Review of Reviews, l/li/06. 



THE GREAT ESPERANTO CONGRESS. 



The Growing Evidences of the Importance of the Language. 



The second Congress of Esperanto is now a thing 

 of the past, and, looking quietly l?ack, the distinc- 

 tive feature of the Gene\a Congress would appear 

 to be the amount of steady work done by the \ari- 

 ous special committees. Officially, there were only 

 the general meetings for all Esperantists; the meet- 

 ings of the Language Committee, the members of 

 which were elected last \ ear at Boulogne ; and th. 

 .Special Congress Committee elected on the opening 

 dav ; but these official meetings were supplemented 

 bv unofficial ones in such number that a detailed 

 account of them is impossible. The business of 

 tlie Esperanto Congress concerned Esperanto as a 

 language onh ; but when one remembers that its 

 members were amongst the foremost intellectuals 

 iiom all quarters of the globe, and that these men 

 and women are in the van of the progressi\e army, 

 oiie can easily realise that advantage would be taken 

 of such a gathering to help forward those special 

 organisations in the furtherance of which a lan- 

 guage such as Esperanto is so useful. Amongst us 

 were Pacifists. Good Templars, Christian Endea- 

 vourers, Freemasons, Socialists, musicians, mathe- 

 maticians, members of the Red Cross Society, etc., 

 etc., all of .whom had their own special gatherings. 

 It was not possible for everything to be done in 

 one building, so the Aula of the University was the 

 scene of the general meetings ; the Exhibition was 

 in the Beaux Arts building ; the general work, secre- 

 tarial and otherwise, and most of the unofficial 

 gatherings took place at the Ecole de Commerce ; 

 whilst for social gatherings and entertainments the 

 Salle des Amis d Instruction, the theatre and the 

 Victoria Hall were used. All the buildings were 

 nearlv in the same locality ; but it was just here 

 that those of us who had been at Boulogne felt some 

 lack. We were more widelv separated, so the charm 

 of a dav's work together and an evenings amuse- 

 ment, where all were in touch, was not so sensibly 

 felt ; also at Boulogne it seemed as if everyone 

 knew Esperanto, whilst at Geneva itself the number 

 of Esperantists was very few. 



For those who were not present I give here a 

 leaf or two from an Esperantist s diary. 



Gene\a, Monday, Angus/ 2jth. — What a blessing 

 it will be when everyone is bi-lingual. Arriving in 

 this foreign station with my luggage despatched in 

 advance, how in the world should I have found it if 

 I had not known French ? Although we had had 

 plentv of fun on the journey, it would ha\e been 

 extremely uncomfortable if we had not been pre- 

 pared to take things as they came, for though the 

 railway authorities had put two saloon carriages at 

 our disposal, yet with our large numbers we wanted 



A Snapshot at the Chalet of M Rene de Saussare. 



Dr. Zamenbof (with folded bandsi and other notable 

 Esperantists are included. 



three, and on a stiffing hot dav, with one extra 

 on every seat, and the corridor filled to o\erf]ow- 

 ing, no wonder we were tired (after ten hours of 

 it), so that to have to search for luggage through 

 room after room piled with boxes and packages of 

 every description was not a delightful task. 



Tuesday. — \o time to unpack; obliged to go off 

 at once to find where our meeting place is, register 

 name and address and secure the green ticket. 

 Found the Ecole de Commerce without anv diffi- 

 cultv, and there on the first floor was our beloved 

 Doctor. Again I am struck with astonishment at 

 this wonderful man, who. although he has seen so 

 many people since the last time we met, at once 

 addressed me by name, and reminded me that at 

 Boulogne I had given him the first English hand- 

 sh.ike. The rooms were pretty full, and, with re- 

 cognition after recognition from Russian, Swede, 

 French, German, and so on, the time flew 

 so rapidly that I had to be reminded that 

 it was necessary to get a meal before the 

 first session. Here came one of the slight 

 disadvantages of our stay in Geneva. We had at 

 different times rooms in six different buildings, and 

 for strangers in the town this was a little bewilder- 

 ing. Here, too. we recognised the advantage of a 

 small town over a large one for our gathering. At 



