the ukrainian weekly 1939-51

8/14/2019 The Ukrainian Weekly 1939-51

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UI1BM" =Supplement to the SVOBODA, XJkmlman Daily

N o. 51 JERS EY CITY, N. J .( S A T U I U ^ J M C T a ^ E f t J . 1 9 3 g * OBYEDNANYE" CONGRESS PLANS HELP F(Xtt UKRAINE-

Intensive and united action byall Ukrainian-Americana and theirkinsmen abroad leading to the establishment of a free and independent democratic U k r a i n i a nstate, embracing all of ethnographic Ukraine, now mostly under Soviet misrule, was planned bythe Eighth Congress of the UnitedUkrainian Organizations of theUnited States, at Hotel Imperial,New York City, last Saturday, December 2.One hundred and ten delegatesrepresenting over two hundred national and local organizations tookpart in its deliberations. Qpraan

Smook presided as chaiman. Addresses were' delivered by Dr. LukeMyshuha, who was re-elected asGeneral Secretary and who received a special vote of thanks forhis labors; Eugene Lachowitch,who was elected to the Board ofDirectors; Etnil Revfuk; retiringpresident; and Eugene Skotsko,director of the Ukrainian Bureauin Washington.Dr. Myshuha spoke about thepresent Ukrainian situation andhow it can "be improved. Mr. Lachowitch elaborated upon thetasks' facing "Obyednanye" in relation to America and Ukraine. Mr.

Mr. Reviuk dwelt upon the proposed All-Ukralrtlan-American Congress, while Mr. Skoteko stressedthe necessity of enlarging and improving the Ukrainian Bureau atWashington.In his report as Financial Secretary/ Dmytro Halychyn, revealedthat? ' its last C^gress three'years ago,'''Obyednanye^ hfli';,cof-Iected $82,397.36 for .varioiie' Ukrainian caused; The last eafi .hesaid, brought in a recdrd aniburit;$34;4J64K7/The followihg new fle t of oftlcers1of 'Obyednanye" were elect$4iPresident, Nicholas Muraszkd, of

Jersey City ; ViceJPreeidents* P ro !Alexander Granovsky of Minneapolis/Nicholas Piznak of NewYork City, Roman Smook of Chi-;cagio, Johti Kooe of Detroit, OmerMalitsky of Cleveland Gene ral'Secretary4, D r.' Luke ' MyShuha 6fJersey City;" Assistan t GeneralSecretary, Stepfifttr' N e w a rk ; . F inancial Secretary/Dmytro Halychyn of New York;Treasurer, Dr. Walter Gallan ofPhiladelphia; Ck>mp4ro!lenf; Tbeo-\dore SwVBtdrf,''' Andrew Maânchuk^'t f r # ' A n ai ta si a' ^ ^ ^ " ,L y kt eg ,' 'Joh n R o b e r t e ^ ^ ^

A r S T G H T B D A T T

No can deny that uni tyfi?BbWî^fflfjr%eerore"iUc4ieas-'ful, and we can't afford to ignore it, But first of all, we^mutit'- have unity among st ourselves. We must speak and a ct on.behalf of Ukraine as one, and not as several. Othervise noone will heed us.Yet there is no such unity among us. In fact, there isgreater disunity among us than ever before, and'1 that, toput it elegantly, is going some.We do not have in mind here the disunity that exists 'in many of our local communities, as in an emergency it can'usually be repaired.Whalfwe do nave In mind, howeêrrare" the party divis io ns , if w e m a y dig nify t h em by t h a t t er m , # ] 1 among our national organizations. These divisions are avery serious ma tter. For only throug h the" medium of o urnational organizations can we create among, us a nation*wide united front.Let us take, for example, our fraterttat associations*:',There are four of them and each of them is a veritable'i pashalie, completely isolated from the other. If they w ereto combine, however, they would represent a tremendousforce in Ukrainian-American life, as the following figuresshow: the Ukrainian National Association (headquarters inJ er se y C it y) , h as over 35,000 ^ 8 ; ' / ^ m il-'lions of dollars, and the daily "Svoboda"; the Ukrainian.,Wprkingm en's Association (Scranto n), h as about 12,000 'mem bers, 2^4. million do llars in assets, and th e tri-weekly"Narodna Wola"; the Providence Association (Pmâdel-phia) , :has about 8,000 members, one-million dollar assets,jandthe^tri-weekly "America"; arid ' the Ukrainian^Natibnal: Aid?Association (Pittsburgh), has about 5,000^members,one-half m illion dollar asse ts, and the weekly "N ar od neSlovo," $0- Merged into one, thes e four fratern al associatio ns Wouldconstitute a nation-wide organization having over 60#00'members, ass ets aboiit 10 million dollars, and a press farsuperior to the ohejliof||v .338*-'"?.-Prop osals for such a m erg er'a re" nothing new.' They"have been in circulation for a number of years. The U.N.A;'itself has been the strongest advocate of such a merger. Theyoung people, too, have recommended' it, as.at the secondcongresB of the Uk rainian Youth 's Leagu e TJFftorth America,,held in New York in 1934. Concerning Hnieveral meet :ings have been held among the aSsociatione^hemselvesûtto ho avail. Today the proposed merger is ab out as far offas it wa s when first broached. & * -Ilf our fraternal associations: 'cannot merge, however,they can at least cooperate with one another propagatingthe.Uk rainian cause and in aiding" Ukraine win h er nationalfreedom. -Surely, tha t is one tas k to which they, can* and^should now devote themselves as one. $& 5SU-- p$b*k Sâs precisely the opinioncexpressed byêpresen-^ ' t i t ty of :the Ukrainian NationatAssociation a t a meeting,called by it for that purpose, September 14, in Philadelphia,

