry
This little digression concerning Monte
negro may be forgiven, perhaps, since the
Montenegrins, though they do not belong to
Austria-Hungary, in their history and their
traditions have much in common with the
outlying sections of the Dual Monarchy. Few
Montenegrins have come to our shores as yet,
but when we consider the attractions which
America offers them over their own sterile
mountains, it would not be surprising if the
tide of emigration should set in, and a large
part of the population eventually find homes
in our hospitable land.
BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA
Bosnia-Herzegovina lie directly east of
Dalmatia, separated from that seacoast pro
vince by the same sterile mountains that loom
so threateningly above its rocky shores. On
the side of Bosnia-Herzegovina, however,
they smile more than they frown, and many a
charming valley and fertile meadow is found
on their eastern slope. The emigration from
Bosnia- Herzegovina has heretofore been
comparatively small; and yet, since these
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Old Homes of New Americans
provinces are governed by Austria, and the
tide of emigration from all of them has be
gun to set toward the United States, it is
worth while briefly to consider them and
their people.
Here the East and the West meet as in
no other part of the Dual Monarchy. In the
early days the Bosnians belonged to a sect
of Christians called Bogomiles, which the
Catholics regarded as heretical and which
they tried with all their might to suppress.
The common people, for the most part, re
sented this interference, and preferred the re
ligion of the Turk to the kind of Christianity
which the Franciscans would force upon
them, so these provinces were ground be
tween the upper and nether millstones of
the Moslem and the Catholic; but much Ori
ental blood still runs in their veins, and there
is little national or religious unity to bind the
people together.
Divided as the people were in their re
ligions, between the East and the West, their
country was often the battle-ground of Turk
and Christian. Over and over again it was
122

Where Sea and Mountains Marry
overrun and laid waste, and the lot of the
people was indeed deplorable.
Mr. Colquhoun, in "The Whirlpool of Eu
rope," gives an interesting account of Sara
jevo, the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina: —
The five-and-twenty years of Austrian occupation
has not, in Sarajevo, the capital, done more than
place a surface crust over the lives of the people.
Even here one may turn out of one's modern hotel
and in a few steps enter the bazaar — that labyrinth
of lanes, flanked with wooden booths in front of
stone buildings.
Here is no trace of the West. The barber plies his
trade; the shoemaker displays his peaked slippers
of red or yellow, and patches his customer's worn
goods, spectacles on nose ; the silver and copper
smith has his little furnace and apparatus of primi
tive simplicity; the tailor sits cross-legged on his
bench, and the sweetmeat-seller greets one's nos
trils with the odor of ghee, to be smelt a long way
off. Most characteristic of all is the beturbaned old
graybeard, seated cross-legged before his door,
smoking sedately and imperturbably his cigarette or
long hookah and surveying the world with the indif
ference of age-long philosophy. Through the mur
mur of sounds that fills the heavy air, laden with the
many smells of an Oriental bazaar, comes a familiar
clang — the importunate jangling of the bell of an
123

Old Homes of New Americans
electric train which glides along near by in vivid
contrast to this bit of old world.
The people have the virtues and the vices
of the primitive races, for they are the least
developed of all belonging to Austria. They
are strong, vigorous, well-knit physically,
with little intellectual enterprise, due very
likely to their lack of opportunities; but they
have in them the making of a vigorous and
useful people, and, with the facility of all
Slavs, they are able to adapt themselves to
circumstances, to make the best of their con
dition, and, for the most part, to endure their
lot uncomplainingly.
Trieste, Austria's great seaport on the
Adriatic coast, of which I shall speak in
another chapter, is of particular interest to
Americans, since from this port embark tens
of thousands of .would-be citizens of our
republic. Not many months ago, as I was
returning to my hotel from a late meeting in
the town of Agram, the capital of Croatia, I
met a long procession of men, women, and
children, each with a bundle, or a carpet
bag, or a tin can, or some article of bedding
124

Where Sea and Mountains Marry
or household furniture, and each with a de
termined look and steady stride as though
on some serious errand bent. 1 soon found
that their purpose was indeed a serious one,
for they were bound for the happy land of
freedom and prosperity, as they regarded it.
There were at least five hundred of them in
this band; and I was told by a resident of
Agram that more than a thousand gathered
in this little capital every week, and from here
started on their long journey to America.
The next day, taking the train from Agram
to Trieste, I found the third-class compart
ments crowded to suffocation with these
same men, women, and children whom I had
seen the night before. Doubtless many tears
had fallen, as they left their homes in the
country, but these were all receding into the
distance, and good cheer had taken the place
of the sorrow at parting from friends. With
many quips and jokes and songs they be
guiled the long journey to Trieste, and a day
or two after I embarked with them on the
same ship, which was to take me to Greece
and to take them to far-off" America. Such
125

Old Homes of New Americans
scenes are common in a score of towns
and cities throughout Austria-Hungary, and
every one of them is loaded with significance
for every American who loves his country
and his fellow men who, from among these
many races, are seeking our shores.

X

HUNGARY, THE LAND OF THE FREE AND
THE BRAVE
The Buffer State between Mohammedanism and Christ
ianity — The Mountains and Rivers and Plains of Hungary
— Where the Hungarians originated — How they took the
Oath in Ancient Days — The Battle-Cries of Two Nations —
How Duke Lehel used his Hunting-Horn — A Race converted
to Christianity — St. Stephen the King and Patron Saint —
The Degenerate Successors of St. Stephen — The Cruel
Timesof Old — The Golden Bull of Hungary —A Devastated
Nation — Hungary rises from its Sackcloth and Ashes —
Sigismund's Unhappy End — The Golden Age of Hungarian
History — Brave John Hunyadi, and his RemarkableVictories
— Matthias, the Great Son of a Noble Father — How he con
quered the Austrians and the Turks — His Strategy and Gen
eralship — The Turkish Victory at the Battle of Mohdcs —
One Hundred and Fifty Years of Turkish Rule — The Last
Campaign of the Mohammedans against the Western Nations
— A New Chapter in the History of Hungary — Transyl
vania, the Brightest Spot in the Domains of Hungary — Hun
gary as a Province of Austria — Maria Theresa and her Son
Joseph II — His Penny-wise Economy — Revival of the Na
tional Spirit — Stephen Sz^chenyi, tlie Regenerator of Hun
gary — Louis Kossuth the Eloquent — A Failure that resulted
in Final Victory.
Among all the stories of the nations, from
the days of the Hittites to the time of the
latest and largest republic of all, the Republic
of China, there are few if any that are more
thrilling and romantic than the story of Hun-
127

Old Homes of New Americans
gary. No people have ever shown a greater
love for freedom, none ever fought more
valiantly for their rights.
The fact that Hungary for centuries was
the buffer state between Mohammedanism
and Christianity, and often by her own un
aided efforts prevented the hordes of Moslems
from overrunning Europe, should alone com
mend her story to every American in whose
veins flows the blood of Anglo-Saxon or Teu
ton, Latin or Slav. Hungary seems to have
been cut out by nature for a great nation.
Her natural features are on a large scale. The
splendid Carpathian Mountains surround her
territory with a wall of granite, but a wall
made beautiful almost to its summit with trees
of many kinds; while on the very crest of
these mountains are found crystal lakes of
unmeasured depth, and down their sides dash
the beautiful streams that " make the mead
ows green." The rivers of Hungary, too, are
planned on a large scale. The "beautiful blue
Danube," the largest river in Europe, with
one exception, flows almost through the
centre of the kingdom, while the Theiss and
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Hungary, the Land of the Brave
other large streams, navigable for hundreds
of miles, are tributaries of the great river.
The great plains of Hungar}- are among the
principal features which have made the nation
great and prosperous,f or they cover thousands
of square miles in extent, and are of unfailing
fertility, equaling in theirrich depth of soil our
own noblest prairies. The great plain, the Al-
f old, as it is called, is the granary of Hungary,
and not only supplies wheat and corn for the
use of the nation, but exports much to foreign
lands. The climate, as can be imagined in
such a country, is exceedingly varied, ranging
from the sub-tropical on the shores of the
Adriatic to the sub-arctic as one ascends the
Carpathian Mountains towards the borders
of Galicia.
Butthepeopleof Hungary are even more in
teresting than their country. They are unique
in their religion and racial characteristics
among the peoples of Europe. They belong
neither to the Anglo-Saxon, the Teutonic, the
Latin, nor the Slavic races. Their only rela
tives in Europe are the people of Finland,
who are descended from an allied race; but
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Old Homes of New Americans
they are related to the Turks and the Mon
gols of Asia Minor and of remoter Asia, and
their ancestors came from the region of
the Ural Mountains and the valleys of the
Altai. Their early history, like that of most great
nations, is lost in the maze of mythology; but
it is interesting to read the tradition that Nim-
rod, the grandson of Noah, was the founder
of the race, and that his wife, Eneh, bore him
two sons, Hunyor and Magyar. These two
brothers, — who were great hunters like
their father, who has given his name to every
expert user of the arrow, spear, and gun since
his day, — while chasing a doe in the forests
of the Caucasus, were led to move west
ward, and found a country rich in fertile
meadows and green fields. The doe vanished
from before their eyes, for she had evidently
been invented by the myth-makers to lead
the brothers into their new domain; and after
wards, we are told, the progeny of Hunyor
settled beyond the Volga, while the sons and
grandsons of Magyar settled about the river
Don, and were known thereafter as Don-
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Hungary, the Land of the Brave
Magyars. However much or however little
true history is found in this maze of myths,
the names have persisted through all the
centuries. The Huns devastated Europe in
the early centuries, and " Magyar " is still the
most honored name by which the people of
Hungary choose to be known.
From the beginning the Hungarians have
been a warlike, conquering people, and we
can easily believe the story of the Seven Dukes
of Hungary, who sealed their union by each
opening a vein in the arm of all the others,
and drinking in turn from the spouting blood.
This form of oath, we are told, was for a long
time the custom in Hungary. One of the five
conditions of their union was thus stated:
"Whenever any of their descendants shall be
found wanting in the fidelity due to the prince,
or shall foment dissensions between him and
his kindred, the blood of the guilty one shall
be shed even as theirs was flowing when they
gave their oaths of fidelity to Almos [their
chief]." The blood that flowed from the veins of
the Seven Dukes was typical of the blood
131,

Old Homes of New Americans
which should freely flow through the history
of Hungary, from those earliest days to the
times of Kossuth and his unsuccessful and
yet in the end gloriously successful uprising.
The romancer who should tell the story
of Hungary would not have to draw upon
his imagination for exciting situations and
deeds of heroic valor. Some of them are well
worth relating, as showing the innate char
acteristics of this heroic people.
Under the reign of Arpad, the first ruler
of Hungary, whose rule spanned the last part
of the ninth and the first part of the tenth
century, the Hungarians were everywhere
successful, for Arpad was a great general
as well as a great king ; but upon his death
there was no one of his ability to take up his
work, and for the first time (about the middle
of the tenth century) the Germans checked
the advance of the Hungarian hosts. The
battle-cries of the two nations, one Christian
and the other still pagan, though soon to be
converted to Christianity, were significant.
The Germans shouted, " Kyrie eleyson," as
they drove their hosts against the Hungarian
132

Hungary, the Land of the Brave
ranks, while the Hungarians replied with
their barbaric yell, " Hooy ! Hooy 1 " But the
Germans were better drilled and equipped,
and for a time the advance of the Hunga
rians was checked and their army destroyed.
An interesting legend is still current among
the Hungarians about the death of Lehel,
one of their early heroes, whose ivory bugle-
horn, which the iconoclastic archaeologists
are cruel enough to call a Roman drinking-
cup, is still seen; but this is the story, which
we prefer to maintain in spite of the archae
ologists, who, if they had their way, would
make history so tame and commonplace.
In the disastrous battle of Augsburg, the
Duke Lehel was taken prisoner and brought
before his conqueror. Otto. He was con
demned to death, which did not greatly
frighten him, for he had faced death every
day of his mature life; but he begged for one
favor, and that was that he might be allowed
to wind his horn once more, and so sound
his funeral dirge. " The horn was handed to
him. He sounded it for the last time; and,
as he drew from it the sad strains which
133

Old Homes of New Americans
sounded far and wide and were mournfully
reechoed by the distant hills, the dying war
rior on the field of Lech lifted up his head,
eagerly listening to the familiar bugle, and
the soul which had come back to him for
one instant took wings again as soon as the
sad strains died away. At that moment Lehel
broke away from his place, and seeing Con
rad, his enemy, before him, felled him to the
ground, killing him with a single blow from
the heavy horn. 'Thou shalt go before me
and be my servant in the other world,' cried
Lehel. Thereupon he went to the place of
execution." Moreover, we are solemnly told,
in undeniable proof of this story, that "there
is discernible on Lehel's horn to this day a
large indentation which posterity attributes
to the event just narrated."
The Hungarians were not content to re
main long in the darkness and superstition of
heathenism, for the good Bishop of Prague,
St. Adalbert, before the close of the tenth
century came to Hungary and baptized many
of the leading people into the Christian faith.
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Hungary, the Land of the Brave
Of all his converts, there was one who was
destined to exert a remarkable and lasting
influence upon the nation which had so re
cently been born. He was the son of Duke
Geyza, one of the reigning families of Hun
gary, and when he was baptized he was
given the name of Stephen, after the first
martyr. To the baptism of this noble youth,
the Hungarian nation looks back with rever
ence and gratitude as the turning-point in its
history ; for 3'oung Stephen became, in course
of time. King Stephen, and through his in
fluence and powerful personality Hungary
took her place among the ranks of the fore
most nations of the West. He gave his name,
indeed, to the whole country, for the nation
is called interchangeably "the Kingdom of
Hungary " and " the realm of St. Stephen."
No Hungarian king comes to the throne, and
is acknowledged the ruler of the nation, un
til he has been crowned with the identical
crown of St. Stephen.
The 2oth of August is "St. Stephen's
Day," and is the greatest holiday of the year
throughout the nation. Then his right hand,
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Old Homes of New Americans
embalmed and sacredly preserved for nearly
nine centuries, is carried through the streets
of the capital, followed by a great and not
able procession of the people, while devout
religious ceremonies are performed, show
ing the gratitude of the people for their first
Christian king.
"The crown lands of St. Stephen" is a
name given to the dependencies of Hungary,
and there is no more interesting relic in the
treasure-chambers of all Europe than the
crown itself, which first adorned the head of
the sainted king. As indicating the Christian
character of the converted nation, a picture
of the Saviour is embedded in the crown,
surrounded by the sun and moon and two
trees, while the figures of the twelve apos
tles, each having an appropriate Latin in
scription, are also found in the crown, which
is encrusted with pearls and diamonds and
precious stones. Besides these pictures are
representations of the archangels, Michael
and Gabriel; of the four saints, Damianus,
Dominic, Cosmus, and George ; of two Greek
emperors, and the Hungarian king Geyza,
136

Hungary, the Land of the Brave
father of St. Stephen. To this day the Catho
lic Church of Hungary holds vast amounts of
property which were bequeathed by King
Stephen in the early glow of his religious
zeal. The advice given by King Stephen to his
son, as quoted by Professor Vambdr}', in his
histoiy of Hungary, is as noble and exalted
as any advice that father ever gave to son : —
The time has arrived [said the king] to leave be
hind thee those pillows of luxuriousness which are
apt to render thee weak and frivolous, to make thee
waste thy virtues, and to nourish thee in thy sins.
Harden thy soul in order that thy mind may atten
tively listen to my counsels. I command, counsel,
and advise thee, above all, to preserve carefully the
apostolic and CathoUc faith if thou wishest thy
kingly crown to be held in respect, and to set such
an example to thy subjects that the clergy may
justly call thee a Christian man, ... for he who
does not adorn his faith with good deeds — the one
being a dead thing without the others — cannot
rule in honor.
Another quotation from St. Stephen is
worth recording in this connection, when so
many Americans are afraid of the influx of
foreigners from many lands, and desire to
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Old Homes of New Americans
adopt, for selfish reasons, an exclusive policy
toward worthy immigrants. Hungary was
facing in St. Stephen's time some of the same
problems; for foreigners, attracted by the
growing glories of the nation and the prowess
of her soldiers, were coming from many lands.
Concerning them, St. Stephen says : —
The Roman Empire owed its growth, and its
rulers their glory and power, chiefly to the numer
ous wise and noble men who gathered within its
boundaries from every quarter of the world. ... A
country speaking but one language, and where uni
form customs prevail, is weak and frail. Therefore I
enjoin on thee, my son, to treat and behave towards
them decorously, so that they shall more cheerfully
abide with thee than elsewhere. For if thou shouldst
spoil what I have built up, and scatter what I have
gathered, thy realm would surely suffer great detri
ment from it. ... I therefore beseech and enjoin
upon thee, my beloved son, thou delight of my
heart and hope of the coming generation, be above
all gracious, not only to thy kinsmen, to princes,
and to dukes, but also to thy neighbors and sub
jects; be merciful and forbearing, not only to the
powerful, but to the weak; and, finally, be strong,
lest good fortune elate thee, and bad fortune depress
thee. Be humble, moderate, and gentle, be honor
able and modest, for these virtues are the chief
ornaments of the kingly crown.
138

