Page:The Czechs of Cleveland (1919).pdf/29

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THE CZECHS OF CLEVELAND



Bohemian National Hall.

Thus, through schools, gymnasiums, lodges, musical and dramatic performances, receptions and dances, these halls furnish social life and a variety of interests for every age in their community.

Czech Language Schools

The schools are under the direction of the “Bohemian Free Thinkers School Organization,” whose headquarters is in Chicago.

The Czech loves his native language, which was, during the centuries of Austrian oppression, his only means of national assertion. Now he wishes his children to retain this tie to the past, and it is only through special effort that they have any chance to do so, since English is their ordinary language. These schools have therefore a decidedly cultural value, since they add to the child’s equipment knowledge of a second language, and through that language access to the treasures of history and literature which are legitimately

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