The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-05-03
Henry SlenkieWicz Was a Mem
Der Of The Colony.
ONE OF THE BACHELOR GROUP
A Hearty Worker In the. Utopia1.
Enterprise-A Sad Experience
fer the Budding Genius.

Los ANGELES, GAIA few of the
American residents in southern Califor-
MIA are particularly interested in the
news that Henryk Sienkiewicz, the
and Sword is to come to the United
States, and, perhaps, TO cross the con-
tinent, and visit some of his old-time
friends and naighbors on the ranches in
Los Angeles and Orange Counties. The
novelist lived in this country nearly
TWO years-in 1876, 1877, and 1878
Many people remember him personally,
and many more remember the UtOpian
cooperative agricultural colony that he
and Nine. Helena Modjeska and Mich
|ael Kroschiki labored to establish in
TIL beautiful Anaheim valley, that
stretches from the foot Of the Sierras
to the Pacific shores in southern Cali
fornia.
Every body in southern California
knows something about the Polish CO.
l0ny-itS pathetically vain attempts at
cooperative agriculture, its unhappy
dealings with crafty real-e5tate agents
and it's perfect ignorance OF farming IN
a country where irrigation is all essen
tial. There were thirty-three in the CO.
lony-twenty-feur young men and nine
women, who came with their husbands.
Henryk Sienkiewicz was among the
bachelors, and one Of the youngest.
Every one in the colony had some
means, and a few, like Count Bo2elta
and his wife, Nine. Helena Modjeska,
had some 1000 or $4,000 they had
saved from professional labors in Eu-
rope. Every one in the colony was a
genius OF some sort. That is what
brought them together. Several were
painters, four were actors, two were
sculptors, one an engraver, and dozen
were editors and literary people. Their
idea was that here in the semi-tropics.
along the shore of the mighty Pacific.
and with the inspiration of the snow
capped Sierras, they might lead com
piete, idyllic existence They believed
that what had been done in Greece and
Italy, amid a climatic environment
similar to that Of southern California.
might be duplicated in this land of
fruits and flowers The real-estate
pamphlets which they had read from
cover to cover in their homes in far-off
Poland had assured them that in the
-ertile soil of southern California crops
grew themselves, when the simple
planting was done. They imagined they
might live easily from the product of
their broad alfalfa fields, their olive
and orange groves, and that the colo
ny's herds of cattle and focks of sheep
out among the foothills and mountains
would annually yield sufficient revenue
TO maintain the whole colony in any
event. Meanwhile each member of the
cOlony might live close to his ideal.
The poets might sing, untrammelled by
sordid thoughts of gaining a livelihood;
the romance writers might weave beau
tiful stories and never have an ugly
worry about existence when unappre-
ciative publishers declined their work;
and the painters might paint and the
sculptors work day after day, just as
They liked.
Henryk SenkiewicZ was about TWEEN
ty-four when he lived in the Polish
|colony at Anaheim, and had made
something of a reputation as short
story writer in the newspapers at Cra-
COW. Poland. He devoted his time al
most wholly to writing Gin his native
tongue. of course) while at Anaheim.
Several of his Charcoal Sketches
were written at that time. A number
of the old-time ranchmen in the valley
lstill remember him clearly. He was an
leXpert angler, and he was often seen
fishing in the wonderful trout streams
in the canons of the San Gabriel Noun
tains. Several ranchmen who were en-
ployed about the Polish colony tell of
how day after day they used to see
ISienkiewicz seated at a table in the
shade of the pepper trees fitfully writ
ing and smoking cigarettes.
Nine Helena Modjeska was the lead
| err in the colony. She had wearied Of
| the stage in Europe, and all her girl
| hood love for farming came back in the
colony. Vladscot, whose odeS and ly-
lrics have since become universally
known in Poland and Russia, was in
| the colony, and Michael Kroschiki, who
| is among the foremost Polish painters,
and his wife and child were there also.
# was as notable an assemblage of
genial. artistic, philosophic, and brill