Although the weather in the early morning hours was not reassuring and at times the sky was covered with definitely threatening clouds, life on the streets of Bohemian districts in Chicago yesterday showed extraordinary activity. Throngs of people, eager to get on to their destinations, boarded the streetcars bound for our cemeteries. The line going to the Cesky Narodni Hrbitov (Bohemian National Cemetery) was particularly crowded.

Many people were well on their way even before the parade started. The parade assembled under the leadership of the marshal, Mr. Fr. Schultz, and started at West 18th and May Streets. Brousek's Military Band led the group which marched through the streets of our Pilsen District to Robey Street, where cars were waiting to take the marchers to the Ceska Utulna A Sirotcinec (Bohemian Old People's Home and Orphanage). The parade was composed of Civil War and Spanish-American War veterans, the Sharpshooters, and Bohemian-American veterans.

At the Utulna the parade reassembled and was joined by the board of representatives and the board of directors of the Cesky Narodni Hrbitov and the Ladies' Auxiliary of the Spanish-American War veterans.

While Brousek's Band played funereal marches, the parade resumed its march to the Cemetery. It was headed by Mayor Carter Harrison, Mr. Jos. O. Kostner, and Alderman J. Toman, and was joined later by Alderman H. Pitte and the Bohemian speaker of the day, Mr. E. St. Vraz. The members of the board of directors conducted these men to the speakers' platform which was surrounded by huge crowds of people by that time. All representatives and guests on the platform were presented to Mayor Harrison.

The program proper started with the well-known "Funeral March" by Chopin, after which came short addresses presented at the monument of the Civil War veterans by outstanding members of veterans' organizations.

After the wreaths and other floral offerings had been placed at the monument, 3a three-shot salvo was fired to the honor of fallen Bohemian soldiers, whereupon the veterans, escorted by ladies, made a tour of their comrades' graves on which wreaths were placed. A grand potpourri of American melodies was played by way of introduction to the talk by the president of the board of representatives, who spoke briefly about the significance of the day's celebration and introduced Mayor Harrison. The former mentioned the interesting coincidence that just twenty-three years ago at this same cemetery, the Mayor's father spoke before the same monument. Mr. Harrison was greeted with thunderous applause, which ceased when he started his speech by saying that as mayor of the City of Chicago, he considered it a great honor to spend such a beautiful afternoon among the Bohemians. This opportunity was so much more appreciated because he knew that among them there were many who did not hesitate a single moment when their new homeland was in danger and sacrificed even their lives for freedom, humanity, and right.

The standing army of the United States, he said, is not large, because America is not a country which believes in militarism. It relies on those 4who voluntarily enlist in the hour of need. Each such hour is a test of the degree of a nation's civilization. Because our nation is composed of members of the most civilized nations of the world, it is most successful and most progressive. Just as he who always loves peace would not hesitate, now or in the future, to take to arms if it should become necessary to defend his rights and his citizenship over which the flag of freedom waves, so have the Bohemians acted in the past, and they will do the same in the future, because they are men who have found their new home in America and are always ready to defend it.

After the applause following this speech had died down, an inmate of the Sirotcinec (Orphanage), little Viktora Kaspar, recited Mach's poem, "Padlemu Vojinu" (To the Soldier Who Fell), and Brousek's Band played Tobian's march, "Hearts and Flowers".

The time came for the president of the Board of Representatives, Mr. J. Pecha, to introduce the Bohemian speaker of the day, the well-known author 5and world traveler, Mr. E. St. Vraz. After an enthusiastic greeting by the audience, he delivered the following speech:

"Since time immemorial, the living have been in the habit of calling on the dead. The living have made pilgrimages to the graves of the dead, to the heaps of soil they imagined were the abodes of their posthumous entities. The living came for counsel and for help, believing that the dead still took part in the affairs of the living--for good or for bad. With offerings and sacrifices they sought to assuage those who had lived malicious and bad lives, those who had been inclined to vengeance and to repayment of evil with evil.....

