Page:The Bohemian Review, vol1, 1917.djvu/112

 cerned with the history of Catholic communities.

Among English books and articles by Americans dealing with the subject of the Bohemians of Nebraska, especially notable are “Our Slavic Fellow Citizens” by Emily Greene Balch (Charities Pub. Co. 1908), and “O Pioneers!” by Willa Sibert Cather (Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 1913), also “The Bohemian Girl” in McClure’s, August, 1912 by the same author.

Practically every Bohemian lodge or fraternal society in the state has some sort of library, ranging from a few works of fiction to several hundred volumes embracing valuable works of reference.

The Komenský Club of South Omaha presented the public library of that city with a goodly number of valuable Bohemian books which are in constant circulation. The State University’s Slavonic Department also has a growing collection of well-selected reference books. Other collections are owned by societies or private individuals in the state.

Ever since the great Bohemian educator, John Amos Komensky (Comenius) advocated universal education as well as scores of other reforms and progressive pedagogical ideas in his wonderful work “The Great Didactic”, written almost three hundred years ago, the Bohemian people have been firm advocates of education. The little country has had compulsory education laws for over half a century and has always held a high place in the annals of cultural races. It is, therefore, justly proud of the fact that it established in 1348 the first University in Central Europe, the University of Prague, antedating the first German University by over fifty years.

An examination of the records of the U. S. Commissioner of Immigration will show that immigrants from Bohemia have a far higher rate of literacy than the Germans, French, Irish and other nations, which are erroneously often credited with a much better record than they actually have in this respect. For instance, in the fiscal year 1912, of 65,343 German immigrants who arrived in the U. S., 2,736 could not read or write; of 18,382 French, 1,083 were illiterate; of 33,922 Irish, 390 could not read or write; whereas of 8,439 Bohemians, only 75, or less than 1 per cent were illiterates.

As a rule, the Bohemians of this state have upheld this record, giving their children the advantages of public school education, though, to be precise, it is only within late years that they have found themselves in a position to send their children on through the high school and then to the college or university.

It is interesting to note that over one hundred of the alumni of the University of Nebraska are either of Bohemian birth or of Bohemian parentage. Of this number about 40 per cent won honors of some sort. There are now seventy-four Bohemian-American students enrolled in the highest institution of learning in this state.

In 1907 a department of Bohemian was established in the State University, Jeffrey D. Hrbek being called from the State University of Iowa to the first chair of Bohemian founded in any state university, advanced Bohemian instruction heretofore having been given only in sectarian colleges. Since the establishment of the department in Lincoln the State University of Iowa in Iowa City, Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Georgetown University at Austin, Texas, and the State University at Columbus, Ohio, have put in Bohemian departments. The Bohemian language has also been put into the High School curriculum in Chicago, and in Nebraska the high schools in Wilber, Prague, Crete, Clarkson, Brainard, Verdigre and Milligan have instruction in the Bohemian language. A number of schools in the state below the high school give thorough instruction in the rudiments of this Slavonic tongue, chief among them being St. Paul, Abie, Bruno, Loma, etc.

In that finest army in the world—the public school teachers—the Bohemians of the state are doing their share to train American youth to the democratic and progressive ideals which only thorough education can bring about. There are 290 teachers of Bohemian birth or parentage in the public schools of some forty of Nebraska’s northern and eastern counties. Two of these are county superintendents, L. Bouchal of Saline county and F. J. Vogltanc of Colfax county.

There is no need to sound any other but the note of richest hope and warmest encouragement to nations like these sturdy, persevering, accomplishing sons and daughters of Bohemia who come to pour the gold and firm metal of their character into that mixing bowl whence shall emerge the transfused, transmuted being which we are pleased to call “the ideal American”.