The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1920-12-02
CITY OF TRAGEDY
Warsaw for Centuries Victim of
Oppression.

People Of Polish Capital Have Borne
Persecution Bravely and Laughed
in Face OF Death.
Some picturesque anecdotes concern
ing Warsaw, at present the center OF
world attention, its progress in sci.
ence. arts and letters. is contained In
a recent bulletin Of the National Ge-
ographic society. ~-,a
"Warsaw," says the bulletin, "is to
Poland what Paris is to France. No
other people, in all the worlds history,
has borne oppression so bravely and
gloriously as, the Poles, except the
Jews. The 'vivacity, the gayety and
the quick wit of Warsaw's people 10 a
constant reminder of Paris. All. this,
too, in city where the most gruesorne
tragedies have stalked.
"As recently as the years Of our OVID
Civil war the Russian army moved
down thousands of men and women as
they knelt in the snow, singing their
national anthem. Deportations are an
old story in Warsaw, every effort at
naturalization was followed by
slaughter. and hundreds marched the
long trail to Siberian exile. W.,
"But Polsnd's spirit" continues the
bulletin. became synonym for the
indomitabFe. The success of the Rus
sification of Poland has been described
as the process OF keeping 100000
Poles pinned to Russia by bayonets.
Politically nonresident. for even Pc
lands name was expunged from all
official records, the pre-war. Warsaw
We'd with world capitals in science.
particularly medicine, in manufacture
ing, in trade, and in literature.
"Though Warsaw betrayed none of
the grimness characteristic of Rus
sian cities. reminders of her bygone
glories and tragedies were to be found
even before the World war restored
her autocracy. In the Lazienki gar
dens is a monument to John Sob
ieski, who stemmed the advance Of
the Turks in Europe, figure as pic
turesque as Paderewski, who now sees
his land barrier to Bolshevism's
westward spread. It was in 1888 that
Turkish force had thrown itself in
crescent formation around Vienna.
The encampment was no less threaten
ing because it resembled circus rath-
er than siege, with its herds OF cam
els and luxurious tents and baths and
parrots within and fountains without.
mighty events often hinge on slen-
der circumstances. SObieski hesitated
because Leopouf, Austris's emperor.
first declined to address him as his
majesty But Sobieski's hesitation j.
said to have vanished when he learned.
that the. French ambassador had writ
ten to Louis XIV, who rather hoped
for the worst for Austria: Don't
trouble yourself. Sobieski is too fat
to sit on horse and fight The fat
man rode his charger into the thick
of the fight. helping hew his way TO-
where the Turkish grand vizier stood.
and after the battle handed one Of
that dignitary's stirrups to an aid
with the command: Take 1t to the
queen and tell her that he to whom it
belonged is defeated and slain.'
"Other cities have lost their polit-
ical importance, and held their heads
high because of proud past, but War
saw, prosecuted as it was. has high
ly important economic present. In
normal times it was the geographical
center of Europe, the focal point for
rail shipments from Russia and Asia
to western Europe. even though the
actual western terminus of the Trans
Siberian railway was at Moscow, and
its location on the Vistuls: gave it q
place on Europe's inland waterways
comparable to that Of st. Louis on the
Mississippi. Its output Of shoes, met
al articles and cotton makes its prod
uct sound like that of busy New
England city, and its long commercial
arm even reached out to drop half a
million dollars worth of beet sugar
into America in those different days
before 1914. ..5 a.. wy
"Warsaw takes pride in its theaters,
that for the Polish drama and ballet
being an especially beautiful building
with two theaters under one roof. In
artistic dancing Warsaw is pre-emi-
nent; the mazurka and the polonaise
being two characteristic steps. Its
university has a notable book collec-
ton and many scientific specimens,
T. W. Knovv Too Much.