Albuquerque evening citizen., 1906-12-08

Compared with them the f1aXen-har-
ed. blue-eyed Scandinavian appears
almost as a brunette. In many TO-
calities. especially In the neighbor-
hood of Pinsk. the blondness OF the
| Iithuanians approaches almost 10
albnism.
Despite the progress made during
the century past. the Lithanians re-
main probably the most primitive peo-
ple of Europe They have no litera-
ture worthy of the name, and win
the exception of one man OF science,
| Yakowenko, the birthplace OF tle
| Aryan race has not produced a SIN
gle great statesman, warrior, poet
PHILOSOPHER. or artist. the Llthu-
anians are a race of peasants pure
and simple. Their literature consists
almost exclusively of Bibles and re-
ligious works translated from other
| languages. The tongue survived IN
uuwritten form down to modern
times. In 1547 German missionaries
translated Luther's catechism INTO
Lithuanian. and this was the hrst
book published in that language. SO
unprogressive was this remnant of
the Olu AT aus llldt lhtg lth0i
evolved an alphabet of their own, and
today part of them read books print
ed in Roman characters, and those
living near the borders of White Rus
sia employ the Slayic-Greek character
in writing and reading.
Bound on Funeral Pyre.
Under such barbarous conditions
Christianity made but slow progress,
and as late as the fifteenth century
one of the grand dukes of Lithuania
was burned in the old pagan fashion
on an immense funeral pyre on which
number of horses and captive Ger
mans and Russians were also sacri-
feed.
The history of Luthuania is a brief
page during its period of autonomy.
Only scraps of tradition remain upon
which to reconstruct it, and accord
in gto tradition the only real govern
ment under Lithuanian rule was es-
tabished in the thirteenth century by
Grand Duke Ryngold, conquering
German rover. He was succeeded
| by Goldman who waged victorious
war against the Russians, carrying
his conquests to the very door of
| Kiey and Moscow. In the fourteenth
| century Lithuania and Poland were
united through the marriages of the
| ruling houses of the two countries
and since that time Lithuanian au
| tonamy has been historical mem
ory.
1t was in the fourteenth century.
about 1340 that Iithuania was arous-
| ed from its lethurgy of centuries and
| saw the first act of a tragedy upon
which the curtain has just fallen with
collapse of the Baltic Republic. 1t
was at this time that the German
| hordes of freebOOters swarmed into
| Lithuania to an easy but not blood
| less conquest. They carried fire and
| sword, enslayed the native Let's and
Lithuanians, set themselves up as
mobiles; and held the country in sub
! iugation with a heavy hand, estab-
fishing a German dynasty with the
aid of Polish and Russian adventur-
ers. The Lithuanians were treated
with contempt and were allowed no
part in the government, even inter,
marriage with the invaders being de-
MED them. The invaders seized all
the lands and forced the Lithuanians
to work for them as slaves.
Applied Torch to Castle.
Powerless to revolt, the natives re
mained in seryitude under the chang
ing governments for centuries, sullen.
ly shaving for their masters, but keep
ing alive the tradition of the time
when they were their own masters,
and had quaffed mead out of the
skulls of the hated Germans, who
We're now their rulers and task mas
ters. When Napoleon and his great
army passed through Lithuania on
his way to Moscow, there was an
awakening and the sluggish peasants
believed that the millennium had final
ly arrived with the opportunity tC
slake their hatred to the dregs
NapOleOns proclamation of enamel
patton establishing new govern
ment was greeted as a license to loot
- burn, and slaughter They refused
to work, gave themselves up tC
, drunken orgies and in rayaging
bands, as in the recent days of the
Baltic Republic, scourgod the couL
try killing the German mobiles and
. applying the torch 10 their castles
When the French troops restored Law
/ and order with bullet, sword and
. gibbot, every Lithuanian was Napo
Icons bitter foe When the Emperor
and his army swept back to retreat
over the old Bobruisk road. Lithuauia
was in the grip Of flaming and the
supplies he depended upon to feed
his army did not exist and i'm addi
tion to the bitter winter. he was fore
5 ed TO fight starvation and the re,
] yengeful Let's and Cussacks. who
hung on the fanks of the stragglinl
calumns like hungry wolves. In the
, tangle of swamps and dense woods
p NapOleOn's great army melted away.
Sunk Back Into Slavery.
! Again for almost a century the
3 Lett and Lithuanian sank back into
5 the slavery that seemed their newt
e able heritage Then came the up
o heayal in Russia following the wa
s with Japan. Again the peasant trieC
{ TO strike of the fetters and realize
the dream of national independence
? but the story II tragic failure is TOO
4 recent 10 need retelling In despair
of ever escaping the clutches of th,
g Russian bear while i'm their ancien
p home, the cradle OF the white race
r Lithuanians see across the Atlanti,
? their only land Of promise.