Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1910-08-26
MEN OF MANY NATIONS
Converse With Ease AT ESper-
antO Meet
A MEDIUM OF EXCHANGE
Esperantists Find International Tongue
Answers All Their Needs-A Tie
OF Friendship

peranto, the Philadelphia North
American sent special correspondent
to the Esperanto Congress in Wash
ington last week. This correspondent
was Leigh Mitchell Hodges, whose
interesting story. published in the
Philadelphia North American is copied
by request of local Esperantists.
Mr.. Hodges, under date of August
Is writes as follows: a
Last night / sat in a room with a
little company of men represent ng
by birth and tongue nearly as m ny
nationalities as there were persons
present.
There was a big, ruddy English
army officers professor from the Sor-
bonne in Paris, Portuguese poet
who lives in Brazil, a German naval
surgeon, a Russian merchant, Polish
/ doctor, young Mexican, Porto
Rican scholar and group of Ameri-
cans, including two New En- anders
and one Pennsylvania Dutchfl n.
Only two of these men coul speak
or understand any national saguage
save their own, yet for three hours
they talked together running the
range of cultured conversation from
discussion of philosophy to popping
of jests and quips, and understanding
each other as quickly and fully as ! /
! they were brothers IN one family.
1t was my first experience in Esper-
anto, that new and simple language
which, as its inventor himself said
to me, was never intended to serve
as universal tongue, but merely as
| an international means of verbal COM
munication.
1t was amazing and significant,
and the minds of the observer could
not but journey back over the ruins
of many centuries to that time which
was before the building of Babel's
storied tower.
For over there in one corner sat
man from Pittsburg, who had never
even studied school Latin and knew
no more French, German or Spanish
than a cigar store Indian, holding
forth in spirited fashion with the
personal representative of King AL
fonso, whose sole stock of English
was represented by the one word
"tanks. And if these two had met
year ago, the sign-language would
have been their only bond of under
standing.
In common with many another new
thing though Esperanto is now
twenty-five years old this remark
able invention of Doctor Zamenhof's
has had to weather the darts of ridi-
cule and the grape-shot of ignorance,
out to one who came to it unversed
and open-minded, this sixth interna-
tonal Esperanto congress, now meet
ng here, evidences at least one fact
that it is practical.
Furthermore, it discloses an attitude
of fraternalism such as | have seldom
seen at any gathering, apparently
forcibly justifying the claims of it's
followers that it marks long step
forward in the march toward human
brotherhood and consequent world
peace-however distant the materiali-
zation of tbs dream of our desires.
This is by no means foolish con-
clusion that Esperanto has already
minimized the spirit of combat and
conquest nor even prophecy that it
will ever accomlish such revolution
in the nature of men. 1t il only an
indication of the impress made upon
the mind of one who speaks what he
saw; one who could not but marvel
at the obvious case with which these
/ level-headed men overcame the bar
! riers of strange tongues and joined,
as members of one family, in an off
/ hand interchange of thoughts.
Few of these men had ever met be-
4 fore. Now they have been together
three days and they were friends, as
/ the word goes No two of them had
been taught the language by a COM
mon master. Three had got their
first lessons from the pages of The
/ North American and one had learned
from the head-master himself-the
stocky. simplemannered little Polish
/ oculist from Warsaw who was the
modestest man in the group-yet GER
tainly they experienced not the least
lficulty in fully understanding each
other.
Had any doubt of this been lurking
around, they must have fled before
the storm of laughter that followed
+ the recitation of "mother-in-law'
poem by the Brazilian.
They wanted me to test their inter
familiarty of Esperanto and asked
that some English sentence be writ
ten. This was done and an English
editor re wrote it in Esperanto. Then
in quick succession, German, Spaniard,
Pole and Russian re-tra7slated the
Esperanto into the written language
of their lands, after which each read
aloud in Esperanto what had been
written.
And the oft-repeated assertion that
the differing twists" of different
tongues are fatal to a general un.
derstanding of spoken Esperanto
was not borne out by the result, MOI
at the session Of the congress | at
tended today. Apparently none haC
the least trouble grasping the NEAR
ing of the various speakers though
some Of the latter had full-growr
brogues.
In fact, one of the novel expert
ences of the visitor to this congress