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Show BOHEMIA LAND OF PATRIOTS Popular Idea Concerning the Country and Its People Has Been Far From the Truth. When Shakespeare wrote of "the aeacoast of Bohemia" he showed no -cheerfuller disregard of fact than most of us now do when we think of that richly storied country as a land ot gypsies forever bent upon gay or wildsome adventure. "Bohemian- . has stood for many an age as an appellation appella-tion for carefree wanderers; yet as originally applied by the French It probably referred to the expatriated disciples of the Bohemian martyr, John Huss. Spiritual and patriotic . -fervor rather than lightheadedness re the traditional marks of this people, who after long generations of subjection to Teuton Austria are coming com-ing into their own. Bohemia was the home of the Czechs for hundreds of years befpo Oerraanlc Invaders broke In apon Its happy freedom, as early, Indeed, as the sixth c-. tury before Christ. The Oeehs' love of country and of liberty and their sense of Slavic kinship with their oppressed Slovak brethren dwelling dwell-ing near by never died or dimmed. Despite tyranny and persecution they loave clung to pride In their past and to hope for their future; they have cherished their language, their literature litera-ture and customs, their common faith and ideals. Atlanta Journal. |