Hungary, the Land of the Brave
But the young prince was not destined to
succeed his father, for he died in his early
youth. The kingly crown, however, remained
in the family for three hundred years, and
during all these centuries the memory of
St. Stephen laid a restraining and guiding
hand upon his successors.
The first two centuries of the rule of the
House of Arpad, founded b}' King Stephen,
were centuries of almost universal and con
tinual victory, marred, however, by more or
less internal dissensions; but the power of
the kings did not seriously decline until the
third century after the dynasty was founded.
Many are the romantic incidents recorded
of the kings of the House of Arpad. In spite
of the dawn of Christianity and its growing
power, those early days of Hungary were
marked by cruelty and vindictiveness which
is now almost unbelievable. Especially was
this true of the degenerate days of the suc
cessors of St. Stephen.
Bela II, who reigned in the middle of the
twelfth century, before he ascended the throne
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Old Homes of New Americans
had both his eyes put out by his enemies,
who belonged to the Diet or legislature of
the country. On his succession to the throne,
he professed to forgive his enemies, and sum
moned the lords to meet in council at Arad.
Bela's queen, Ilona, was even more revenge
ful than himself, and after the Diet was
assembled she described with pathos and
eloquence the cruelties which had been prac
ticed on her blind husband, and denounced
with terrible effect the crimes of those who
had blinded him. Then she gave the signal
of revenge. The soldiers of the King picked
out among the crowd of lords and courtiers
the King's enemies who had formerly im
prisoned and blinded him. The hall of legis
lature flowed with the blood of the lords,
and the eyes of many who were spared never
looked upon the light of the sun again.
With the decline of the royal power dur
ing the period of civil strife which followed,
the contest was between the royal family and
the nobles. Little by little the gentry waxed
stronger than royalty, and at last wrung from
the King, who at that time was Andrew II,
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Hungary, the Land of the Brave
one of the degenerate descendants of King
Stephen, their Magna Charta. It was called
" The Golden Bull," because the seal ap
pended to the document by a silk string is
inclosed in a golden box. This declaration
of independence on the part of the nobles of
Hungary secured for them, on paper at least,
the rights for which they had been long strug
gling; but they had to continue the fight
with King Andrew II and his son, Bela IV,
and throughout all these years of contest
the country of Hungary suffered untold mis
eries. In the midst of civil strife the Mongols at
tacked the Hungarians, and the Hungarian
army of fifty thousand warriors was almost
wiped off the face of the earth. A contem
porary writer, quoted by Professor Vambery,
says: "During a march of two days, thou
couldst see nothing along the roads but fallen
warriors. Their dead bodies were lying about
like stones in a quarry."
It seemed as though the last days of Hun
gary had come. Civil wars and foreign wars
had devastated the land from the Carpathians
141

Old Homes of New American^
to the Adriatic. The condition of the coun
try was indeed deplorable. "Here and there,"
we are told by a writer of the day, " a tower,
half-burnt and blackened by smoke, and rear
ing its head towards the sky, like a mourning
flag over a funereal monument, indicated the
direction in which King Bela, with a few of
his followers, advanced after their defeat, into
the heart of their once prosperous country.
The highways were overgrown with grass,
the fields white with bleaching bones, and
not a living soul came out to meet them.
And the deeper they penetrated into the land,
the more terrible the sights they saw. When
at last those who survived crept forth from
their hiding-places, half of them fell victims
to wild animals, starvation, and pestilence.
The stores laid up by the tillers of the soil,
the year before, had been carried away by
the Mongols, and the little grain they could
sow after the departure of the enemy had
hardly sprung up when it was devoured by
locusts. The famine assumed such frightful
proportions that starving people, in their
frenzy, killed each other, and it happened
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Hungary, the Land of the Brave
that men would bring to market human flesh
for sale. Since the birth of Christ no country
has ever been overwhelmed by such mis
ery." But Hungary was great even in her defeat;
and the fact that she recovered from these
awful disasters and maintained her place
among the family of nations, and became
greater and more powerful than ever before,
shows the inherent virility of the people
whom disaster could not daunt. Bela the
King himself showed his noblest character
istics in the days of the greatest disasters. He
set to work to rebuild the nation, to bring
artisans from other countries, to found new
cities and give special privileges to the older
ones, to fortify his country from attacks of
the enemies. Within five years, so great was
the recuperative power of the nation that it
no longer feared its Mongol invaders.
Two or three rulers followed the succes-
sion of King Bela before the dynasty of Ar
pad was extinguished and the Italian, Charles
Robert, the founder of the Hungarian Anjous,
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Old Homes of New Americans
was chosen to succeed. Under the rule of the
Anjous, Hungary again prospered, and ad
vanced greatly in arts and sciences. Even
Venice was conquered by the Hungarians,
and the children of the nobility from various
countries were sent to Hungary to be edu
cated, in such high esteem was the culture
of the nation held.
One of the kings of the House of Anjou,
Sigismund by name, touches modern history
in many points, for he was the king who
offered to John Huss, the Bohemian patriot
and reformer, safe-conduct to Constance,
where the Reformed faith was on trial. Bo
hemia had now become a Protestant coun
try; almost to a man they had embraced the
tenets of Huss when the Catholic Church, in
1414, called the Council of Constance whose
chief object was to destroy the new heresy
and its adherents.
Sigismund, who at this time was not only
the King of Bohemia but of Hungary as
well, in spite of his guaranty of safe-conduct,
delivered Huss to his enemies, and, as we
have seen in another chapter, the great re-
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Hungary, the Land of the Brave
former became the great martyr of the Pro
testant faith. Sigismund had to suffer for his
treachery, for Bohemia made war upon Hun
gary, while the Turks were planning a cam
paign against the southern portion of his
country at the same time.
Servia, Moldavia, and Bosnia, the three
states on the outskirts of Hungary, acknow
ledged the rule of Mohammed I, and new
perils every day seemed to gather around
Hungary. Sigismund, in spite of his treach
ery, was no coward. He was a strategist as
well as a brave general. He conciliated and
conquered the Czechs, the inhabitants of Bo
hemia, and conquered the Turks finally, after
many defeats, and became the Emperor of
Germany and the King of Hungary and Bo
hemia. But his was a troubled life to the
very end, for though seemingly victorious
everywhere, new complications constantly
arose and new enemies appeared to take the
place of those whom he conquered. Tran
sylvania in the eastern section of Hungary
was strongly Protestant; so he imposed the
most burdensome taxes upon this part of his
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Old Homes of New Americans
domain, until the people could stand it no
longer and rose against their tyrants, killing
the nobility and burning the villages in every
direction. On his way to quell this uprising
in Transylvania, Sigismund met the great
Victor of mankind, whom he could not con
quer. " It is rather saddening to reflect,"
says the historian, " that after a reign of fifty
years, his funeral procession should have
been lighted by the glare from the burning
villages of Transylvania, set on fire by her
own peasantry."
We now come to the Golden Age of Hun
garian history, with the advent of John Hun
yadi and his son Matthias, unless indeed we
may say that the Golden Age of Hungary is
in this twentieth century, for probably she
has never been so prosperous, or her people
more happy and progressive than at the pre
sent time. But in these prosaic days there
is little that stirs the blood and arouses the
imagination, while the years of the fifteenth
century were essentially years of supreme
daring and of martial glory, not unmixed
146

Hungary, the Land of the Brave
with deeds of savage cruelty and barbar
ism. In those days the poet, the artisan, the
merchant, the statesman, had not come to
their own; the successful soldier alone was
considered the greatest of mankind, and to
him every knee was bowed. On this account
John Hunyadi, who was undoubtedly the
greatest general of his age, came to the
front, though his family was comparatively
obscure and unknown until he made the
name famous. He had enemies on every
side. The Turks were constantly overrun
ning Hungary from the east, and laying
waste its vassal states, while an equally per
sistent enemy of Hungary at this time was
the Austrian power, always ready from its
citadels in Vienna to take advantage of Hun
gary's distresses, and by sallying forth to add
to her troubles.
The appearance of John Hunyadi upon the
scene was most dramatic. The Hungarian
troops were fighting the Turks near the for
tress of Semendria, when a knight whom
they had never seen before, to their know-
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Old Homes of New Americans
ledge, bearing on his coat of arms a black
raven with a gold ring in his beak, dashed
into the fray. He seemed to be in all parts
of the field of battle at the same time. The
enemy were seized with panic, and the Hun
garian troops had new courage put into their
veins by the unexpected appearance. " The
Turkish general," we are told, " with the
remnant of his army fled in dismay, and from
this day forward the name of the Raven
Knight continued to be the terror of Turkish
warriors." We need not say that this mys
terious knight was John Hunyadi. He seems
to have had many qualities in common with
the great Napoleon, who more than three
centuries afterwards astonished the world by
his marvelous manoeuvres, his sudden, unex
pected appearances, carrying dismay to the
enemy and new courage always to his friends
and followers.
But not only have the Hungarian people
reason to consider John Hunyadi as their
great national hero, next to King and Saint
Stephen perhaps the noblest Hungarian of
them all, but the whole Christian world is
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Hungary, the Land of the Brave
indebted to him, and his name should be
familiar to every schoolboy, for he it was,
more than any other, who broke the power
of the Turk in southeastern Europe, and pre
vented the Moslem hordes from overrunning
every Christian land.
Moreover, he had to fight his battles al
most alone. The other powers of Europe,
though wealthy in promises, were very poor
in performance, and sent but few troops to
Hunyadi's aid. Poland, which was then
united to Hungary under the same king,
was the only exception to this rule. To be
sure, it cannot be said that Hunyadi never
lost a battle or suffered a defeat. He was
sometimes in sore straits, but he was made
of the stuff that never knew when he was
defeated, and in good fortune and bad he
continued to pound away at the Turkish
armies, using all his military genius and
strategy, as well as his almost superhuman
courage, to conquer the enemy which all
Europe feared and none save him dared
attack. At last came the decisive battle near Bel-
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Old Homes of New Americans
grade, the present capital of Servia, in 1456.
The Turks had marshaled one hundred and
fifty thousand men to attack this important
and strategic fortress. Hunyadi had but
fifteen thousand of his own troops, supple
mented by sixty thousand Crusaders, who
were armed with scythes and pole-axes only,
and who " were led by the sound of bells in
stead of words of military command." One
would not think that such an army would be
more effective than the troops that marched
about the camp of Midian with pitchers and
torches; but their zeal and fanaticism gave
each of the Crusaders the strength of ten,
and, under the unparalleled leadership of
Hunyadi, they put to rout the vastly superior
number of Turks, and saved Europe forever
frotn the menace of Mohammedanism.
But the battle of Belgrade was his last.
Suddenly as the Raven Knight came upon
the field, so suddenly he died in the hour of
victory. He never knew of the Te Deums
that were sung throughout Europe, or of the
grateful millions that blessed his name for
relieving them from the fear of the Turk,
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Hungary, the Land of the Brave
which had so long been an incubus upon
the activities and progress of all Europe.
It is not every great man who has a great
son to succeed him, but Hunyadi was fortu
nate in this respect, as in so many others,
and his son Matthias, because of the great
deeds of his father, was raised to the Hun
garian throne by the will of the people, and
became, the historians tell us, the greatest
king of whom Hungary can boast; at least
he divides this honor with St. Stephen. He
was a great soldier, like his father, from whom
he inherited his abilities as a strategist and a
general, and he combined with these states
manship of a rare quality, which his father,
who was never raised to the kingly throne,
did not have a chance to exhibit.
Many interesting stories are told of Mat
thias, any one of which would furnish mate
rial for an interesting romance. A German
bully, by the name of Holubar, on one occa
sion came to Buda, the capital of Hungary.
He was so enormous in size, and his strength
so far eclipsed that of all his combatants, that
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Old Homes of New Americans
he was thought to be absolutely invincible
in the tournaments ; but Matthias, though he
was king, was not afraid of him, and did not
think he was demeaning himself to meet him
in single combat. Holubar was afraid that
he might in some way harm the King, and
so expose himself to danger from the popu
lace, and for a long time would not meet the
King in combat; and when he did consent,
he planned to use little of his great strength,
but pretend to be overcome by the King's
first attack. The King heard of this determin
ation, and there vowed " By all the saints,
that if he perceived Holubar doing this, he
would have him executed, and at the same
time make him swear that he would fight
with him as if he were the knight's mortal
enemy." " The contest took place in the
presence of many thousands," we are told,
"and many doubted the King's success, com
paring the German giant with the middle-
sized Matthias. The two combatants rushed
at each other with tremendous thrusts; the
steeled muscles of the King proved supe
rior to the heavy bulk of his adversary, who
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Hungary, the Land of the Brave
reeled from his horse, struck by a heavy
blow on the forehead, and lay with his arm
broken, and fainting on the ground. . . .
The King, having humiliated the bragging
foreigner, sent him away with presents of
horses, splendid dresses, and a large purse
of money." It can be imagined that in those
days, when personal prowess counted for
so much, the King's combat with Holubar
made him the idol of his nation.
Matthias seems to have disdained no hard
ship and to have been daunted by no peril.
We are told that when fighting the Aus
trians at the siege of Vienna in 1485, he stole
into the city in disguise. Made up for a coun
tryman, with his basket of butter and eggs,
he walked through the city, selling his'eggs
and at the same time finding out all the weak
spots in the fortifications. He talked inti
mately with the common people. He heard
what the military men were planning for the
defense of the city, and after strolling out
again with his empty basket, he laid his
plans for the capture of the city, which were
entirely successful. 153

Old Homes of New Americans
Though his father had broken the power
of the Turks, they were not as yet wholly
driven out of Europe, and he had many a
battle with the Turkish forces in the eastern
part of his domain. Learning a lesson from
his successful experience with the Austrians
before Vienna, he tried the same ruse on the
Turkish camp, and, putting on the garments
of a Turk, he went boldly into their camp
to sell butter and eggs to them as well. He
found the tent of the Sultan, and setting up
his temporary market stayed there for a long
time, nominally selling provisions, but really
spying upon the camp and its defenses. The
next day, when he returned to his own
camp, he sent the Sultan the following let
ter: "Thou guardest thy camp badly, Em
peror, and thou art thyself badly guarded.
For yesterday I sat, even from morn until
night, near thy tent, selling provisions. And
lest thou doubtest my words, I will tell thee
now what was served on thy table." It is
said that the Sultan was so alarmed by this
note, and so convinced of the important
knowledge which Matthias must have ob-
154

Hungary, the Land of the Brave
tained, that he at once broke camp, turned
his back on Hungary, and sought the safer
seclusion of his own country.
Like his father, Matthias had many Napo
leonic qualities. The guards never knew
where he would turn up ne.xt; in the mid
dle of the night, in the early dawn, and at
most unexpected times and places he might
be seen, while in the midst of battle, when
the cannon were belching out their loud
mouthed cries and the musketry were rat
tling on every side, he seemed to be able to
sleep in perfect calm.
Matthias was great not only as a general
and a warrior, but as a statesman and a ruler.
It was necessary, perhaps, in those days that
he should prove his prowess as a warrior and
as a man of tremendous personal bravery and
endurance before he could command full re
spect for his intellectual and moral powers.
Those were the days, as we have said, when
strength and valor reigned supreme. One of
his captains, for instance, whom he raised
from an obscure place to a prominent com
mand, Kinizsy by name, we are told, was
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Old Homes of New Americans
able to foot it through the national dance,
holding the dead body of a full-grown Turk
in his right hand, another in his left hand,
and a third between his teeth. Horrible as
such a spectacle would seem to a modern
audience, in those ruder days it represented
what was considered the crowning glory of
personal strength and courage.
Not many great generals have made great
kings or presidents, but this was an honor
which can fairly be ascribed to Matthias, that
he was as great on the throne as in the camp.
The glory and splendor of his court may be
indicated in some measure by the embassies
which he sent in the latter part of the fif
teenth century to Charles VIII of France.
He collected three hundred horses, all of
which were mated in color and size, on each
of which sat a young man clothed in purple
velvet. Long gold chains dangled from the
sides of these attendants, and a crown of
pearls was placed upon each head as they
entered the cities through which they passed,
while they took to the French king splendid
horses, harnesses, robes richly embroidered,
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Hungary, the Land of the Brave
and many ornaments of gold and silver, all
presents worthy of a great king to a great
king. Almost barbaric splendor was found in his
palace at the capital cit}', Buda. Magnificent
objects of art, costly and beautiful tapestries,
precious ..stones, statues, and antique gems
made this palace the most renowned of any
in Europe. He had several royal residences,
" which," we are told, " appeared like real
fairy castles, with their hanging-gardens,
fountains, fish-ponds, aviaries, game-parks,
small pleasure-houses, arbors, and statues."
Unfortunately, Matthias left no son to suc
ceed him. The glory of his house died with
him, and the magnificent treasures that he
had collected, and which made Hungary fa
mous the world around, were soon scattered
throughout Europe, for the rulers who suc
ceeded Matthias were as feeble as he and
his father had been powerful.
The years that followed were, indeed,
sad ones for Hungary. Intrigue followed
intrigue, weak ruler succeeded weak ruler.
The country went into a steady and disastrous
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Old Homes of New Americans
decline. The Turks again menaced her fron
tiers, until, in the disastrous battle of Mohacs,
only a little more than a generation after the
death of Matthias, the Hungarian army was
defeated and almost annihilated by the Sul
tan Solyman, with an army of three hundred
thousand Turks. Even Buda the capital was
captured, and it seemed as though all that
had been gained by the bravery and martial
prowess of Hunyadi and Matthias was lost.
For one hundred and fifty years the Turk
ish flag waved over the battlements of the
capital of Hungary. The nation was almost
wiped off the earth. No capable general or
ruler arose during these years, though Hun
gary showed in many a battle that courage
and self-sacrifice and patriotism still found
lodgment in the hearts of the common people.
The Turks became so bold that they actually
attacked the city of Vienna, and it looked
once more as though they would overrun
Europe. Again the Hungarians were called
upon to defend the liberties of the country
and the cause of Christianity in many nations,
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Hungary, the Land of the Brave
and though no great leader arose to com
mand their forces, individual captains and
people who were willing to lay down their
lives for the cause of country and Christian
ity always prevented the Turks from gain
ing the complete triumph which they de
sired, and sweeping over the unprotected
countries to the west. It would take many
pages to tell of the heroic deeds that strewed
the pages of history in this century and a
half of national decline.
Finally the last great undertaking of the
Moslems was begun, and the Sultan, Mo
hammed IV, with two hundred and fifty
thousand men and three hundred cannon,
in the spring of 1683 appeared under the
walls of Vienna; but Providence raised up
a commander for the Christian forces, in
John Sobieski, King of Poland, of whom we
have learned in another chapter. The Turk
ish troops were defeated with tremendous
slaughter, leaving sixty thousand men dead
upon the field. " This was the last great cam
paign undertaken by the Osmanlis against
the Western world. They could never re-
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Old Homes of New Americans
cuperate from the effects of the defeat then
suffered, and the great calamity which befell
the Turkish power rendered it at length pos
sible for Hungary, the bulwark of Christian
ity, which had been the scene of continual
war during a century and a half, to regain
her liberty."
It can be imagined that the condition of
Hungary, after this century and a half of mis
rule and defeat, overrun by hordes of Turk
ish soldiers, distracted by civil dissensions
at home and the constant battles with sav
age foes from abroad, was pitiable indeed.
"While the Moors," we are told, " had im
mortalized their name by memorials of a
grand civilization, leaving behind them flour
ishing and wealthy cities, numerous works of
art and marvels of architecture, the Turks left
Hungary ruined and devastated. Through
out the whole territory of the reconquered
country only a few miserable villages could
be met here and there, population had sunk
to the lowest ebb, endless swamps covered
the fertile soil of the once flourishing Alfold,
and the genius of the Hungarian nation had
1 60

