The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-03-22
!: Colony That Failed.

orchard planters, ploughmen and irri-
gators about the property, stood by
smoked cigarettes and watched the pro-
gress of affairs with delighted interest
They realized however, that they were
paying some mighty heavy bills, and
that the Americans knew the full value
of everything they sold or the work
they did. But the Poles were serene i'll
their faith that the books and printed
articles they had read were so accurate
in the details of the certain profits of
American ranches, especially cooper
ative ones, that they never begrudged
the checks they gave on their Los An
geles bank account. Then the big farm
had to be stocked with horses, cattle,
sheep, chickens, mules, and a thousand
and one things that the coloniSts had
never dreamed of, and which they were
assured were absolutely necessary.
When the spring Of 1875 came and
nearly all the capital that the Polish
party had brought to California was
gone, the necessity of hard ranch work
stared them in the face Nothwitn-
standing all the books and magazine
articles they had read to the contrary,
the colonistS found cooperative ranch
life beset with trouble and subject to
daily losses. The idyllic existence that
had been their dream for several years
hoated away among the Sierras The
men and their wives, who had been ac-
customed to studios and libraries, were
disguised with the work of following
morse and cultivator among the Or
chard trees for hours, and of cutting
alfalfa or plOughing and narrowing soil
Tor frequent irrigation of the young
orchards
There are many other colonists in
California who had the same dispirit-
Nifar1n %
drawing room, the counting house. the
law office, or the store, believing that
they would at once become happy Ar
cad1an fruit growers and get rich while
swinging in shaded hammocks, read
ing and smoking cigarettes. Some
were overcome by hard work and they
failed miserably. Others took hold
hravely and earnestly, and met all
obstacles with a determination that
nothing could defeat Modjeska and
her husband belonged to the deter
mined class. She put on, an apron,
rolled UP her sleeves and went to
work. While others in the Polish
cooperative colony rebelled against
any ranch labor and sat beneath the
shade of the oaks on the farm, rolled
cigarettes and denounced the schem
ing Americans for their advertising
tricks, she and Count Bozenta labored.
Hundreds of persons in Santa Ana
valley tell today how Modjeska and
Count Bozenta rose at dawn day after
day and went out to the barn. She
MIXED the COWS, fed the pigs and
locked after the poultry while the
count, in overalls. curried off the
horses and dug and fortified the soil
among the fruit trees. Many persons
in Anaheim tell how they have seen
the actress on her knees scrubbing the
kitchen floor, washing windows, going
to town in a calico gown to sell a lot
of buttr of her own making and help
ing her husband and son at whitewash-
ing the hen coop.
Despite the hard work Of the count
and his wife. the colony could not be
Kept together. Every one had sunk
all his money in the property and was
unable to hire work done Horses
died, sheep contracted diseases, the
cows got sick, the rights to the irriga-
ton water were found to belong 10
other ranchmen, and the trees died
and Wfthered in a sun-baked soil. In
year the Poles, one by one, went
away disguised with cooperative
schemes and boiling mad at Ameri-
cans in general and Californians in
particular. All except Modjeska and
her family went home to Poland BY
hard work and strict economy the fam
lily would have achieved success in
time, despite their inaptitude for agri-
cultural pursuits, but in 1876 the Bank
of California failed and a financial
panic swept the whole state of Cali
fornia. Hundreds of ranchmen were
overwhelmed, and Modjeska and her
husband had to let their expensive
ranch property go for a song
Then Modjeska decided to go back
on the stage, trying her art in the Eng
lish language in America. With the aid
of a teacher in a public school in Los
Angeles she mastered the language
sufficiently in seven months to go upon
the stage. In speaking of this period
of study she said to the writer:
Il am amazed now that l ever dared
attempt to go on an American stage
with so short preparation, but it was
stern necessity. We were living on
borrowed money, and we could not
bear to think that precious time and
money were squandered. For five
months I studied English from early
morning until L was tired late at night
l never missed a day except Sundays,
and then l got language lessons by lis
tening to the sermon in church and
reading my prayer book for hours
Many and many a day l have studied
English from early dawn until IL or y
O'Clock at night, barely stopping for
meals. / once knew the Vicar of
Wakefield almost by heart, and I