and attended by representatives^from the other three fraer-J associat ions . Al l of thjem agreed" upon th a ^ p ^ ^ ^ th e 'meeting broke up withouThavingtirou'ght Intd life any? suclfcooperation ainong the/four associations. |W hy ?. Mafrily because tne representetWes^ ox^the ;Uk-'rainian Workingmeh's Association &ad its^ "NaroUAtf Wolrf*took the uncompromising stand, which tHe^' na% maintained to th i& ve i^day , t ^ ^w i th t h e U.N .A . an d i ts " S v o D ^ ^ M p l k t h e *-tracts that which4 it printed in defense of Ukrainian orient'iAlj^^ffl^^presses itse lf in favor of a Ukrain ian ' ' thought fc- 'dependent of any foreign' elements.'-^1x1^^^ ^^^ ^^^ ^^ ^^^^have declared that the la t ter has r io tn lng ' ^ * fo r^ has* never expressed itself In favor Of nazism Or fascism' as*means of a t ta in ing Ukrftiftia ii f ' /^ fn^jfavbf ybt \democracy; which it has steadily propagatedfor ;, he* pas^47 . F ur th er m or e, ' t h e "Svob oda!" $ a y s , ; a n ^ k i n d ^ f # iabou t these tw o foreign* 'ideo logies tha t have! ^^ ^ i t s pages , | w ere the w or aV ^f e i ^W ^^ ^ ^ ^respondents, and never df its 1 editors*; In altowingcp&tfTreeexpression- of opinions on i ts pag es, "Svoboda" furtherstates, it has merely followed the precepts of the Americanpress, which allows widely divergent^ views to appear onjits pages. Finally, the "Svoboda' ' declares,' it has a lwayspropagated thp principle that Ukrainian political thoughtshould at all'times stand aloof of all foreign influences.Such, then, is the main4 "reason" why* today ovattrater-

associations here in America are not cooperating inthe cause of a f ree and ifadeêfi


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UKRAINIAN W E E K L Y , S A T U R D A Y , D E C E M B E R 9, 1 93 9 N o . 5 1Poland's Mistreatment of Ukrainians

( Co nt in ue d) _ _ _ _ _Sheptitsky Recognized as Leader

TVESPITB-the ris ing unpopularitya m o n gVthe Galician \ Ukrainiansof Jthose who had advocated andgated the disillusioning "nor-isation" with Poland, oppressiont h e . latter became so heavy that a ll had to forget their manyTerences and make an attemptto create a united front againstt h e ôppressor. ' $~ $First of all, however, they need-a leader. Since none of the pol- parties could produce one iniom th e masse s would have fjillconfidence, the mantle of leadership fell upon the venerable figureof Metropolitan Andrew Sheptitsky,whose general prestige and authority was sufficient to evoke the highest reafiect among all, both Catholics and O rthod fe^ S: ^

