Goming Congress at Prague:
Story of the Movement:
The War and After As the eyes of a considerable! portion of the world have been turned this summer upon Prague, where the Sth Pan-Sokol Congress was to tala place in July, it will not perhaps} be out of place to give some account, of what the Sokols are and what they stand for.
The Sokol movement arose in the first place as a part of that remarkable historical phenomenon, the re-birth of the Czech nation, When, at the beginning of the 19th century, after 300 years of cultural suppression under Austrian rule, there began to develop in Bohemia a spirit of revolt, it naturally tock its first shape in the cultivation of the neglected Czech tongue and the creation of modern Czech literature and art.
But there were those who saw that this was not enough; that a real regeneration of the Czech' people required not only the cultion of mental things, but aho the development of "moral and physical fitness. 'Only in training' the nation to moral and physical strength did there lie any possibility] of ever attaining that freedom from the yoke of Vienna which after the disapps oped for by every awakened Ceech heart, The Soko! Costume And so in 1862 the Sokol movement was founded by Tyrs and Fugner—the German name of this most patriotic of Czechs will not surprise those who are acquainted with Central European conditions—for the purpose of physical and moral training. A distinctive dress for members was deliberately chosen with the object of arousing interest: the Czech jacket, breeches, and top-boots, a red Garibaldi shirt, and a round cap with a falcon's feather—for "sokol" in Czech means} "falcon."
Though, like all the revolutionary movements of the 19th century, this, too, no doubt, had its roots the near past, in currents of thought of the preceding century, never less there were things in Czech his tory which could be pointed back to by the Sokol leaders and made a model of. The emphasis laid upon Ceech history served a double pur-pore. In the first place, it helped to awaken the dormant Czech nation to a realization of its own historical and, secondly by its glorificaof the Hussites and the, Bohemian Brethren it gave national stamp to the doctrine of, equality and brotherhood preached by the Sokol leaders, and a national precedent for the' straggle for} independence for which they were preparing.
The War, and After Until the outbreak of the Great War the Sokols were obliged by force of circumstances to concentrate upon the task of training the people for action. And thus it is that we are prone to think the Sokols rather as athletes than revolutionaries. For while the spiritual side of things was never neglected, this training naturally took the form of an intensive development and propagation of physical culture, which was carried out at the special Sokol gymnasiums which sprang up in increasing num. ber as the movement found more and more support among the wide masses of the people. An important, step was the final admission of women to the Sokol ranks on an absolute equality with the men, With the outbreak of the war came the time for direct action. The backbone of the Czecho-through rain and strong head winde, with only occasional clear visibility between the showers. Dezpite the difficulties, the machine weathered the rains splendidly and he did not! have a moment of anxiety throvgtout this part of the journey. He expressed the opinion that the! most trying lap of his flight would be from Calcutta to Akyab and then. Stem Akyab to Rangoon, but he was quite confident that his machine would. emerge successfully from this test, Meanwhile, the fervent! hopes of everybody that no more tragic incidents will mar his great! flight will follow this intrepid airman, Slovak-legions which fought on the Russidn, French, and Italian fronts fon the side of the Allies was natural. ly formed by the trained Sokols, Professor Masaryk, who conducted the political and diplomatic work abroad with such success, and who is now, of course, President of the Republic, was himself a Sokol, And when, on October 28, 1918, the independence of Czecho-Slovakia was proclaimed, it was the Sokols that took over temporary control and accomplished the revolution without one drop of blood being shed.
'Last month's Congress must have provided the most remarkable spectacle of its kind ever seen. Seven thousand Sokols were coming from Yugoslavia alone, and 2,000 from' the United States. immense stadium, the entire grounds of which cover an area of 820,000 square metres, and with accommoda-jon for 130,000 spectators, has been constructed, The stadium proper is 810 metres long and 202 metres broad, providing room for 14,000 gymnasts to exercise at once, s0 that one can be sure there were some wonderful examples of those mass exercises for which the /Sokols are famous,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.