New-York tribune., 1910-09-10
THE REAL BOHEMIA
Pleasant Travels There and IN
the Black Forest.

BOHEMIA AND THE CECHS. The His
tory People. Institutions and the Geog-
raphy of the Kingdom. together win hi.
Accounts OF Morayia and SIlesia BY
NViH s Monroe. Illustrated Emo, pp.
XVI, ass Boston: L. c. Page * Co.
\ BOOK OF THE BLACK FOREST. BY
e T. Hughes. With tWenty-one Illus
tratiOnS and two maps by the author.
Svo. pp. vii 80 z. =. Dutton & co.
Mr.. Monroe furnishes as with what he
declares to Ice the first general work of
travel and description on Bohemia in
English There are several books in our
language dealing with different phases
of the subject. chiefly the historical An
occasional English or American traveller
has described the natural beauties Of the
ancient kingdom and the life and Gus
toms Of its inhabitants. 1t is the scene
OF several Of our historical novels. the
best known Of which are Marion Craw-
fcrds The Witch OF Prague and the
Castles Pride of Jennico It's ma
tinnal heroes have been dealt with re
peatedly. especially John Hus. But Mr..
Monroe is the first to give us III a sin
gle volume a survey Of the geography.
ethnogra ply. history, language. liter
ature music, architecture and printing.
agricultural conditions. industry and
commerce of the country. laying partiC-
uIar stress upon the national renais-
sance Of Bohemia since the middle of
the last century. and on what it has
achieved i'm the matter of autonomy. the
revival Of its lsnguasc and economic
and cultural progress. in series of
fye closing chapters ne gives us also a
helpful guide for tourists and a glimpse
of Mnrayia and Silesfa.
II is = useful and informing work con
tanning all that the average foreigner
viii ever need or desire to know, and
much besides. Especially helpful is its
clear, connected exposition Of the inner
national meaning Of the vigorous cam
paign waged by the Czechs in the
| Reichsrath Of the Dual Monarchy and
the halls of the University of Prague
whose incidental but purposeful dis
turbanCcs formed part of the days for
eign news some years age. The author
has freely drawn upon all the material
available in Bohemian. English French
and German. and acknowledges his in
debtedness; but the core Of his book is
the result of repeated visits 10 the com-
/ Try itself and Of residence among its
| people.
As in Macedonia, the observer is forced
/ - take sides, and become either pro-
! Greek and anti Bulgarian. or the re
verse. 50 in Bohemia one cannot be pro
I'll
man as Wei. which in that country
means also anti-Semitic. since the two
intruding races offer a united front 10
the native majority. Mr.. Monroe is a
hearty partisan, AN enthusiast even. The
picture he draws of the Czechs has hard
ly q shadow: among the peasantry
alone he finds conditions that bark back
to medieval times, which. 1t may be
added. is the case everywhere among
the peasants of Southeastern Europe:
More thsn . third Of the agricultural
lands belongs TO The mobility. The F,m-
l,cror ana tia. Church are also large land
holders. FiV" familieS-the Schwarzen-
bergs the LjchtcnSteius, the Lobloyics
the SchoeuboTHS and Tie ThUuS-oWn near
u so per cent Of fhe area Of the kingdom
and I16 lapdlnrdS. constituting less than
one-tenth of ] per cent of the population
own more than SO per cent of thc area oi
I ih.. country. The state is sIill the too
of the noble. Vet the big estates Weld
about only one-half in proportion to the
.lcIease Of the small holdings which means
that they are less iBtensiveIy cultivated.
The number of farm laborers is stead
liz decreasing. notwithstanding the pro-
efessiye smelioration Of agriculture
conditions. The DRIFT to the cities is
constant. and migration claims its share
Nj Monroe by the way. praises the
Bohemian highly as an American immi-
grant.
His chapters on Bohemian arts and
literature attempt too much being