Jasper County Democrat, Volume 21, Number 85, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 January 1919 — BOHEMIA LAND OF PATRIOTS [ARTICLE]

BOHEMIA LAND OF PATRIOTS

Popular Idea Concerning the Country and Its People Has Been Far From the Truth. When Shakespeare wrote of “the seacoast'of Bohemia” he showed no cheerfuller disregard of fact than most of us now do when we think of that richly storied country as a land of s gypsies forever bent upon gay or wlldsome adventure. “Bohemian” has stood for many an age as an appellation for carefree wanderers; yet as origlfhlly applied by the French it probably referred to the expatriated disciples of the Bohemian martyr, John Huss. Spiritual and patriotic fervor rather than lightheartedness are the traditional marks of this people, who after long generations of subjection to Teuton Austria are coming Into their own. _ Bohemia was the home of the Czechs for hundreds of years before Germanic invaders broke in upon its happy freedom, as early, indeed, as the sixth century before Christ. The Czechs’ love of country and of liberty and their sense of Slavic kinship with their oppressed Slovak brethren dwelling near by never died or dimmed. Despite tyranny and persecution they have clung to pride in their past and to hope for their future; they'' have cherished their language, their literature and customs, their commcgi faith and ideals. —Atlanta Journal.