Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1915-04-20
IN BUKOWINA
Ono OF the Days hest Cartoons.
Manchester Gunr,llnn.J


In springtimH, autumn and sometimes
in the summer 1t rains heavily. and the
long. melancholy. rver-soddcn plain OF
Galicia Is under flood So /, was in
August, 1913. The waters were out
also in some OF the valleys Of Bukowina.
ana the truth rushed on, brimmirg ana
turbid between wind strained willows
under the great bridge Mt czcrnowiiH.
Nevertheless Bukowina had that safe
and comfortable look which n mountain
country wears for travellers who have
been a long time in the flooded plain.
And Czernowitz Itself was a coy little
place-inaprropriatc though the word
seems TO any spot in Eastern Europe
1t was 4 neat. solid. unpretcntious little
town of 10000 souls. with u kind OF
Tcutonic Oriental effect. Hotel prices.
| which had risen with each degree Of
! longitude as Travelled eastward. here
dropped to the Austro- Hungarian aver
age; and, after weeks OF struggle with
the difficult and beautiful Polish
tongue. ! was GLAD to meet a familiar
type OF official and speak German again.
Blu, missed the haunting charm Of
tho Polish cities Here were no dim
historical splcndors. no cathedral
arches OF soaring gray and gold, no
huinorously barouquc ecclesiastical pal
aces, and no large ana beautifully de-
signed parks The "RcsidenZ" where
the Orthodox Archbishop of Bukowira
and Dalmatia lived with some 200 the
olocical students, was ugly without be-
! inC amusing; and the various Armenian.
Catholic. and Jewish churches called
for respect rather than admiration. But
Czcrnowitz atoncd for all deficiencies
by the variety of its population and
| their brilliant earb; for. from the mar
ket-placc in the morning 10 the pub
lie. On nd. ,t,yi,, 4, Il. ri,
! husincsslikc pageant Of nationalities
and costume. PodEOritza Gin Montcne-
gro) ana Iagreb Gin Croa;ia) alone
/ surpa sscd the Bukowina capital in this
respect.
Within "A population or coo. 600 tho
tionaltics, speaking eleven separate
dialects and protesting Heaven alone
knows how innny different kinds OF
! faith. Yet for more than half II cen
fury Little Austria" as they can
Rukowina has set an example Of unity,
peace and even prosperity TO the Aus
tro- hungarian empire
Al one moment or another specimens
! of all the twelve nationalitics passed
me in the stiff little public gardens or
! the broad and sunny streets. Hero were
| sturdy Roumanians. %htskinned and
| dark haired, in neat white linen TUNES
and trousers embroidered with black.
! and small black bowler hats wrcathcd
( with flowers, talking in their pretty
| Latin Slav tongue. which looks so mis-
| lcadingly easy il print Here were
! Ruthenians belonging, cthnologists say,
/ to the pUrest and most ancient SlayCniC
/ blOod--a short and lirht-hairod people
+ IN clothes OF thick embroidered lialina
| cloth and sleeveless leather coats.
| Women from the country mu,,icd their
| heads and throats in forbddinc white
I Kerchiefs. but the younger and more
! urban only wore Il square % colorcd
| linen or silk. For the rest, they We're
! clad in long, white embroidered shifts,
/ narrow striped petticoats gracefully
/ caught up, and broad woven belts. Like
most Ruthcnans, or Ukrainians, as
they should rShtfully bc called, they
| were very fond OF red.
/ They are an Interesting race, and
! likely, from their large number and
! growing national consciousness. to play
/ an important part in the near future
, Three millions live in Eastern Galiciu
on terms of restrained cnmity with
the Pole; there arc l,00o.O 600 in Canada
and 30,000.000 dwell in Russia itself
, speaking language akin to Polish
and Russian. but different from both
There kicv is their capital city, and
they have a rich historical literature
| which makes good their claim to look
on the modern German!zcd Russian OF
Pctrograd. or even Moscow. as a Mus
covitc upstart. OF late they have suf
Cars government to bring them into
! limo with tho imperial ideal of Il uni
! form and homogeneous RUSSIA.
IN BukOwina, however. at the tim.
of my visit the Ruthenians were living
/ untrOublcd even by that curious mis-
sonary- political propaganda which the
! Cars cmissaries had carried on for
| years in Eastern Galicia. The IInzuls
/ or mountain RuthcnianS. a race within
/ the race, were generally popular with
| travellers in the Carpathians on account
! of their pluck ana hospitality. \ few
| Of them mingled in the Czernowitz
! crowds. and distinguished themselves
! at the dancing places, where the
! Ruthcnians. Rommanians and Hun
garians We're the chief performers.
! The different natiOnalitics kept apart
on these occa sions, not deigning oven
! to look on when their foreign follow
! countrymcn" were disporting them
| selves. The IIungarians (Magyars) of
! Bukowina were active rather than
| graceful dancers-a lively, ugly little
| folk with high checkbones and sallow
| skins very well clothed and prosper
| ous-looking.
Here also were NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. +.
dark-cyed people of graceful. yo,
| Oriental, type, with singularly fine and
| well-arched eyebrows. Some where in
! Bukowina there is Il colony or a rem
| nant Of Turks, but ] saw none in Ger
| nowitz. Outside the town was n set
! Element Of gypsieS; swarthy bundles of
| gayly colored rags they sccmcd-lmpu-
| dent. familiar, and not very welcome.
! Gypsy is a term OF rcproach in Buko-
wilma where the wcll-to-do pcasantry
| have no more liking for these wan
dcrers than they nave for the Jews.
! Here, as In Poland, the children OF
Israel wore a kind OF national garb,
and distinguished themselves by Curl
| ously curled locks, broad -brimmed hats