The Polish Anti-Ukrainian FrontMeanwhile the Poles were unit-t o o , bu t for a different pur-pfoftmely, to^guench the na-ihal spirif'^nd erase the nationalntity among the Ukrainians, e c ia U y 1 ^ a h d a . p ? b r th a t p u r -^ f t b ^ ^ c r e a t e d > ' m o n g t h e m -ives the Committeeriof United Po-Organizations, which embracedt the Poles who j their ownpolitical life were divided. At itshead stood the comm ander-of theLviw Army Corps, General Tuka-rzewski. To make the work of thecommittee more effective, the general established branches of it inevery village, and in time it becamein some d istricts even, more powerful than the regular authorities .Its ActivitiesOne of the principal tasks of thiscommittee was to prevent even thesmallest parcel of land from fallinginto th e ha nds of the; Ukrainian s,a measure designed to make themeven'"more land poor than theyalready'~wenp*Another was to getnece ssary , ikteredits . for the

of Polish merchants andlwho were being raâwif1>m purely Polish d istricts and* *^t,,3(U Ukrainian Galida, -in-order to drive t o e latter entirely

(8 )out of business. Still another taskwas to drive out of public officeand out of private employment allUkrainians, unless they renouncedtheir Ukrainian Catholic or Orthodox .faith and adopted the PolishLatin faith. ^Finally the committeeattempted to destroy the Ukrainian Catholic Church itself, usingsuch means as the injunction tha tall church sermons be given inPolish.Ukrainian War Graves DesecratedBehind this committee stood allthe might of the governmental andsemi-governmental agencies of Poland, especially of the military, andvarious Polish institutions as well,including the \ church. With suchsupport behind it, the .committee' was able to d o -whatever it pleased.with the Ukrainian . population,browbeating and terrorizing it atthe slightest occasion. Ukrainianstores and cooperatives were deliberately destroyed;':*% bands ofPolish soldiery. Worse yet,-gravesof Ukrainian war dead and themonuments over them were destroyed and desecrated, 'and Memorial Day gatherings over suchgraves &>rcibly dispersed.

In the âce of such rule of terr orand intimidation, the Ukrainiansnaturally- drew closer together andat the same time passed over intorank s of - the militant UkrainianNationalist Movement.Effects of Rise of Carpatho-_ UkraineThe final- year of Poland's existence was one of unceasing "pacification" of her Ukrainian nationalminority. It became especially virulent with the repressive measuresthe Poles took to quell the uplifting of spirits among Poland'sUkrainians as a result of the inspiring events in Carpatho-Ukraine., Th e rise *cjf autonom ous Carpa tho-Ukraine was an event, th atstirred^plTSf Polish Ukraine. Evenpersons who before had rarelyIdentified themselves with Ukrainian activities, were now found inthe-v ery. forefront "of th em. Hundreds of young men and boys stole

across the border into Carpatho-Ukrai ne in order to fight for the irmotherland. Various demonstrations, officially directed againstHungary, (which ev entu ally occupied Carpatho-Ukraine), but inreality being against Poland, tookplace in cities and hamlets throughout the country.- These demonstrations were especially impressive inLviw, Striy, and Berezhani.Anti-Ukrainian PogromsIn reply to them, anti-Ukrainianpogroms were instituted "by thePoles, with attendant destructionof property and assaults upon per

sons. They were especially violent,in fact strongly-reminiscent of thebarbaric "pacification" of 1930, inthe country districts, as in Berezhani, Pidhaytsij^^ny /. and Dro-hobych, whose population wasmore militant, and revolutionary insp irit. ' ^ In Lviw large bodies of Polishstudents coursed throughout thecity, destroying Ukrainian stores,cooperatives and buildings, whilethe Polish police looked passivelyo n . Police Aidj Atta cker s .All apqals for helptto the Polishauthorities Svereignored, and thePolish, mobs we're allowed to pro ceed unm olested, with their destruction and pillaging of Ukrainian property and ' institutions.Where the policecdid-intervene, asin the case of such insti tutio ns a sProsvita or the Catholic Seminary,it was only to arrest the defendersand let scot free the attackers.And when appeals from the provinces were made to Warsaw, evenin form of parliamentary interpel-i lations, the usual official reply wasthat the authoritiesywere unawareof any disorders, although "suchdisorders often took the form oforganized attacks and destructionby Polish t roops , ^ Ukrainian Resistance Increases .- Denied legalFredfess by the Polish government itself for themounting wrongs being committed

