The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-05-06
PROUD OF HIS COUNTRY.
A PoIander's Regrets Over the Con-
dition of His Native Land.

/ (From the New York Commercial Advertiser)
/ A portly old man with majestic manners
sat in an east side wine cellar slipping
! claret and finding fault with old Europe
He spoke in a soft, voluminous bass. which
| lures, and the three other men who sat at
the same table. smoking and listening,
| often expressed hearty approval.
who is the greatest piano player in
the world?" he asked, and after a pause
he answered with an angry gesture, Pad
crewski. Who is the greatest composer for
the same instrument? Chopin-anOther
Pole! Who is the greatest soprano in the
world. now that Adelina Patti is practically
out of the race? Nine. Sembrich a Polei
Who Is the greatest tenor and the greatest
operate artist the world has produced?
Jean de Reszke! Who is the greatest nov
elist? Sienkewcz Who was the greatest
violinist? Veniavsky! All Poles! Yes,
ours is the greatest nation in the world,
and yet we are In bondage. Russia, Prus-
STA and Austria have each a slice of our
great kingdom; our glorious language is
languishing under the yoke of foreign
tongues; our children are prosecuted COM
PEELED to seek a home in strange countries,
scattered all over the world
The old man waved his hand In despair,
lit his pipe, and was silent.
But where does Europe come in?" one
of the three ventured respectfully. Il
blame Russia Prussia and Austria,
but"
But WHAT" the old man interrupted
him, tmpatiently. The powers are all one
syndicate, one gang If England, for in
stance, was as pious as she says she is
she would have freed Poland long ago. She
is strong. She could do it if she would.
But she doesn't care. It's somebody else
who is writing with pain, not she, so she
can stand it."
The old Pole was interrupted no more.
He went on to picture what glorious
country Poland would be if she were freed
from her oppressors. She would become
the cradle of a new civilization, the great
centre radating from which would be
literature. music the plastic arts, science,
commerce. Its sunshine would battle the
whole world in light, fill every crevice of
the globe with happiness, turn life into a
poem.
"Ah!" he sighed. getting up and begin
ming to pace up and down the cellar. Talk
of the millions spent in civilizing savages!
Here is the greatest people God ever ere
ated, and it is 2llowed to perish; here is
the greatest source of civilization the hu-
man brain can imagine, and 1t is allowed
to lie fallow."
Two hours later. when the old man and
his friends were gone. the proprietor and
another customer sat talking over glasses
Of wine at the same table where the Pole
had addressed his followers.
He can't get it out of his mind" said
the landlord. His father and their whole
family were active in the Polish rebellion
of the sixties. He himself was a Young
man then, and his devotion to the cause
gained for him the admiration of the dis
trict. They tell some interesting stories
about him. He was engaged to be mar
ried, and he was so deeply in love with
his sweetheart that often in the dead OF
night he would get up, dress himself
and spend the rest Of the night marching
around the girls house. Yet when her
brothers refused to join the revolutionary
forces he cursed their family and broke
the engagement. The sister of towards
cannot be my Wife he said.
zone day some secret arms we're brought
and they had TO De @=-4ss, tA--..-A H.