"But the dawn of maturing humanity began to disperse the darkness of superstition, and when the rays of knowledge enlightened man's mind, he made it a habit to visit graves for the sake of fond memories, for consolation--because of love, because of esteem. One comes with a heavy heart and a tearful eye, another out of curiosity, still another to follow an old custom or to fulfill a church-imposed obligation.

"But all alike bring floral offerings. Do they all realize, or at least dimly feel, that in offering blossoms they grace the graves with the most beautiful and most eloquent, poetic symbol of human life? The flower comes from the seed. Is it not so that one seed resembles another both in shape and size? Is it not so with the human seed--our little children--that like seeds they will be scattered by the wind, one where it is to prosper, another to be destroyed? Is it not so that in the same soil one will live, another perish; one will grow up as weed, another as grain; one a giant tree, another just a tiny plant? Will not sunshine bless one and scorch the other? And when it grows up, will it be for good or will it be for evil--for virtue or for sin? And when the bud is ready to open, or the fruit almost ripe, may it not find sudden death? How many of these are here under the sod?

"Now we have come here to bring all of them flowers--flowers of love, flowers of esteem, flowers of pity, flowers of sorrow--flowers of sorrow because not all of them had been given a chance to blossom and bear fruit. By our presence we pay respect to all who are buried here. Our memories go to those of them 7who were near and dear to our hearts. But we also want to honor those who have died but are not dead. For he is not dead who has performed good and noble deeds. He is not dead of whom we think with love, whose memory lives and will live on in our grateful hearts.

"The American nation commemorates today those who did not hesitate to make the supreme sacrifice in the Civil War; who gave their lives for their country, for the common good, for such ideals as were brought forth by circumstances and necessities of the age. Today the American nation observes a great holiday, the next greatest after Independence Day. Today it celebrates its unification, its progress, its power. It gives thanks to those who went into the battle to suffer and die in order to save their country from decay and in behalf of humanity to liberate the colored race from slavery. They succeeded, and we, good and loyal citizens of this great Republic, respectfully bow in memory of those to whom honor is due for this great achievement.

"But we who are assembled here are not Americans, only. Our hearts burn with ardent love for two countries, and thus we think with pride of those 8Bohemians who, in going to the war, followed their patriotism as Americans, their American conviction. With the sense of justice and the feeling of pity for the weak and enslaved which is inborn in Bohemians, they fought valiantly and died with the satisfaction of having done their manly duty toward their new country. Honor to their memory--and may there be no more wars! But should the day be still far distant when the human race is delivered from this evil, should this beautiful country of ours again get into war, should it again be in peril, then may there be more such monuments as the one we see before us in every Bohemian cemetery. Let the world learn that the Bohemians know how to fight for justice and truth overseas, just as they ever fought in Bohemia. Let America learn that she has taken into her great family members of an honorable nation--a nation whose sons are always ready to seal with blood their pledge of love and devotion to the land of their choice and to its liberty.

"But we have not come here to remember only those who defended with arms the integrity of the United States and human rights. We Freethinkers also gratefully remember those who fought with a mere pen for our spiritual progress, 9for our right to think freely, to think as we believe it proper. They also knew how to suffer; they also knew the strain of a strugle; and their names are also in our devoted memory. This day is therefore a double holiday for us--may they never be forgotten!

"In full appreciation we turn our thoughts to those who dream their eternal dreams here in the shade of trees and flowers, and who, when living among us, taught us never to forget our old home, to love and esteem our native tongue. Let us honor today the memory of all those who did and taught what is good; all good Bohemian fathers and mothers. Let us grieve for those whom fate has taken prematurely. Here in the grandeur of beautiful nature, under the arching skies where thousands of us have assembled--thousands of humanly imperfect men and women--let us remember nobody's faults; let us recall only their virtues and their talents. For how many are there here under the sod whose hearts used to beat in fear, who had too hard a struggle? Yet they fought, and this is also their day of celebration--celebration of a fight that was fought, of a suffering that was suffered. These, also, we have come here to visit.

