Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-01-24
Rev Books
In Review
Prof. Arminius Nambery.
The Human Tower OF Babel. 4"

Ihe human rover or Babel.
The recent death of the great orien.
talist, Professor Arminius Vambery.
and the publication of some of his
anti-Russlan tracts calls anew atten-
ton to one who carved out for him
self a niche-where fame and distinc-
tlon quickly made a nesting place
in spite of abject poverty and with
nothing to help him but his own in
domitable will.
OF course, Professor Vamberv as a
writer is his principal claim TO notice
in these columns. but from every
point of view he was a man of COM
manding interest to every struggling
youth or individual in the world who
relies alone upon his own resources
to achieve worldly success. The fol-
lowing Is a greatly condensed sketch
of his wonderful story as given in o
renowned French review.
In an environment of the most ap-
palling poverty Arminius Vambery
was born eighty-one years ago, soms
time between the Great and Little
Cholera in Hungary, at Duna Seer
dahely on the bank of the Danube
He had been kept at school, in spite
of grinding want, until he was
twelve, but then the increasing num-
Der of his brothers and sisters drove
him out into the world upon a career
which was to lead him to a pinnacle
of fame which the whole world could
see. His first achievement was to
obtain additional school training in
st. Georgen. near Pressburg. And
while he attended school he earned
his bread by teaching languages to
Bohemian cooks and Hungarian maid
servants. In the holidays he was
helped little by educated men, who
found how fluent was his Latin and
how wonderfully profound was the
boys knowledge of the language
When he reached the age of sixteen
the boy could speak perfectly five
languages and was then learning Eng
lish and Danish. About four years
later he left for Constantinople with
scarcely any money, but with a bag
overfiowing with dictionaries. Within
a short time of his arrival in the
Turkish capital he found means Of
self-support by teaching languages to
attaches of the various embassies, as
he had at an earlier age to cooks and
housemaids Thus early began the
linguistic achievements of the man
who afterward was known by the
name of the Human Tower of Babel"
anu Ndo iootNCo bPOI WIN NoiluCI ny
Orientals from the fact that he spoke
Turkish like a native. almost an i'm
possible feat for an alien.
In 1862 the young man, who had
long declared that travelling was the
greatest and noblest enjoyment in all
the world. started on his remarlSab BILE
Journey through Central Asia, not
with train and every species of i'm
pedimenta. like the Due d. Orleans
when he began the same tour, but
penniless and alone. But he trusted
in clever tongue, and, While by day
he travelled with the caravan, by night
he practised the languages. Thus he
Travelled to Teheran and further
through the Khanates of Bokhara and
Samarkand to the gates of India at
Herat, successfully concealing his
identity like Sir Richard Burton when
he made his way to Mecca and stood
by the side of the Kaaba.
His first task in Ccnstantinople when
he returned again from Erzeroum to
the Bosphorus was to find a way to
earn dinner. He got employment
as a sort of watchdog outside
harem, but 1t was not long before he
was teacher of languages in an inn
portant embassy. From CONSTANT
nople he went to England, and there
first began to give expression to his
Russophobile sentiments.
With his customary indefatigabls
energy he lectured and spoke cease.
lessly, and quickly gained wide
reputation. His popularity, of course,
was assured when it was realized
how earnestly he sought to increase
the prestige of British policy His
very last pronunciamento was to. the
effect that the rash resistance of the
sultan, Abdul Hamid, to an alliance
with England rather than openly
favoring the kaiser and the Ger
mans, had resulted in the most dis
astrous consequences to the Ottoman
empire.
Among the books written by Pro-
fessor Vambery are number of
works in French. German and Mag
var, some of which remain untrans-
lated into English. Those who read
his autobiogra phical works will find
a record of human restitution most
bravely borne with a glimpse of a
spirit which no suffering could con-
quer. His life, said one who knew
him well, was one of the most strik
ing examples of the complete control
of mind over body. To the general
reader his descriptions of his endless
travels will prove the most enter
tanning part of his writings. His po-
litical works deal exclusively almost
with Anglo-Russian relations and
Turkish affairs.