The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1908-10-23

and I remembered a line from some siir-
ring poem to the effect that "Freedon
screamed when Kosciusco fell but ior
the life OF me I couldn't remember any
thing about Kosclusco (whose name by
the way. the Poles pronounce as though
it were spelled Kosh-kush -ko. acceat:ng
the second sylable) except that lie came
to America and fought with our armies
against England during the Revolution,
as did Lafayette. the Frenchman and
Won Steuben the German. Whether any
or all OF these gentlemen came to cur
aid because OF love OF liberty or Of hltr.d
cf Engle nd. or because they were soldiers
by profession, l really d not know
Ideas of Poland.
/ had too shadowy a sort of Idea that
Poland was once European power to
be reckoned with-that II vas mn elective
monarchy--that Its mobiles. when the oc-
casou demanded, chose II sort OF puppet
that there was usually everlasting strife
because the mobiles wars never able 20
agree as to what the king was To 90 a'id
that this was the reason that Poland
finally ceased to exist as an indepond hnt
nation and was cut UP Into three slices
and distributed among Russia. Germany
and Austria. OF Polish lltcratu:s ! knew
even less. / knew that SienklewicE. who
wrote "Quo Vadis," vas a Pole, and had
written some great national romances.
ard that Modjcska. the actress. was also
Pole, but 1t was a great surprise TO
find In Warsaw statute 10 Copern!crs,
and to learn that he was Pole-to learn
that the heart OF Chopin was preserved
In one of the cathedralS 1t Warsaw, ana
that he. too, was Pole | SUPPOSE mat
! had heard that PadcrewslI is Il Pole,
but had never thought Of him as such !
might multiply examples. bur these WI
suffice to Illustrate my ignorance OF all
things Polish and | am promising myself
a considerable pleasure on my return TO
Warsaw IN the study of chapter nf
world history and cultur. OF which have
never before taken any hpuctt
The great difficulty will be the lam
guage CIR rather the languages, for botn
Polish and Russian are necessary. and
both are nightmares There ale Other
languages, too. that are everyday rccrs
sities. Society speaks French; business
is done in German. ana the 200.OOO Jews
dish-a mixture of Hebrew. German,
Polish Russian, French and Spanish.
which is written with Hebrew characters.
Russian is the official language, and Its
alphabet is a holy horror.
Did Good Job.
think 1t was Peter the Great who ap-
pointed the commission that invented it.
and he is said TO have instructed them
to make an alphabet that no one would
ever be able to read. They succeeded ad-
mirably, for to the present day only
about 20 per cent OF even the Russians
have been able to learn IT. The Poles,
whose language bears about the same re-
lation TO Russian as Dutch does to Ger
man, had borrowed the Roman alphabet
somewhat earlier and still use 1t, but have
modified the sounds OF the letters and
delight greatly In combinations of 81.
DuzZl!ng as the strange hleroglyphics of
the Russian. All shop signs are in these
TWO outlandish languages. the one a puz-
Gle. the other unpronouncabe.
Thus far / have accumulated perhaps
fifty words OF Polish which I can use ef-
fectively and perhaps so many more that