Magyar Herald, 1991 (1-2. szám)
1991 / 2. szám
2nd QUARTER, 1991 QUARTERLY NEWS LETTER OF THE MAGYAR CLUB OF CLEVELAND MAGYAR HERALD “PERPETUATING HUNGARIAN CULTURE SINCE- 1 9 2 4 “ f i agyar, e szót ha kiejted Ceheid, bele a lelked Memes arcod lángba boruljon Szemedből hálakönny csorduljon "Énekre nyíljon dalos ajkad Éüleáőe imaszóként halljad Maggar, magyar, magyar! % legyen a napi kenyered Bölcsöd és szem-födeled Éz legyen a napi italod faj da Imid ban a vigaszod Otthonodban ez (egyen az áldás 'Küzdelmedben győztes harckiáltás Magyar, magyar, magyar! Jtizzel ébredj hajnaíhasadáskor férjél nyugovóra csillaggyulláskor fájó sebeidre ez legyen orvosság Kétkedő elmédre örök világosság Éz legyen a múltad, jövőd, jelened É szóval áldjad Istened Magyar, magyar, -magyar! ofgcr/eni/'T Magyar by Eugene Szedenits ‘Magyar’, when this word you impart. Breathe into it your soul and heart! Let your face honest into red-flames flush A nd from your eyes tears-of-thanks let gush. Let it ring in your ears like prayer Heaven-bound: Magyar, Magyar Magyar! Let that word be your steady daily-bread, Your cradle at birth, your face-cloth when dead, Day after day your constant refresher, In tribulation your vivacious quencher; The House-blessing in home abow the counter, Last paeans of joy in your warring encounter: Magyar, Magyar, Magyar! At dawn it should be your first waking token, A t falling of stars your sign never broken; Let it be balsam for your heart throbing so hard, On path of confusion your stay and your guard; Let that word be your Past, your Future and Present! With it bless your God, who is ever present: Magyar, Magyar, Magyar! The Hungarian Frontier Excerpts from the Article of our own Lél F. Somogyi The end of the last century was a time of ferment and growth. A new definition of freedom and national pride was taking shape in all of the advanced countries of the world. America was at the focal point of interest. It represented the new frontier, the land of opportunity and promise. The people who came to America did so for economic reasons. The major reasons they came to America were: for jobs, for better living conditions, clothing and food, to buy their own land and to escape high taxes. The first Hungarians came primarily from the following counties and cities: (Counties) Abaúj-Torna, Borsod, Gömör, Győr, Sopron, Szatmár, Vas, Zemplén, (Cities) Kassa, Miskolc, Sátoraljaújhely. Using American records, it is impossible to determine how many people actually came from Hungary proper, because Hungarians were grouped with all the other arrivals from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. However, the mother tongue of the new arrivals was recorded. On that basis it is known that of the 3,164,661 people who emigrated to America through 1910 from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, 333,429 identified their mother tongue as Hungarian. America was looking for workers. For the pick-and-shovel man the work shortage in Hungary did not seem as threatening because of the possibility of work abroad. In the United States, the Industrial Revolution was advancing at a tremendous rate. The mechanization and industrialization of America demanded men for building the plants, opening the frontiers of industry, and providing a source of power for the rumbling machines. Coal was required in great quantities to fire the furnaces of America. The first emigrants from Hungary left not for political but for purely economic reasons. The vast majority of them, if not all of them, were driven by the same need and had the same intentions; that is, make money in America, gather together the equivalent of a small fortune, and then return to Hungary to buy the land or the equipment they needed to compete and earn a decent living. Unfortunately, “the streets are not paved with gold” in America, as Teréz Stibrán in her book vividly recounted and as many immigrants very quickly found out. The dreams and fantasies fostered and encouraged by the company agents to hire new workers to their mines and steel mills most often rang hollow. Many Hungarians who came looking for their share of the land of plenty were snared in the depths of the coal mines or condemned to the hell of the steel mills for the rest of tîièn—HUes. They made the fabled dollar a day — “another day, another dollar” — but they had to work from sunrise to sunset (in Hungarian: “látástól vakulásig”). And as time has a way of doing, it passed too quickly. Their pay went to feed and clothe the family. Prices rose in America and they could not save enough to even think about returning (Continued on Page 2)