Hungary, the Land of the Brave
now to engage in the arduous labor of sub
duing, by the arts of peace and civilization,
the sterile waste they had regained at last by
their bravery and endurance. The work, hard
as it was, was done. For a century and a
half the severe task of colonizing and civil
izing has been going on bravely, until finally
that tract of land, which they recovered from
the Turks an uninhabited desert, has grown
to be populous, flourishing, and one of the
richest granaries of Europe."
A new chapter in the history of Hungary
was opened when, after the defeats of Bel
grade and Mohacs, the Hungarians were
obliged to seek an alliance with a foreign
power. Naturally they turned to the great
House of Hapsburg, which ruled at that time
Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, and
Spain, together with Naples, Sicily, and
Sardinia. It was by far the greatest nation
of the world, but the ever-present menace of
the Turks threw Hungary into the arms of
the Austrians, whose alliance for centuries
was scarcely less disastrous than would have
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Old Homes of New Americans
been an alliance with the Turks. The Turks
were particularly averse to an extension of
the power of Austria, and constantly made
incursions into Hungary, for the sake of weak
ening not only Hungary herself, but through
her the Hapsburg Dynasty. The poor country
was, indeed, between the upper and the nether
millstone. It is scarcely worth while, in this brief sum
mary, to dwell long upon these unhappy years.
There was but one bright spot within the
former domains of Hungar}?^, and that was in
the far eastern section, called Transylvania.
The hardy people of this region had embraced,
more largely than any other part of Hungary,
the Reformed religion. They were led by
brave and powerful dukes. Even in the dark
est days they never yielded wholly to the
power of Turk or German, but the independ
ence of Transylvania was maintained when
all else seemed lost. In the meantime the
Hungarian Protestants, who at one time were.
largely in the majority, were harried by the
Austrian tyrants, and Transylvania alone
seemed to be a bulwark for the Reformed
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Hungary, the Land of the Brave
faith. The ancient constitution of Hungary
was entirely ignored. Foreign soldiery from
many countries were quartered upon the poor
people, who were taxed to death to pay their
oppressors. Atlastthe Hungarian constitution
was actually abolished, and Hungary became
a province of Austria.
All Europe, however, began at last to re
ceive new ideas. The common people were
coming to their own. The French Revolu
tion was symptomatic of the unrest of every
European country. Hungary shared in the
reaction against the privileged classes, though
their authority was much more absolute, and
the power of the people at this time, after
centuries of disaster, less able to cope with
the nobility than in France.
During all these years, until 1780, the
Austrian kings had shown enough defer
ence to Hungarian sentiment to be crowned
with the sacred crown of St. Stephen. No
other piece of the jeweler's art was probably
ever so reverenced as this crown. For hun
dreds of years, to the present day, the Hun
garians have regarded it as the very symbol of
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Old Homes of New Americans
their national existence. Only once in his life
time was the king allowed to wear it, and on
that occasion he was obliged by the constitu
tion to swear fealty to the people over whom
he was to reign. In other countries the people
swear allegiance to the king; in Hungary the
king swears allegiance to the people.
Though the Austrian rulers forgot their
vows and disregarded their oaths, yet until
the time of Maria Theresa they all went
through the form of being crowned with the
tiara of St. Stephen, and of promising fealty
and allegiance to the Hungarian people.
Maria Theresa's son, however, Joseph II, who
became king in 1780, refused to be crowned.
He was a far better man than those who had
preceded him, and he evidently had conscien
tious scruples about taking an oath which he
did not mean to observe and which the former
kings had utterly ignored. He introduced
many wise reforms, and evidently desired to
do his best for his people; but his refusal to
be crowned displeased them, and they never
called him their crowned king, but simply the
" hatted king." 164

Hungary, the Land of the Brave
Together with his wise measures and the
greatly needed reforms in church and state
which he advocated, he proposed many fool
ish laws, which simply irritated the people
and destroyed the effect of his wise progres-
siveness. One of these foolish regulations,
which might be compared to cutting off the
top-knots of the Koreans, — an act which so
exasperated them in the early days of Japan
ese rule, — was that the dead, instead of be
ing placed in coffins, should be sewed up
in sacks and thus buried, in order that the
boards of which coffins had been made might
be saved, and the forests economized for
other purposes than burying the dead. This
foolish piece of penny-wise economy, to
gether with many other similar edicts, cost
the King his popularity among the people;
but more especially when he commanded
them to drop their loved Hungarian tongue
and adopt German as their national language
did they rise up in their impotent wrath, for
they were not strong enough to overthrow
him. Other wicked and weak rulers followed
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Old Homes of New Americans
Joseph II, and it seemed as though the
troubles of this devoted country would never
come to an end; but a people so virile could
not be absolutely crushed. Misfortune was
powerless to destroy their inborn love of
liberty, and to Stephen Szechenyi must be
accorded the name of the Regenerator of
Hungary. He gave his money freely, and
kindled like desire on the part of other men of
wealth to arouse the national spirit to preserve
the national language and to make Hungary
again a centre of learning and of science.
He was the first of the great lords who dared
to speak in Parliament in his own native
tongue, where Latin had hitherto been used.
His influence was enormous, and from the
day he took his place in the Hungarian Diet
in 1825, the revival of the Hungarian national
spirit may be said to have dated. Yet Sze
chenyi was a conservative and not a radical,
in spite of his innovations, and it required a
more daring spirit still to complete the regen
eration of Hungary.
Such a man was found in Louis Kossuth,
a man who sprung from the people to tell
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Hungary, the Land of the Brave
them of their rights, and to lead them to final
victory in achieving them. Szechenyi was
too conservative for him to follow, for " Lib
erty, Equality, Fraternity," the watchwords
of the French Revolution, were the mottoes
of this new apostle of liberty. There are not
a few Americans still living who remember
the wonderful eloquence of Louis Kossuth.
Probabl}' no foreigner ever visited this coun
try who aroused his audiences to such a pitch
of enthusiasm as did this Hungarian exile.
It may not be known to many, however, that
he gained his wonderful command of the
English language, and his power to move
audiences in this country and in Great Britain
by his persuasive eloquence, while he was in
a Hungarian prison, for the revolution which
he planned and conducted proved at first to
be a failure. The reactionary powers were
too strong for him. To be sure, his troops
won many victories, especially under the lead
of Gorgei, and even Buda, the capital, was
taken from the Austrian troops; but at last
Austria persuaded Russia to come to her help,
and two hundred thousand Cossacks crossed
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Old Homes of New Americans
the borders of Hungary and with nearly half
as many Austrians attacked and finally routed
the Hungarian army, exhausted as it had
become in its many encounters with the
Croatians and Slavs. Kossuth fled to Tur
key and afterwards visited England and the
United States, for Hungary at this juncture
seemed to be completely under the power of
Austria, her old-time ally, who proved to be
her hardest taskmaster.
But Kossuth had not failed. Though de
feated, the cause for which he strove was not
killed. The spirit of the people was aroused.
Their love of freedom could not be quenched,
and at length the Austrian Government found
that its best plan was to conciliate rather than
to antagonize so powerful and patriotic a
people. One by one their rights and privi
leges were restored to them. In 1861 the
old constitution was given back to Hungary,
and the Hungarian legislature assembled
once more in its own capital. This legis
lature demanded the fullest autonomy for
Hungary, a demand which was not at once
acceded to; but when Austrian troubles in-
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Hungary, the Land of the Brave
creased, and the Austrians were defeated at
Sadowa by Prussia, they concluded that it
was best to grant to Hungary all that the
Hungarians demanded rather than to wit
ness a further dismemberment of their em
pire. In June, 1868, Emperor Francis Joseph I
was crowned King of Hungary, and the two
nations, Austria and Hungary, on an equal
footing began their united career. " We have
no Emperor," proudly say the Hungarians;
" the Austrians have an Emperor, and we have
a King; but our King swears allegiance to
his people and not the people to the King."
Though there has been much friction at
times, and many hot debates and scenes of
violence in the Hungarian parliament, this
dual arrangement has so far worked for the
benefit of Hungary. It will last, doubtless,
so long and only so long as it proves to be
for the substantial benefit of a country which,
amid all its vicissitudes for a thousand years,
has shown itself to be indomitable in its love
for liberty, in its hatred of oppression, and
in its purpose, even in its darkest days, to
remain a free and independent nation.

XI
HUNGARY — THE AMERICA OF THE OLD
WORLD
Points of Resemblance — The Cosmopolitan Make-up of
Hungary — The Assimilative Powers of Hungarians — The
Irresistible Contagion of the Magyar — The Variety of Climate
and Production — The Constant Tide of Emigration — The
Contrast between Magyar and Slav — The Hungarian Noble
— The Magnates — The Position of Women — "I kiss your
Hand" — Love of Education — Illiteracy of Eastern Church
— Higher Education — Hungary's Great Poet — Her Novel
ists — The Newspaper of Hungary — Hospitable to Foreign
ers — -A Support of the Hapsburg Dynasty — The Eloquent
Hungarian — Hungary's Great Resources.
In studying the characteristics of the Hun
garians, both from the printed page and by
personal intercourse with them in their own
land, I have been struck with their many
points of resemblance to Americans. If there
is any country which may be called " The
America of the Old World," it is that com
pact kingdom which lies in the heart of the
Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. The cosmo
politan make-up of the people is like Amer
ica. The Magyars themselves, the true Hun
garians, are a mixed race like our own, and
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The America of the Old World
the nation has inherited the best blood of
many peoples since their early ancestors
came down from the Asiatic plateaus of the
Ural Mountains, crossed the steppes of Rus
sia, and drove out or assimilated the peoples
whom they found on the banks of the fair
Danube. In their assimilative powers, too, the Hun
garians have shown their likeness to Amer
ica, or, since they are the older nation,
perhaps we should say that America, in
absorbing so many races, making of all of
them good Americans, has shown its like
ness to Hungary. The Slavs are of many
varieties. Slovaks, Slovenians, Ruthenians,
Croats, and Servians are found within the
borders of the crown lands of Hungary.
Though some of these races are making a
brave fight to maintain their individuality,
and though the racial consciousness has been
awakened in many quarters of late years, yet
of all the many peoples within the borders
of Austria-Hungary, the Magyars show the
greatest assimilative qualities. Their lan
guage is the dominant one. They are fore-
171

Old Homes of New Americans
most in politics and the industries of the
country, and multitudes who were not born
to the Magyar speech use that tongue in all
the daily transactions of life, just as Ger
mans, Scandinavians, Italians, and Greeks
after a little speak only English when they
come to America. Even the Jews often adopt
Magyar Christian names, to show their fealty
to the dominant race of Hungary, and in
many quarters the German is resented as un
patriotic, and French and English are much
preferred to the language of the Teutons.
Says a distinguished writer: "It is agreed
by many foreigners living in Hungary that
there is a contagion about the nationalist as
piration which is almost irresistible. In no
country in the world are there to be seen so
many divers races making one (despite local
jealousies) in their support of Hungarian
national tradition, and all are as vehement in
their advocacy of Hungarian independence
as the Magyars themselves. Jews and Ger
mans swell with patriotic pride over their
ancient constitution, and more than one in
stance could be cited of Hungarian patriots
172

The America of the Old World
(some well known as the exponents of the
Magyars to Europe) who have not one drop
of Magyar blood. The contagion, the attrac
tion, are in the Magyar people themselves,
and surely in this magic quality lies the se
cret of their success."
In the variety of its climate and its pro
ductions, Hungary bears some relation to
America. Though comparatively small when
placed side by side with the nation that
stretches from the Atlantic to the Pacific, it
is yet larger than Great Britain, Italy, or
Austria, and ranks seventh among the nations
of Europe in the number of square miles. In
the varieties of climate found within its bor
ders, it more resembles America than in the
extent of its territory; for the traveler can
go in a comparatively few hours from the
sub-tropical regions of Dalmatia, like Ragusa
and Abbazia, to the sub-Arctic regions of
the high Carpathians, and in that journey he
will find almost every kind of vegetation
that grows in the United States, from the
orange and lemon of Florida to the hard "A
No. I " wheat of the Northwest.
173

Old Homes of New Americans
Perhaps because of these similarities be
tween the two countries, America of late
years has proved to be a great magnet, draw
ing the Hungarian peoples from their Alfold,
or prairies, to the virgin prairies of the new
world. In 1906, 168,000 Hungarians landed
in America; and though the figures vary ac
cording to the prosperity (or lack of pro
sperity) in the two countries, yet doubtless
for many years to come there will be a con
stant outflow of hardy Hungarians tothe coun
try in the new world, in which they will find
so many characteristics that will remind them
of their old home. A few years ago the Gov
ernment of Hungary became quite alarmed
at the steady increase of emigration to Amer
ica, and tried in various ways to stem the
tide. They forbade lectures concerning the
new world, and advertisement of the steam
ship companies which carried the emigrants.
These efforts doubtless succeeded in keep
ing at home many thousands, but will scarcely
affect, to any considerable extent, or for any
great length of time, the mighty stream of
emigration. 174

The America of the Old World
The leading characteristics of the Magyars
are brought out in striking contrast when we
consider them in relation to the people of
other races with whom they live side by side.
For the most part these are Slavs, and the dif
ference between the Slavic temperament and
the Magyar is noticeable even to the hasty
traveler. Each race has its virtues and each
its easily besetting sins. Each, in a measure,
balances and supplements the other; and if
they could be induced to live in harmony and
peace, and could sink their racial animosities,
they would form, perhaps, the strongest com
bination in all Europe.
The Magyars are virile and strong, even
with the substratum of ferociousness, as their
early history shows before they were tamed
by the gentler ways of modern civilization.
The Slavs are dreamy and imaginative. The
Magyars were nomads, originally, who pas
tured great flocks and herds; while the Slavs
were agriculturists, and tilled the ground
where they made their permanent homes.
The Magyar nature is aristocratic, and the
"great nobles" or "Magnates," as they are
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Old Homes of New Americans
called, from the earliest days of their history
down to the present time have exerted a tre
mendous influence upon the government of
the state and its social organizations. The
Slavs are far more democratic by nature.
They have resented the trammels of a strong
government, which the Hungarians have al
ways been willing to endure, provided that
government was their own, and provided
they did not have to bow the knee to a foreign
power. For this reason the Slavs of Hun
gary have always been at a disadvantage,
politically, and have lived under the shadow
of the stronger and more warlike race that be
lieved in a strong and centralized government.
Throughout all its history, in its evil days
and its prosperous days, in its many disasters
brought upon it by foes within and foes with
out, Hungary has maintained its individuality.
It is characteristic of the people that in the an
cient times a bloody sword was sent around
as a token of war, and the levy in the time
of the great King Matthias called for one in
twenty to serve the country in the army,
though often a far larger proportion were
176

The America of the' Old World
drafted in times of war. The word "bus"
means twenty, and because one in twenty
was drafted, we have our modern word
" hussars," which has come down to us from
the days of the great Hungarian King.
Thus, while the other races of Hungary
are fragments of a greater whole, Hungary
is and always has been, with the exception
of some brief interregnums in its history, a
complete and independent nation. Its power
of recuperation from disaster has been re
markable. In the Middle Ages the Hunga
rian nation numbered over five millions of
people. The long, long wars with the Turks
succeeded, and the five millions of Magyars
were reduced to about half that number in
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; but
as soon as comparative peace smiled upon
Hungary again, the nation, which had been
harried and decimated by centuries of war,
at once gathered its forces together, renewed
its youth, and multiplied its population, until
now there are nearly twice as many who
boast of Magyar blood as in the palmiest days
of the Middle Ages. 177

Old Homes of New Americans
All the children of nobility in Hungary
take their father's rank. In England, only the
eldest son inherits his father's titles and the
entailed estates of the family. As a result,
there is a multitude of nobles in Hungary,
many of whom are very poor, and some of
whom are ignorant; nevertheless, their social
rank is maintained and admitted by the peas
ants. These are the " smaller nobles," while
the " Magnates," or " great nobles," are few
in number and exceedingly aristocratic. It is
said that the lesser nobles are afraid to asso
ciate with the great nobles for fear they may
have to show them a deference which they
do not admit is their due. The women are
especially afraid of this intercourse, lest they
be addressed by the too presuming "you,"
instead of "thou," which is used between
equals. The smaller nobles go into politics and, to
some extent, into trade and commerce, which
the Magnates despise, for the most part. In
former days this attitude toward the work of
the world resulted in many cases in a friv
olous, useless life on the part of the descend-
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The America of the Old World
ants of the greatest families, — a tendency, I
am told, which is being corrected in these
days, as the great nobles realize their respon
sibilities and are stirred with nobler feelings
of truer patriotism.
The position of woman in Hungary has al
ways been a noble one, and here again we
may say there is an evident point of contact
between the Hungarian and the American in
the respect and honor which is accorded to
the gentler sex. Even the meanest employee
kisses the hand of the mistress of the house,
not in degrading servility but as a kindly and
gracious courtesy. A lady from America,
in visiting Hungary, is often rather embar
rassed by this unusual attention, as her hand
is grasped by all classes and conditions of
people, and a fervent kiss implanted upon its
back. In the higher circles, however, a com
promise is often effected in these days, and
as the lady's hand is taken, the gentleman
says, with great grace and impressiveness,
" I kiss your hand," and allows it to go at
that.

