The Czechoslovak Review/Volume 3/What I Saw in Bohemia

by Selby James Day

What I Saw in Bohemia

By CAPT. SELBY J. DAY.

 

It gives me great pleasure upon my return from Czecho-Slovakia to write for the Czechoslovak Review a short account of my impressions and experiences, while on the staff of General Štefanik. As some of you know, Captain Wheeler and myself went to Siberia on the staff of our beloved General, Milan Štefanik, and after seeing a little service with your boys in the Ural Mountains, we were ordered to proceed from Siberia to France and thence to Czechoslovakia, via America. We arrived in America last March and after a short stay, proceeded to Paris where we again joined General Štefanik, who had come from Siberia by way of the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean. After we had spent a week or more with General Štefanik in Paris, he went to Italy and ordered us to go to Czechoslovakia and await his arrival; he intended to get there by aeroplane from Udine, Italy, where he was to spend a few days with his fiancée.

I cannot explain my feelings when early one cold morning we found we had passed over the Austrian border and were on Czechoslovak territory. We stood at last on the soil for whose freedom we had been fighting, the land of the people whom we had come to love and honor. We had heard stories of the beautiful country we were going to visit, but the ride that morning—we arrived at Prague about two o’clock in the afternoon—was indeed a revelation. Beautiful forests with the marks of intelligent forestry shown in the alignment of the trees, rolling hills and delightful valleys which were in full cultivation every where, showing the marks of the industrious farmer of your country, here and there old castles built centuries ago, all made a picture which neither Captain Wheeler nor myself can adequately describe. We had come through the beautiful, the truly magnificent, Alps of the Tyrol, but neither the scenery of Switzerland, nor of Austria presented such wealth of resources and potential power, as that of our adopted country. One need not ask after having been there why the Hapsburg dynasty held so tenaciously to that wonderful country.

Lieutenant Lakomý, Secretary to General Štefanik, was on the train with us. He was going to Prague once more to see his wife and children whom he had neither seen nor heard of for over four long, weary years of war and privation. There they were at the station, when we arrived in Prague. Words could not express the joy and happiness that beamed all over our dear friend’s face. The faith and fortitude shown by him on the entire trip, for he was with us from New York to Prague, are the things that have made your people what they are today: one of the most honored nations of the world. A committee from the Foreign Office was at the station and soon had us comfortably lodged in a hotel in Prague. We could hardly wait to eat a few bites of food, before we went out again to ramble around the beautiful old town and see the castle of which we had heard so much, where at last a real Czech, a real man, was holding the reins of the government. I will not describe in detail my first view of Prague, for those of you who have not been there have all no doubt had far better pictures made for you by pen or camera, than I could ever hope to draw here. The next day we reported up at the Hradčany castle, and once again saw President Masaryk. Both of us could not help but think of the day we left him in Washington as he stood on the steps there to wave goodbye to us, when we started off for Siberia. Little did we think at that time that we should so soon meet him in Prague as the accepted President of a liberated people. And now we were standing in that famous old room in the castle on the hill, congratulating the President upon his wonderful successes, and telling him of the activities of our General in Siberia. In fact, we pinched ourselves to see if it could all be true.

For the next week or so we were requested to look over the town of Prague, to meet your people and get better acquainted with the Czecho-Slovaks as a nation, to tour the surrounding country by automobile that we might get a clearer idea as to the actual conditions of the country agriculturally, and better conception of the feeling of your people towards their government and a keener knowledge of the actual condition of the people themselves, not, as I have said before, their mental condition, but their physical. Let me say right here that the patriotism of Bohemia is no less ardent than that of my own country, for your men, women and children are behind their government as a single man. Everywhere all over the country the names of Masaryk and Štefanik are revered and honored.

Your people are working industriously in all lines as far as possible, under the straightened conditions which the war has imposed upon them, trying to bring their country to that place in the world where they may be an economically self-supporting nation. A little incident might be of interest to you. One morning rather early, while on the train going through Slovakia, Captain Wheeler and I arose from our berth so that we might miss none of the scenery past which our train was rushing. It was not yet full dawn, when suddenly Captain Wheeler pointed out to a field where we saw a man plowing. We looked at our watches, and found that it was half past three. Can one have any doubt as to the purpose of the people who possess such industry and energy?

You have received reports of the starving children and malnutrition of your people. They are all unfortunately true, though perhaps somewhat exaggerated. We will not indulge here in statistics, but will merely state that with the help of your own country a well organized force of American officers have been working to the best of their ability to aid in the distribution of the important foodstuffs such as milk, flour etc., which were so badly needed in the past, and which are now being supplied by America. When I left on May 15th, a steady stream of trains laden down with the precious materials, was coming in daily, and after the harvest in the fall fear of famine will be obliterated.

But before closing, I wish to add a little about our lost friend and adviser, General Štefanik.

On Sunday, May 4th, 1919, General Štefanik, Minister of War of the Czecho-Slovak Bepublic, was killed in an aeroplane accident at Bratislava, as he was returning to his people and parents, no longer the scientist and professor Štefanik, but patriot, diplomat and military leader, General Štefanik; he was coming back as one of the shining lights brought into view during the great world war, as a man loved by all who knew him and idolized by every Czechoslovak soldier, as a diplomat without a peer, a friend in the noblest sense of the word.

The country was draped in black. Not only the black that is seen by the eye, but the black of a mourning people. You and I have lost a friend, whose loss cannot but be emphasized to us as time goes on. And yet it may be truly said of him: “He is dead, but he liveth”, for the continued memory and inspiration of his life will have an undying influence upon us all.

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