The San Francisco call., 1906-12-28
CLAIM S|ENK|EW|Cz
IS TIGHT WAD :
Author of "Quo Vadis" Is
Not Beloved by Compatri-
OTIS Because He Is Stingy
TELL OF HIS THRIFT

|
WARSAW, Dec. 1o.-Proud as the
Poles are of the author of "Quo Va
! dis" Henry Sienkiewicz, the man is
not well beloved in his native land.
He has the reputation of being close
listed and his compatriots like an open
hand. The following incident greatly
amused his friends at the time it oc-
CURED:
Sienkiewicz has a daughter by his
! first wife, pretty, fair-haired girl
with a bright complexion. Her life
is rather dull and one winter she de-
termined to enliven its monotony by
giving an evening party on her names
day-that is, the day dedicated to the
saint after whom she was christened.
These names days" are kept as birth
days in Poland. when girls get pres
ents of flowers, sweets, etc, from their
! friends and relatives.
At first Sienkiewicz declared that he
would not give any party at all, as
the strikes had begun and several peo-
pie who had attempted to entertain
received threatening letters from the
Socialists. But the daughter prevailed
and invitations were sent out for "a
small and early" Those who were
| lucky enough to be invited looked for
ward to the party with expectation,
for they knew but little of the Sien-
kiewicz interior, and who is not in
/ teTeSIeQ In the furniture ana table
appointments of the home of a famous
man? But, alas, day or two before
! the event Miss Sienkiewicz wrote to
her friends canceling the invitation
with apologies. for her father had re-
ceived letter saying that if he gave
the party his windows would be broken
as we'll as those of the carriages which
conveyed his guests to his doors.
EVERYBODY LAUGHS
The letter was supposed to be
signed by a prominent Socialistic
society and is said to have end
ed with an admonition to the author
of Quo vadis" to set a better example
! to the Polish people than to give
/ dances when hundreds of men were
strike and had not as much a crust
! of bread to give their starving fam
/ lilies The tone of the whole thing was
much exaggerated, as, though the sit
uation was grave, the strikers had
/ full pay for the time they were locked
out and the only people who suffered
at this stage of the revolution were
| their employers. But the desired eff
feet was produced Everybod
laughed and those who had not been
invited laughed loudest of all.
The poor daughter was disappointed
greatly and she and her brother after
| ward hinted that they suspected
disappointed acquaintance had played
| them a trick. But knowing the great
! mans aversion to spending money upon
frivolities many people were malicious
enough to suggest that Sienkiewicz
| had written the letter to himself and
shown it to his daughter in order to
save the expense of having people in
his house. 1t is a significant fact that
| the latter explanation of the affair
| soon gained credence in the Polish
capital.
HUNDREDS WITHOUT FOOD
During the general strike, which
took place in the autumn of 1905, the
working classes in Warsaw suffered
considerably, as many factories were
closed permanently and the owners of
| those which were still open refused to
pay for the whole of the time spent IN
strikes. The price of bread-owing to
the bakers strike-had risen by leaps
and bounds, and hundreds of families
| were starving. Relief committees were
formed and Sienkiewicz was asked to
lend his name as president of one, the
guardians assuring him that he would
not have to be prominently active or
| attend meetings.
Nearly everybody who could possibly
do so sent subscriptions People went
without little daily luxuries in order
to be able to help their poorer breth-
rem. Peasants who had no money to
| give contributed in kind. Every viii
lage for miles around sent cabbages
barley and potatoes till the square
by the general postoffice was crowded
with their long. narrow carts. And
| still it was not enough. The cold
weather had begun and the people had
not the wherewithal to buy coal. In
deed, most of them had pawned their
boots and sheepskins. 1t was neces
sary to find some quick way of raising
money before the hard frost set in and
to institute a poor fund which would
last through the winter.
TAX ON FLAT WINDOWS
Sienkiewicz. in a moving speech, de-
livered before large audience, pleaded
the cause of the workfngman and
after dwelling upon the duties of rich
| citizens, suggested that everybody in
| Warsaw who rented fat should pay
i a uniform tax of one rouble for each
window which looked out upon the
street. This seemed fair enough, as
only the well-to-do rent flats looking
on the streets; the poorer ones have to
| be content with a view of the court
yard.
People with a dozen windows or
more under Sienkiewicz's category
| looked a little aghast, as they had al
ready given freely to the poor. But
as the great man was to set the ex-
ample, the others said they would
willingly follow it. But the worst of
it was that the great man himself
declined to practice what he had
| preached The day after making his
| moving speech he left Warsaw and
| those who had begun the work of levy
| ing the tax, which was called by his
name, learned that he had gone abroad
for an indefinite period. Neither did
he send the committee the tax for his
! windows.
People with sufficient sense Of humor
laughed and paid their share. But the
| others, a much larger proportion, said
| they would wait until SienkfeWicz
| made a move. They are still waiting.
Before Listers antiseptic inventions
| the death rate in amputations of the
! thigh was Al per cent. 1t is now about