179

Old Homes of New Americans
In their love for education, too, we find
another point of contact between the Hun
garians and the Americans. Though deci
mated and impoverished by centuries of war,
the desire to have their children educated and
obtain a good start in life never died out of
the Hungarian heart, and the percentage of
illiterates, now that the nation has become
prosperous, is being cut down with very grat
ifying and speedy regularity. The Germans
of Hungary are still slightly ahead in the
percentage of those who can read and write,
though the Magyars are rapidly overtaking
them, and at the present rate of progress they
will soon be (if they are not already) among
the best educated races of Europe.
When we consider the progress of educa
tion in the outlying provinces of the Magyar
land, we find that there is still much to be
desired. In the whole Hungarian kingdom,
something over sixty per cent of the inhabit
ants can read and write; but the percentage
is constantly growing, and it must also be
remembered that the illiteracy in Croatia,
Slavonia, and the more backward parts of the
1 80

The America of the Old World
kingdom greatly reduces the percentage in
the whole country.
There is also a great difference in this
respect between the Western and Eastern
churches of Hungary. In the Western
churches, which comprise the Reformed, the
Lutheran, the Roman Catholic, and the Uni
tarian, over sevent}-one per cent of the
people read and write; while in the Eastern
churches, represented by the Russian and
Greek Orthodox communions, according to
the last statistics, only twenty-two per cent
can read and write. The Jews present the
highest proportion of educated people, more
than eighty-three per cent of them being able
to master the printed page. The Evangelical
Protestants come next, and are less than one
per cent behind their Jewish neighbors.
In higher education, too, Hungary is mak
ing rapid progress. There are fifty-nine insti
tutes of university status in Hungary proper,
though forty-six of these are theological col
leges, which would seem to be a great dis
proportion, according to American ideas ; but
there are many sects in Hungary, and each
i8i

Old Homes of New Americans
one must have its own theological faculties.
There is a great desire to establish more
universities for science and the classics; and
there is evident need of this when we re
member that the University of Science in
Budapest enrolls over seven thousand pupils,
a number which is constantly increasing.
The inherent love of the Magyars for educa
tion is shown in the rapid advance of univer
sity extension, which recently enrolled in its
classes among the common people no less
than three hundred and thirty-seven thou
sand pupils.
When we come to the higher realms of
literature, though the Hungarian writers
have not as yet made a great impression
upon other lands, the nation has had noble
authors who deserve to be better known
and in a wider circle.
Petofi is the great national poet of Hun
gary, his countrymen claiming that he ranks
with Shakespeare and Goethe. He fired the
hearts of the Hungarians to stand for liberty
in the Revolution of '48, and though at first
all seemed to be lost, his patriotic verses
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The America of the Old World
rang in the hearts of the Magyar people
until they attained the liberty for which he
sung but which he never lived to see.
Jean Arany and Vorosmarty are also
reckoned as poets of national stature and of
international fame, while the novelists Jokai,
Kemeny, and Eotvos are held in high esteem
by all who can read their novels in the orig
inal. The genius of the Hungarian language
makes it difficult to translate into other
tongues, and on this account the niceties of
expression and the beauties of form are often
lost when translations are attempted.
The libraries of Hungary, too, are no mean
addition to its literary life. The Hungarian
National Museum at Budapest contains a
million and a half volumes, pamphlets, and
manuscripts, "preserving many of the old
est monuments of the Hungarian language,
as well as a host of manuscripts invaluable
from the point of view of Hungarian litera
ture and history."
The circulation of the newspapers, while it
may not argue much for the literary taste of
the Hungarians, declares them to be a read-
183

Old Homes of New Americans
ing nation, for the latest statistics available
show that over one hundred and fifty mil
lions of newspapers were delivered through
the Hungarian post-office in a single year,
in addition to the u.nknown millions which
were sold locally and delivered at the houses
by newsboys. A large proportion of these
newspapers are in the Magyar language,
though the German is well represented, with
a smaller number in Croatian, Slovak, Rou
manian, and Servian.
The prophets of evil frequently announce
the downfall of the United States, because of
the great number of alien peoples who are
constantly coming to our shores. In their
gloomy croakings they tell us that we can
never absorb them, and that they will be our
overthrow and ruin, because of their antago
nistic qualities.
We may gain some comfort, however,
from the history of Hungary, which, as I
have already said, is a nation of mixed races,
and has gained its strength largely from the
infusion of foreign blood in the original stock.
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The America of the Old World
Sa)'S an eminent Hungarian, Dr. Julius de
Vargha, the Director of the Statistics of the
Kingdom of Hungary: —
The Hungarian (Magyar) nation of to-day is no
longer an Asiatic people, but a European nation
composed of the intermingling of \-arious races un
der the influence of the natural conditions prevailing
in the country. . . . Mighty conquering peoples —
the Goths, Franks, Lx)mbards, Normans, and, of the
Hunno-Scythian peoples, the Bulgarians — became
completely absorbed in the conquered races: only
the Hungarians have succeeded in maintaining their
racial individuality, despite the intermixture of
blood. . . . The Hungarian nation, which on ob
taining possession of its new home was thrown on
a huge ocean of foreign races, owes its preservation
as a nation entirely to the fact that it was never
exclusive. It was never in favor of racial exclusive
ness, and was always only too glad to receive into
its ranks the best sons of other races. The selected
representatives of foreign people brought with them
the best characteristics of their own race, and
helped to form a strong, hardy, almost indomitable
nation, which was able to endure terrible catastro
phes that would have wiped other peoples entirely
off the face of the globe.
In another chapter some of these catastro
phes, entailed by the long and bloody wars
with the Turks, have been related.
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Old Homes of New Americans
You cannot insult a true Magyar more
than by intimating that his nation is in any
way subject to Austria, and that he belongs
to the Austrian Empire. Yet in spite of this
independence, which sometimes is carried to
an almost absurd extreme, the Hungarian
Kingdom seems to be the strongest support
of the Hapsburg Monarchy. We may be
lieve, however, that it is only because the
Emperor is wise enough to treat the Mag
yars as an independent nation.
In the many-tongued monarchy at present under
the rule of the House of Hapsburg [says Dr. Vargha],
it is the Hungarian nation whose interests and na
tional ambitions are identical with the interests of
the dynasty, and do not act as a centrifugal force.
However strong the specially Austrian traditions
maybe, the Germans (in Austria- Hungary) stand un
der the alluring influence of the splendor and power
of the great German empire. The Italians long to
join Italy; the Slovenians, Croatians, and Servians
dream of the establishment of a great Southern
Slav Empire ; the Roumanians are drawn towards the
independent Kingdom of Roumania. The Hunga
rians (Magyars) alone are possessed of no dreams of
disintegration : their past, present, and future binds
them to their present home; and they are, conse
quently, the firmest pillar of the House of Hapsburg.
i86

The America of the Old World
To prove that the Hungarians are an elo
quent race, we need only point to the long
array of great orators, some of whom, like
Kossuth of a former generation and Apponyi
of the present day, are almost as well known
in America as in Hungary. I recently at
tended the meeting of the synod of the Re
formed Church of Hungary in the city of
Debreczen, where Kossuth, nearly seventy
years ago, proclaimed the absolute independ
ence of the Hungarian nation at the begin
ning of his valiant but ill-fated struggle for
liberty. The great Reformed Church build
ing where the independence of Hungary was
proclaimed still stands ; and as I listened to the
eloquent words of the members of the synod,
drawn from all parts of the kingdom, I real
ized that Kossuth's mantle had fallen upon
more than one of his compatriots of the pre
sent day, and that, if need were, many another
voice would be lifted with equal effect for the
national freedom which, at last, after so many
struggles, seems to be assured to the brave
people of Hungary.
Another likeness to America is found in
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Old Homes of New Americans
the vast stores of coal and iron that Hungary
contains, two products which lie at the very
base of industrial expansion. With the splen
did prairies of the lowlands, prairies with soil
as deep and rich as that of Iowa; with coal
and iron mines which have not yet begun to
be developed; with an enterprising and pro
gressive people; with a mighty river like the
Danube to transport the products of industry
to the sea; with a magnificent system of rail
roads, divided into zones, which makes trans
portation cheaper than in any other land, the
future industrial and commercial progress of
Hungary would seem to be assured. There
are few countries in the world with greater
natural advantages, none perhaps with a more
beautiful and stately capital, none with a more
enterprising and virile people. May the fu
ture of Hungary be worthy of the distin
guished favors which have been heaped upon
it by a kind and generous Providence!

XII
THE CROATS IN CROATIA AND IN AMERICA
A Surprisingly Beautiful City — A Spot of Pathetic Inter
est — A Musical Language — A Hard Stepmother — Too
Many Eggs in One Basket — The Terribly Barren Karst —
Three Hundred Thousand Croatians in America — The Peas
ant Life of Croatia — The Peasant Girl and her Marriage
Chest — Notes of a Croatian School-Teacher — The Sad De
parture of the Emigrant — The Sorrowful Friends at Home
The Good Old Days— The Contributions sent to the Old
Home — The Heartache and the Hope.
I SHALL not soon forget my surprise on
reaching Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, one
November afternoon, to find a city so beauti
ful and substantial. I must confess that my
geographical knowledge had not made me
thoroughly acquainted with this metropolis;
and under the German name, Agram, by which
I had formerly known it, I had thought of it
as a third-rate provincial city, scarcely worthy
of a traveler's time and money. Judge, then, of
my mild amazement when I found a charming
city, with all the conveniences and many of the
luxuries of modern city life, a city that would
rank for beauty and enterprise with any of the
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Old Homes of New Americans
smaller capitals of Europe. Here is a fine art
museum, handsomely housed, a prosperous
university with hundreds of students, a beau
tiful park with handsome statues of Croatian
worthies, a South Slav Academy of Arts and
Sciences, and excellent industrial and trade
schools. All this profusion of monumental
buildings for art and literature greets the trav
eler when first he leaves the railway station,
and gives him an impression of a cultured
people with a distinct individuality and na
tional life of its own.
Further back towards the hillside which is
climbed by the residential section of Zagreb
(I prefer to give the capital the Croatian
name) is a busy retail street and an interesting
market-place that centres around the heroic
statue of Ban Jellacic,the great national hero
of Croatia. Beyond the market-place is a
handsome Gothic cathedral, reminding one
not a little of Cologne's masterpiece.
But the spot of supreme pathetic interest
to me in Zagreb is an old church of the
thirteenth century, called St. Mark's. It is
small and battered, but it marks the last stand
190

The Croats
of the Croatians for independence. In the
pavement in front of the church are five holes
sacred in the eyes of all Zagrebians, for here
were set the five iron posts to which was
bound the last Croatian king. Fagots were
piled up around him and set on fire, and the
old king was burned alive. But the spirit of
liberty did not die with him. The intensity
of the national spirit of the Croats is surpris
ing, considering that for nearly a thousand
years they have been subject to other powers.
Their language, their customs, their dress, are
as dear to them as ever.
Nowhere in all Europe does one see such
picturesque peasant costumes as in Croatia.
White or very light colors predominate, re
lieved by beautiful colored embroidery. The
Croatian language, too, is one of the most
musical of all Slav tongues, abounding in
open vowels. This language is used in their
schools, as well as in their courts, and there
seems to be little danger of its being lost to
the world.
Most of the time for the last nine hundred
years Croatia has been united to Hungary,
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Old Homes of New Americans
a country which, it must be confessed, has
been a hard stepmother at times. This is not
to be wondered at, perhaps, when we re
member all the provocation that she has had.
In the revolution of 1848-49, for instance,
when Hungary was making her brave fight
for freedom under Kossuth and the other
patriots, Croatia sided with Austrian tyrants
and helped the Hapsburgs to put a galling
yoke on the neck of Hungary. The Croats,
however, did not gain much; for though they
were free from Hungarian dominion for a
season of years, and enjoyed for a little time
a practical independence, yet in 1868 Croatia
was given back to Hungary. " We hate the
Hungarians and fear the Austrians," said an
intelligent Croat to me. It is somewhat dif
ficult for a stranger to understand the rea
son for this racial dislike of the Hungarians,
since Croatia now enjoys a large degree of
autonomy. Indeed, her relation to Hungary,
as one of the "crown lands of St. Stephen,"
is very much the same as the relation of
Hungary to Austria. In postal and military
affairs Hungary and Croatia are united under
192

The Croats
one system, but in religious and educational
matters Croatia is quite independent. Her
own beloved language is used in the schools.
The towns have Croatian names, though
sometimes supplemented by German names
in German guide-books. The streets of Za
greb are named in Croatian and after Croa
tian heroes.
Croatia suffers, like most of the countries
of southeastern Europe, because too much
of the wealth and intelligence of the country
is centred in the capital. Too many of her
eggs are in one basket, so to speak. Her
culture and education are not diffused as
they should be through the country districts.
Much of the country, especially the western
and seashore districts, is poor and sterile
and mountainous. In thousands of acres of
the so-called Karst or limestone district not
a blade of grass has courage to peer between
the rocks in this hideous desolation. It is
from this region naturally that emigration
to the United States has chiefly taken place,
and it is said, though it is somewhat difficult
to untangle the nationalities from this part
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Old Homes of New Americans
of the world in the Census Reports, that
there are at least three hundred thousand
Croatians living to-day in America. Though
most of them are farmers at home, they flock
to the coal, iron, and copper mines of Amer
ica, lured by the high wages, and undeterred
by the hardships which they know will be
theirs. If this living Croatian river could be
directed to the fertile prairies of the Dakotas
and Nebraska, it would be a blessing not
only to the Croats, but to these prairie states
as well.
I would not give the impression that the
Croatian peasants are undesirable immigrants,
by any means. There are few better. They
have the virtues developed by poverty and
a hard struggle with human enemies. For
centuries they were, with the Hungarians
and Transylvanians, part of the long bul
wark of Christianity against the Turk, and
it is their proud boast that they never came
under the power of Islam. Few in our day
realize what Europe, and America as the
heir of Europe, owe to these intrepid Christ
ians, against whom the tide of Mohammed-
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The Croats
anism broke in vain for many centuries.
Had they given way and let in the Mussul
man horde, the history of civilization would
have been written in darker and bloodier
characters. The peasant life of Croatia, though poor
and illiterate, is by no means hopeless. We
must rid ourselves of the idea that to read
and write are the only essential elements of
an education. Though of the older peasants
of Croatia less than half can read or write
their own names, yet we have pleasant pic
tures of their gathering in groups on winter
evenings to listen while some one reads to
them, not only the newspapers, but transla
tions of Tolstoy, Turgenieff, and Dostoyev-
sky. Who will say that men and women
who can appreciate such modern classics
are not quite as well educated as young
Americans, who have been through nine
grades of the public schools and then find
their literary aspirations fully satisfied, as
many of them do, by a yellow journal or a
" penny dreadful " ?
Many of the Croatian farmhouses are by
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Old Homes of New Americans
no means inhospitable in their appearance.
They are built of brick or wattle, covered
with plaster and often painted a bright color.
Around them are frequently clustered com
fortable outhouses for the cattle, while a
number of little shelters for the hay, some
times a score of them on one farm, seem to
be a peculiarity of Croatia.
Very likely you will see a gayly clad peas
ant girl watching her geese or her sheep
while she industriously knits a long gray
stocking, and you may know that she is
making part of her wedding trousseau. She
may be but six or eight years of age, but
she has already begun the unending click,
click, click of the knitting needles, with
which she must provide part of her bridal
costume; for the unwritten law of the land
prescribes that when she gets married, she
shall have stockings enough knit to last her
husband as well as herself the rest of their
lives. Indeed, her chest must contain a com
plete outfit for the bridegroom as well as for
herself, — jacket, underwear, shoes, and cap,
— while he is not expected to bring any-
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The Croats
thing to his prospective bride. The parents
of the happy couple usually arrange the de
tails of the marriage in advance, going very
minutely into every question that ought to
be considered. Finally, the most interested
parties are brought together, when the par
ents have arranged all details, and the young
man presents his future wife with an apple,
while she returns the favor with a handker
chief, and the engagement is complete. This
is a reversal of the Adam and Eve story, and
we may hope that the fruit is never an apple
of discord.
Though not strictly of the same stock, a
few words about our neighbors from Dal
matia, Bosnia, and Herzegovina may not be
out of place in this connection. Dalmatia is
the long narrow strip of seacoast fronting the
Adriatic, back of which lie the homes of the
peasants of whom I have been writing, as
well as the provinces of Bosnia-Herzego
vina, which Austria annexed as recently as
1908, after having "administered" them for
many years.
Dalmatia is a frightfully sterile country in
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Old Homes of New Americans
many parts, but extremely picturesque, and
richer in antiquities than almost any part of
the earth's surface. Ruined castles and tem
ples and palaces that date back to the heroic
days of Rome line the shore; and as I have
described in another chapter, no more fas
cinating journey can be made than down the
island-sheltered shore of Dalmatia, until one
comes to the inhospitable Black Mountains
of Montenegro, which of course lie outside
of the boundaries of Austria-Hungary.
The emigration from these sections of the
empire has been small, scarcely totaling
thirty thousand in the ten years between
1899 and 1909, which seems strange when
we remember how great are the numbers
sent to America from the rest of Austria.
Though the Dalmatians are Slavs, there is an
admixture of Greek and Latin blood. From
the north of the Dalmatian coast come to
America many Italians; for Trieste, as we
shall see in another chapter, is an Italian
city on Austrian soil, but these new fellow
citizens have all the characteristics of those
who come from Italy proper.
198

