Amerikai Magyar Szó, 1980. július-december (34. évfolyam, 27-49. szám)
1980-12-18 / 48. szám
THE MINERS OF MARTINS FERRY CALIFORNIA. A year or two ago, vou wrote in the “Naptar” an article commemorating the Hungarian ‘mozgalom’, going way back into the 30’s. As my father says, the Yorkville-Martins Ferry area was completely unmentioned. The Kalman Tengolich’s efforts: collecting for the paper, organizing and making the big dances and picnic for the benefit of the paper - Margaret Tengolich’s famous cakes (baked 6 at a time) for all the raffles and ‘tea-estek’ -the purchasing and begging for donations of food from the local merchants for the delectable Hungarian dishes that were prepared for the suppers, banquets and bazaars by Margaret with the aid of the other ladies in the kitchen crew, seemed unworthy of mention. When people are named and given credit from all over the country (as you did in your column), and the very important people in the small towns, villages and farms in the Martins Ferry,Ohio vicinity are slighted, there are many hurt feelings among the elders whose toil, effort and sacrifice has been so completely forgotten. I was a girl of 15, or 16 and well remember the Big Picnic in 1935, or ‘36 (among many others), at the Yorkville picnic grounds that generated a record profit of over $ 900, that went to the benefit of the “Uj Előre”; I also vividly remember, that vou, Zoltán, were present at that historic picnic. It was the first time I had the pleasure of meeting you. My father was the regular companion of Mr. Joseph Pika back then, when together, they trave'ed the countryside in the sleet, snow and freezing temperatures, doing the work that so greatly helped better the lives of Americans today. I look back with a deep sense of pride because 1 too suffered the deprivation of those lean years. Very often the last few cents or maybe, the last ON HUNGARIAN WILD FLOWERS MASSACHUSETTS. Thank you for your letter of November 20th. My work on “Magyar Virágok Amerikában” is stalled for the moment because I wanted to preface my article with a short quotation from the poem “A virágok hatalma” by Ferenc Juhász and cannot obtain a copy of the original text. (I first read the poem in English translation when it was published in Columbia University’s Modern Hungarian Poetry.) It seemed stupid for me to send you Juhasz ’s lines in English translation to be translated BACK into Hungarian; which would no doubt be different from the ORIGINAL Hungarian! Sándor Puski informed me that “A virágok hatalma” is not available from his store, so I have asked a friend in Budapest to search for a copy of the poem and send me a photocopy as soon as possible. Anyway if the poem does not arrive soon, I will abandon my idea and write the article without the Juhász preface. To facilitate the completion of the article I will have to write it in English; I am afraid that even though I could write it in Hungarian, too much time would be spent in so doing. .-;-isioi3Ev io. -iiiiex odgR. Király dollars went to the ‘mozgalom’ rather than for a much needed pair of shoes or winter coat. I am proud of my parents’ generation who got involved to make a better world. I am especially proud of my father’s contribution to the cause of making the working man aware of his plight and to make life more livable and meaningful however infinitesimal. So dear Deak, your memory failed you when it came to Yorkville-Martins Ferry when you ran your credits of those staunch supporters and truly hardworking Hungarians that dedicated their lives to the cause of that era. Forgotten were the Rompas, Mn- ranyis, Peteys, Szasz’s,Dobsis, Antals, Sebastians and dear Pika who spent the biggest part of his life staving in my parents' home, away from his familv, and the many more people I may not recall at this time, including all those coal miners and farmers who trudged out of the hills down to the meetings or to my father’s house with their last dollar to make their contribution. B.Muzila (The Editor’s reply: I am deeply moved by Ms. Muzila’s reminiscences. I plead guilty of omitting mentioning the contributions of her father and mother, and of the stalwart Hungarian miners of Martins Ferry in my article in our 1976 yearbook. Whatever I wrote or failed to write in that article, is of little lasting significance. The true testimonial to the deeds of the Tengolich’s, the miners of Martins Ferry and the dedicated camp of our readers is the American trade union movement, the achievement of social security and unemployment insurance in our country, the growing friendship between the American and Hungarian people. Their contributions to these noble causes will live forever. — Z. Deak.) CLEVELAND, O. Thank you very much for the honor you gave to my husband and me by printing our story in the Magyar Szó. I read the article very slowly with the aid of my Hungarian-English dictionary. I am ashamed that after being married to a Hungarian for so long, I cannot read and speak better Hungarian than I do. I have often thought of our interesting conversation at the anniversary banquet of the Hungarian- j American Singing Society. I must admit that at the j time I did not know that I was speaking with the Editor of your well-known and well edited weekly paper. You invited me to send in music articles for the English section of the paper. I hope you understand that I am not a composer (my husband plays that role so ably in our home). I am his librettist and poet. I also am a special educator and most of my articles are published in professional periodicals on teaching music and typing to handicapped children, the crippled, retarded, blind and deaf. Might there be interest among the readers of your paper in these areas? I wish you a happy and meaningful holiday season that is approaching. Elizabeth Davis Kondorossy i, in: T i- xz.-.' ■ rjifneriu i i ,-.i }.. (Editor’s Note: A very attractive new magazine of general interest was launched recently in Budapest titled “HUNGARIAN DIGEST”. The first few issues have now arrived in the US and evoked great interest and satisfaction on the part of those who read it. Below we publish a letter by some friends of our paper commenting on one of the articles published in the magazine.) ON THE HUNGARIAN DIGEST We welcome your invitation to respond to the material in the Hungarian Digest. We will take the liberty to make a few comments. It is a splendid magazine fidl of valuable information. It is readable and pleasantly illustrated. We are sure it will be well received in the United States. Regretfully, we found Mr. István Kovács’s: Nuclear Power Stations, Yes, or No” highly objectionable (Hungarian Digest, Jan. 1980). The material presented is argumentative and its tone rather arrogant. Mr. Kovács directs his arguments against those who live under different social, economic and political systems who are concerned about potential harm from unresolved problems of nuclear power. He ends up calling them dupes of the “oil monopolies”. No sane American will argue against atomic energy as such, but many do argue against the grasp that our monopolies have over this source of power. The struggle revolves around the issues of unsafe use of atomic energy, which endangers the welfare of present and future generations. Thus, Americans struggle to prevent atomic plants being built without consideration of the welfare of the people. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission in the US controls the building of atomic energy power stations. Some of these plants have been built at a time when the full significance of such power stations were little known here. Thus plants like Three Mile Island (Kovács calls it the “Harrisburg Case”) and Indian Point (not far from one of the world’s most populated areas, New York City) have been licensed. This Commission and its predecessors have allowed the building of stations in California on some of the most earthquake-prone areas in the country. To dismiss the struggle of the so-called “anti-atomic power” people by implying that they are “dupes” of “oil monopolies” or that they are misled is a gross insult. Prof. Gerald Markowitz Prof. David Rosner Alex Rosner Wants to learn Hungarian MASSACHUSETTS. Iam subscribing to your paper for a year. I look forward to receive it each week, it is helping me in the difficult task of learning my boyfriend’s native language. Carol A. (Editor’s reply: We, Hungarians, have a reputation of being a chivalrous people. To live up to this reputation but also for other reasons, we decided to help Carol, possibly our youngest reader, by starting a “Learn Hungarian” column on our English page. We hope it will be useful to and appreciated by many of our second and third generation readers, jjj -oygjam srifsd ,93nsvb9?i méyn6Z9bátné
