J. S. MACHAR
II.[1]
As long as the Russians remained in Galicia and Count Thun was acting as governor in Prague, the persecution did not venture to make any steady advance, as it were. Now and then it seized hold of some old huxter-woman, of whom it had been ascertained that she had told people how close the Russians already were, and that they would be "here" within a fortnight,—she had been told so by some tramp or other,—the old woman received, I believe, 14 months. Or, an official person, a constable or a police-agent was walking along the street and in the second storey of a house heard somebody scraping away at his violin practice,—practice indeed? That is the Russian hymn,—and nothing was of any avail, the pupil-teacher could explain this and that, and call upon the whole of heaven as a witness, the official person said Russian hymn,—and the pupil-teacher received 8 months. But the persecution was still, so to speak, only dallying,—as if a hungry tiger were catching flies. It gave a grab with its paw only occasionally if some large object came into its vicinity; the news could then be read in the papers that this or that well-known person "had moved" to Vienna. But an oppressive uncertainty had already settled upon the land of Bohemia.
After the break-through at Gorlice, all was changed. They began to coax Prince Thun into believing that he was seriously ill; his
- ↑ Man is a reed shaken by the wind! I vowed to myself and also declared that, after the deletion to which my first chapter fell a prey, I would not continue with "The Jail",—and behold, as soon as I recieved the news that fresh and capable persons had entered the Prague censorship, I am writing again after all. Truly, a reed shaken by the wind!
20