The Croats
I am tempted to quote at some length from
some "notes" written by a Croatian school
teacher.* They present the matter of emigra
tion from the inside so graphically that I be
lieve no one can read them without having
kindled in his soul a new interest in the word
" Americans." To-day they are telling in the village that fifteen
are going to Fiume to-morrow by the early train, —
men, women, and young girls on their way to Amer
ica. They were all blessed by the priest after mass.
The prayer for their happiness away from home was
very moving. All who knelt before the altar were
pale, struggling against the tears in eyes which may
never see this church again. On this consecrated
spot they took leave of the fatherland, our dear
Croatia, who cannot feed her children because she
is not free nor the mistress of her own money. She
must let them go among strangers in order that
those who remain may live, they and their children
and their old people. And the old people die in peace
because they have hope; the little ones shall fare
better than ever they have done.
This morning all went early to confession. With
God they go safer on their long journey. Toward
evening they can be seen hurrying from house to
' Quoted in Our Slavic Fellow Citizens, by Pro
fessor Emily G. Balch. 199

Old Homes of New Americans
house, taking leave of those that they love. Who
can say that there will ever be another meeting for
them? It is very late before they have finished these
visits, and the family waits for them with impa
tience. With impatience, how else, when this even
ing or rather the few hours still left are so short?
This is the last supper at home. There is no going to
bed, for at three they must start for the station, as
the train goes at four. It is so sad to hear them
driving through the village singing a song which
expresses all the feelings of their sore heartsi
The saddest moment of all is the departure. The
train has come, they must get on board. How many
tears and sobs and kisses in our little forest and
rock-bound station! Friends go with them to
Fiume — all but the children and the old folks, who
stay in the village alone.
In Fiume the girls buy what they need for the
journey, and a little gold crucifix. That must be
bought in the fatherland. So must rings, too.
Often the parents buy the betrothal rings for their
sons and daughters, who marry in America, and
send them to them. Faith and love come from the
homeland. Finally, at the ship good-byes must be said, the
last. One little girl, whose older sister was going by
train to Vienna, had gone with her to Fiume. But
when the train was about to go the little one flung
herself down upon the ground in her distress and
shrieked terribly. Every one tried to pacify her, but
she pressed her little hands over her eyes to hide the
200

The Croats
engine from her sight, and answered, " It is easy for
you to talk, but this hateful engine is robbing me of
my sweet sister." She was quite ill with suffering,
and they had much ado to get her away. But it ia
hardest for the mothers who let their daughters or
their sons go.
Very late, after midnight, people come home —
alone. Now come quiet tears and prayers that God
may grant the travelers a safe arrival. With what
anxiety and joy do they wait for the news from the
agent that their dear ones have reached New York
in safety. There relatives are already expecting
them, and the journey can be peacefully continued
in their company. Our people generally go to Michi
gan. In one town there are so many that our people
call it "New Lipa."
The money for the journey always comes from
relatives or friends to whom all is honestly repaid
later. The young fellows try to save the money to
bring over a young girl. When she comes to Amer
ica — generally she does not know her suitor — she
is married. If she is unwilling, not finding him to
her liking, she must pay back the money, but it
very often happens that another lad pays it for her
and takes her for his wife instead.
Many girls are very fortunate in America. For
instance, this very day a family is coming home.
The wife was poor and ill-favored. Relatives sent
her money for the journey to America, and there she
married a poor and very humble sort of man. By
work and saving they have got together six thou-
20I

Old Homes of New Americans
sand dollars in thirteen years. They have six child
ren and with them are now returning. In those
days she was poor, ridiculed, alone; now she is well-
to-do, respected, the mother of a family. The women
are full of curiosity about her. At noon they were all
in the street in hopes of seeing her, but in vain. She
and her family are staying in Fiume and will come
to-night, perhaps. My housekeeper is her godmo
ther, and so awaits her happy godchild with much
pleasure, for she is to offer her, for purchase, a large
meadow which once belonged to the parents of her
godchild, but which they were obliged to sell. I
think that would be a very pleasant feeling, to be
able to buy back again a piece of land lost in one's
father's time, and to let the happy grandchildren
jump and play about where once the poor grand
father worked, and whence misfortune drove him
away to die.
My housekeeper, who is already sixty-five, can
not tell without crying how it used to be here in the
good old days. Thirty-four years ago there was no
railroad. Our splendid highway, the "Lujziane,"
even then a century old, saw such activity as will
never return. All travel was by this road, and our
people were happy because they always had the op
portunity to work and to live in peace. In one house
they kept ten servants, men and maids. Day and
night the teams with their heavy loads were on the
highway. Labor was very cheap, a man got about
thirteen cents and a woman six cents a day. To be
-sure, they had good food besides, bread, meat, and
202

The Croats
wine as much as they wanted, and the children of
the women servants were fed, too. The wages were
low, as I have said, yet the people were contented.
Some got very rich, but the poor, too, were well
provided for.
Twenty years ago two men went to America from
here, the first from our place to go. Now nearly half
the village isin America. It is hard to till the fields,
for there are no workers to be had. Whoever has
strength and youth is at work in America. At home
are only the old men and women, and the young
wives with their children. Every wife has much to
do for herself. Only poor girls work in the fields.
"And they must be paid a crown (twenty cents) a
day," sighs my housekeeper, and thinks of the bet
ter days of old. . . .
What especially pleases them is the respect in
which workers are held in America. They are better
cared for, too, mentally. They have three or four
Croatian papers, they have organizations, and learn
much that they bring home later. They have their
priests and churches, but as yet only two Croatian
schools. All is founded by the contributions of
workingmen. They send a great deal home to the
churches, too; they are supporting a poor man, and
in 1903, when there were the disturbances in Croatia
about the Hungarian flag and the Hungarian inscrip
tions on the railroad stations, our brothers in Amer
ica sacrificed a great deal for the support of the
families of those under arrest. They love Croatia
dearly. Each one longs for home and wants to die
203

Old Homes of New Americans
here. We Slavs are so soft-natured. Homesickness
is our disease. On account of it many Croatians
cannot hold out, and return home too soon.
The talk is all of America. Our newspapers write
so much what a bad thing it is for whole families to
go there as they do. But it is no use. People must
eat. The stones are hard. There is too little land.
The Government does nothing for the good of the
people. There are no factories, there is no building,
no mining. So how can people live and pay tcixes?
And if the taxes are not paid the cow is taken from
the stall, the pillows from under the head.
Only American capital could lessen the stream of
emigration. Croatia is a beautiful country. Our
mountains doubtless hold great treasures, but we
lack the money with which to seek them. Only
American capital could bring them to light. We
have the beautiful sea, the lovely PUtvica lakes, and
the fine district about Agram, but we cannot make
use of these beauties as a rich and free people could.
We have a sufficient income, but as a public man has
said, "Our pockets are in the Hungarian trousers."
The Hungarians have our money, and give us just
enough to keep us alive. Only a free and inde
pendent nation can progress. We are like dead
capital. But we hope for our national resurrection. So
many have already died in this hope. It is our ideal,
our dearest one. For this Zriny and Frankopany
died. The innocent blood of our best sons must at
last bring us good fortune. 204

The Croats
Doubtless this schoolmistress, in her deep
love for her native land, depicts her condi
tion and the rule of Hungary in too gloomy
a light ; but this long extract is well worth
quoting, for it reveals the heart of the emi
grant not only from Croatia, but from all these
other lands, and the hearts of those left be
hind as well, as no foreigner could possibly
reveal them, and it should strike a sympa
thetic chord in the heart of every reader.
The love of home, the high patriotism, the
inexorable conditions that drive the exile
across the sea, the homesickness, the void
left behind, the high hopes of the new home
— alas! sometimes dashed, but more often
fulfilled — all this is depicted in these simple
but eloquent " notes." As we look at the new
arrivals, swarming to our shores at Ellis
Island, or Boston, or Baltimore, we may well
think that for everyone, from whatever coun
try he comes, there is something of the heart
ache and the hope revealed in these words.

XIII
THE SLOVENIANS AND THEIR CONTRIBU
TION TO AMERICA
Where the Slovenians come from — Where they go — A
Thrifty People — A Picturesque Country — An Undiscovered
Paradise — The Aspirations of the Slovenians for Liberty —
A Literary Revival and the Reformation — The Curious An
cient Custom of inaugurating the Prince.
Quite distinct from the Slovaks is another
Slav race that is sending its sons to America
by the ten thousand. These are Slovenians
from the southwestern part of Austria. Most
of them in Carinthia, Styria, and Carniola
are directly under Austrian rule. A few
others in Croatia-Slavonia are under the
Hungarian crown, with certain autonomous
powers of their own. It is difficult to know
just how many Slovenians have reached
America, since they are often classified as
Austrians in the emigration reports; but five
years ago, in 1907, a Slovenian editor esti
mated that there were at least one hundred
thousand of them in the United States, includ-
206

The Slovenians
ing Alaska. Moreover, it is a cheering fact
that they do not all, or indeed many of them,
seek their fortune in New York or Boston
or Philadelphia, but they scatter themselves
throughout the Western States, as many as
fifteen thousand Slovenian farmers being set
tled in the State of Washington, while nearly
as many more have taken up farms in Min
nesota, and other thousands are found in
Kansas, Utah, and Colorado. They are a
thrifty people, as is shown bj- the facts that
three thousand Slovenians are in business
in and near Pueblo, Colorado, and that the
Slovenian farmers in Minnesota are almost
uniformly prosperous. An interesting depart
ment-store item is that the largest establish
ment of this sort north of Chicago is owned
and operated by a Slovenian, in Calumet,
Michigan. In a recent journey through the Slovenian
country, I was charmed with the delightful
scenery, and the picturesqueness of the vil
lages and of the peasants in their quaint cos
tumes. After the long railway journey over
the rich but monotonous plains of Hungary,
207

Old Homes of New Americans
it was a relief to get into the hilly country
of Carniola and Carinthia. Charming val
leys nestled under the protection of beetling
crags, sparkling brooks ran chattering down
the hillsides, splendid forests clothed the
mountains almost to the top, while one often
obtained glimpses of rich intervales and
prosperous farms and pastures, dotted with
flocks and herds, and flecked with hundreds
of white geese and ducks. It seemed to me
like an undiscovered Paradise, for compara
tively few tourists disturb these lovely soli
tudes. No Cook's "personally conducted
parties " invade the primitive hotels. I won
dered, as the crooked railway revealed new
charms every moment, that some enterprising
Swiss hotel-keeper had not discovered them,
and trumpeted them abroad. I know of no
more delightful spots in the valleys of the
Rhone or the Rhine than in the valley of the
Laibach. The city of Laibach, in Carniola,
the unofficial capital of the Slovenians, struck
me as a peculiarly beautiful town, where I
would like to settle down for a long summer
holiday. 208

The Slovenians
As one approaches the sea in the neighbor
hood both of Fiume and Trieste, the country
becomes more sterile, and at last absolutely
hopeless, from the agricultural standpoint.
Gaunt, bare granite hills rise up on every
side, wind-swept and bleak. The dreadful
Bora has whirled the last particle of soil
from between the rocks, and the poor peas
ants, in order to raise a few cabbages and
potatoes, must build a high wall of masonry
around their little plots, which are some
times not more than fifteen feet square.
The Slovenians, as compared with the
Slovaks, are not a great people numerically,
numbering only about a million and a half
who speak their language; and it is interest
ing to know that already one Slovenian out
of fifteen lives in America. It is not too much
to believe that, before the end of this cen
tury, she will harbor a majority of these hardy,
enterprising sons of the soil.
That Slovenes are not without aspirations
for liberty and a national life of their own is
shown by their various efforts to secure na
tional independence. These uprisings were
209

Old Homes of New Americans
almost hopeless, surrounded as the people
were by half a dozen nationalities far stronger
than their own; but they indicate that the
Slovenes have the spirit of free men, and
will appreciate the blessings of a free re
public. At the period of the Reformation, a large
part of the Slovene country became Protest
ant. But the nobles, who remained Catholic,
together with most of the landed proprietors,
aided by the predominant influence of the
Jesuits, forced or coaxed the people back to
the Mother Church again, so that now they
are Roman Catholics almost to a man. As in
Bohemia, the Protestant Reformation brought
in its train a literary as well as a religious
revival, and the Bible and other books were
translated into Slovenian, a literary renas
cence which has not entirely disappeared,
though the people are no longer allowed to
read the Bible in their own tongue.
In the Napoleonic wars much of the Slo
venian country, together with Dalmatia and
Croatia, was united to France for a short
time, as her Illyrian provinces. But Napo-
2IO

The Slovenians
Icon's star waned, and the Slovenians were
obliged to return to their old allegiance.
A curious ancient custom of the Slovenes,
as told by Louis Ledger in his history of
Austria- Hungary, is worth recording. When
a new prince was inaugurated over the Slo
venians, a peasant mounted a rock to await
the coming of the prince, who was dressed
like a peasant. As the prince advanced,
the peasant called, "Who is this who ap
proaches ? " The people answered, " It is the
prince of this land." The peasant then said,
"Is he a good judge.'' Is he the friend of
truth ? " On receiving a reply in the affirma
tive, the peasant yielded his place to the new
comer, who mounted the rock and, brandish
ing his sword, vowed to defend the country
of the Slovenians. We may well believe that
people with such blood in their veins will
not disgrace their adopted country.

XIV
OUR NEIGHBORS THE SLOVAKS AT HOME
How many Slovaks in America? — An Interesting, Whole
some, Industrious People — Theirj Folklore — Old-fashioned
Ways — Their Beautiful Costumes — Their Lack of Educa
tion — Illiteracy not the Worst Fault — The Virtues and
Vices of the Slovaks — Famous for Wire- and Tin- Work —
The Proverbial Honesty of the Slovak — How the Magyariz-
ing Policy of Hungary drives the Slovaks to America.
No wonder that the average American
becomes confused when trying to straighten
out in his mind the nationality of the neigh
bors who come from that conglomerate na
tion, Austria-Hungary, and to differentiate
the Slovaks from the Slovenians, the Czechs
from the Poles, and the great dominating race
of Magyars from the more numerous Slavs
who share the same territory. I asked an
intelligent American lady, who had traveled
widely and was not unacquainted with the
history and nationality of Austria-Hungary,
how man}' Slovaks she thought there were
in the United States. She hazarded the guess
that there might be twenty thousand. She
212

The Slovaks
was only five hundred and eighty thousand
out of the way, but I have no doubt her guess
was quite as near the truth as would be that
of most of her countrywomen, or countrymen
either, for that matter. Surely a nationality
with six hundred thousand representatives in
the United States, a nationality that would
people a city as large as Boston or Baltimore,
a race that sends to the homeland some fif
teen million hard-earned dollars every j'ear,
a race that sends, not its weaklings and in
competents, but the best of its brawn and
muscle, its vigorous, enterprising, virtuous
young men and women, is worth the sympa
thetic consideration of every American.
Though both are Slavs, the Slovaks must
not be confounded with the Slovenians, who
come from quite a different part of the Hun
garian kingdom. The native habitat of the
former is in the north, along the borders of
the Carpathian Mountains, and not far from
the Moravians and Bohemians, whom they
resemble in language and customs, while the
Slovenians live in the south on the border of
Croatia. They have no splendid independent
. 213

Old Homes of New Americans
national history like their neighbors, the Bo
hemians and the Poles, and they are not so
assertive of their individual nationality as the
Magyars, to whom they are subject; but they
are an interesting, wholesome, industrious
people, who will add a worth-while strain
of blood to our cosmopolitan nation.
Like all the Slavic races, their literature,
written and oral (if we may thus speak of it),
is rich in folklore, and every ruined castle
(and in some parts of the Slavic country these
ruins crown almost every crag) has its legend.
Sometimes these legends are blood-curdling
in the extreme, like the story of Csejte, where
the cruel countess lived who murdered three
hundred young girls, that she might bathe in
their blood and thus renew her youth.
The Slovak peasants at home are neat in
their personal habits, and their homes, though
often very poor, are models of cleanliness.
You will find the bed-coverings the special
pride of the Slovaks. The feathers of nearly
twenty of the plump geese which you will
see in every dooryard are needed to fill only
one of the great pillows, almost as large as
214

The Slovaks
feather beds, which are piled up on the couch
often found in the living-room. Superfine are
these big downy pillows in their jackets of
bright cloth, covered with embroidered linen.
They are evidently the joy of their owners'
hearts. The old-fashioned loom has not yet
disappeared from Slovak-land, or the spin
ning-wheel either; and spinning-bees, which
are as popular as husking-bees or apple-
paring-bees in some parts of America, while
away the long winter evenings.
It is too much to expect of a mere man that
he should describe the beautiful and unique
costumes of Slovak women, so I will borrow
Miss Balch's description: —
Every little village has its own peculiarities of
dress, so that its people are distinguishable to the
initiated, and this doubtless helps to give a strong
sense of local solidarity. Within the village there
is the most scrupulous adherence to custom. The
kerchief knotted under the chin, apparently care
lessly, is in reality arranged in certain folds and at a
certain angle precisely as prescribed by local usage,
and in a way that is different from that of the next
place. The colors are usually harmonious and brilliant,
though in some districts a wonderful effectiveness is
215

