To the Editor of the "Norru-Ciano Datty News"
Sin—On March 10 the Ukrainians all over the world celebrate the 125th anniversary of the. birth of their greatest national pact, "Taras Shev. chen ko, and I would be obliged to you for a permission to use this column to dwell a little while on his biography and meaning to every' na: tionally conscious Ukrainian.
'T, Shevchenko, the yountiest son of humble serf, was born on March 10, 1814 in a village of the Goverament of Kieif. He lost his mother when he was seven years old and his father at the age of ten years. From his tenderest years Taras evidenced fan ardent desire to learn and a mat fest taste for drawing. Later on he assed through all successive desire: from that of a saucepan-washer tip the capacity of a valet to his lord whom he accompanied to Warsaw, Wilna and St. Petersburg. There the goddess of fortune smiled at him when his talent for painting was occasionally discovered by a student of the Imperial Art Academy Sochenco,-a Ukrainian too. This latter succeeded in introducing Taras to the famous painter Carlo Brulow, professor of that Academy, who was im-Dressed by Taras's indisputable talent, ut the Russian law did not permit a serf to enter superior schools, whilst kis taster would not agree to liberate him gratuitously.
Despite the dificuities Brulow and his friends succeeded in liberating Taras from the serfdom, and satisfied his passionate desire to enter the Art Academy. At this juncture Taras, who inked closely with the Ukrainian St. Petersburg, met the of the best Russian intellectual choice, feverishly completed his defective general education and breathed the air of liberty with full lungs. "Then he was for the first time visited by his. poetical Muse, tu a study of his friend and teacher, Brulow, his imagination took him to. his far off native country: the beautiful nature of Ukraine, the image of his native village stepped forth lively before his spiritual eyes, there passed the tragical shadows of Ukraini hhetmans, the vast steppes, dot with the high kurganes, spread out reminding of the heroic past Ukraine, and his motherland herself appeared in her sad beauty. The whim of a poet embroidered and wove the sketches of his first songs.
The first book of his poems. wa The name given to the bards of Cos-published in 1840, titled "Kobzar,"
sak epic. It made Shevchenko famous overnight in the Ukraine, Dur-Ing his next visit to this country, he was enthusiastically received by the Ukrainians, and celebrated as a na-tonal post. In 1845 Shevchenko graduated and was appointed as professor of painting at the Kiet University. "The life seemed to promise him at that time all the bles-Sings, but the ominous clouds "bexan already to gather over his head. 'AL Kieit Shevchenko formed con nections with a group of Ukrai patriots, headed by Kostomaroff, professor of history at the University Jor Kiefl. This group, animated by high eats, strove after moral improvement "by a propaganda of humane principles amidst the youth. They believed to be able to help to abolish the serfdom, to awake the patriotic feelings and the aspirations for equality and brotherhood by the channels of education and spreading. the principles of Christian spirit. In Femembrance of the Slavonic aposttes, their society was called "The Brotherhood of 'St. Cyril and St. Methodus." Shortly afterwards the existence of this society was covered by' the Czarist police and its members were accused of a plot te separate the Ukraine from Russia, Shevchenko having been considered guilty of the Ukrainian national sway, caused by his patriotic poems inthe Ukraine, was" sentenced to permanent deportation ina" forlorn garrison spot in the Central Asiatic steppes. as a simple soldier. Sixteen, years spent there in the hardest conditions "undermined his health and he died a few months after his re-ease. Such was the life of Shevchen ko who roused. the Ukrainian people to its new national life, and Inspired it for the struggle for In~ dependence and liberty.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.