upon them, the Ukrainians stiff-ened in ' their , opposition to everything that was Polish. This wasespecially evident in .the villages.The peasants no longer endured

the destruction and beatings passively as they had done during theearlier "pacification" in 1930.. Aneye for an eye and a tooth for atooth now become their motto. Asa result, in some villages Polishofficials or police officers did notdare to venture abroad without astrong guard to protect them. Inother places, Ukrainian young menopenly attacked the police sent to"pacify" them their kinfolfcvSigns in Polish were systematical-^ly t or n dow n. ^ ' ^ People began to ask their leaderswhether it w as not time .to openly rebel against their oppressors,and it took considerable persuasionto show them how suicidal suchan attempt by unarmed or poorlyarmed peasantry against regula rtroops would be. Nevertheless theUkrainian opposition to Polish misrule steadily increased. '

"OBYEDNANYE" CONGRESS' .'TELEGRAMS TO THE PRESIDIUM'O F* THE UNITED STATES By a resolution passed at theirEighth Congress, held in New YorkCity, December 2, the United Ukrainian Organizations of the united States,collectively known as "Obyednanye",express their wholehearted support ofyour po lic y of symp athetic -action onbehalf of Finland, especially 'the Moral

Embargo,-directed against the SovietUnion, and also -urge you 1 t o " severall relations with that priso n' houseof nations. Likewise, the congresswishes to point out that wh&t Finland is undergoing now. Eastern, Ukraine underwent some t wen ty yearsago and Western Ukraine a few monthsago when both fell victims ~of-S ovietbrutal aggression and misrule.TO THE FINNISH A1INISTERRepresentatives of the^.UnHed.Ukrainian Organizations of the -UnitedStates, assembled at the .Eighth Congress of that institution, in.New YorkCity, December 2, taking into accountthe fact that at present the Finnishpeople in their native land are victimsof Soviet Union's aggression andimperialism, express their highest admiration for the h eroic 'stand of thefree people of Finland and urgetheir Ukrainian kinsmen living in Finland to help her defend herlibertiesag-inst the Soviet invasion and ruth-lessness.

Women in the Life and Works ofTaras ShevchenkoP ^ B y DR. LUKE MYSHUHATranslated byW. SEMENYNA

Ar rest, Sentence /and Exile(7 )

j ^ g p r h a t was t he. time in Russia when no murdere r or. wrongdoer was watched and searchedfor as much as was a new book. Shevchenko'spoems, from which emerged terrible blows at theoppressors of the enslaved masses, appeared: .ata time when such words as "constitution,"..'*_e-.puty e lecti ons/ ^peo ple 's will," and "needs ' ofthe working classes" were forbidden by officiald ec re es . 1The fate of the writer who had the. courageto ignore these decrees was well described byAlexander "Hertzen, in a book published :j : Lon-. don, in 1853, about "Social Relations in R ussia."^ ^ v r o t e r ' ^ ^ K ' ^

;? jiikijjatl and frightful fate awaits any of uswho -:dare s t o raise h is voice?"over the- limits,established b y ^ h e ' Czar's decrees. A relentless fate drives him to his grave, no matterw h o ' ' b e : p oe t, o rd ina ry c it iz en , 4 philosopher. And the history of our liter atureis a list of martyrs or an announcement of thepunished . ^ "R yl ij^ wa s hanged by the ordar of NicholasI, and Pushkin was killed in a duel at the ageof thirty- eight. Griboedofr was murdered in Te-regan. Liermontov was killed in Caucasus onthe duelling field, at the age of thirty^'Vene-vitin ov. died."as a twe nty-tw o yea r old lad beca us e of- th e prevailin g social conditions. Kol-tsov was tortu red to -deathj;by- his imm ediatesurroundings ai^tfieâge vbf -thirty-three. Bie-linsky died from cold and hunger, having attained the. age of th irty-t hree. Poliezhaev diedin a military hospital after a-forced eight-yearservice in the Caucasus Mountains. Barlatinsky died in exile where he suffered, for twelve years.