Old Homes of New Americans
gained by heavy embroidery of black and white, with
no color. In many places bright-patterned stuffs,
usually in large flowered designs, are attractively
used for skirt, bodice, and apron. The latter is usu
ally the show-piece in a woman's holiday costume.
The great beauty of these costumes is the em
broidery, which is, indeed, with song, the chief art of
the Slovak. The women do this work chiefly in the
winter, when their fingers are sufficiently soft again
after the field work. They are said often to em
broider their patterns without first drawing them,
and they work so neatly that the underside is almost
as perfect as the upper. . . .
Special units of design often have special names,
like the quilting patterns of our grandmothers.
Many of them seem to be quite fanciful: the "lover's
eye," or the "little window," may have no visible
resemblance to the object named.
Girls and married women are generally distin
guished, the former as a rule by their long braids,
the latter by their caps, which are usually hidden,
however, under the universal kerchief. Otherwise,
the dress is the same from childhood to old age. If
the skirts of the district are full and short, they are
short for grandmother; and if long, they are long
even for the toddler of three or four.
In many places the women wear very short skirts
and leather boots to the knees, like a man's. At first
these boots strike the stranger as unfeminine, but an
experience of what mud can be here soon converts
one to their good sense. 2x6

The Slovaks
Except in the matter of education, the
Slovaks are among the most desirable of the
newcomers to America, and even in this re
spect they are by no means at the foot of the
ladder. Only about thirty per cent of them
can neither read nor write, and illiteracy is
by nomeans the worst of faults. An educated
knave is usually a superlative knave, and an
honest Slovak, who does n't know his letters,
but knows the right end of a pick and shovel,
and has the brawn to wield them, is worth
far more to America than a lily-fingered idler
who has the little learning which is a danger
ous thing, that makes him unable to dig, but
perhaps not ashamed to beg.
I would not paint the Slovaks in too bright
colors. The love of strong drink is no doubt
one of their weaknesses, and in this they are
inferior to their southern neighbors of Greece
and Italy, who often come in the same steer
age compartment. But for their intemperate
habits they are not altogether to blame. In
addition to their natural love for strong fire
water, which they share with all Northern
nations, every opportunity and encourage-
217

Old Homes of New Americans
ment is given them to get drunk on every
possible occasion. The landed proprietor,
whose land the peasant rents, is often a dis
tiller of potato brandy as well, and is not
averse to the peasant's disposing of as much
of his product as possible. The Jews, who
monopolize the retail liquor business, are also
money-lenders, and often have the peasants
in their power as creditors, and are quite
willing to have them get still further into debt
for their drink bill. The Government gets
much of its revenue from the sale of liquor,
and does not favor Blue Ribbon societies,
and thoroughly disapproves of the W- C.
T. U. and kindred organizations. Yet, let it
not be thought that the Slovaks are a drunken
race. The emigrants from Ireland, Scotland,
and Holland probably consume far more hard
liquor per capita than the Slovaks, and the
latter are by no means unable to appreciate
the arguments for temperance which are pre
sented to them with so much cogency when
they reach America.
A specialty of the Slovak artisan seems to
be wire- and tin-work. For centuries, it is
218

The Slovaks
said, most of the tinware of Europe was made
by Slovaks, and Slovak tinware factories in
different parts of America are doing a flour
ishing business, because of the inherited skill
of the workmen from the fatherland. When
earthenware was more costly and conse
quently more precious than now, the wan
dering Slovak wire peddler was often called
upon to mend the cracked pot, and it is said
that his job was not considered workman
like and satisfactory unless the old mended
pot rang like a bell.
The honesty of the Slovaks at home is
proverbial. The emigrants who wish to go
to America can almost invariably obtain a
loan at the bank, which is repaid within a
few months. If for any reason the emigrant
is unable to pa}', his brothers or his relatives
assume the debt. When he reaches America,
the Slovak does not forget the old home.
Until he is joined by his family in America,
and has severed the old ties with Hungary,
it is said that as a rule the Slovak sends home
on an average over one hundred dollars a
year. This amount is usually equal to the
219

Old Homes of New Americans
annual income of the family to which it comes,
and the millions of dollars that flow back to
the old home speak volumes for the gener
osity, the kindliness, and the integrity of the
Slovak emigrant.
There is constant friction between the
Slav and the Magyar, and this accentuates
the uneasiness of the former, and accounts
for not a few of the more than half-million
Slovaks in America, where they can speak
their own language and freely read their own
papers and books. The policy of Hungary
is to Magyarize all the peoples within her
boundaries. I cannot go into the justice or
injustice of this effort in this connection, but
it is interesting to note that, though this
Magyarizing tendency of the dominant race
in Hungary tends to drive many a Slovak to
America, the more gentle process by which
his children are Americanized in our public
schools is not resented, and apparently goes
on apace, from the moment he sets foot on
the gangplank at Ellis Island. Not the least
desirable of the newcomers who step over
this gangplank are the Slovaks of Hungary.

XV
ON THE EASTERNMOST EDGE OF AUSTRIA-
HUNGARY — THE BUKOWINA AND TRAN
SYLVANIA
The Varied History of the Bukowina — Its Many Rulers —
At the Window of the Schwarzer Adler — The Many Sights
of Czernowitz — The Dangers of Photography — Transyl
vania, the Switzerland of the East — An Heroic People —
Stanch Protestants — The Eccentricities of the Old Nobles
— A Bit of Dry Humor — Advice to the American Globe-
Girdler.
The Bukowina, though now a province
of Austria, was originally a part of Transyl
vania, which now belongs to Hungary; so
for the purposes of this book we may con
sider them together in the part of the work
devoted to Hungary, since they are contigu
ous provinces, with many of the same char
acteristics of climate, natural scenery, pro
ductions, and people.
The seven hundred thousand people of
the Bukowina were organized as a separate
crown land of Austria about the middle of
the last century. For two hundred and fifty
221

Old Homes of New Americans
years before 1777, when it was ceded to
Austria, it was ruled by the Turk and suf
fered the unspeakable horrors of frequent
wars, its soil often being dyed red with the
blood of its sons. It is a mountainous coun
try, with the exception of the valley of the
Pruth, its chief river; and its only consid
erable city is Czernowitz, its capital.
Come with me to the Schwarzer Adler
(the Black Eagle) in Czernowitz, and let us
see what is novel and interesting from the
window that overlooks the principal square
of the town. Do you confess that you never
heard of Czernowitz before ? Yet it is a city
with fine public buildings, a flourishing uni
versity, an archbishop's palace, and a history
stretching back for hundreds of years.
The view from our window is peculiarly
fascinating, because it reveals so many types
of the genus homo. There is the hobble skirt
of 191 2 walking the street with the sheepskin
coat of 1 2 19. There is the latest obtainable
Paris peach-basket hat hobnobbing with the
bright plaid shawl thrown gracefully over
the head, and looking a thousand times more
222

The Bukowina and Transylvania
beautiful and comfortable than the flaunting
foreign headgear. There is a group of stu
dents with bright German corps caps, sabre
scars on their cheeks, and a big dog tagging
their heels. They are passing a group of
barelegged peasants from the country, in
woolly skin coats and caps. There are Ru
thenians, Poles, Jews, Saxons, and Rouma
nians, the latter race probably outnumbering
all the others.
The market, which is constantly in opera
tion from early morning until midnight, is a
blaze of colored costumes, highly colored
fruit, and colored lamps at night. Oranges,
lemons, apples, grapes, figs are displayed,
while the market-women have borrowed the
gold of the orange, the pink flush of the
apple, and the purple of the grapes and figs
with which to dye and embroider their skin
coats, which are often most elaborate and
costly. There goes a primitive watering-cart, con
sisting of a hogshead mounted on wheels,
with a long, flexible leather spout sticking
out behind. As the cart is driven along the
223

Old Homes of New Americans
dusty street, a man walks behind, swinging
the spout from right to left, and leaving a
meagre trickle of water behind him.
If America does not know much of Czer
nowitz, Czernowitz is never allowed to
forget America. Half a dozen steamship
agencies flaunt the Stars and Stripes, and in
vite .the passerby to take a steerage passage
for the land beyond the great water. An
"American House Pullman" directly oppo
site our hotel sells "Walkover" shoes and
other familiar articles of wearing apparel,
while American photographic establishments
abound, where you can obtain twelve " stuck "
(postage-stamp size) of your counterfeit pre
sentment for sixty heller or twelve cents.
If you should not care to buy your pic
tures at the rate of a cent a copy, but wish
to take photographs of the natives, you will
have no easy task, for you will be besieged
by a pushing, eager mob all anxious to be
"took." Old market-women will peer into
the finder and will pose beatifically for their
pictures, until half a dozen small boys crowd
in front of the lens and destroy the focus.
224

The Bukowina and Transylvania
So alarmed was I lest my wife, who was try
ing to take a picture in the market square,
should be crushed by these too eager aspir
ants for the immortality of the camera, that
I had to crowd my way through, pushing
boys to right and left, until I made a path
for her to escape to the hotel.
Bukowina is not by any means the least
interesting part of Francis Joseph's domin
ions. Much of it is peopled by Roumanians,
who pride themselves on being descendants
of the old Roman legionaries and speaking
a language more like the ancient Latin than
the Italians themselves. This pride of race
has received a severe shock from the re
searches of some modern scholars, who deny
the Latin origin of the Roumanians. The
compatriots of these Roumanians have es
tablished an independent kingdom of their
own in the land across the border from the
Bukowina. Roumania is indeed the most
prosperous of all the smaller kingdoms of
southeastern Europe.
Bordering on the Bukowina and also on
Roumania is Transylvania, the most pic-
225

Old Homes of New Americans
turesque of all the domains of Hungary.
This is the Switzerland of southeastern Eu
rope. Here high mountains, bold granite
crags, gentler hills clothed with forests to
their top, rushing streams, feathery water
falls make the region of the Carpathians ex
ceedingly attractive. They only need to be
better known, and to have more and better
hotels, to rival the most celebrated moun
tain resorts in the world.
Transylvania has played no mean part in
the history of Europe. Like the adjoining
parts of Hungary, her task was to repel the
hordes of Turks who were constantly cross
ing her borders and ravaging her fair terri
tory. Since the Transylvanians were the
nearest neighbors of the Turks, they had
to bear the brunt of the battle, and right
bravely did they stand, time and time again,
between the rest of Europe and the terrible
arjnies of the Mussulmans, while Germany,
Austria, and France looked on in apathetic
selfishness. All Hungary was engaged in this
centuries-long conflict of Christian against
Moslem, but she had to look at times to Tran-.
. 226

The Bukowina and Transylvania
sylvania for her leaders. The Transylva
nians were stanch Protestants after the Re
formation, and when Ferdinand 11 inherited
the crowns of Bohemia and Hungary, and
began to persecute the Bohemian Protest
ants, the Hungarians elected a brave Tran-
sylvanian noble, Bethlen Gabor, as their
king. He flew to the rescue of Bohemia;
but when at the disastrous battle of the
White Mountain the Bohemians were over
whelmingly defeated, Bethlen Gabor had to
give up the crown of Hungary and retreat
to the fastnesses of Transylvania.
We are told that the old Transylvanian
nobles were a class by themselves, retaining
their old feudal customs long after the rest
of Europe had given them up. Some of them
reveled in their eccentricities. There are sto
ries of an old noble who was found dressed
in ancient Magyar clothes, drilling a flock of
geese as though they were soldiers. Another
was accustomed to camp out in his park in
summer, striking his tents in the morning and
pitching them again at night; while yet an
other of whom we have heard, who wished
227

Old Homes of New Americans
to keep his guest for a longer visit, had the
wheels of the guest's carriage taken off and
hung up in a high tree, where only a certain
gypsy could climb to get them down. The
gypsy was then sent out of town, and the en
forced visit of the guest was continued.
The dry humor of the old Magyar nobles
of Transylvania is illustrated by a story
told by Mr. Colquhoun in his book, " The
Whirlpool of Europe." One of these nobles,
though rich, was noted for his shabby clothes.
On one occasion a young farmer, desiring
another farmhand and seeing this shabby old
man, cried out, " Hi ! old man, do you want
some work?" The old man nodded assent.
"Well, you can come along to-morrow and
look after some sheep. Bring any of your bits
of things or animals with you; there 's plenty
of room on my farm." The next day, as the
young farmer walked across his fields, he
saw a cloud of dust coming up the road.
Presently there emerged from it a herd of
cows, horses, and sheep, hundreds of animals
with their drovers. This cavalcade swept
past the astonished man, and behind it was a
228

lSj^SkS

KROXnTADT, the CAPITAL OK T R AX> V I A' AXI A

THE MAHKI/r sfyAHI'; Ol- KHOXS'lAlir

The Bukowina and Transylvania
huge wagon, creaking and groanint:;, laden
with heavy furniture, in front of which sat
his shabby acquaintance of the day before.
" You told me to bring my animals and bits
of things," said the old man ; " and there
they are."
While the chief landed proprietors of
Transylvania are Magyars and Saxons, the
bulk of the population are Roumanians, and
from their ranks go largely the emigrants to
America. Of the one hundred and sixty-seven
thousand emigrants from Hungary in a single
recent year, seven eighths of whom went to the
United States,aboutone sixth, or nearly thirty
thousand, spoke the Roumanian language.
That this people has large capacity for self-
rule, and that they will prosper wherever they
take root, is shown by the extremely flourish
ing condition of Roumania as compared with
many of her neighbors.
Brasso (or Kronstadt, as the Germans call
it) , the chief town of Transylvania, is a bright
and enterprising little city, most beautifully
situated, with fine mountains to the east,
and the interminable rich plains of Hungary
229

Old Homes of New Americans
stretching to the west as far as Budapest. I
would advise the American globe-girdlei,
who is seeking for new worlds to conquer, to
spend a summer in Transylvania. He will
find no more charming scenery and no more
hospitable and likable people, no more genu
inely primitive and interesting life and cus
toms, in the five continents than among the
Carpathians of Transylvania.

XVI
THE GREAT CITIES OF THE DUAL
MONARCHY
The Sameness of Great Cities — Emigrants largely from
the Country — The Cities of Austria-Hungary of Especial
Interest — Cracow, Lemberg, Kronstadt, and Innsbruck, with
their Interesting Peculiarities — \'ienna, the Royal City —
A City of Musicians — The Beautiful Church of St. Stephen
— The Wonders of the Imperial Treasury — The Ring-Strasse
and its Public Buildings — The Capital of Bohemia — The
Whirligigs of Time — Where the Bohemian Nobles were ex
ecuted — The Karls-Briicke and its Sixteen Arches — An In
teresting Burying-Ground — The Apostles' Clock, and its
Curious Story — The Three Finest Cities in Europe — Buda
pest, the City of Palaces — A City little known in America
— A Hung£irian Testimony to American Life — The Magnifi
cent Bridges of Budapest — The Regalia of the Royal Palace
— An Italian City on Austrian Soil — A City that looks
toward America — Starting for the New World — What
awaits the Emigrant beyond the Seas.
This book has little to do with the cities
of Austria-Hungary, for its principal object is
to acquaint the reader with the countries that
make up the Dual Empire, their history, and the
many races who inhabit them. To study the
racial characteristics of apeople, it is well-nigh
useless to go to their great cities, since the
leading capitals of the Western world seem
231

Old Homes of New Americans
to be run in one mould, — the same types of
streets, largely the same kinds of buildings,
public and private; the same street-cars go
clanging through the paved thoroughfares;
through the same kinds of tunnels one dives
down into the bowels of the earth; the same
kind of gas and electricity lights these streets ;
the same great water mains and sewers pro
vide for the health and comfort of the peo
ple. It is to the country that we must go to find
the peculiar characteristics which differ
entiate one land from another. It is almost
exclusively, too, from the country districts
that the emigrants have come to our Ameri
can seaports. Fortunate it is for America
that her levy of new citizens has come from
the country lanes rather than from the city
streets of Austria-Hungary, for better brain
and better brawn, better morals and more
wholesome habits are found among country
than city emigrants.
However, it is of interest, perhaps, to write
briefly of some of the greater cities of the
empire._^ There are many of especial interest
232

Great Cities of the Dual Monarchy
that are little known to Americans who study
at home, or for that matter equally unknown
to the American tourist, — cities like Cra
cow, with its wealth of historic lore, the city
where Copernicus was educated, where Peter
Vischer wrought, and where scores of less
distinguished men, who have blessed their
day and generation, have flourished.
Lemberg, the capital of Galicia, is scarcely
less interesting from the historic or from the
modern point of view. Of Zara we have
spoken in another chapter. Kronstadt, or
Brasso, as it is called by the Hungarians, is a
beautiful little city of Transylvania, almost
in the heart of the Carpathians. Debreczen,
the great Protestant centre of Hungary, the
city of all others most hospitable to Kossuth
and his doctrines and where he proclaimed the
independence of Hungary, is another inter
esting city. With its wide streets, its beau
tiful churches, its university, and its public
buildings, it would match, for substantial ele
gance, any city of its size in America.
On the other side of the Dual Empire is
Innsbruck, perhaps the most charmingly sit-
233

Old Homes of New Americans
uated large town in Europe. The Hofkirche,
with its twenty-eight statues of kings and
queens and emperors that surround the great
marble monument of Emperor Maximilian,
is worth crossing the ocean to see. These
twenty-eight potentates were the contempo
raries and ancestors of Maximilian, and re
present the monarchs of all the great countries
of Europe. One could study history to ad
mirable advantage if he could spend a whole
summer holiday in the Hofkirche of Inns
bruck. All these statues were cast by men
of talent, the best artists in bronze of their
time, Stephen Godl, Gregor Loffler, and
others; but two were made by Peter Vis
cher, the great artist of Nuremberg, and they
stand out among all the others, even to the
eye of the inexperienced layman in matters
artistic, as finer than all the rest. These
are the statues of King Arthur of England
and of "Theodoric the Good." The splendid
pose of King Arthur, the strong, graceful,
and easy way in which he stands upon his
legs, and looks out under the visor of his
bronze helmet, impresses the most careless
234

