CZECHOSLOVAKIA 



143 



An excellent orchestra played several 

 spirited numbers newly composed by its 

 leader. The pianist from Chicago was 

 brilliant in his rendition of some Slovak 

 music. Several poems by Slovak poets 

 were read and received with much ap- 

 plause. Each number was an expression, 

 not only of Slovak culture, but of the 

 individuality of the man or woman who 

 offered it for the enthusiastic approval 

 of the audience. 



The next evening there was a Slovak 

 drama, somewhat melodramatic for so- 

 phisticated tastes, but nevertheless well 

 written and well acted. It was a revela- 

 tion to find a community that could en- 

 tertain itself so well with its own produc- 

 tions. There were no "canned goods" 

 among the attractions. Turciansky Sv. 

 Martin has not yet sold its spare time to 

 a vaudeville agency and a film exchange. 



The town was alive with color and 

 movement. The stolid peasant, to be 

 sure, was absent ; but every street was 

 touched with color furnished by the 

 national costumes which were worn by 

 many of the women and young girls. 



Most of these young women were 

 town-bred and somewhat unaccustomed 

 to the costumes they wore, but what was 

 lacking in fitness was made up in fit. 

 Each woman had chosen from a bewilder- 

 ing array the particular dress that would 

 accentuate her charm. The stairway in 

 the humble Xarodny Dom cafe was a 

 cascade of color which one would not 

 find duplicated in the grand foyer of the 

 opera or in the more bizarre opera house 

 at Tiflis (see page 155). 



FESTIVITIES UNABATED AT THE DAWN OF 

 A NEW DAY 



I had come to this little Slovak town 

 to rest. When I retired, long after mid- 

 night, the orchestra in the big auditorium 

 was still fresh in its task of driving the 

 whirling dancers round and round the 

 hall. At 5 o'clock in the morning the 

 porter knocked to announce that my train 

 was soon due, but the orchestra was still 

 at work as I passed out, and a hundred 

 bright costumes were being spun around 

 the room by gallant swains who looked 

 as fresh as their bright-eyed partners. 



One unaccustomed to Slovak ways 

 should never 0-0 there to rest until he 



finds out whether a festival is in progress. 

 A sedentary life in cities does not fit one 

 for lasting out the frivolities of the coun- 

 try folk of Slovakia. 



CZECHOSLOVAKIA HAS RESUMED HER GEO- 

 GRAPHICAL MAIDEN NAMES 



When the Czech divorce from Austria 

 was recognized by the great powers, the 

 first thing the little country did was to 

 go back to its maiden names. This, of 

 course, has given great joy to the people ; 

 but why a trade name as valuable as 

 Karlsbad should be sacrificed for Karlovy 

 Vary is a little hard even for Czecho- 

 slovakia's sincerest admirers to under- 

 stand. It is bad enough having to drink 

 the water without having to learn a name 

 like that, and one is quite surprised to 

 know that Maricnbad is just as attractive 

 under the impossible cognomen of Mari- 

 ansky Laznc as it was under its German 

 name. 



The foreign traveler who is ignorant 

 of Czechish has his choice between using 

 a German time-table, which stops trains 

 at places perfectly understandable on 

 paper, but leaves him "up in the air" 

 when he gets off, or using a Czech time- 

 table, which mentions towns he never 

 heard of, but which are sure enough 

 there when he reaches the station. 



But in Czechoslovakia the old high 

 priest of the tourist is sadly discredited 

 and even the person who likes to think 

 he has a touch of intelligence may make 

 the most absurd errors if he places any 

 credence in the statements of the once 

 infallible Karl Baedeker of Leipzig. This 

 is not only true with regard to the state- 

 ment "R. from 4," which used to mean 

 that a man could get a room in Prague 

 for four crowns, but is even true when 

 he makes a too absent-minded use of the 

 map. 



On my arrival in Prague I annexed a 

 German-speaking cabbie and started out 

 on the round of official calls which the 

 post-war prefectures of police and other 

 officials expect from every visitor ; and 

 after a time, which seemed an eternity 

 when figured in crowns, I started back to 

 the station for my luggage. 



I should have known better ; but I 

 made the mistake of thoughtlessly quot- 

 ing from the map which had been mv 



