Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-04-05
Geographic News
Bulletins by the
National Geographic Society
About Lithuanla


Lithuania, the southernmost Of
the Baltic countries carved out of
pre-war Russia, seated herself at
the family table of the world ma
lions by accepting Jurisdiction of the
Permanent Cour of International
Justice, but has declined to join a
conference of Baltic States TO settle
upon "A policy at Genoa.
Though the United States has
1, mo- recognized the Lithuanian gov
eminent, as have most of the ma
tons of Europe. many of the prin-
oiples of its republican government
were borrowed from America. A
recent incident in this connection
was the presentation by Lithuanians
in America of a liberty bell to the
mother country In commemoration
of the fourth anniversary of its in
dependence. The bell is to be rung
on all national holidays and days oil
Important historical significance to
the country" say a bulletin of the
National Geographic Society issued
from its Washington. ID. c. head
quarters.
over the present country of
Lithuania. once the largest state in
Europe extending from the Black
Sea to the Baltic, the armies of Ger
many and Russia crossed and re-
lcrossed during the world war. Ger
mans often raided the country to
capture cattle and the Russians
counter-attacked to gain immediate
results for the moral effect else
where. .
Is Their Language the Oldest?
These fair-haired and blue-eyed
people. who claim that there are
more than one million foreign-born
Americans of Lithuanian extraction
in our country. speak a language
which is said by some philologists to
be the oldest living language today.
1t resembles the primitive Sanskrit
and is distinctly different from the
Slavonic family. the Teutonic and the
Latin. The c%onquering nations who
ruled the territory from time to
time have. attempted to stamp out
the native tongue by requiring the
children to use textbooks and pray
er-books written in the Cyrillic al
phabet, but they have never been
entirely successful.
THE ancient capital of this area,
which now is slightly in excess of
the combined areas of New Hamp-
shire, Vermont. Massachusetts and
Rhode Island. was Wilma, whose mar
row and winding streets, stony pave
ments and horse-cars give 1T a
quaint and almost medieval atmos-
phere. Though the. sea of the gov
eminent now is at kovno many of
the great event in Lithuanian his
tory center around Wilma.
An Epic I'm Two Sentences
wilma was founded at the juno
ton of the Wilma and Vilayka rivers
by Gedimm in 1922. and is con-
nected by railway lines with Petro-
grad and through Warsaw with most
of the capitals of Europe. When
Napoleon passed through the city in
1872 on his way to Moscow the Lith-
~uanian mobiles crowded around him,
as it was believed he would restore
the old Lithuanian state. Near the
city today there stands a stone
which tells the tragic story simply.
On n side 1t bears the words,
Napoleon Bonaparte passed this
way In 1912 with 400 1000 men, On
the other side there is engraved
these words: Napoleon Bonaparte
passed this way in 1912 with 5000
men,
The three former Russian prov
inces. wilma, Kovno and Suvalki out
of which most of the present state
has been formed are not very pros
lperous looking country, when COM
4 pdiCQ WIN that III thC HciStiDoiii5
German and Polish lands farther
south. Much of it is marshy and
covered with forests. Indeed the
forests are so extensive that they
constitute one of the country's
greatest natural resources. Agricul-
ture is the chief industry, and a
surplus of some products, such as
timber, hides, and flax that her
neiee bors need, is produced.
THE swain in Lithuania, despite
the tendencies which balmy spring
is supposed to inspire, makes the
fall of the year his counting season,
because he must be married in the
winter time. More than 80 per cent.
of Lithuanian weddings take place
during the cold weather. for the
wedding lasts for a week oil more
and time cannot be spared from the
fields and farms when the planting
and harvesting seasons come. Win
tier time is the time of festivities in
this little country when Jack Frost
turns every lake and marsh into a
highway"