Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-05-11
POLAND WAR PHOENIX
REMAINS FRIEND OF u. S.
Nation Which Has Been Reborn ls
Making Swift Strides
Forward.

| Broad boulevards now skirt. the wind
ing Vistula, which divides the city In
two. The great stone spans OF the
Poniatowski Bridge, blown up by the
Russians. have been reconstructed.
Not far from the center Of the city a
reflects the classic white pillars and re-
fined details of a perfect Louis Seize
palace of the Polish Kings. Its perfec-
ton creates an Illusion of another day
one half expects the sporttve ladies i'm
mortalized by Fragonard to emerge
And once saw them, for attended the
costume ball held there in 1928, when
everything from the sedan chairs to the
liveries of the servants was true to the
period. That is, except for the anach-
ronisn of the latest American dance
music.
Theater a Popular Diversion.
The Poles are very fond of the theater
and during the season Warszawa's play
houses will be showing simultaneously
ten or more legitimate dramas and two
or three musical comedies. George Ber-
nard Shaw's Gew play, The Applicant"
had its world premier in Warszawa last
season.
No understanding of the language is
necessary TO appreciate the talent of
the Polish actors. Mime. Modjeskas
genius. which stirred the emotions Of
our grandparents, lives on in many
young actresses.
The Belvedere, now the home of Mar
shall Pilsudski. is strikingly similar to
our White House. and the Seim, the
Parliament Building, is also in the
classic architecture of the late
But probably most interesting to
American tourists-for narrow streets
and unspoiled medievalism never fail
to fascinate them-would be the Stare
M!asto (Old City. There John B.
Stetson, jr, the present United States
Minister to Poland, lives alongside of
the royal palace in a stone house built
before Columbus set sail.
And there is Fukier's, a medieval wine
house, as delightful to the antiquarian
as to the connoisseur. 1t has been
handed down in direct line from father
to son since 1850. It's weathered tim
bers, gabled roof and courtyard invite
the etcher One opens massive, nail
studded oak door and proceeds through
long. winding passageway into vaulted
rooms with flagStone flooring, furnished
with refectory tables and benches
which have served since the days of the
Holy Roman Empire.
American Guests Honored.
If the proprietor realizes that he has
an American guest, he himself, as well
as his house, Is at your service. He will
show you the family treasures. The
"Courvoisier Grand Fine Napoleon,
1871" which caps the wine list of the
best French restaurants, is vim ordinaire
to a Fukier He will take you down.
stairs and show you little heaps of dust
where lie bottles Of tokay put down
in 1900
He used to send two of these bottles
to the three Emperors and to the King
OF England on the anniversaries of their
coronation. Perhaps the King of Eng
land still gets his. Neither John D.
Rockefeller nor Henry Ford with all
their wealth could buy this ancient vim
tage, he will tell you; and he seems to
be under the impression that one or the
other of those eminent prohibitionists
may stop in any day and with fabulous
sums tempt him to sell the wine of the
Caesars.
If one is looking for natural beauty
off the beaten track in Europe he will
find much of interest in Poland. The
Tatra Mountains in the south, range
of the Carpathians, are almost as high
as the Alps and contain many lakes
which reflect green frs and snowy white
peaks. One of these beautiful lakes is
called 'The Eye of the Sea-
Eastern Poland has its forests Of vir-
gin pine, where the last herd of Euro
pean buffaloes roams. The wild boar is
hunted there in the same fashion as in
former centuries.
And no more than the European
visitor to America misses Niagara Falls
does the tourist in Poland miss the salt
mines near Krakow. One mine there Ia
said to be the largest in the world, en-
ploying nearly 1000 men and producing
10000 tons Of salt a year. But it is
not the size Of its operations that makes
IL snow place. The sculpturing Of
the Polish peasants has done that.
Notable Work Of scuIptors.
The mine contains the chapel of st.
Cunegonde, cavern carved from pure
rock salt, which can accommodate sew
eral thousand persons. The altar, the
pulpit, the statues and even the candel-
abra are carved from snowy white.
sparkling salt. The miners and their
families attend midnight mass there on
Christmas eve.
ball room with perfect floor of salt. I
nave thoroughly enjoyed myself at
pail there. The mine is brilliantly
lighted by electricity and when COM
mlttees Of foreigners arrive the miners
band. in hidden alcove. plays the ma
tlonal music OF the visitors.
Krakow Is the ancient capital of
Poland, the heart of the nation. 1t Is
one. of Europes perfectly preserved
medieval cities, such as Nuremberg
Bruges or Seville. Here lie the ma
tons illustrious dead and whether pill
grtmages are among his habits or not
the visiting American must 90 to see
the tomb of Kosciusko.
Posen-now Poznan-waS the pro-
yincial capital of German Poland and
lies on the direct route between Wars
zawa and Berlin. Here the great castle
built by the former Kaiser SO that his
Polish subjects could consider him a
nelghbor. is being used by the Univer-
sity of Poland.
German Decorations Defaced.
Like the people of Warszawa, those OF
Poznan have been busy erasing all trace
of their imperial masters. The Polish
shields decorating the city hall, which
had been replaced by German eagles.
have been restored. And, in retaliation,
the mayor of Poznan had an artist
paint portraits of Polish national heroes
over the pictures Of the German en-
perors that had hung within the build
ing.
For Americans who long to get of the
beaten track without encouutering hard
ships I recommend Poland. No tourists
agencies are featuring Polish hostelries
yet rooms with bath are available
The most difficuit language of Europe
should hold no terrors for the servants
and railway officials seem to grasp
American French quicker than French
men do and they are learning English
as fast as possible. But the greatest
charm to the American probably will
| be the feeling that he Is in a friendly
land where his country and, therefore
himself are appreciated.
| Tun1~o-n Cn D.