Great Cities of the Dual Monarchy
tourist. The other great statue in the Hof
kirche of Innsbruck is that of Theodore the
Good. He is not so heroic a figure as some
of the others. His coat of mail is not so heavy.
His jeweled decorations are not so gorgeous.
His titles are not so numerous, or his list of
battles and victories so long; but he stands
out in proud preeminence among all the
twenty-eight kings and queens as "the Good."
All of them are "Majesties," some of them
are dubbed " the Great," but Theodore alone
is called "the Good."
The great cities of Austria-Hungary, from
the standpoint of population, are, in the or
der named, Vienna, Budapest, Prague, and
Trieste. Vienna is truly a royal city, and
since the beginning of the Christian era has
played a great part in the history of the world.
The Romans seized the ancient Celtic settle
ment which was here established just before
the birth of Christ. Here Marcus Aurelius
died, toward the end of the second century.
Here Charlemagne ruled, and Frederick
Barbarossa. During the Crusades, Vienna
was a halting-place for the knights, and an
235

Old Homes of New Americans
important centre for their operations. For
more than six hundred years past, Vienna
has been the seat of the Hapsburg Dynasty,
since in 1276 Rudolph of Hapsburg defeated
Ottokar of Bohemia. More than once Vienna
was besieged by the Turks, who insolently
set up their battering-rams under its very
walls ; and here they were defeated in one of
the world's greatest battles by John Sobieski,
Poland's greatest king.
But all the memories of Vienna are not
warlike, for here some of the greatest mu
sicians of the world have had their home.
Gluck, Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven the
Viennese are proud to rank among their for
mer citizens, and some of the world's well-
known architects and artists have also made
this city their home. The principal business
street boasts the rather lugubrious name of
the Graben, or Grave, for it was formerly the
deep moat which surrounded the fortifica
tions of the twelfth century. This was after
wards filled up, and has become one of the
most lively and attractive shopping streets of
Europe. 236

Great Cities of the Dual Monarchy
The Church of St. Stephen is surpassed
for size and beauty, or historic interest, by
very few cathedrals in the world. In spite of
its exceedingly gloomy interior, when the
eyes become accustomed to the dim religious
light, they find architectural and artistic treas
ures such as are found in few other cathe
drals, while the view from the tower, looking
off over the historic battle-fields of Lobau,
Wagram, and Essling, recalls the bad, brave
days of old, when fighting was more the
world's business than it is to-day.
The museums, libraries, and treasure-
chambers of Vienna cannot be exhausted by
any hasty visit or brief description. In the
Imperial Treasury alone are found a multi
tude of articles of absorbing historic interest.
The crown of Charlemagne, for instance, as
well as his swords, his coronation robe, his
girdle, and his book of the gospels; the im
perial jewels, one of which alone is valued
at three hundred thousand dollars, would in
terest the average traveler, while the scholar
and the archaeologist would find more to his
liking in the Imperial Museums. Here are
237

Old Homes of New Americans
magnificent prehistoric collections from the
flint period and the bronze age, and an eth
nographical collection that embraces all the
ancient nations of the world. The Zoologi
cal Museum would delight the student of
natural history, and a wonderful Art History
Museum, which perhaps surpasses all the
others in importance, is found in this impres
sive old city. Here the student of history
and antiquities would be particularly inter
ested in the so-called salt-cellar of Benvenuto
Cellini, a remarkable table ornament of pure
gold, made by the great artist for Francis I
of France. Here, too, is a rock-crystal gob
let, from which Philip the Good of Burgundy
drank the wine of his native vineyards. The
night-gear, so-called, of the Empress Maria
Theresa, embracing her toilet articles, break
fast service, and so forth, are some of the
treasures of the Art History Museum.
The Ring-Strasse is, on the whole, the most
famous and interesting street of Vienna. It
is nearly two hundred feet in width, remark
able in that respect among the streets of the
Old World; but it is a modern street in an
238

Great Cities of the Dual Monarchy
ancient city, for it was constructed only about
fifty years ago on the site of the old ramparts,
and now completely encircles the city. On
this famous street are splendid public build
ings, like the Exchange, the University, the
Houses of Parliament, and the Palace of
Justice. In this magnificent city Emperor Francis
Joseph I has held sway for more than sixty
years, occasionally spending a few days at
Budapest in a palace even more magnificent
than his favorite home in Vienna. It is a
source of considerable irritation to the Hun
garians that their king spends so little time
in their capital, though they have built for
him perhaps the finest palace, certainly the
one that has the grandest site, of any in
Europe. Something over two hundred miles from
Vienna is Prague, the capital of Bohemia.
Here we find ourselves in a totally different
atmosphere. In Vienna German is spoken
largely, and one could easily imagine himself
in one of the great capitals of the German
239

Old Homes of New Americans
Empire. In Prague it would be impossible to
make any such mistake, for if you should
address a man on the street in German, he
would very likely pretend that he did not
understand you, and would require an inter
preter if you were not facile with your Bo
hemian. Here, too, we find a great, prosper
ous city of intense historic interest. This was
the early home of martyrs, heroes, scholars,
and statesmen. It was once the centre of the
greatest Protestant power in Europe. Its
streets have more than once been soaked
with the blood of the wise and the good.
Under an ancient powder tower, rich in
curious carvings, we pass from the " new
city," which is only five hundred years old,
to the " old city," which is more than twice
as ancient; and at once we are in the midst
of historic events that stir our blood. There
is the old Council House, where in 162 1 the
twenty-one Protestant nobles of Bohemia
were led out to martyrdom; and there is the
public square where one by one, throughout
a long summer's day, they were beheaded.
There in the same Council House is the
240

Great Cities of the Dual Monarchy
little low, white-washed cell, in which one
cannot stand upright, where they spent their
last night on earth in prayer and the singing
of joyful psalms ; and on the great Charles
Bridge, near by, for ten years, their heads
were displayed in an iron cage as a terrible
warning to all " heretics." But such are the
whirligigs of time, the city authorities of to
day are debating the question of erecting in
the very centre of this same square a great
monument to John Huss, the chief heretic
and reformer of 1621.
In the old Council House where the Pro
testant nobles were imprisoned on their last
night on earth, a great and noble painting,
representing John Huss before King Sigis
mund and the Council of Constance, is the
chief ornament. There stands John Huss,
the most striking figure on the wonderful
canvas, pale and emaciated, to be sure, but
resolute still, standing before his enemies
who are pronouncing sentence upon him,
and saying in every lineament of his firm
and noble face, "I cannot recant, so help
me God!" 241

Old Homes of New Americans
The chief street of Prague is also called
the Graben, and like the street of the same
name in Vienna was formerly the moat sur
rounding the citadel.
The Karls-Briicke across the Moldau rests
on sixteen arches, while many statues and
groups of saints adorn the buttresses of the
bridge. The sixteenth of May is a great day
on the Charles Bridge, for on that day a
great multitude of pilgrims, numbering many
thousands, flock thither, and especially to
the site where a slab of marble marks the
exact place where St. John Nepomuc, the
patron saint of Bohemia, was thrown into
the river more than six hundred years ago,
by order of Wenceslas IV, because he would
not tell what the Empress had confided to
him in the confessional. The legend tells us
that his body floated down the Moldau for a
long time, with five brilliant stars suspended
over it, marking its passage.
Another interesting place which every
traveler visits is the old Jewish Burying-
Ground. These venerable moss-grown stones,
covered with Hebrew characters, mark the
242

Hu&i^

1 - t^iii.
ill r ¦*>?,¦' i.n. .,«.,...„ ..^ ?

»i-»^«^15T!''"^^^j?|a^t / ¦

-. .:IJ

rm: eiiAKi.i-- nuini.i:. im; \i;i i:
With the 1 IratKchin. nr L'il.Klcl, lonl.iiiiiu'.; the ralai'e.s, tlie
Cathedral, etc.. in the Distance

KARLSII-.I\, (II, I) I Asm, I, \ 1. \ H I'llAi.ri-.

Great Cities of the Dual Monarchy
last resting-places of many a distinguished
son of Abraham. On some of the stones are
symbols that tell of the tribe to which the
deceased belonged, a pitcher designating the
tribe of Levi, two hands the sons of Aaron,
and so on. On many of the graves we find
piles of small stones, which we learn were
placed there, as tokens of respect and affec
tion, by the descendants of those who lie
beneath the mound. Close by is one of the
oldest synagogues in the world, which tradi
tion tells us was built by the first Jews who
escaped from Jerusalem after its final de
struction. Of course it has been rebuilt more
than once since that ancient day, even if
the tradition is correct; and it cannot boast
to-day of much beauty to match its historic
interest. Perhaps the object that excites the most
present-day interest in Prague is the Apos
tles' Clock in the tower of the Council House.
Once an hour an expectant throng gathers
on the sidewalk opposite the Council House ;
and, when the moment arrives, a skeleton
representing Father Time takes hold of a
243

Old Homes of New Americans
cord, which he pulls with his grim and bony
hand, thus ringing a bell. Then two little
windows of stained glass mysteriously slide
open, and life-sized figures of the apostles
appear. Matthew, John, and all the rest are
seen first at the left-hand window. They
turn squarely around, and look up and down
the street. Then each passes to the second
window, turns squarely around once more,
looks up and down the street again, and
passes on out of sight. The twelve follow
in solemn silence, while skeleton Time tolls
the bell. Last of all comes Peter, whereupon
a cock, which is roosting over the apostles'
windows, flaps his wings, and utters a lugu
brious crow. The windows close upon the
scene, and all is still again for another hour,
when the apostles and the skeleton and the
rooster go through with the same perform
ances for another gaping crowd.
For a curious story connected with this
old clock, that well illustrates the barbar
ism of those cruel days, I am indebted to
an old-time resident of Prague, who vouches
for its substantial accuracy. Before Colum-
244

Great Cities of the Dual Monarchy
bus discovered America this clock was built,
and even then was the wonder and pride of
the city. The skilled mechanician that set it
going was induced to build another just like
it for a rival city. This greatl}- angered the
Pragueites, who wanted a monopoly of apos
tle clocks of that sort. So what did they do
but catch the inventor and builder, and put
out both his eyes, so that he could never
make another clock. But this blind Samson,
like him of old, had his revenge. He asked
to be taken once more to his loved clock,
that he might feel of its curious machinery
and say a last fond farewell to his handiwork.
Such a reasonable request could hardly be
denied, even by the savages who lived in
Prague five centuries ago. So the clock-
maker was led up into the tower, and he
was allowed to take hold once more of the
beloved machinery. As soon as he had firmly
grasped it, with one tremendous wrench he
tore cogs and wheels and balances apart, and
in an instant it was a hopeless wreck. There
was no other man in the world who could
repair the damage; the blind clockmaker
245

Old Homes of New Americans
alone knew the secret of the mechanism,
and for a hundred years it stood idle and
useless, a monument to the folly and jeal
ousy of Prague. At length, after several
generations, a clockmaker was born skillful
enough to repair the damage of the blind
inventor; and ever since the old clock has
been in charge of this man and his descend
ants, who to-day have a fine jewelry and
watchmakers' shop on a corner opposite the
Council House, and they alone know the
secret of the mechanism of the Apostles'
Clock. A similar story is told of more than
one other clock in Europe, but all the legends
of the sort started, I imagine, from the Apos
tles' Clock in the tower of the Council House
of Prague, an object which excites more pre
sent-day interest than any other one thing in
the city.
In Prague, too, there is an Imperial Palace,
which has been occupied by many a historic
family of the ancient kings of Bohemia, but is
seldom honored in these days by a visit from
Emperor Francis Joseph.
Before leaving Prague, we should in im-
246

Great Cities of the Dual Monarchy
agination ascend the White Hill, some three
miles to the west of the city, where on the
8th of November, 1620, as we have seen in
another chapter, the fatal battle was fought
which decided the fate of Protestantism in
Bohemia, as well as the liberties of the peo
ple for many succeeding generations.
It would surprise many of my readers,
perhaps, if I should say that, were I asked
to choose the three finest cities in Europe,
possibly in the world, I should name Stock
holm, Geneva, and Budapest; and the great
est of these (the largest, at least) is Budapest.
To be sure, Paris and London and Berlin and
Vienna are larger, but none of them has the
superb situation of these three cities : Stock
holm on its impetuous river flowing into the
lovely Malar near by; Geneva spanning the
Rhone, skirting its wonderful lake and nest
ling at the foot of the Alps; Budapest on a
more lordly river still, the mighty Danube,
flowing through the very heart of the double
city, Buda on the one side and Pesth on the
other, spanned by some of the noblest bridges
in the world, while magnificent palaces, ca-
247

Old Homes of New Americans
thedrals, and parliament buildings climb the
high banks on either side.
Genoa is called the "City of Palaces," and
to Venice the name is sometimes applied;
but by right in these days the name belongs
rather to Budapest, for Genoa's palaces are
dingy and gloomy, Venice's are moth-eaten
and rust-corrupted, while Budapest's (and
she has more than either of them) are fresh
and bright and unstained by time.
I like these three cities, too, because they
have few visible slums. There are poor peo
ple in them, of course, but little grinding,
ragged, filthy, leprous squalor, such as is found
in many of the world's great capitals. This
is the more remarkable in Budapest, since it
ranks as one of the world's largest cities, with
well on to a million inhabitants, and in all
great aggregations of men we expect to find
hopeless, wretched poverty.
" Where are your slums } " I said to a lead
ing citizen of Budapest. "We have none,"
he replied; and so far as I could see he was
right. Everywhere are broad streets, lined
with substantial and often elegant buildings,
248

THE B.\,'>TIOX OF BUPArKs I' iiX THI-; r.fD.\ -SIDE OF
THE DAXl'BE

THE FK.VXlIS jd.sKIMI liltirK.E, lilllAI'I'ST

Great Cities of the Dual Monarchy
to which the word " palace," if wc do not con
fine it strictly to the residence of royalty,
might apply. The curious and beautiful 1 lun-
garian architecture, which makes much of
brilliant tiling and terra-cotta effects, adds
much to the charm of the city, which is con
stantly surprising one with some new and
unexpected architectural delight.
In the matter of up-to-date comforts, and
especially electric appliances, Budapest leads
all European cities. It is sometimes called
"the electric city," and deserves the name.
It is brilliantly lighted by electricity, with
telephones at every corner; and the electric
cars run swiftly through the clean, well-paved
streets, and so frequent are the cars that one
does not have to " hold on by his eyelids"
to keep his place; while the well-ventilated,
white-tiled subway that underlies the great
city antedated by several years the under
ground roads of which Boston and New York
are justly so proud.
I have dwelt upon these material aspects
of Budapest the Beautiful because I think
the city and the country of which it is the
.249

Old Homes of New Americans
capital are not known in America as they
should be. Several Hungarians complained
to me of this, and not without reason.
" Many Americans," said one leading states
man, " think Hungary is a province, and not
a province of Austria even, but of Germany!
This is too much." While I do not think that
educated Americans are so ignorant of Hun
gary, yet it is undoubtedly true that few of
us realize what a great, free, independent,
proud-spirited, progressive nation is holding
one of the outposts of high civilization in
southeastern Europe, having rescued one of
the fairest countries in the world from Mo
hammedanism and consequent barbarity.
That America is not any better understood
in Hungary than Hungary is in America is
shown by a remarkable pamphlet recently
published by the secretary to the Hungarian
Board of Agriculture, Hon. Joseph Nemeth,
who not long ago made extensive travels in
America in connection with his department
of state. The following was kindly trans
lated for me by Mr. Nemeth himself: —

250

Great Cities of the Dual Monarchy
Having associated with several leaders of the
American commonwealth, having further come into
direct contact with several phases of social life, I
found that those plutocratic and commercial vices,
from a consideration of which our opinion of Amer
ica is formed, are only bubbles upon the surface of a
mighty river, and those signs of political and admin
istrative corruption which present such an invidious
picture of American public life are only the thin
mud strata that lie at the bottom. Between them
rolls the mighty tide of the great river, ever in
creasing in volume, holding within its bosom those
greater potentialities of a nation's life. To demon
strate the correctness of these opinions it will be suf
ficient to append the description of two American
social institutions, i.e., the Christian Endeavor So
ciety and the Young Men's Christian Association.
Then for several pages this Hungarian
statesman gives the history, growth, and
principles of the Endeavor movement. It is
as gratifying as it is rare to find our country
judged abroad by such standards and such
institutions. Too many foreigners and foreign
papers say and print all the mean and dis
creditable things they can about the United
States : every murder, horrible lynching, cel
ebrated divorce case, and awful railway ac
cident, for the sake of making our country
251

Old Homes of New Americans
an awful example to all prospective emi
grants. Next to Vienna, Budapest is by far the
largest city of the Dual Empire, with a pop
ulation of nearly a million. As I have inti
mated, it gives one the impression of being
perhaps the most up-to-date city in Europe.
The mighty Danube, spanned by its magni
ficent bridges, and the great public buildings,
especially the Houses of Parliament and the
Imperial Palace, are the striking features of
the capital of Hungary. It is the most mod
ern in its appearance of any of the great cities
of Europe, and though it was a Roman col
ony two thousand years ago, it is as new in
many of its sections as Omaha or Chicago.
Indeed, it was only in 1872 that the towns of
Pesth and Buda were united in the one great
city. Buda, on the right of the surging Dan
ube, is the city of the royal palace and of
many beautiful private buildings; Pesth, on
the left of the river, contains the Parliament
buildings, the Academy, the National Mu
seum, and the chief business streets of the
city. These streets are lined on either side
252

