Evening star., 1924-08-12

on the matches. toys and glassware
we bought in Main street. u. s. A.
department stores, the country won
Europe.
"A stroll around Prague's historic
facility Bohemia had for keeping
ahead of time-even in her history.
Everybody recalls that John Huss
fostered a reformation in Bohemia
century before Martin Luther crys-
talliZed the movement in Germany.
But even before Huss one finds Con-
rad Waldhauser preaching sermons
denouncing luxury, extravaganza, and
women's immodest attire-zsermons
in New York and Jones Crossing
today.
This Billy Sunday of the thirteen
sixties crowded the Tyn Church,
which still stands, and he persuaded
women to discard jewelry and to give
up their gold-trimmed gowns and
pearl necklaces.
A Medieval "Clean Up"
Then came Milic. a Smedley But
Ier of three centuries ago, who
cleaned up Prague even to the point
Of padlocking' and later destroying
a quarter. of ill-fame known as
But the most amazing modern
touch about the annals of Prague,
perhaps. are the records of how
Wencelas engaged in retail price fix
ing. He would go incognito to shops
ask their prices. If he found them
too high he would order their stock
given to the poor and the merchants
punished.
AT a time when the memoirs of
neighbor nations are engaged largely
with amours and intrigue. the musty
records of Prague disclose theological
disputation. 1t thrashcd out It's re-
ligious questions long before Witten-
berg and Geneva emerged into theo-
logical prominence.
City of Churches.
I'm 1878 nearly a hundred church
bells tolled for the funeral of Otta-
kar. Today the spires of the city
look like the pixies and spears of a
warrior host; church domes suggest
the round topped helmets of Swedish
invaders.
"One of the less known and most
interesting sights of the city is the
Jewish graveyard. Here 10000 or
more mossgrown stones crowd each
other, for the cemetery became so
are on top of the earlier ones. Many
stones have symbols of the tribe to
which the buried person belonged
two hands in gestue of blessing
mark the Tribe of Aaron, a pitcher
denotes the Levites, a cluster of
grapes the House Of Israel.
There is tradition that Jews
settled on the site of Prague before
the Crucifixion. hence they chad no
hand in the staying of Christ and
are peculiarly blessed The explana-
tion probably was invented to account
for the exceptional treatment accord
ed the Jews Of Prague when their
kinsmen were being prosecuted else
where.
Resuscitnting n Language.
"CZechoslovakia now knows Prague
as Praha. and the Moldau as the
Vltava- The difficulty of giving new
names to geographic entities which
are famous in history, song and story
would deter less persistent people.
One Of the most notable victories of
the Czechs is their lingual triumph in
resurrecting their language after
centuries Of disuse. 1t is acclaimed a
unique feat in world photography.
1T was undertaken by a group of
scholars. and achieved in the face OF
the most form ida bic OF all Obstacles
a social contempt, because those who
spoke Bohemian were set down as
peasants.
1T has been said that Prague re-
sisted Germanization only to yield to
faults of her friends-the American
bar and jazz, Scotch whisky and
French cabarets. These are excres-
cenceS; the visitor is more deeply i'm
pressed by the adoption of card in
dex files and typewritters that click
even though the hours are marked
by a Growing cock and the parade of
the Apostles on the famous astro-
nomical clock, dating back two years
before Columbus discovered America.
Nor can any one think Prague's
musical taste is decadent who listens
to a concert. probably featuring
Bohemia's native Dvorak and Sme-
tana, in the great open air theater
at Sharka, few miles out from the
city. Here a natural wooded back
ground forms the setting for music
and drama, and in the latter enter
tainment Shakespeare is a favorite.
The approaching visit of the
Prince of Wales to America lends
special interest to the origin of the
British heirs famous insignia known
as the Prince of Wales feathers The
emblem was the badge of blind King
John of Bohemia, who, at the battle
of Crecy, refusing to retreat before
the victorious English, exclaimed, so
will it God, 1t shall not be that a
King of Bohemia flies from the bat
tlefield'"