Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1899-07-16
COLONY THAT FAILED
Cultured Poles Who Didn't Make a
Success Of Farming.
Titled and Talented People Were In
terested In the California Sche enc,
But Their Efforts Were
Fruitless.

. ! a NsAASHSs
Arden is all that remains of Il Utopian
colony which was established here by a
party of sentimental Polish patriots
about % years ago. twas composed of
refugees and rcformers, artists and
adealists, under the leadership Of Nlad-
scot, the poet, whose odcs and lyrics
have since made him famous; Michael
Kroschiski, the famous and perhaps
the foremost Polish painter; Helena
Modjeska, who was then at the zenith
of her fame as an actress; Count Bo-
zcnta, her husband, who was expelled
from Poland becausesof his patriotic
energy; Henry Sienkicwicz, who has
since become famous as the author Of
Quo Nadis," and others Of similar
stripe, who made vain and patriotic
attempt at Cooperative agriculture,
with the most unhappy results.
There were 80 Of these people NIL told
PA young men and nine young women,
mostly artists, musicians and authors.
-Four were actors and two were sculp-
tors of cminence in their native land.
All belonged to the artistic professions
and none had the slightest experience
or knowledge of farming or the prac-
teal affairs Of life. They expected to
live an idyll;c existence in California,
]ilIethc lotus caters in Tennyson's poem.
with much love and little labor, and
from the t'eeces Of their flocks and the
fruit Of their olive and orange groves
they expected to find sustenancc while
the artists could paint the turquoise
sky and the purple mountains, and the
rest could dream and write.
They came in 1876. They settled on
tract of land in Orange county, which
they were induced to buy through the
enterprise of a Los Angeles real estate
agent, and they expended their entire
capital of $4,000 in the purchase of the
property, the erection of buildings and
securing machinery, implements and
live stock. Only two or three could
speak English, and none had ever
worked on farm before. Therefore,
they were at the mercy OF INSCRIPTIONS
nelghbors, who did not hesitate to take
advantage of the confiding and unso-
phisticatcd foreigners.
1t is said that If tic Poles had been
willing to lie quietly under the orange
trees and smoke their cigarettes with
out attempting to interfere with nature
the farms would have given them liv-
ing. But being unaccustomcd to manu-
al labor and undertaking to con-
duct their business upon theories
which they found in books the only re-
ward they reapcd for their serene faith
was poverty and disaster. Notwitil-
standing all the books they had read
and the theories they had formed to the
contrary. they found that farming was
not so much fun MS they had expected
and to the end they were never able tc
understand why their books did not
contain antidotcs for the misfortuncs
which seemed the ordinary everyday
fate of farmers.
But during all their Affections and
distress they never forgot their artistic
tastes, and one of their neighbors now
living in San Diego tells how he foun,
the whole colony assembled in t!le loft
Of the barn one morning listening to a
symphony by Sebastian Bach in D nj.
nor while the last COW was dying OF
colo, caused by improper food
Starvation finally compelled the CO...
ony to disintcgrate. Modjcslla and the
other theatrical people went back upor
the stage and Henryk Sicnllcwicz wen,
to Los Angeles, where he lived in an at.
tic and cooked his own meals until he
could get money to pay his passage
back to Poland, while the rcmaindc,
found temporary employment unit
they could obtain relief.
Sicnkiewicz is well remembered By
the old residents here. lie was tlcr
about "a years old and was always writ
ing. He learned q little English at The
boarding house where he found refuge
in Los Angeles, but no one ever sus
pected his talent until "Quo vadis" an
peared in print.-W. Z. Curtis, in Chi
cago Record.