Great Cities of the Dual Monarchy
by some of the finest commercial houses to
be found in any part of the world, and here
can be obtained everything to eat, drink, or
wear that the remotest nations can furnish.
In the midst of the Danube, between the
two parts of the united city, is a lovely island,
Margareten-Insel by name, a beautiful pleas
ure-ground for the people of all classes and
conditions. The six bridges that cross the
Danube give a distinction to the city, and
are never forgotten by the traveler who has
once seen them. The Suspension Bridge, per
haps, is the most striking of all, being over
twelve hundred feet in length and one hun
dred and twenty feet broad, while at each
end are two magnificent colossal lions in en
during granite.
To every Hungarian the regalia in the royal
palace are of especial interest, for here is the
crown of St. Stephen, a relic of majesty more
revered than any other crown in the world.
It is guarded day and night by soldiers, is
never shown to visitors, but once a year, on
St. Stephen's Day, the crown is carried in
solemn procession through the streets.
253 ¦

Old Homes of New Americans
Since the present city of Budapest is com
paratively modern, one does not expect to
find so many objects of historic interest as in
other cities, but these are by no means alto
gether wanting. The Matthias-Kirche, which
dates back to the thirteenth century, reminds
us of the bitter days of the fightings with the
Turks, for it was turned into a mosque dur
ing the Turkish domination, and when they
were driven out it was restored to its ancient
use as a Christian church. Here King Fran
cis Joseph and Queen Elizabeth were crowned
in 1867, when the right of Hungary to be
a separate kingdom was at last conceded
by her neighbor Austria. There are other
churches and buildings that date back to the
pre-Turkish times, but the chief character
istics of Budapest are of modern interest, the
life that pulsates through its streets, the com
merce that plies up and down its magnificent
river and beneath its splendid bridges, the
schools, and the great university. These are
all of modern date, but they tell us of the
virility, the prowess, and the greater future
glories of the Hungarian nation.
254

Great Cities of the Dual Monarchy
One other city of the Dual Monarchy
should be mentioned, because it is the city
from which the great majority of the emi
grants who are seeking new homes in America
leave their old home in Europe. Have you
ever read Howells's delightful story, "The
Lady of the Aroostook " ? If you have, you
remember that this charming lady sailed on
the ship Aroostook from Boston for Trieste,
or " Try-East," as the captain pronounced it.
The political, civil, and domestic life of the
United States will be affected not a little by
the men, women, and children who start from
the wharves of Trieste for the New World
across the great ocean. Trieste may well be
compared to Liverpool, Hamburg, Bremen,
Antwerp, and Naples as a recruiting-station
for the new American. It is worth while,
then, to know something about this city at
the other end of the eighteen days' steam-
ferry that plies between the United States
and Austria.
Trieste is at the very top of the Adriatic
Sea, nearly opposite to Venice, on the Aus
trian coast, and is Austria's only great sea-
255

Old Homes of New Americans
port. It is charmingly situated, too, the rugged
granite hills encompassing it around on every
side but one, while the usually peaceful
waters of the Adriatic lave its shores on the
only side that the hills do not guard. I say
"usually peaceful," for the Adriatic can be
as turbulent as any stretch of ocean blue;
and when the Bora sweeps down over the
granite hills to the north, let the mariner and
the landsman alike beware; for it can blow
a ship from its moorings, or overturn a loaded
car on the railroad track.
As we wind down the steep descent from
the plains of Istria and Carniola, we see fields
so stony and barren as to make the rockiest
New Hampshire hillside farm look like a
fertile oasis. Little patches of soil that could
be covered by a good-sized sheet are encir
cled by a high stone wall, and the railway
in the most exposed places is defended by
great masses of masonry from the dreaded
Bora and the rocks and soil that he sends
flying in every direction. One can get from
this some idea of what " Boreas," who fig
ures so largely in the classics, must have
256

Great Cities of the Dual Monarchy
meant to the ancients who lived on this coast.
But Boreas does not often blow; and while
we were in Trieste, though it was early De
cember, the weather was mild and gentle.
The present city of Trieste would be pro
nounced by the archaeologist as '* distressingly
modern"; yet there has been a town here
since early Roman times; and all the stern
Dalmatian coast, clear down to the edge of
Montenegro, is full of attractions, either for
the lover of the past, who would find plenty
of most interesting ruins, or for the lover of
the present, who would find plenty of inter
esting men and women and boys and girls.
One singular thing about the city is that
it is virtually an Italian city on Austrian soil.
It is hard to realize when in Trieste that one
is not actually in Italy, whose boundary, to be
sure, is but a few miles distant. Italian signs
greet one over the shop-doors. Italian wait
ers serve Italian food at the restaurants.
Italian newsboys in shrill tones cry Italian
newspapers on the streets. The women dress
in the gay colors of their sisters across the
border, and the wh-ole city has the life and
257

Old Homes of New Americans
gayety of a town of the long peninsula. You
can realize that you are in Austria only when
you see in the post-office and other public
buildings the benign face of the aged em
peror, Francis Joseph, looking down at you,
or looking up at you, perhaps, from the post
age-stamp you have just stuck on the right-
hand upper corner of the home letter.
But we are more interested in the people
who are just leaving Trieste on one of the
weekly steamers for America, for they are
to be our brothers and sisters in a peculiar
and special sense. They have been collected
from all parts of the Austrian Empire and
from the Balkan States by the industrious
steamship agents ; and here they are in Trieste,
all ready to try their fortunes in the new land,
which they have been assured flows with
milk and honey for all comers. What a mot
ley crowd they are, as they wait patiently on
the dock for permission to go aboard the
steamer! They are mostly in their poor best,
and their best is poor enough. There is a
mother with almost as many in her train as
John Rogers is credited with when he went
258

(,I!.\Xll ( ,\x,\i., THii-;srK

Great Cities of the Dual Monarchy
to the stake — "nine small children and one
at the breast." There is a buxom belle from
Herzegovina, who is already beginning to
cast sheep's-eyes at a swain from Croatia who
will be her fellow passenger on the long voy
age to America. How many matches must
be made in the steerage during these voyages !
Let us hope that they will be made in heaven
as well as in the steerage, that they will be
all love-matches, and that the fellow voyagers
will "live happily ever after." For my part
I think they are quite as likely to do so as if the
match were made in a fashionable ballroom.
Over yonder on the wharf is a group of
sturdy young men, brawny and beefy; not
over-intellectual, to be sure; but they will
help build many a railway and turn many a
sod on the virgin fields of our Western prai
ries. Here and there we see an old man or
woman going out with the young folks, but
there are very few older than forty in the
throng. And what baggage they have to start
life with in the New World! Scarcely one
trunk among them all. They can carry their
worldly possessions on their backs, and toil-
-59

Old Homes of New Americans
somely they lug them up the steep gangway
to the ship's deck. Here is a man with one
of Mr. Rockefeller's big, square, tin oil-cans,
the most useful of all receptacles in the East
ern world, and in it are his Lares and Pena
tes. There is another with what looks like
a bale of rags; but, if we could get at the
heart of it, we should doubtless find under
the rags a tin plate and cup and knife and
spoon, and a few, a very few, articles of
clothing. Another man cherishes a big milk-
can as one of his treasures, while the dude
of the party carries a genuine though second
hand American suit-case.
We traveled with these future fellow citi
zens for about two days from Trieste to
Patras, and, on the whole, I was glad to see
them face toward America. For the most
part they were sober, hardy, patient sons of
the soil. We need them, and they need
America. I would not keep them out if I
could. What futures await them ? Who can tell ?
What disillusionments when they find that
in America, too, they must work, and work
260

Great Cities of the Dual Monarchy
hard, for all they get! What hard treatment
in some cases from hard masters! But some
will come to the top, where there is always
room for the emigrant, from whatever land
he hails. Some of them or their children will
be our future lawyers and doctors and min
isters and merchants and millionaires. Some
of them or their children will find their way
to the governor's chair, or perhaps will don
the Senator's toga. Who can tell .''
One thing is certain; they represent not
so much America's peril as America's op
portunity. Not education alone will save
them and save America, as some think. Their
children are sure to get an education of some
sort. But education and Christianity together,
the school and the church, will make this
conglomerate mass from a dozen nations
worthy citizens of the land of Washington
and Lincoln. God grant that our churches
and our schools may not fail in their part of
this great task ! THE END

INDEX

Adriatic, 113, 114, 117, 124,
129, 142, 197, 255, 256.
Agram, 124, 125, 189,204.
Albania, 113.
Alfold, 129, 160, 174.
"Aliens or Americans?" 17.
America, xi, xii, xiii, xiv, xvii,
xviii, xix, XX, xxi, 8, 9, 11,13,
14, 16-18, 46, 47, 51 , 5&-58,
62,63,65,77,80,81,86,87, 94-98, 100, 103, 104, 106-
109, 121, 124, 125, 137, 170,
171. 173. 174. 180, 187, 194,
198, 199, 201, 203, 204, 206,
209, 212, 217, 219, 220, 224,
229, 232, 250, 259-261.
Anjous, 143, 144.
Apostles' Clock, 243.
Apponyi, 187.
Arany, Jean, 183.
Arpad, 132.
Austria, xvii, 1-7, 10-12, 39,
44, 45, 60-62, 76, 77, 79. 80,
100, 103, 104, 106, 107, 113,
116, 117, 122-124, 147, 153,
161-164, 167-169, 186, 197,
206, 221, 222, 254, 255, 258.
Austria-Hungary, xi, xvi, xvii,
xviii, xix, xxi, 1-4, 9, 10,
12, 52, 57, 117. 121, 126,
170, 171.198.231,235.

Balch, Prof. Emily G., 54, 96,
104, 107, 199, 215.
Bathori, Stephen, 68.
B61a II and IV, 139, 141-143.
Belgrade, 69, 70, 149, 150, l6r.
Black Prince, 21.
Bogomiles, 122.
Bohemia, xi, xvi, xviii, XX, 2,5,
10, II, 13-24,26,30-32,35,
37-52. 57. 62, 65, IOI, 14s,
210, 227, 239, 240, 242.
Bohemian nobles, 41 , 42, 240.
Bora, 209, 256.
Bosnians, xviii, 122, 197.
Bosnia-Herzegovina, I2i, 123,
145. 197-
Brasso, 229, 233.
Budapest, xii, 8, 9, 157, 158,
167, 182, 183, 230, 235, 239,
247^49, 252, 254.
Bukowina, The, 2, 62, 221,
225.
Bureau of Immigration, xv,
xvii, xviii, xix, XX.
Canada, loi, 103, iii.
Carinthia, 2, 206, 208.
Carniola, 2, 206, 208, 256.
Casimir, King, 20.
Cattaro, 114, 118, 119.
Census Report, xvii, 14, 194.

263

Index

Cetinje, 119.
Charles IX, King, 66, 67.
Christian Endeavor, 251.
Colquhoun, Mr. A. R., 123,
228.
Comenius, 14.
Commissioner of Immigration,
XV, xvii, xviii, xix, xx.
Council of Constance, 23, 28,
29, 144, 241.
Cracow, xii, 20, 62, 67, 69,
233-
Crecy, 20, 22, 58.
Croatian, xvii, xviii, xix, 5,
124, 171, 180, 184, 186, 189,
191-196, 199, 203,205, 210.
Czechs, 14, 17-19, 43-46, 58,
145-
Czernowitz, xii, 222, 224.
Dalmatia.xviii, 2, 57, 113-116,
118, 121, 173, 197, 198,210.
Debreczen, 187, 233.
Domazlice, 38, 58.
Don-Magyars, 130.
Ellis Island, xx, 64, 205, 220.
England, xx, 20, 24.
Eotvos, 183.
Ferdinand, King, 41, 44, 227.
France, 20, 21,66,67,76,116,
156, 163, 210.
Francis Joseph I, 2, 45, 169,
239, 246, 254.
Frederick, King, 40, 41.
Full-peasant, 52, 54, 55.

Gabor, Bethlen, 227.
Galicia, 2, 57, 61-63, 80, 93,
97, 100, 102, 104-110, 129,
233-
Germany, xvi, xviii, 4, 9-13,
21, 24, 34, 37, 132, 133, 145,
180, 184, 186.
Golden Age of Bohemia, 38.
Golden Age of Hungary, 146.
Golden Bull, The, 141.
Gowda, Michael, iii.
Greeks, xx.
Grose, Dr. Howard B., 17.
Half-peasant, 55.
Hapsburg Dynasty, 1-6, 10,
II, 39, 41, 161, 162, 186,
192, 236.
Hatted King, The, 164.
Hauteville, 88.
Henry de Valois, 66, 91.
Herzegovinians, xviii, 113,121,
197.
Holubar, 151-153.
Hungary, xiii, xvii, xviii, 2-5,
II, 12,28,34,37,52,57,62,
69, 100, 113, 127-188, 191,
192, 194, 203-207, 213, 220,
221, 226-229, 233, 250, 252,
254-
Hunyadi, John, 146-150.
Huss, John, 19, 22-31, 144,
241.
Immigration, Commissioner of,
XV, xvii, xviii, xix, xx.
Innsbruck, 233, 234.

264

Index

Irish, XX.
Istra, 2, 113, 256.
Italy, xvii, xx, 10, 102, 1 13,
116, 186, 198,257.
Jerome of Prague, 27, 31.
Jesuits, 6, 39.
Jews, xvi, 7, 8, 12, 61, 63, 88,
92, 93, 98, no, 172, 181,
218,223,243.
John, King, 19-22.
Jokai, 183.
Joseph II, King, 164, 166.
K6m6ny, 183.
Kolno, John of, 95.
Kosciuszko, Thaddeus, 77, 78,
96.
Kossuth, 52, 132, 166-168,
187, 192, 233.
Kraszewski, 86.
Kronstadt, 229, 233.
Laibach, 208.
Ledger, Louis, 211.
Lehel, 133.
Lelewel, 84.
Lemberg, 62, no, in, 233.
Luther, 19, 28, 39.
Liitzow, Count, 21.
Lwow, xii.
Magnates, 175, 178.
Magyars, xi, xvi, xviii, xix,
xxi, 4, 5, 9, 116, 130, 131,
170-177, 180, 182, 184-186,
220, 2281 229.

Malczewski Anton, 82.
Matthias, 146, 151-157, 176.
Mazeppa, loi.
Mclntyre, Bishop, xxvi.
Mexicans, xx.
Mickiewicz, 82.
Mohacs, 158, 161.
Moldavia, 145.
.Montenegro, 113, 114, I18-
121, 198.
Moravia, xvi, xviii, xx, 2, 10,
14,15, 19,43. 49.55-57.62.
Moravian Brethren, 15, 16.
MorfiU. Prof. William R., 71,
74-
Nemeth, Hon. Joseph, 250.
Niemcewicz, 60, 96.
Petofi, 182.
Pilsen, 17, 47.
Pola, 117.
Poland, xi, xvii, xviii, xix, 5, 7,
II, 20, 34, 59-99. IOI. 104.
106, no, ni, 149, 159, 223.
Prague, 5, 17, 23, 26, 28, 31,
32,41-47,235,239-243,246.
Prikazy, 55, 56.
Prokop the Great, 19, 37.
Prussia, 11,60-63, 7^, 79.
Pulaski, 96.
Quarter-peasant, 53.
"Quo Vadis,'' 64.
Ragusa, 118, 173.
Raven Knight, The, 148, 150.

265

Index

Roumanian, 184, 186, 223,
225, 229.
Russia, 5, II, 60-63, 76, 77,
79, 100-103, 167.
Ruthenians, xvii, xviii, xx, 5,
61, 63, loo-iio, 171, 223.
Sarajevo, 123.
SchaufHer, Robert Haven,
xxii.
"Scum o' the Earth," xxii.
Semendria, 147.
Serbs, xvii.
Servia, 69, 145, 150, 171, 184,
186.
Seven Dukes of Hungary,
The, 131.
Sienkiewicz, 64, 81, 86.
Sigismund, King, 28, 29, 144,
145, 241.
Silesia, 2, 62.
Slavonians, xix, 5, 180.
Slavs, xi, xvi, xxi, 4, 5, 8, 9,
12, 50. 51. 79. 100. 116. 124,
171. 175.176. 198,204,213,
220.
Slovaks, xvii, xviii, xix, xx,
171, 184, 206, 209, 212-214,
217-220.
Slovenians, xvii, xviii, 171, 186,
206-213.
Sobieski, 68-74, i59-
Sodowsky, Jacob, 96.
South, Dr., 73.
Spalato, 118.
Stanislaus, King, 75.

Stephen, St. (King), I35-I39.
163, 164, 253.
Styria, 2, 206.
Szechenyi, Stephen, i;66.
Thirty Years' War, 43.
Thomson, E. W., in.
Transylvania, 68, 146, 162,
194, 221, 225-230,233.
Trieste, 47, 114, 124, 198, 209,
235. 255. 257-
Turks, 68-70, 113, 116, 118,
120, 122, 128, 130, 145,
147-150, 154, 158-162, 177,
194,222,226,236.
Tyrol, 2.
United States, xvii, xix, 14, 16,
18, 47. 59. 77. 98, IOI, 103,
122, 168, 173, 184, 193, 206,
212,213,229,255.
Vambery, Prof. A., 137, 141.
Vargha, Julius de, 185, 186.
Vienna, 7-11, 69, 147, 153,
158, 159 235-239.
Vorosmarty, 183.
Warsaw, 77, 79.
White Mountain, 23, 40, 41,
43. 227.
Zabrieskie, 95.
Zagreb, 189, 190, 193.
Zinzendorf, Count, 14, 15.
Ziska, John, 19, 32-36.

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