of the Poles to the north of the Sudet Mountains, reaching, perhaps, into Moravia. Both races had settled their respective territories before the latter half of the first millenium B. C., and can well be regarded as antochthonous in their countries.
Historical data concerning the Bohemians begins in the seventh century. At that time their territory included what is now Bavaria. The Slovaks at this time occupied a very large portion of what is to-day Hungary.
The naturally favorable and protected situation of the Bohemians resulted in a rapid and auspicious development of the people, and had it not been for some of its rulers with their foreign sympathies, the nation would have played a greater part among the Slavs and be a different political unit to-day.
Colonization with Germans of parts of Bohemia and Moravia by these rulers was detrimental. This Germanization continued until the fourteenth century, when checked by the revulsion of the people under the leadership of John Hus in the Husite wars. As a result of these wars, the Bohemian language again became the official language in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia, a general national rejuvenation following.
In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries German aggression was again felt, and after the disastrous battle of Bila Hora near Prague in 1620, Bohemian nationality crumbled and was ruined by the repeated destructive invasions of the Thirty Years War. Then came further German colonization and more Germanization.
A century ago it seemed as if the nation was doomed to follow the fate of the Elbe Slavs and become completely germanized. Instead of this, however, a marked and gradually reawakening of the national spirit became manifest and to-day it stands most cultured and united and productive country.
In matters of education and general culture there is a marked difference in Europe between the Bohemians and the Slovaks. The percentage of the Bohemians, so Prof. Niederle claims, who can read and write exceed that of even the Germans, and is the highest for any large group of people in Europe. Among the Slovaks, due to adverse local conditions and governmental restrictions placed upon them by both the Austrians and the Magyars, the number who can read and write is possibly as low as 40 per cent.
As a people, however, the Slovaks have never had a real chance to properly develop themselves or to make any noticeable progress, for what the various European governments have not denied them their religion has. It is a well-known fact, for instance, that among the Protestant Slovaks in Europe the percentage of illiteracy is as low as among the Bohemians. The total number of Slovak Protestants however, is comparatively very small. This deprivation of equal opportunities in Europe, as has been demonstrated by the Slovaks in Arkansas and in the south-side Virginia counties, does not disbar them in the South as undesirable agricultural settlers, for under proper conditions they make very rapid progress.
In Europe, it is interesting to know, the Bohemians are engaged, according to occupations, about 43 per cent in agriculture; 37 per cent in industry, 11 per cent in the civil service, and 9 per tent in transportation.
Glancing now just briefly at the cultural side of Bohemian nationality, we find that two of their national songs reflect somewhat their character. Austro-German dominance over the Bohemians prohibited for many years the singing of Hej Slované, their stirring battle song, and a song which reveals the Bohemian’s passionate love of liberty. To-day the inspiring, ringing words of this song may be heard again in Bohemia. The deep sentiment and patriotic response which the singing of this song produces on a Bohemian gathering is impossible to understand until one has heard it sung under the shadows of the ancient Bohemian hills. Its high-flung defiance and militant spirit is lost in a mere reading of a translation, but the fullness of its patriot-