Bertuzhev died in the Caucasus at a very earlya g e . this Shevchenko heard about and knew \very well. But the frightful fate of the othersdid not "intimidate his spirit nor halt his prot est"against oppression and.exploitatio n. Instead, inhis poems, he protested against the-ravagingpolicies of the governing regime more stronglythan any of those punished writers, and evenstronger than all of them combined.The consequences of this were evident. Oneday, when through the efforts of Princess Rep-'nin and other friends he was granted a positionin the Kiev University, he was arrested. Thishappened in Kiev on April 5th, 1847. He wasimmediately taken from Kiev to Petersburg and- there his tria l ' began.Sitting in the fort-prison, far from Ukraine,and waiting for the verdict, Shevchenko wasnot concerned so much with w hat would -happento him as with what might happen to his beloved native .land. The second stan za of thefollowing poem, which, is very popular among.the Ukrainians, is considered by many as asort of Shevchenko's prophecy that Ukraine, onaccount of her natural wealth, will gain her independence only throu gh active, m ilitant, resistance.

'Tis all the same to me whetherOr not Ukraine 'will be my home. Or, -while I wade in distant snows, l inger in some memory Tis a l l the ve ry same to m e! . . .But all the same 'twill never be_.When double-dealing evil neighborsWill lull Ukraine and, having robbed her.Will awaken her in flames ... > ! > _ . .To me 'twill never be the sam e! "

In this prison he wrote such beautiful versesas "Wechir" ' (Evening):. ~;r - :* f i ' | ' 0K':A little orchard by a dwelling. With June bugs humm ing overh ead;"W it h m e rr im e nt th e g ir ls w S i ^ j t vAs ploughmen "homeward aw-retiâmgiwfWhile mother waits to have.ibem -fedr- ,~

The kin are eatin g by th e dwellmg; "The evening star peeks o'er the bough;

-A daughter serves with knitted browAnd listens to w hat mothe r's telling If but the nightingale would allow.The mother placed beside the dwellingHer little children in .their nest And with a dream herself is blest. _All's still. Only the girls and warblersSeem to forget it's time of rest."

In this prison he sang the griefs of a soldierwhose beloved Hanusia is seduced by a youngnobleman: the griefs of a serf who may noteven marry without the consent of, and a pricepaid to,, the girl's master.He grieved for Ukraine and called to hisbrothers to

Love to the end your native land,Love your U kra ine !. . When time ismocking,When suffering and death are knocking,Pray for her to The Guiding Hand ; | '- At* th e tria l th e chief of police, Count Or-loff, made the accusation that Shevchenko "composed Ukrainian v erses of. a seriously rebelliousnatu re," tha t "in them he cries over the enslavement of the. unfortun ate Ukraine and acclaims the Cossack freedom of the hetmanshipdays," and that on account of that "he gainedamong his countrymen the fame of a great Ukrainian writer, and for that reason his versesare doubly harmful and dangerous," Count Or-loff went on further to say that with thoseShevchenko's poems, so beloved in Ukraine,there may be born in Ukraine "the convictionabout the well-being of the hetmanship days:that the return of those times.would be veryfortunate, and that Ukraine could exist as anIndependent nation." -

For that, Shevchenko was given the following sentence:"The artist Shevchenko, for composing rebellious and to a. gre at deg re unbefitting v erses,-being a person of strong bodily constitution,shall be sent as a private to the separate Orenbu rg corps with the. righ t of- full service. 3Th eanthorities are to be ' notified ' th at .h e is to ,'^be^gRrtt'ed in every manner from writing re-"*belnoinrand scartdaldus works." And'uriBer thedecree, Czar Nicholas wrote in pencil, in his


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N o . 51 W E E K LY . SA T U R D A Y , D E C E M BE R 9, 1939 3"Obyednanye" Congress ResolutionsPassed at the Eighth Congress of the United Ukrainian Organizations'^f-'ot America ("Obyednanye"), Hotel Imperial, December 2,1989 to Relation to AmericaFor Americans of Ukrainian descent, -as well as for those fewUkrainian immigrants who havenave not yet become American citizens, the United States of Americais that country whose welfare andprogress is their welfare and pro-egress. Therefore, to be loyal to itan d to defend its principles andinterests, is for them not only a

natural duty but a privilege aswell. % to # to Ukraine and"' Ukrainians .Ukraine," the land from -whichemigrated the Ukrainian - Americans, is still under foreign rule andoppression, now mostly Soviet.To aidUkraine free herself ofthe foreign yoke, is to halt thefurther sacrifice ofmillions of livesof those who refuse to compromisewith a rule based on injustice, terror , and oppression; it is to help

