Evening star., 1915-06-20
WARSAW, EAST FRONT WAR AXIS

Warsaw. on the east front of battle.
is at this moment the supreme object
of the Austro-
supreme object German armies.
Of German Drive. va. ,h. .unreme
object on the west front Warsaw and
Paris! The Poles delight to say that
Paris is to occidental Europe what
Warsaw is to oriental Europe" adding.
with pardonable pride. Warsaw is
more-it is Poland
The exotic note in the Polish capital
is furnished by the Russians: first by
the bulbous-shaped domes of the ortho-
dox churches of acd-sreen, with dis
cordant sounds of the Russian salad
carillons': by the colored blouses worn by
the moujiks. by the virtigifous pace of
the harnessed horses of high officials.
with the driver standing, guiding them
with puffed-up pomposity: by the cries
of soldiers in saluting their officers,
not with quick gestures, but with gut
tural infections.
The Polandism of Warsaw consists
not in strangeness of color, but in the
general aristocracy of the populatio
A few miles from the marshes. where
the orient commences. is the celebrated
"faubourg of the occident" The first
time l saw Warsaw (Which is Varsovia
there) l had come from Berlin, Dres-
den and Vienna. over these capitals
Warsaw excels by sort of graceful
nobility. simple elegance that appears
impulsive. When Warsaw is compared
with Paris I'VE are led to think of the
Intelligence of the elite of Warsaw.
which since several centuries dominates
the pOliteness. the taste and the gal
lantry of the whole east of Europe. of
the political men and women, of the
people. smart and amorous."
Political men, Are there politicians
in this country? Yes. as thick as the
grass. politicians abound in this he
roic cemetery of the most ancient Euro
pean democracy" Poland counts 90
100000 souls. Warsaw has a million
and it is the crossroads of three great
railroads-Vilna Petrograd. Brest Mos
COW. Lublin kief-between which there
branch the provincial lines. There
are gigantic manufactures in this city
Of iron which contains immense pro-
visions: labor population. supple and
selfwilled. which develops with the
fecundity of the hare. In vain since
1880 a Baltic administration, not be-
ing a native administration. systemat-
ically disregarded all enlargements to
the point that nothing has been built
anew and the city continued to date
from 1880. Warsaw remains a capital;
"a capital under a bushel, but tri-
umphal metropolis. The capital OF
Poland. all the same.
Only since three or four years it's
physiognomy has changed by the con-
struction Of an immense
Material bridge over the Vistula
rL, and a modern park in
furnishing foodstuffs in conjunction
with Lodz as far as Siberia and China.
Warsaw has become center of in
tense production since 1870; then one
laboring man was found in many hun
dreds: today the laborer counts one in
every twenty-five of the population.
In the street the mechanic dominates.
and in this there may be seen the new
spirit, independent and fault-fnding.
The urchin in the street is more mis-
chievous than the Partisan "gavroche."
ragged, quick, mocker light OF step:
his preferred profession is that OF
vender Of journals; with the agility OF
a monkey he leaps from tram to tram,
hewlins his papers with 9estins csnas w15ds
Warsaw Is the city Of the journal: it Is
the daily shouted from morning until
night: the Polish parole is spread
throughout the city not by old men or
those without occupation, as in the
Paris Of yesterday, but by bold urchins.
who fear nothing. The journal is as
free as its vender and with which there
is a certain likeness. for the journal,
like the boy, is "bavard' or gosslper.
curious, speculative. supple and insup-
ordinate The journal is the cry of the
life of the street, which Is as intense
as the boulevards of Paris. with the
same character of force and charm, OF
gayety and of melodrama. with a sort
of theatrical, silly babble. with the
same auxiliaries-cafes always abound
ing in loud takers and smoke
Life is passed in the streets. and the
people are people Of revolutions-the
revolutions of Paris and Warsaw were
often sisters, since that of 1893 In
1880 Prussia intervened and the clocks
were no longer regulated on the same
meridian. These last twenty years the
Social Demokratic has undertake to
Germanize the workman.
Since some years Warsaw tends to-
ward Germaniza ton. and. what is Curl
ous. has been en-
Germans and tered by Jews eX-
Russian Jews. PEELED of,,'a from Russia r .sai:
''levites' or black coats. they present
an aspect of exotic mourning. Their
jargon is not Hebrew. but a German
of the harSheSt sound. These beset
block and capture everything: they in
jure the Poles and Polish Jews. In the
last elections Warsaw, with a million
inha bitants, sent to the duma but one
deputy Jew.
Does this mean that Warsaw is no
longer Polish? Even in the labor class
social ial-demokratised' the Polish wom-
an, socialist and elite. both have re-
manned Polish.
There is no woman in Europe more
Polish and more Partisan at the same
time than the woman of Warsaw How
is it that Vienna may boast of its ele-
gance? Except in ariStocratic appear
ance the Niennese is heavy, awkward
ugly. without individuality. At War
saw all the women are slender, nimble
silent III the street: the workglrl is an
artful coquette. with "balbe"-that is.
the form of vase. spiritual and bril-
liant She has no fire of curiosity
which characterizes the Slav. She is
proud, even belligerent. She it is that
incites the men to insurrection and to
In society the Polish woman still
the pure and noble characte
of the race and also the fraternity with
France. All the women of the bour-
geoise speak French with grace, so
well, indeed, that Warsaw is considered
the second French capital of Europe. |