Verhovayak Lapja, 1940. január-június (23. évfolyam, 1-26. szám)

1940-02-15 / 7. szám

February 15, 1940. . Verhovayak Lapja Page 3 SPEECH by Mr. HUZ1ANYI: The text of a recent -peech, on behalf of the Benjamin Franklin Bibliophile Society of Cleveland, given by Stephen Huziányi before the Christian En­deavor Society of the Hungarian Reformed and Evan­gelical Church, South Side, Chicago, as well as the Chicago Chapter of Chi Sigma Gamma is printed herein to acquaint our readers with one of several activities carried on by Hungarian communities in the United States. Selling icebergs to Esquimaus or sun-ray lamps to Ubangis is no more difficult, in the opinion of some cynics we know, than creating a demand for culture. In the following sales-talk, published ver­batim, Mr. Huziányi demonstrates one method by which a product whose appeal is not yet widespread can be made attractive to Everyman. Mr. Huziányi was presented on the occasion of his speech by Rev. Stephen E. Balogh, minister of the Hungarian Reformed Church, and George Gö­­römbey, a member of the Christian Endeavor Society. (Continuation) I have been chasing about the Middle West, for almost as long as I can remember, meeting with Hungarian youth of the finest caliber that one might find anywhere. Too many of them lacked, however, sufficient grounding in their ancient traditions to appreciate their full strength and possibilities. Too few of these knew what be­ing a Hungarian implies. Under the barrage of educational methods, mainly concerned with the histories and origins of the great sea-coast nations, England, France, Italy, Germany, and so on, these youth come inevitably to underestimate the equally ancient civilization nurtured in Hungary. This civilization if you could but realize it, say, by a real reading of history, had to endure excruciating odds, such as these aforementioned nations—fortunately for them—did not have to meet. Every one of you before me tonight can look any race on earth full in the face with the realization that if it enjoys a civilization equal to the Hungarian, it came by it with far less trouble. These youth I visited needed to know but did not, that they are the lucky survivors of centuries of strife and wars of such a devastating variety that the overblown histories, of say English and French cat-fights, look very amateurish indeed. I have seen friends of mine, other than Hungarian, develop a rash of goose-pimples on hearing of some “incident,” as the Japanese would term it, from the war annals of Hungarian history. I remember particularly an evening with a group of these friends while listening to a radio description of the phase of ancient Hungarian history. The account of the centuries-old guerilla warfare against the savage Turks eertainly made them to realize that their English, French, German, and so forth, ancestors, hadn’t had such a hard time after all. An American whose family dates from well before the Revolu­tionary War here had to admit from what he heard that the savage Indians who pestered our pioneers were at least second-rate fighters, as compared with the Turks. But you know the thing that tickled, me was the new respect these people showed for me as a Hungarian. Intimate friends though they were, they seemed to make a new estimate of me. For terrible as the terrible Turks were, these same Turks had more than their match in the “Green Mountain Boys” of Hungary. When I bring in the “Green Mountain Boys” who captured Fort Ticonderoga here in our early days, 1 do it to give a picture of the method of warfare of the Hungarians against the Turks, as described that evening over the radio. (I forget what station. It was but several weeks ago.) By the way, I don’t know as to how many of you have heard this account, but if you have, then you are going to hear it again anyway. It seems that these Ethan Allen’s Green Mountain Boys had a way of sneaking up on the British Red-Coats and launching a very unpleasant surprise party. The Hungarians did very much the same thing with regard to the Turks, inasmuch as the massed Austrian and German armies were easy prey to the Turks because of their inefficiency at hand­­to-hand combats. To protect their homes and their hard-pressed civiliza­tion—and incidentally, such civilization as there was at the time in the West—the Hungarians organized small guerilla band3 for the special benefit of the Turks. Every time a Turk would stick his head up there were five Hungarians there to collect it. The English expression, “a feather in his hat” signifying that some person has accomplished some thing big or important, stems from this period of Hungarian history. It so happened that one of the Hungarian officers directing forays against the heathen Turks found that of all things he had in his band a Hungarian who was somewhat of a coward. Whenever a dawn patrol set out to bring back some Turkish scalps, this in­dividual, this unnatural Hungarian, this freak of nature, set out in the other direction. The officers wished to confer a special dis­tinction upon the weakling and hence rigged up a hat adorned with eagle feathers. This hat was to be worn by the weakling so as to set him apart from his fellows. However, this same weakling switched his hat with that of one of the veteran heroes. When the other men in these bands saw that the hero wore feathers in his hat they imagined that the feathers indicated the number of Turk pelts he had to his credit. Whereupon every man who had killed one or a hundred Turks wore feathers accordingly. I brought this in merely to illustrate one instance of many wherein some ancient Magyar tradition has been attributed to the more highly publicized French, English, etcetera. There are more instances, believe you me. Facts such as these I have consistently tried to bring before Hungarian youth who might have held otherwise some doubt as to their qualifications for success in a tough world. The Franklin So­ciety seems