Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1875-07-03
THE WESTERN POLES.
Their Peculiar Characteristics--what can
be Done with Them.

be Done with Them.
The Chicago Tribune has the follow
ing relative to the numerous colonies of
Poles who have settled in that section.
1t says: The convention of Poles that
took place in this city was full of prom
Use for the future Of that nationality.
The Poles form numerically respect
able portion of the population of this
city and State. They are wood-choppers,
pick and shovel laborers, and farm
hands; and vegetate at about the bottom
tion. Their habits of life do not favor
the development of high standard of
morality. The sexes of the lower classes
mingle with freedom that defies be-
lief. 1t is no uncommon thing to find
several families herding together, and
marital relations becoming so mixed that
the ordinary distinction of husband and
wife are lost sight of in a promiscuous
intercourse; an example followed SO
much as q matter of courseb by the youth,
that it is difficult to comprehend what
earthly object such people can have in
affecting the married state. 1t is graft
flying to perceive that there has been an
improvement for the better is this re-
spect of late years. -
When the Polander accumulates a lit
tie money, his first use of it is the pur-
chase of lot and erection of house.
and it is noticeable that when he has
emancipated himself and his family from
common quarters with crowd of other
men and women, he is quick to assert
the sanctity of his home and learn to live
decently. In this way, numbers of fam
lies have grown to position of ordi
nary comfort and responsibility, and the
lower orders are gradually emerging
from the filth, ignorance, and positive
vice with which they have been SO long
overwhelmed. The better class of Poles
understand perfectly well the lamentable
condition of affairs that still exists, and
are too earnest in their desire to ameG.
crate the moral and physical well-beine
of their compatriots to deny it. The
union of Polish societies, that has just
held its convention in this city,
has for it's most important object the i'm
provement of the condition of their race
They acknowledge that the manner il
which vast number of Poles herd to
gether in large cities has worked to theil
degradation, and the strength of the evi
is denoted by the sharpness of the rene
dy they Epropose to apply, namely, tc
organize means for taking all Polish i'm
migrants who can be so influenced into
country settlements, where each family
may at once go into its own buildings.
For the Poles in cities other measures
are to be adopted.
A training college is to be established
where instruction will be given in the
art of teaching, and in the higher
branches of education, and an earnes
effort is to be made to drive the young
Poles into schools. Hitherto the few
little ones who have not been suffered tx
run about the streets to beg, to gathel
firewood, rags, and SO forth, have beer
taught the smattering of knowledge the,
possess in the church schools, where onl,
the mother tongue is used; but in future
they are to be taught English, and thei
textbooks are to be filed with extract
from the history and Constitution of tn
United States. 1t is to be perceived tina
children thus taught will appreciate tn
faults of their elders, aud labor to avoi'
them. Nobody can be more outspoken il
these matters than the Polanders them
selves. Among the members of tn
union, at the convention, were some mel
of really noble character and aspirations
who are devoting their lives and mucl
of their means to the heroic task o
ameliorating the condition of their race
and the present effort is the first ste]
in that direction. The convention ha
assessed every member of the union on
dollar yearly toward the erection of tn
college referred to, and for supporting
the immigration society, and will NEE
again in Chicago next year (June 81 t.
perfect their plans. 1t is expected tina
a vigorous effort will bring so, 900 Pole
per year to these shores. ....a