:. liquidate thegrave Soviet dangerto world peace, security and democracy; and it is to perpetuateon this earth the humanitarianprinciples upon which these UnitedS tates of America "are founded.toRelation to the" European ^, Conflict| The new Euro pean conflict wasunavoidable, asthe World War didno t end in g real peace and in thevictory ofcrthose just principles< which were: enunciated by President Woodrow Wilson in the nameif of o ur co untry and government.Should these principles, especial-ly the o ne of national self-determination, be not fully respected atthe end of the present war, then-neither Europe no r the world willenjoy, the peace and prosperity andsecurity from further aggressiontoward which they aspire.Primarily, the present European'w ar is an imperialistic armedstruggle for world power and

domination. Therefore, it will bebet ter for all concerned, if at itsend -the principles of democracywill prevail over those of com

munism, fascism,.and nazism. Foressentially :the democratic principles- a re thesurest guaranty tohumanity of the free and unhindered development r^ pi ts cultureand civilization, as well as of itssocial justice, and of its religiousand political freedom. PfsThe present policy of the American Government in taking' measures toprevent-the involvement ofo ur co untry in: the European war,deserves warm-recognition and suppo rt. ' This policy keeps our land safefrom the. dangers of warfare, allows us to live inpeace, and likewise pres ervesC^Tr. America thestrength . and authority she willneed at the end, of .the conflict tohelp create upon this earth a ne worder, one that will bring for allhumanity real and lasting peaceand prosperity.In Relation to a Free and. Independent UkraineThe highest ideal of the 45 million Ukrainian nation is the creat ion of a free and independent anddemocratic state of Ukraine, situated on the territo ries upon whichthey ami their ancesors have dweltfor many centuries and upon whichthey constitute â n indisputablemajority of the population;To attain thai? ideal,"the Ukrainian masses rose in revolution.at the^close of the World War,established their own government,and lawfully created a free andindependent Ukrainian republic.The destruction 6f that republic was anact of wanton injusticeand aggression. It placed the Ukrainians under foreign rule and oppression of regimes founded onideologies inimical to the nationalspirit and aspirations of the Ukrainian people. As a result, Ukraine today is under the misrule ofHungary, Rumania, Germany, and,most of all, of the Union of Soviet Socitlist Republics, the latter occupying most of Ukraine' and ruling over forty million of herUkrainian population.

THE PARABLEftDF LIFE(Taken from the ancient Ukrainian literary work, "Varlaam Joa-

A MAN was journeying through "*"* a. deep forest . Suddenly thco ^sprang before him a terrible beast,the dreaded unicorn. Agreat fearfell upon the man. Gathering allhis. strength he began to flee.Plunging wildly through the foresthe fell into a deep ravine. In falling, however, hemanaged to seizehold of a slender sapling growinga t theedge of this ravine. Andthus hedangled from it, until hefplb something solid beneath hisfeet. It appeared to be a ledge.Upon it he eased his weight, ^ ^ ^ ^ i ^ | p i o u g h i ^ ? & i a n k G o d ,no w I am safe." And, still breath ing heavily fromhis flight, he began to examine hissurroundings. He glanced upwards,and-rOh! By the exposed roots ofthe sapling from which hehung,he saw two mice, one black, andone white. Steadily they weregnawing away at those roo ts, first - > , then th e o ther'; and it appeared as if there was not much leftfor them todo, before the slendertree would fall. Fearfully:the manwithdrew his gaze from this sight

and glanced downward, and there,he saw a terrible dragon, writhingand turning, breathing,fire, ts jawswide open, and leaping up to seize rhim. Cold sweat broke over theman. Involuntarily he glanceddown at his feet, and saw that theledge upon which he thought he |was resting were in reality th e heads 'four serpents, protruding from a

The so-called Ukrainian .SovietSocialist Republic which theRe drulers established against the will.and wishes of the great majorityof the Ukrainians, is in no senseUkrainian, neither in form, spiritnor government. It represents adictatorial act of the Bolshevikoccupants of Ukraine, a victory ofMoscow's brute force over thefreedom-loving and dem ocratic Uks-rainian nation.

