Putnam patriot., 1919-07-11

world viii daily more and more come
to appreciate the true worth and
strength and power and beauty Of the
Polish character, and realize how
much the seifshness and greed and
brutality Of Germany and Russia and
| Austria have caused them 70 be de-
privsd Of
We are proud Of the part the young
men Of our blood have played IN this
great conflict; how proud and CRATE
| full must our people across the sea
| have been 70 see the long list Of Pol
l.ish names in the army Of America, TO
/ feel and know that their boys, here
| in America, were true to the fighting
| Polish blood that is in them and ca
| gerly risked and sacrificed all that
/ they had and all that was dear to
| them, TO take hand in crushing once
| and for all the monstrous beast Of
| German autocraey which had so long
ravished the homes of their fathers
and had for so many years torn apart
| the families of Poland and sucked the
very life blood Of the country We
who have passed most Of our lives
| here in the land Of the free can never
be able to imagine, even, what our
| forefathers have suffered at the hands
of the Huns and every blow our Pol
ish boys struck at the Germans in this
war was blow of just revenge and
righteous punishment for the brutes,
| who have done all that the human
mind could conceive in the way of
| cruelty. to hold Poland under their
control.
On behalf of my fellow members,
tharafnra I tbauk Won for no oriff Of
these two flags and for your blessing
upon them they are to US the dearest
| emblems IN the world the flag of our
| country America, to be a citizen Of
which is the highest honor the world
can give; and the flag of the land
from which we sprung Poland, rich
with the glorious traditions Of our
race, both flags blessed by Almighty
God through the priest of our Divine
Mother Church, the guardian and
protector and benefactor of US all,
whose wisdom and influence and
teachings make US every day more
worthy sons of Poland, and more 10y
al citizens of America; which teaches
| US to live every day so that we shall
| be worthy of the blessings of God
| and tells us to be ready and prepared
| to fight, to bleed and to die, if neces-
sary, for our country, America, for
the land of our fathers and for the
| truths and principles of our faith and
| in the service of Almighty God, who
rules all nations and from Whom we
| have all that we are and hope to be.
As | said in the beginning, this
| Fourth of July is great event, and in
| years TO come we shall relate to our
| children the pride we felt in seeing
the Stars and Stripes of our own
| America EMBODIED with the flag of
| Poland on this day of Poland's free
dom, when she now at last stands
with America, a free nation, and
| hears the words Of priest of our
race and our Catholic faith, invoking
| the blessing of Almighty God upon
these flags, so dear to our hearts and
| souls And we assure you that we
| will always endeavor so to conduct
ourselves as to be called worthy sons
of Poland and loyal worthy children
of America, true and devoted follow
ers of the Stars and Stripes and all
that the flag stands for in citizenship,
obedience to law and right moral liv-
ing.
The exercises were presided over
by Stanislaw Wilk and the remarks
were all along patriotic lines. The
} large audience of Polish people wa.
urged to fit themselves for their civiC
duties; to become naturalized citizens
of this, their adopted country; TO at
J tend the night school and learn about
the form of government under which
they had sought protection and wer,
making living far beyond their pas
! expectations. Radicalism was advis
ed against and all were urged to up
hold the principles of this govern
ment.
Following the exercises in the hal
there was parade The line formed
on Union Square as follows: Marsha
and assistants on horseback; polio,
escort; Polish White Eagle Band
Thread City Drum Corps of Will
mantle; Southbridge +, O. f. Drum
Corps, Polish societies; little girl
carrying large American flag; mei
and women in Polish costume; dec
Grated float with Uncle Sam and Lib
erty
After the parade light Refreshments
were served. During the afternoon
and evening there was dancing in tn,
hall II is estimated that there wer,
600 Polish people present for the oe
casion.
The chairman of the committee wa:
pleased at the way everything Wen
off but deplored the fact that The
business men did not cooperate by
decorating their places of business.
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