Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-03-02

should have all the education she could
give him.
Thomas never forgot either Of these
experiences-his fathers diStaste at
having to humble himself before the
master he secretly deSpised or his
mothers desire that he should have a
schooling. These two factors played
the chief roles in all his life afterward-
a firm desire to learn, to make the most
of himself and his talents, and a deep
seated hatred for injustice wherever he
encountered 1t.
WOrkmen Hated SerfdOm.
How his father and the other work
men hated their serfdom! Thomas
watched them cringe before the gaze of
the master of the estate, whose word
could end the employment on which moi
only they but their families depended
He shared his mothers distress and his
fathers anger when a troop Of fox
hunters from the castle rode gayly
across his garden. leaving deep holes in
the vegetable beds, still soft after the
late rains. Thomas knew how his par
ents hated the frequent moving; all
their little belongings packed for a mi
grafton of to some other part OF the
wide estate, bag and baggage and chill
there From his earliest youth he hated
the inequality this servitude implied
and, like his father, longed for a day
of liberation.
One incident of his boyhood Illus
trateS this. Passing near q forester'S
lodge one Autumn day. Thomas heard
shouts and laughter, and stopped to
see what the commotion was about. A
group of the gentry, gathered after a
successful mornings hunting, were hav-
ing their MONDAY meal. Much wine
was flowing, much food on the table.
But something else captured the young
Masaryk's gaze. At the back door stood
one member Of the hunting party, toss
ing out left-overS from the plates the
huntSmen had been using. He tossed
the bits Of food to a scrambling, strug-
Cling mass Of peasants from the village,
| fighting almost like dogs to get a taste
Of the unusual goodies
With tears of rage in his eyes, the
boy turned and ran from the scene.
But the incident had fixed in his mind
the same sense of revolt at such degra-
dalton of human personality as Lincoln
felt when first he saw slaves being
sold at the doox. That basic quality
was born In the Slovak boy, and one
day was to help him overthrow the
whole system represented by those
carousing huntsmen.
1t showed up again in his daily con-
tact with his fellows. this hatred of
injustice. The village boys were in
eternal feud, half in jest and half in
earnest, with the boys of Podvorov. a
mile or two away. Podvorov was the
poorer village; they had not even a
chapel and must come to the larger
town for church services. There was
often battle when Podvorov boys tried
to ring the town church bells. And
often young Thomas MaSaryk aston
1shed his fellows by taking the side OF
the Podvorov boys against his own town.
He could not consent to the uneven
struggle or to domination based merely
upon differences in size.
Education Progresses.
The boys education was progressing
all this time, too, though not without
difnculties. With his mothers inter-
est and hard labor to back him Thomas
had finished the village school, and
even took two more years in neigh
boring academy. That was enough edu-
cation to enable him to teach. But a
boy Of IA was too young and his father
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