Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1899-08-11
Cultured polcs Who Didn't Make "a
SuCcs~s OF EARNING.

Arden is all that remains of a Ito
plan colony which WAS established here
Ivy n party of sentimental Polish patli-
OTIS about wrnty-threeyearsago. 1t was
composed of refugees and reformera.
artists and idcalists, under the leader
ship of Va,iSrot, the poet, whose oirs
and lyrics have since made him ia
nous: Michael Kroschiski. the famous
and perhaps the foremost Polish paint
er: Helena MNljeska. who was then ut
the zenith of her fame as an actress;
Count BoZr.ta. her husband, who WIS
expelled from Poland because of his
patriotic energy; ilrnryk SienSiewicZ.
who has since become famous as the
author of Quo Vadis." and others of
similar stripe. who made n vain and
patriotic attempt AT cooperative agri-
culture. with The mort unhappy results.
There Were ilirty-th,re of these peo-
pie all tolA-twunty-fuur young men
and nine young women. mostly artists,
musicians and authors. -Four were act
ors and two wrre sculptols of eminence
in their native land. All belonged tn
the artistic professions and none had
the slightest experience or knowledge
of farming or the practical affairs of
life. They expected to live an idyllic
existence i'll California, like the lotus
eaters in T%cnnNson's poem, with much
love and little labor. and from the
fl,s.ces of their tiu'ks and the fruit of
their olive and orange groves they eX-
Ise.ted to find sustennnce. while the
artists could paint the turquoise sky
and the purple mountains, aud the rest
could dream and write.
They came in 1876. They settled on Il
tract Of land i'll 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 S5l, W>0 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 work.
ed on Il farm before. Therefore, they
were at the mercy OF INSCRIPTIONS
nci2hbors. who did not hesitate to take
advantage of the contiding and unso-
phhticated foreigners.
Il is said that if the Poles had been
NlAliAS W LC lulCl'f 2iAG tLC OIilllSG
trees and smoke their cigarettes with
out attempting to interfere with nature
the farms would have given them Il
living. But being unaccustomed to
manual labor and undertaking to con-
duct their business upon theories which
they found i'll books the only reward
they reaped for their serene faith was
poverty and disaster. Notwithstanding
all the books they had read and the
theories they had formed to the con-
trary. they found that farming was not
tn the end they We're never able to I'M
dcrstand why their books did not con-
tain antidotes for the misfortune which
seemed the ordinary everyday fnte Of
farmers.
But during all their Affections and
distress they never forgot their artistic
tastes. and of their neiYhbors now
living in San Diego tells how he found
the whole colony assembled in the loft
of the barn IL morning listening to a
symphony by Sebastian Bach in d
minor while the last cow was dying Of
collie caused by improper food.
Starvation finally compelled the col
ony TO d~isintegrate. MOdjeska and the
other theatrical people went back upo
the stage and Henryk Sienkiewicz went
to Los Angeles. where he lived in an
attic and cooked his own meals until
he could get money to pay his passage
back to Poland, while the remainder
found temporary employment until
they could obtain relief.
Shnkiewicz is well remembered by
the old residents here. He Was then
about "a years old and was always
writing. He learned a little English at
the boarding house where he found
refuge in Los Angeles. but no one ever
suspected his talent until ''Quo vadisf'
appeared in print-san Diego (Cal.)
iettes In Chicago Record.