The movement for a saner, more sensible celebration of the greatest of all American holidays--the Fourth of July--has put strong roots in Chicago's soil. Three years ago this movement manifested its existence by a parade of proportions such as the millions of our metropolitan public have never seen before. The following year, in addition to a similar parade in which Chicagoans in general participated, there were many supplementary celebrations arranged by particular national groups in various parks and playgrounds. All of these festivities enjoyed a huge attendance. This year an idea was conceived which overshadows all that has been done in Chicago before. It was the idea to celebrate the "Glorious Fourth" with a great athletic festival--Olympic games.

As far as we are concerned, we can justly point with pride to the fact that we have always been in the foreground among the more advanced national elements in Chicago who are trying to do their best to bring the celebration of American 2independence into more sensible, more sober, and perhaps also more suitable and fitting channels than it has traveled until very recently. Only too frequently considerable property damage, serious injuries, and losses of life were the results of the wild excesses by which our awakening nation celebrated its liberation from the British yoke. It was the active participation of the Bohemian people who, by their numbers and colorful costumes, contributed most to the picturesqueness and success of the two above-mentioned parades in which our Sokols were the first to gain the public's favor.

At this year's celebration, it is again the Sokols--together with our singing societies--who will play a prominent part in the proceedings. The Sokols have been honored by the flattering invitation to arrange the first of a sequence of festivities which will fill this entire week, and during which a brilliant life will pulsate all along the downtown lake shore. Those who witnessed yesterday's success of our Sokols and singers will certainly agree that the festival in Grant Park could not have been more properly and beautifully inaugurated than by their presentations. Our Sokols and singers have again 3woven a new laurel branch into the wreath of their fame.....

At first the success of the day seemed to be threatened by the almost tropical heat which started in the early morning hours. Those who arrived at Grant Park about two o'clock in the afternoon could not help but feel depressed. The Stadium, built to accommodate more than fifty thousand people, was almost deserted. Not a person was in the grandstand.....So it appeared that the intense heat had frustrated the success of Slavonic Day for which so many preparations had been made. Fortunately, however, such apprehensions proved to be false. Almost immediately before the beginning of the program, huge crowds of people began streaming into the park and gradually almost filled not only the grandstand, but also the bleachers, so that, at about four o'clock, the whole arena was surrounded by a solid mass of visitors. Thus, in attendance the success of the day was assured, and in all other respects it was secured by the splendid performances and the expert technical drills by the Sokols and the excellent leadership of Mr. K. M. Coufal, who conducted the singing.

The program started according to schedule, exactly at 2:45 P.M., with an alignment of all performing Sokols, whose number can be safely estimated at more than fifteen hundred. While the sixty--man band of Mr. Rubringer played a snappy march, the lively rows of Sokols, greeted by bursts of applause, filled the Stadium. The aligning process itself offered a beautiful sight. Proud and full of self-assurance, the boys and girls of the junior classes marched at the head of the formation, followed by older Sokols--women first. Six abreast they marched to the large platform on which the singers had already formed a group around their leader, Mr. Coufal.

The enthusiasm created at the outset by the impressive appearance of the Sokols reached a new height when, after a short moment of expectant silence, the chorus finished its splendid rendition of Smetanas "Vend" (Dower). The performance was perfect in every respect and made the precision of the group's singing show up to the best advantage. In majestic sublimity the sound of Bohemian music filled the air, and when the echo of the song's last chords had died down over the ever-restless Lake Michigan, an unceasing storm of 5applause broke out in the Stadium. A word of sincere recognition for this magnificent performance is due not only to Mr. Coufal, but also to all of our singers.

After the song the Sokols, marching in formation, left the arena, and the spectators focused their attention on Sokol calisthenics and fancy dance steps presented by a class of little girls. Three routines were executed under the leadership of Brother Stefan Hruska with a precision which was surprising, considering the tender age of the performers. This number was arranged by Brother Rudolf Styblo, and it proved to be very effective.

No less effective and pleasing was the series of intrinsically unrelated, asynchronous calisthenics and group drills performed by three hundred pupils of several junior Sokol day classes for boys and led by Brother Bednarik. In spite of the fact that these lively gymnastics were performed by pupils of various Sokol units, which made it difficult to assemble them for mass rehearsals, the result of their efforts was more than satisfactory, and the 6future Borci [Translator's note: Plural of "borec" a fully developed, grown-up Sokol who has qualified for gymnastic contests] left the arena in a burst of applause.

The pupils of day classes for girls, led by Brother Jos. Halan, won the hearts of the spectators by their routine with ropes, also arranged by Brother Styblo. The girls in their white blouses made a most pleasing picture. They gave their graceful little bodies full play in a disciplined performance of a series of beautiful rhythmical moves which were by no means easy, but whose execution left nothing to be desired. Their performance was followed by the presentation of two selections--one Sokol song and one Bohemian national song--by a mixed chorus of two hundred and fifty voices.

Quite naturally, the closest attention now became centered on the Sokols, led by Brother Bed. Kostlan, who took their places in the arena in a complicated, picturesque, and faultlessly performed march drill and aligned themselves in formation before the grandstand. Again their appearance was greeted with a storm of applause. Even their shapely bodies, whose sun-tanned complexion 7made a pleasingly striking contrast with their white drill shirts, strongly impressed the spectators. But this gave place to a real thrill when, at a single command, this whole mass of muscular young men started a succession of rhythmical movements. There were four different routines of mass calisthenics worked out by Brother Kostlan, and we are happy to say that their execution was among the best we have seen in many a year. Although technical, extremely complicated, and full of difficult stances, the drills were executed with marvelous precision and rhythm. Each change of the picture was rewarded by spirited applause.

This drill was done to the accompaniment of music from the Sixth Vsesokolsky Slet (mass Sokol Festival), and one's thoughts unwittingly went back to our Golden Prague of Hundred Steeples, to the plateau of Letna [site of the huge permanent Sokol stadium in Prague] where, almost like an automaton controlled by an invisible, mysterious force, a sea of human bodies with machine-like precision went through a long routine of difficult movements, their discipline and order offering the best examples of the degree of physical perfection which 8can be attained by systematically conducted gymnastic training.....

The performance of the men was closely approximated in its quality by the drill and calisthenics of our Sokol women, who were led by Brother Styblo. It is a well-known fact that their part is the best on the program of every Sokol exhibition. Unexcelled in graceful nimbleness, their performance was the highlight of the afternoon's festivities. Brother Styblo's arrangement of their routine again proved his mastery in this field.

The program was concluded by an alignment for exhibition work on apparatus. Here each group leader had an opportunity to show what his boys could do. Simultaneously, several groups of four girls each, in national costumes, danced the "Beseda" [a Bohemian national square dance] on the platform. Of all the work on apparatus, the most spectacular was that of Brother Styblo's group of members of Sokol Plzen (Pilsen unit). Their performance on ladders had already earned high recognition last Sunday in Riverview Park.

All in all, yesterday was an unqualified success. It is only to be desired that the Olympic Games may show a program of equal variety and precision in execution every day. In spite of the intense heat and the fact that the performers worked in full sunshine, the whole exhibition passed without serious accidents. Several girls were overcome by the heat, but this happened before the start of the program. However, they were soon revived in the hospital tent, and they are now out of any danger.

[Translator's note: The last three paragraphs of the article deal with the sports events of Saturday afternoon. The article is accompanied by two half-tones, each three column-eighth of a page, showing the drill by women and the work with ropes by the girls.]