rocky fissure in the side of theravine. ." N o w I shall perish for .sure!"exclaimed he in despair, for at that'precise momentlyDjyer him thereappeared the raging unicorn, waiting for him to climb out . The mansaw that these was noescape for :him now. In t h a t ' ^ f y i n s t a n t , 1however, he perceived on the b rancho f the tree upon which he washanging a few drops ofhoney. Immediately he forgot all about hisdanger, all about the'unicorn waitin g for him above, the fire-breathing dragon below, the mice gnawin g at the r o o t s of the free, andthe serpents upon whose heads he .was resting; about all this he forgot , and stretching out his handhe began to gather up the honeywith his finger and lick it, happy as could be.What do you think, dear reader?About whom is this parable? Noone else, brother, but about yourself. You are this man, and thatunicorn that is chasing you, isdeath, while that ravine into whichyou have fallen are the circumstances of your life. Thesaplinf* 2Which you grip so tightly is yoUr age, while the mice that are gnaw- :tog away at i ts roots are day and fnight, constantly shortening ths . .J;span of your life. The dragon tha tthreatens you from below, is eter- . damnation tha t awaits all wicked souls. While the four 'serpents upon which you rest your feet arebeauty, health, strength, and the Iwill to work, which, it would seen.,are the so.undest foundation of realhappiness* and fortune, yet whichare liable todisappear at any moment and betray all human dream?and aspirations. And what arethose drops of honey, which thisman is licking? They are thosefleeting pleasures of life, in who sepursuit we often forger the renlsignificance Of this life.Woe unto him then, who dedicates himself entirely to the pleas-*ures of life! Fofguxey will soon 'pass, leaving his appetite for themunsatia ted, and leaving b e h i n dthem, too, bitterness and grief fora, wasted life.

own hand: "To be under the strictest observation, having been prohibited to write and todraw ." This, wha t Count Orloff called, "merciful sentence" was read to Shevchenko onMay30 , 1847.- In a letter to Princess Repnin, Shevchenkowr o te: "On the tWrtteihJiaydDf.May_tb.ey readto * me my confirmation and I w as no longera professor of the Kiev University but a plainsoldier of the Orenburg barracks . . . You wouldsurely burs t out laughing if you saw me now.Just imagine the most clumsy barrack soldier,unshaven, with unkempt hair and long whiskers and itwill be I. It is funny yet sad. Whatelse is there to do ? It must be God's will. It* seems that I have suffered little inmy life. Totell the t ruth, all my past griefs have beenchild's tears in comparison-with the'present unbearably bitter ones. And theworst of it alli s that I am prohibited topaint, to say nothingabout writing (outside of letters), and there is;" so much to write."To this the Princess answered: "No , I wouldnot laugh butwould weep if I saw you now,and would pray to God togrant me words withwhich to encourage you, to raise your soulabove your bi t ter fa te . . . if it deperfded on me,then, having opened my letter, you would befilled with benevolence which wo uld refreshenyou, strengthen you, and you would happilyand humbly bear your c ro ss . . . How well Iunderstand your torture need not be painted!

- With Go d's permission, eve rything will change., . . . Ju s t remember that many are praying foryou, that although they are distant from youthey think and watch after you."These encouraging words came toShevchenko at a time when theneed of them may bejudgea^by the following words written to thissame friend: "In the past I looked at theanimated and the still world as at the mostperfecV po rtrait , and now it seems the eyeshave changed: no line, no color I cannot seeanything, Could it be that the feejing ofbeau tvJa l o s t to me forever? And I cherishedîMrcatfiBSI to it so much!"! S f c " .'!& !'*$ **'^ V^fe">* ^ | ^ ". May, -184 7, Petersburr

* **j ", May, 1847, Petersburg Prison.

In the Kirghiz Steppes and by the..Aral S ea '^Shevchenko's letters, quoted above, werewritten from theOrsk Fortress, situated in asilent desert which the Kirghis tribesmen called"a terrible place." That is where Shevchenkowas exiled. The commander of the post notifiedthe poet that ' he would bewhipped at the pos tif he disregarded the rules laid down to him:tha t is, if he attempted to Write or to draw.He was thrown4 into a filthy hovel among soldiers who found pleasure to obscenity. And thus

the days were spent, as Shevchenko says, inexposing "an old fool to daily training." Despitethese circumstances Shevchenko managed someho w to write a few. verses which he hid in thecalf of his boot . In this manner was preserveda whole cycle of his exile songs which are superb creations of Ukrainian, lyric po etry. Theyare full of longing for native land, full of minorchords such as: $ The sun is hiding: hillsides are fading,The fields are calm: birds in their nests;People arehappy thinking of rest .But while I'm gazing my heart is flyingTo some dark orchard in Ukraine."

