Verhovayak Lapja, 1941. január-június (24. évfolyam, 1-26. szám)

1941-02-13 / 7. szám

Page 2,

February 13, 1941

Verhovayak Lapja

HUNGARIAN PERSONAGES

by Joseph Szentkirályi

JÓZSEF EÖTVÖS - 1813-1871

Our Program for 1941

1. Every branch to contribute regularly, frequently or occasionally, the occurence of contributions dependent on how often each branch functions and to what extent. (For this purpose each branch should have its regular publicity agent, either elected or appointed.)

2. More contributions from individual members. (Any member with talent for writing ought to broadcast its benefits through the Journal.)

3. All Verhovay achievements, individual or group, to be made known to other members through the medium of the Journal. (This means an extraordinary accomplishment of a member or group of members.)

Thumbnail Sketch

of the Northwest

By Andrew C. Simcho Branch 430, Homestead, Pa.

Y JÓZSEF EÖTVÖS

Baron Joseph Eötvös, writer, statesman and educator, was born in and lived through a century when the ideals of modern democracy were shaped. He had everything that a member .of the aristocracy could possibly wish for. and yet he fought for the welfare, the rights a: d the progress of the havenots. Why did not he rule over his countless servants and those working on thousands of acres of his family estate? Was he not one of those whom some so easily call feudalist Hungarian landlords? Why did he fight with the weapons of the written word, political influence and brilliant rhetoric for equal and democratic rights, liberal education and popular government? He could have lived in peace and comfort; he could have enjoyed the blessings of his social standing unmolested and far from the turmoil of human misery. But Eötvös krew better. He, as well as others like Count Széchenyi, Baron Wesselényi, Baron Jósika and countless others, realized that the privileged class must lead the crusade for extended rights and liberties.

After completing his education, Eötvös spent some time in county and state service. Later investigating the treatment and adjustment of prisoners abroad, he traveled over all Western Europe. Strongly believing that acts of violance can not win final victory for human rights, he chose literature as his weapon to convince his countrymen of the necessity and character of social and political reforms. First he wrote poetry characterized by deep emotions and accomplished form, and above all, by the expression of democratic ideals. When Louis Kossuth decided to win liberty for Hungary on the battlefield, Eötvös left his country and said farewell to her in a moving poem called “Bucsu”:

My land, farewell! ye people brave,

Ye verdant hills and dales of home,

Where grief and joy dear childhood gave,

Farewell! away far must 1 roam.

May still my people roam the plain,

If e’er my land I see again!

Thy hills are not sublimely grand,

Like snow-clad Alps that pierce the sky;

Thy plain is not Provencal land,

Of flowers and joyous minstrelsy.

But what to me are flowers or hills,

When fatherland my bosom fills?

One treasure every nation claims,

And surely keeps, with jealous eye:

The Gaul his emperor proudly names;

A Roman points to ramparts high;

A wreck is Hellas’ treasure chief;

But thine, a consecrated grief!

Translation by

W. Jaffray.

This self-imposed exile shattered all his political hopes in a moment when he felt the realization of his dreams within his reach. Eötvös was appointed Minister of Education in 1848 but shortly afterwards left Hungary. Almost twenty years passed before he could accomplish something real in

1867, when he was invited to join the Hungarian Cabinet as Minister of Education. The life work of Eötvös the Statesman culminates in the codification of the Act of

1868, which regulated the entire system of public instruction. We may just as well remember that England did not pass her first public education act until 1870. The Act of 1868 was decidedly democratic in character, but what’s more, it was a

masterpiece of enlightened I liberalism. Eötvös strongly believed that full freedom and equality in the field of elementary education would bring the nation more closely together. The law stipulated that each pupil should be instructed in his mother tongue, if that tongue was generally used in the community. With this and many similar stipulations, Eötvös gave almost unlimited autonomy to national minorities.

Eötvös the Novelist went much further in his political considerations that any of his contemporaries. His books are full of interesting allusions to contemporary events and persons. Though he tried to write in an easy flowing prose, the serious tendency of his thoughts and the long philosophical discussions made his books heavy reading for the general public. “The Village Notary” is a sparkling satire of the contemporary local administration in which Eötvös bitterly fights for the rights of the peasantry. The same ideal guides his pen in “Hungary in 1514,” which is a stirring account of the Dózsa Peasant Revolt. In this book Eötvös proved to be not only an accomplished novelist but also an excellent historian.

Let us wind up this short account of Baron József Eötvös’ life, political and literary activities with one of his most beautiful poems in which he shows himself not as a brilliant statesman, orator, writer or champion of humanity but as the simple and real man he was all his life:

When I shall once have trod My rugged path of life. And in the tomb am laid, Where is an end to strife, Raise not a marble dome To keep alive my name;

The triumph of my thoughts Will then assure my fame!

Translation by W. Leow.--------------O-------------ATTENTION.

BRANCH 432

Crescent, Ohio

Our meetings have been changed from every third Saturday to every third Sunday of each month.

We should like to see more members attend the meetings henceforth than in the past.

Fraternally,

PAUL NAGY,

President.

MARTIN GERSEY, Secretary-Treasurer.

Montana the land where fences are put up not to keep cattle in but to control the snow; where men are so used to walking on an incline that they inevitably wind up with one leg shorter than the other; where the potatoes are planted straight up and down, and the cattle have their tails tied together so one cow' can graze on one side of the mountain while the other grazes on the opposite side. If Rontana were flattened out, the state would cover all the Middle West, with enough left over for a golf course.

The home of Glacier National Park, Montana is famous for its hunting, fishing, mining and athletics. Although Glacier National Park is not so famous as Yellowstone National Park, it is just as beautiful and even more awe-inspiring. This Park extends from Montana to Canada. The Anaconda Copper Works boasts the tallest smelter in the world.

As we are whizzing along the highway we see a pair of headlights following us. Not daring to stop for fear of a rear end collision on this winding road, we drive with constantly lessening speed until we manage to stop. Getting out of our machine, we step back and discover that we are walking towards the headlights of our own car. As a matter of record we spoke to a man who informed us that he had to blow his light, blink his horn, and could stick his right hand out of the window to signal a left hand turn, so winding were the roads.

Here, crossing the Continental Divide, it is nothing rare to run into a snowstorm

in July or September. The life of the Montana cowpuncher is not a bed of roses in so far as the climate is concerned He may be in the saddle for a short twelve hours and experience sunshine, clouds, rain, sleet, hail, snow, wind and calm, all in those same twelve hours. Nothing shall disturb his peace of mind except loss of his tobacco, wandering cattle or marauders. Pilots flying over this treacherous stretch can unfailingly determine the wind direction by watching the cattle. They always have their tail to the wind—I mean the cattle. The greatest worry, and a constant one, is a “stampede.” For no good reason, docile, grazing cattle can instantly turn into, hundreds of nine hundred pound battering rams. Running until they exhaust themselves, or until they are circled, these cattle will run over any and everything in their path, even one another. Woe betide the man caught in such an avalanche, for as much as a belt buckle would not be left on the ground. But a cowboy wouldn’t trade his life for any other, no matter how much he grumbles about it.

Home, home on the range, Where the deer and the antelope play;

Where seldom is heard A discouraging word,

And the skies are not cloudy all day.

(To Be Continued )

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