The Saint Paul globe., 1904-05-22

among his .people-that, in a sentence,
tells the story of the life of Maurus Jokai,
who died in Buda Pesth on May 5.
Twenty years ago the name of Maurus
Jokai was familiar only to those who seek
out the strange names on the book count
ers. The difficult, thought stimulating
Magyar language kept him a stranger to
readers, but when book hunters began
pointing out the treasures to be found in
his many works the world was not long In
taking him UP and giving him the position
he merited. During the years since the
translators took hold of his writings the
world has learned to know his Arany and
EotVos his Petofi and his Madach, and to
call their creator Hungary's greatest nov
elist
Maurus Jokai was the author Of $50
books twenty-five of his romances were
printed in several volumes. He wrote
800 novelettes and almost a dozen plays
He was a patriot and a poet as Well as a
novelist. And to all his other talents he
added those of journalist and dramatist.
Fond of Books in Boyhood.
Maurus Jokai was born at Comorn, in
Hungary, Feb. q, 1926. His father, Jo-
seph. a scion of the Asva branch of the old
Calvinist Jokay family, was lawyer by
profession. but a lawyer who had seen
something of the world and loved art and
letters. His mother came Of the noble
Pulays. She was venerated by her son
and is the prototype of the ideal house
wives with warm hearts, capable heads,
and truant sons who so frequently figure
in his pages.
Maurus was their third and youngest
child and the pet of the whole family
He seems to have been a sensitive, affec-
tiOnate lad. always fonder of books than
of games, but liking best Of all to listen
to the innumerable tales his father had to
fell Of tho Nannlannin in which he
himself had borne a humble part or of
the still marvellous exploits and legends
of the old Magyar heroes. 1t was from
his father that Maurus inherited both his
literary and his artistic talents. The boy
loved study and was the joy and delight
of his masters, who could not teach him
quickly enough. Both at the local gram
mar school and at the gymnasium of
PresSbuTg and Comorn he stood high in
his classes. and he speedily acquired
literary knowledge of English, French and
Italian, beside a thorough grounding in
the obligatory German and Latin.
In his twelfth year little Maurus was
summoned from his studies to the death
bed of his father, a catastrophe which
he took so much to heart that he fell
seriously i'll and for a time his life was
even despaired of. He recovered but
slowly, and for the next five years was
haunted by a deep melancholy which he
6LUedNOTeu TO combat Dy IDe most IN
tense application to study at the Call
whist University of Papa, whittier he
was sent for his degree in 1841-42. At
Papa he was one of the principal con-
tributOrs, both in prose and verse, to the
university magazine. Yet curiously
enough. he displayed at this time so
much skill as a pal. ter sculptor, and
carver in ivory that many thought he
would owe the future fame which every
one already predicted for him rather to
his brush and chisel than TO his pen.
Studying the Maeyars.
In 1894 we find him settled at
Kecskemet, the chief city of the Afford,
or great Hungarian plain. embowered in
miles of orchards and vineyards, where
fine, bracing air restored the delicate
young student to something like normal
health. 1t was here that his alert, OBJ
servant eye first studied the chara cteris-
tics ofEthe Magyar peasants. Forty-nine
years later he was to record his impress
sions in the exquisite tale. "Az Sarga
Roza" .('"The Yellow Rose'O, certainly
one of the finest of his later works.
Yielding to the wishes of his friends,
Jokai now resolved to follow his father s
profession. and for three years studied
law with his usual asSiduity at ComOrn
and Pest. In 1916 he obtained his ar
ticles. won his first action, and imme-
diately afterward abandoned his profess
sion forever because he could not find
il in him to diStrain for rent upon a
poor widow and her orphans.
Four years previously his five-act
drama, "a Zsido Flu" (''The Jew Boy')
had been honorably mentioned by the
Hungarian academy in a prize competi-
tion. 1t had needed no small heroism in
an ambitious youth of nineteen to sub
init to the drudgery of the law after such
a brilliant debut, but virtuous indigna-
TlOn coming fO the aid Of
bias, JOkai made up his mind to go to
the capital and henceforth devote him
self entirely to literature. In 1915 he ar
rived at Pest, whittier Petofi had already
preceded him; speedily became a con-
tributor to the leading newspapers, and
a year later, when only twenty -one pub
liShed his first considerable romance,
'Het Koznapok' ("Working Days').
The book made a profound sensation.
Its amateurishnessg was forgotten. it's
crudities and morbfdities were pardoned
for the sake of its striking originality
and exquisite charm of style. Nothing
like it had ever been seen in the national
literature before, and, even then, Hun
garian bellies lettres could boast of two
novelists of the first rank. Eotvos. the
Magyar Fielding. and JOsika, the Magyar
Walter Scott. 1t produced much the
same impression in Hungary as Sketches
by Boz" had done in England ten years
previously, and indeed, on its humorous
side, the genius of Jokai is close akin
to the genius of Dickens.
Became Literary Oracle.
The reputation of the young author was
instantly made, the most notable result of
his triumph being his appointment, at the
age of Twenty-Five. to the editorship of
the leading literary newspaper of Pest,
Eletkepek, which, with the assistance of
a numerous staff which he gathered
around him, including the rising talent OF
the day, he speedily made the literary
oracle of Hungary.
But stormy times were approaching
The invasion of Hungary by the Croa-
tians, with the secret connivance of the
court of Vienna (Sept. u, and the mur-
der of the imperial commissioner. Count
Lamberg, on the bridge of Buda, Sept
Is, 1S4S by the infuriated Magyars. rem
dered a war between Hungary and Aus
trla inevitable, and both nations flew
TO arms. Jokai, abandoning literature for
politics. embraced the national cause with
enthusiasm, and served it with voice pen
and sword
During the March days. when the Aus
tian government seemed inclined to con-
cede all the demands of the Hungarian
Liberals, PetOd and Jokai were the pro-
tagonIsts OF young Hungary, and the lat
ter was sent on a political mission to the
Vienna Insurgents by Kossuth.
In August Jokai welded under tbe
most romantic circumstances. the dis
-tinguished actress. Rosa Laborfalvi q
highly gifted, undetermined sDirited vvono