Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1917-10-04
CHAPTER F'1FrEEN-continued)

great, l fear, to be practicable
"Then you don't believe 500
"That he a destroy armies
and all that?" and Chevrial
laughed lightly. "My dear NJ,
Webster, do you7"
"No," said Dan, slowly, 81
don't suppose l do. It's too much
to believe-without proof"
"Assuredly," agreed his com
panion; mo one would believe it
without ~proof-absolute proof"
Then he leaned closer. "To me
he made no such absurd claim, but
from the way he talked-from his
grandiose ideas, his strange
philosophy, his fabulous hopes for
humanity formed the opinion
that the man is mad-not wholly
mad, you understand, but touched,
in n corner of the brain, by a
wild hallucination. His daughter,
naturally, believes in him. She is
a most attractive girl. Polish
women are always attractive, at
least when they are young. There
is, in their faces, in their eyes, an
appearance of tragedy, of mys-
terry, which piques the magma
ton. And they are all great pa
triots-it is born i'm the blood-oh,
far greater patriots than the men.
/ have travelled in Poland" he
added, seeing Dams glance "my
business sometimes calls me
there"
"And is there really such OPP
preston as Miss Ward describedf"
81 do not know what she told
you 1t was only at the end she
raised her voice; but she could
not exaggerate the sufferings of
her people. They are little better
than slaves. All careers are closed
to them, and over them constantly
is the shadow of Siberia"
"You mean they are banished
sometimesi"
"They are banished often-for
one year, two years, three years.
And they are compelled to walk
to and from the place of Danish
ment. 1t takes a year sometimes.
I knew a man who returned home
one day to find a Cossack attack
ing his daughter. There was a
struggle, and the Cossack shot the
man in the leg. The wound fes-
tered and the leg was amputated;
then the nan was sentenced to the
mines at Yakutsk. 1t was l know
not how many thousand miles-it
took him two years to walk there
on his wooden leg-walking,
walking every day."
Dan felt a strange weakness
running through his veins.
"But is there no way to put an
end to such thingsi" he asked.
Chevrial rolled himself another
cigaret.
poland has no friends" he an
swered. "She has been forgotten.
The Poles themselves have come
to be regarded as fools, as charla-
tans, as irresponsible children.
France was supposed to be the
friend of Poland; Napoleon prom
Used to reconstitute her, and the
Poles fought by thousands in his
armies and won many victories for
him. Then came the campaign of
Russia and ended all that. To-
day, Poland is remembered in
France only by a proverb, "Saoul
CONNIE un Polonais,' Drunk as q
Pole.' 1t is SO we think of them,
when we think of them at all,
which is not often. This disdain,
this forgetfulness, has been care
fully fostered by Germany and
Russia. No one thinks it worth
while to interfere. Besides, Pc.
lands lot is that Of every con.
quered country. In Alsace-Lor.
raine it Is just the same"
"Oh, surely mott" Dan pro.
tested. Germany, at least, ha,
no Siberia!"
emo, she has no Siberia" Chev
rial agreed, "but neither has she
q sense Of humor, and that ii
worse! The very worst trait in 8
conqueror, NJ. Webster, believe
me. Il an absence of the sense Of
humor! And Germany has the
strongest prisons in the world
Her system Of espial is even more
minute and irritating than that q
ne1sia. As in Poland, the peopl,
81 Alsace and Lorraine may no,
speak their native tongue no,
study the history Of their father
land. Nothing escapes suspicion
Il is reported that at a certai,
cafe the accounts are kept il
French; the cafe is thereupon Wis
tied, the books c~onfiscated. and /,
fine imposed. "A certain gentle