GREAT' FETE IN PRAGUE.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1539, 7 September 1912, Page 11

GREAT' FETE IN PRAGUE.

HISTORICAL AND ATHLETIC, 'A mighty and moving pageantry of patriotic discipline and power. So, curtly, may be described the remarkable scenes that we have just witnessed in Prague. When I received the invitation to be tho guest of the Lord Mayor and city of Prague at the unveiling of tho statue of Francis Palacky, the great Bohemian historian, and saw that, linked with this event, there are 'three days of Sokol demonstrations, I felt I should see a marvellous sight, for the Sokol scheme of gymnastics and drill is the most perfect in the wotld. Palacky would have felt a thrill of patriotic emotion could, he have foreseen that within forty years of his death, at the unveiling of his monument, there ■would be 12,000 men and 6000 women going ■ through evolutions, all imbued with the truest patriotic ideas, all members of this Sokol movement, the aim of which is to improve the physical and moral education of the nation, to make it strong and valiant, and of a high defensive power. But what are theso Sokols? The sokol, the falcon, is tho alert, powerful native bird, taken as tho emblem by the founder of this patriotic movement in Bohemia in 1862, Dr. Tyrs. The members wear a epecial dress, much like the Garibaldian volunteers, and have a vocabulary and phraseology. A special gymnastic code was adopted, to become the code for all Slavonic people. The war of 1860 arrested the movement, but in-1882 seventy unions, with a thousand members, drilled under the founder, Dr. Tyrs, in Prague, and a great impetus was given to the movement. Gymnastic halls were erected in all centres, with club accommodation; and ■ 6o vapid has been the development that in 1907, 8000 Sokols, .2400 women and 500 jreshmen, and 1800. pupils, drilled on the great Lerna Plain at Prague, and there were present representatives of the other Slavonic people. To-day the movement has a membership of 100,000 men, 15,000 women, and 28,000 boys and girls, and that Vit links historical teaching with its drill is evidenced by the scene enacted.in 1907, of the defeat of Sigismund'by the Hussites under Zizka'near Kutna-Hora in 1+22, a battle so vividly described by Palacky. Honouring Palacky. Our anticipations.were great, but what a realisation we experienced! Since 1873 I have known Bohemia, and have'witnessed the rejuvenation of a people. They are no sluggards in Bohemia. After a brilliant reception in the strangely beautifully decorated new town house, not town hall, near the old massive

tower, and a fete on the Sophie Island that lasted into the small hours, tho Sokols were on tho field at 6 a.m., and at 1 a.m., with the guests,, paid their tribute at their founder's tomb; and then came an awe-inspiring ceremony in the grandiose Pantheon, where Viceroy and princes and learned meti from many naiions honoured Palacky. But in the afternoon on tho Letna plain came the real honouT, the effect of his teaching—drill and gymnastics. It sounds prosaic; the Bohemian men and women have evolved poetry, epic, and lyric from this prose. When the long, serried columns marched into tho vast square, with clean-cut lines and a rhythmic swing, and then wheeled, and jfrom columns in a second were in open order, 12,000 as one man, the cheers rose from the 100,000 spectators, a. part-coloured-mass, the red shirts of the Sokols looking like a.great bank of poppies, with a brilliant patch of blue where sat the Ruthenians. The movements, the swish of arms through the air, was as the kiss of the sea on a strand. The mas 9of living figures rose, fall, swayed, and turned as by magic to the strains of the fine; orchestra. Then came the women, in. red and yellow, soft-toned headdress, dark tunics, and white collars and girdles. Tlioy, • too, GCOO, marched in from either Bide of tho arena in close columns, and opened out in a moment. And then, in every/type of movement their bodies 6wayed and moved, advanced, retired, bent, and posed in graceful lines as moved by one soul; some; of the movements were most intricate, and the arms and leg drill very varied.

A Touch of Nature. One delightful feminine touch I saw from the loge d'honneur, where I was privileged to be, with Prince Thun, the Viceroy, the Mayor of Prague, and crowds of notables and ladies in charming costumes. When drawn up in a series of close columns, one girt on the left flank was out of line halfway down the long column. The male director waved his baton vigorously but uselessly; the girl still wanted to spe or be seen, and a girl director ran swiftly , 200 yards down the line, and pushed the delinquent into exact line. This amusing fanlt was the only one I noticed in the two days I watched the intensely interesting drill. The final day wound up with a brilliant Greek scene, Marathon, in perfect Greok dresses—warriors, hoplites, maenmls, ■ peasants, priests, musicians—a brilliant spectacle with\a dramatic storv. Before the march out" wrestlers, disc and spear throwing, and other' Greek games were epiritertly enacted, a remarkable educative spectacle. ■ In Prague city the - two great scenes were the march past of 20,009 Sokols with banners and bands, a most inspiring right, and the unveiling of the Palacky monument. The verve and swing of the men in their picturesque dress, and the eager, clean, intellectual look on their faces was even intensely pathetic, and brought the exclamation to more than one Englishman's lips, "This is different to loafing football crowds." • A Different Scene To-day. When the whole ring place wa3 filled with the Sokols, under tho spires of John Hus's church, and round the base of the great monunrant now building to their national hero, the head of the-Sokols, Dr. Scheinor, addressed the men, • and the Mayor of Prague, Dr. > Gtos, also spoke. Arid as we stood at the old town hall, that has witnessed such terrific scenes on this earns .ring, the scene had a most intense meaning. The Palacky ceremony was splendidly organised. The , Sokols have preserved lines and order with the police. No troops have been seen, and the crowds have been enormous, and the order absolutely perfect. The monument is in a great Eemi-

circle, facing the Ultava' River, looking across to the Hradchin. And a brilliant spectacle it was, when all the notables in. uniforms, orders, robes, with tho Viceroy and tho Mayor of Prague, were clustered round the monument, that was veiled by a screen supported by standards, with Poiacky's initial in gold. I The picturesque Sokols were the guards, and atter orations from Dr. Scheiner and Dr. Krainarsh, at a signal the standards were lowered in a momont and tho monument was unveiled, and the keen f.ice of Francis Paloeky looked out over the vast crowd of Bohemians and people from all lands who had come to honour his work and memory. Then enme a. Jong defile of laurels and wreaths from all nations; but first of all a little village maiden, in her peasant's dress, brought a simple bunch of flowers and laid at Palacky's feet. Maiden and flowers from the village of his birth. The English or "Anglie" wreath from the British International Association of Journalists, whose -members have- _ twice been honoured in Bohemia, came third, as the order of the long line was alphabetical. And the writer was privileged to say a word to the vast crowd, in homage of the great historian; and at the banquet he was enabled to refer to the immense value of the dramatically interesting history of Palacky, the mine whence had come the novels of "The Gleaming Dawn" and "The Cardinal's Page," and much more work on Bohemia. It has been an amazing revelation, of what true patriotism can do'for a. people to have witnessed these national scenes in Prague—James Baker, F.R.G.S., in "Tho Queen."