to me to be an excellent means whereby our youth— (by the way the Society is making the books it publishes available to all American youth)—may come to know the relation of Central Europe, and especially Hungary, to the rest of the world. It is high time so the society feels, that other than French, English and German masterpieces be given a break. Those of you v'ho had to wade through Shakespeare, Milton, (Schultz), will wel­come the opportunity to tackle works equally important—and diffi cult. I shouldn’t have said difficult. Rather I meant that the sub­stance 6f the first volume of the Hungarian Library, published by the Franklin Society, is not so obvious as the frazzled plots of Hollywood. Like all great works “The Death of King Buda,” the first issue of the Franklin Society, will bear constant re-readings and always reveal some new turn or idea to the reader. The book "The Death of King Buda,” or as it known to the older folks, Buda Halála, has been translated into several languages and been re-read both in Hungarian, and in the several languages, since the latter , part of the 19th century. Before I enter into the contents of the book, first in a series of great books to be made available in new authoritative translations from the Magyar tongue, I should like to acquaint you with the immortal Arany János, author of the work. It may be necessary for some of you, as it was necessary to Hungarian youth I have met elsewhere, to have a specific example of Hungarian greatness and genius outlined. Those^of you who might possibly underestimate your qualities in the fight for existence in this world need to know about such iron men and personalities of whom Arany János was but one example. (To be continued.) Branch 383 — Buffalo, N. Y. The officers elected last month for Branch 383 are as follows: President, Joseph Taylor; Vice- President, Frank Molnár; Sec­retary-Treasurer, Charles A. Young, Auditors, Frank Horvath and Frank Molnár, Sergeant-at-arms, Peter P. Young, Sick Committee, Mrs. F. Molnár and Nicholas Olah. After the elections the dance committee was appointed to take charge of the dance to be held at St Elizabeth’s School Hall on March 30th. This writer was again honored with the position of keeping Branch 383 in the limelight. Altho I appreciate the honor, any suggestions, information, etc. that might help make this column better will be whole-heartedly wel­comed. Branch 383 has added four new members to its roster, Helen Ko­­rosecz, Ida Paar, George Koro­­secz and Joseph Gabel. ??? Joe Kovach and Pete Young are driving new cars. How do they do it? A1 Wagner is salting away for the future (?). Anthony Devald is to be an uncle soon.. Mrs. F. Gorog (nee Anna Acs), now of Detroit, was presented with a daughter. What’s the matter with T. N. T.? What Dave? Nick Olah gave us a surprise by attending. When Mrs. Barkó enters her nephew Charles in the pending baby contest he will give the others plenty of competition. We know him well. He is a brilliant child. Watch him. It was thru the Cleveland column written by the capable Mr. J. J. Horvath that we learned of the death of Mr. A. Galbos. popular owner of the Nite in Bu­dapest of Cleveland. He was one of the men who so warmly re­ceived us in Cleveland. We extend our sincere condolences to his family. Atta boy, John Sabo, you are right after my own heart. Your article “Lead Kindly Light” should be repeated for the benefit of those who may have missed the meaning. Frank Nagy, Jr. tries to emulate Barney Oldfield. With all the ancient history teachers now in the j’ournal, how about letting the readers know the origin of the Magyars as it was taught in the American schools, or shall we accept the recent enlightment as final, or go on and be ill informed? Well, we got everything the Hatfields and the McCoys had. Distance makes no stranger of a bosom buddy and pal. Many of the T. N. T, members burn the candle at both ends. Ah! youth. To those out of town letters we received: Thanks. And you Sphinx. Our District Manager, Nicholas Takacs, heads the list for the month of December for securing most members betwixt the organ­izers. No matter how much a person knows when he sees a lawyer he realizes how much more he could know. President Taylor and I are sorry we did not know of the surprise party for Director Frank Brogley of Youngstown, Ohio. Knowing him for the cheerful fellow he is, we would have gone there on skis. Our congratulations, Frank. Come to our dance. What’s in a name? Confucius say; “Can catch more fly with sugar than with vinegar.” Again: “Rose with different name smell same sweet, only more easy for make stranger understand fragrance.” CHARLES A. YOUNG.-------------0------------­BRANCH 26, Sharon, Pa, My dear Verhovay Members: The Verhovay has again given each and every one of us the opportunity to participate and win one of the lucrative awards in its new nation-wide Member­ship Contest beginning Feb­ruary 1st and closing De­cember 31st, 1940. The awards offered and the ease with which one can become a winner should en­tice anyone who knows values and is ambitious enough to join this contest to enter immediately. This is indeed a “luxury” contest. All Verhovay members should join but I especially appeal to our own Sharon Branch to “take up arms” and so be able to boast a Sharon winner. Sharon members who wish to join — and who doesn’t — please see me. Fraternally yours, JOHN SZUCS, Branch Manager. 452 Stewart Avenue Sharon, Pennsylvania Telephone 1522-R. Style-Master STEEL DESKS STYLED ASSOCIATE The office that is subject to public scrutiny should appear modern and efficient. The "Y and E” Styled As­sociate Steel Desks were designed especially for use where contact with the public is made. Modern in de­sign. Efficient in performance. See these desks in the new 640 gray j finish at our showrooms. YAWMAN and PITTSBURGH, PA. ERBE MFG. CO. GRANT 2554 - 2555

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