The sun., 1907-08-04
PIONEERS OF ESPERANTO
FRAME FIRST ~ SPREADING THE
Universal TONGUE.

oh h,ahoma city Ahead Of New York with
nv Esperanto Paper World hncireIlnw
Hand NJ Men and women working for
the Language Zsmenhof Invented.
In every movement there has always
i,,.I IL addition TO the initiator at least
ne other personality that has stood out
~ ln object Of almost equal regard. Es-
pcrant1. which Ia beginning to be taken
s,ripisly In this country--but only be-
clruing 10 be-furnishes an example in
point
pr Zamenhof is the inventor OF this
universal language, but now that he has
started il ON its way he elects to draw
himself into the background and watch
its course. While nominally the editor OF
an Esperanto magazine, La Repuo. pub
hshed in Paris. he is so only at long range.
'pr ho has returned to his practice in War
saw, Poland. where he follows the profess
sion ~ Cculist.
Naturally. he ~ busy with Esperanto
matters. but he does not sacrifice his medical
Nrrk to them. This course leaves the
ro-trnm vacant for the one who can take
and M it. Fortuna tey for Esperanto,
it - tiled very acceptably.
Louis de Beaufront, a professor OF
'anguages at Louviers. France. had just
published i'm 1888 an original universal
language which he had named Adjuvanto
when he heard Of Esperanto. He took
Ip the brochure. which DIR. Zamenhof had
managed to get printed after much trouble,
with some natural hostility. and read il
through. To his dismay Esperanto seemed
20 him as far superior to Adjuvanto as the
latter was in the opinion of its inventor.
TO Nolapuk.
He could not disguise the fact, look at
it aS he would. For some days he COM
rared the two systems. Then his min
was made up. lie deposited his own book
in the wastebasket. took up Espe ranto
With enthusiasm, and gave a display of
self-denial by laboring thenceforward in
its behalf.
At that time VolapHk had given up the
ghost and the world was directing frigid
shoulder to the idea of universal language.
For ten long years he battled increasingly,
and with apparently no results except a
ridicule which was as exasperating rs il
was polite.
Occasionally he was helped by friends,
among them Rene Lemaire. who is said
20 have practically sacrificed his health
~ the cause. but it was a barren decade.
Finally in 1891, DE Beaufront founded the
monthly gazette, EEspernntiste, and the
French Society for the Propagation of
Esperanto he also published pamphlets and
textbooks, and then began to perceive
some sprouts shooting.
The French people took up Esperanto,
one by one. and they are now the most
enthusiastic adherents of IL. Paris is COM
mercially the headquarters of the language
and in that city are published far and away
ne best OF the magazines devoted to it.
So deeply il it entrenched there that il
seems unlikely that it can ever die out.
4 boy Of ls has made a public speech in
Esperanto. And Esperanto is not easy for
Frenchmen to pronounce either.
Another Partisan pioneer of Esperanto Ia
Prof Theodore Cart. who has not only
founded the largest printing and publish
ing plant for Esperanto works, La Presa
Esperantista Societo. but is also the editor
of Lingro Tnterndeid, an excellent Esperanto
magazine, whose birth antedates that of
LEsperdntiste by two years. M. Cart is
still better known as the friend OF the blind
for he devotes the greater part of his profits
TO the publication OF Esperanto books
printed in the raised Braille character
OF the advantage to the sightless Of all
nations Of having the literature OF the
world in q common and easily learned Ian
guage there needs no detailed description
Another friend Of the Esperanto blind is
Nile T.. Zabilon d'Her, who s associated
with Prof. Cart in this work. Able K.
Peltier publishes Espeyo kdtolika for Roman
Catholics. Alfred Michaux organized the
hrst Esperanto congress, which was held at
Boulogne-sur-M in 1905. Paul Fruictier
has written an Esperanto syntax in Espe-
ranto throughout.
The Esperantists had q good friend in
Ir. Emile laval, who died about four months
ago. He was an oculist. Seven years ago
he lost his eyesight, but continued his prac-
tice notwithstanding.
Patients had no hesitancy in describing
their symptoms to him and following his
Prescriptions. and his colleagues frequently
conferred with him. so great was their
reliance on his knowledge OF his speciality.
Or. laval became an ardent Esperantist
and helped to disseminate the movement
among his patients.
England comes next in importance as a
section Of Esperantoland. William T. Stead
publishes Esperanto books. and though he
has declined to learn II ne is favorable TO il
Hnl OOOSts IL CHccTtuhy III Hie pcTiOulCdib
Joseph Rhodes and John Ellis. who have
just completed an exhaustive English-Es-
neranto dictionary. are the hardest working
and most self-denying English Esperantists
in England. but their big card there is the
Hon. Lieut.-Col. John Pollen. Gle. V.D..
LID, jos. (so far to date. president of
the British Esperanto Association.
The Colonel has been making a tour OF
india. where he tried W convert the tawny
Hindu to a simplifed grammar, but he had
~ hasten back. for he is one Of the Trio
P"r Ia Tria"--the three who have in charge
the third Esperanto Congress, to be held at
cambridge August 10 to II. The other two
are G. Cunningham and H. Bolingbrohe
'gGi".
The editor of The British Esperontisi is
"san +. 4. Millidge. who has just taken the
'l'r" Of Alfred l.. Wackrill. Mr.. Milldge