And the thoughts of the poet wandered fromthe dreary Kirghiz plains tothe Ukrainian .village, A village! And the Heart feels rested ^ In our beloved Ukraine a village ^Îs like anEaster egg; when seenThe yUlage is a vale of green.* Ah orchard blooms around each homeWhile on the hill a mansion bowsAs if in wonder. And aro und:The poplars- spread their 'tiny shields ,While there liewoods and groves andfields, ||JSAnd beyond, the Dnieper, re st blue hills.In eve ry village there's God!*4 - '^^ Here, by this blessed village in Ukraine there1'ved a nrincess. "Kniazhna" (Princess), whomGod had blessed with freedom, wisdom, beautyand a heartbut denied her loye. And she wantedso much to tas te the joy of love ?-even if onlyfo r a mo ment, You see, th e prince was a drunka rd sohow could she l ove him a nd

j^gjjife is so dreary and BO cold When one has not a heart to hold.But the good God hadblessed, the princesswith jo y, ' because:To see him first and then embraceAnd kiss the one and only face.And hear the first cry after bir th! Oh, children, children, children! The greatest blessing known on earth! |

The princesses, as a. rule,-know only. . . . To br ing for th thei r chi ldren, IBut about the babies' rearing ^ Princesses know nothing.But Shevchenko's princess took cart of her;child herself. "rrjHerself she made the shirts^-Embroidering with silk each sleeveWith which she had her chi ld dresaed^^Ând bathed and lulled'her babe to sleep, And fed it w it h h er b re a st . " -

The beautiful daug hter grew upthe imag eof her mother. The mother died andher unfortunate daughter fell victim to the drunkenprince her own father."f^ljHow' this wanton victimizing of the unpro*tected women angered Shevchenko may be seenin his poem "Warnak," 1848, where he described-the vengeance of a serf on the nobility whiclvwas responsible for his. girl's seduction.I cut Whatever smelled of "nobles," . . Unmercifully, without thought. :*

And here;-again, ' the p icture of his own unfo rtunate Oxana stoo d'befo re his 'eyes. He saw;her por t ra i t as par t of the picture of the native village "and asked Go d why he was notjallowed to finish hisdays in that village witbj his dear Oxana; then, that village with all la(v po verty would .have been paradise compared]with what hewas living through at the time.w ) ' ", May, 184 7 tPetersburg Prison. * ) " 847, Orsk F o r tr es sj ^^ P- < 0 - ^ , 1847, O rstfip fftress.|$ || | ^ " , 1848, Orsk Fortress.

* ( I V be continued} ^


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U K R A I N I A N W E E K L Y , S A T U R D A Y ) D E C E M B E R 9. 1 9^ 9 N o . 5 1

C O N V E N T I O N ,.f?eague-of flprth ArtmJffikbodian of Elizabeth, N. J. MissSlobodlan -was elected by vote of -Stephen Shumeyko nominated . Eve-lyn Kalakura as recording secretary.'Helen Sen low no minated miss Soroko lit. Miss Kalakura was elected bya vote of Sf to 23.- By a unanimous vote the followingwere elected advisors of the League-.John Romanition, Stephen Jarema,John Billy,. Dola Malevich and Stephen< Su;nykoj '"'(To be contmuwl).

PHILLY TAKES FIRST CAMEPlaying before a capacity crowd' onDecember 1st, Philadelphia's U.N.A.basketball team opened Its 193940campaign by nosing out last year'schampions of the South PhiladelphiaChurch League, Mizpah A, C , 3124.Definitely the underdogs, the U.N.A. boys lived up to this prophecy bytrailing the church champions untilthe l as t' tew minutes of the game.Here, the Ukrainian quintet took timeout and, after a breezy pep talk byCoach Onufry (William) J.uzwiak,they came back with a barrage offield goals, sparked by Captain MyronBllszcz who sank three from the floor,and lowered! the colors of the' downtowner's. Bliszcz's running mate, MikeMatslk, a new addition to this year'ssquad, reminded-the fans of his brilliant high school court career bysplittin g |he ' cords- twice from thefloor and once from the penalty mark.Joe Juzwiak, a

the ukrainian weekly 1939-51

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