"We who are living call on the dead in order to meditate about life. We do not agree with the ascetic monks of the dark Middle Ages whose teaching was, Memento mori! Here in the beauty of rejuvenated nature we think of life, not of death. We have come to the dead to learn how to live in order not to die, not to die in the memory of those who will come to our fresh graves. We have come to remind one another of our duty of mutual helpfulness, our duty of working for everything great and noble, for the good of mankind, so that there may be none among us whose grave they would pass without saying, 'Lo, here lies a good man!'

"This beautiful park with all its flowers, nesting birds, fragrance, and songs, we call our National Cemetery. Let us recall another great national cemetery--the one far over the seas--our old country with all those graves and mounds which now exist only in the memory of the Bohemian nation. Let us recall all the ashes that hatred has swept to the winds, those graves trodden down by mercenaries, those leveled down by the plough, those which passing centuries made disappear. Let us recall how many warriors lie there 11in the thousand-year-old cemetery of Bohemia, warriors to whose shining, resplendent memory we--expatriates far away overseas--now bow our heads. Their memory is in the heart of every good Bohemian. Huge indeed is the national cemetery of the Bohemian people! It is filled with monuments which I hope will never wither in our hearts, monuments of those who fought and suffered for everything good, everything great, everything Bohemian!"

Mr. Vraz's speech left a most profound impression with all who heard it. We are certainly not wrong in maintaining that it was the best speech of any delivered on a similar occasion in many a year. At several points it was interrupted by applause, which alone was a most eloquent testimony that Vraz once again talked like Vraz--straight from the heart.

After this speech the inmates of the Orphanage, under the direction of their vocal teacher, Mrs. Dusek, sang the Bohemian national anthem, "Kde Domov Muj" (Where Is My Home), and little Marie Dvorak, also an inmate of the institution, 12recited a poem in English suited to the occasion. This was followed by an American song sung in chorus by all pupils of the Orphanage, and a grand medley of Bohemian folk songs played by Brousek's Band, whose performance again proved that the band fully deserves its good reputation.

The medley concluded the formal part of the day's program, and the guests and dignitaries scattered in groups for an inspection tour of the Cemetery. Full recognition is due to its administration for the continuous and thorough care it devotes to the park, and especially for the splendid condition which it was in yesterday.

As early as noon, the attendance at the Cemetery was enormous; and we are not making an overstatement when we say that it doubled during the afternoon. This is definite proof of the popularity enjoyed by this national property of ours, a property of which not only the Bohemians of Chicago, but also all of Bohemian-America may justly be proud. Many graves had been beautifully decorated prior to the celebration itself, but more and more visitors were 13arriving and putting flowers on the graves of their dear ones.....

At St. Adalbert Cemetery

(Summary)

....At just 11 A.M. the Bohemian parade reached the Bohemian-Polish cemetery of St. Adalbert, by which time hardly a grave was without a floral decoration. The parade included members of the Veterans of Baron Filipovic, the cadets' organizations, and the Sv. Vaclav (St. Weceslaus) Company No. 131 of the Prvni Ustredni Jednota (First National Union [Catholic]), buglers, band and standards, and nonuniformed members of several other companies of the Jednota. The marchers, together with others who assembled at the Cemetery, surrounded the speakers' platform. Soon the strains of "America," played by the band, were heard. The cadets discharged a salvo, and the speaker of the day, Reverend Kohlbeck, addressed the meeting....urging those present to pray for the salvation of their departed friends....and all those who sacrificed their 14lives in the Civil War.

Reverend Frantisek Jedlicka of the Parish of St. Ludmila talked about the significance of the day from the Bohemian point of view. After another salvo, Judge Joseph Rafferty of the municipal court presented a talk in English, complimenting the Bohemians of Chicago on their achievements and loyalty to the United States.....After his speech the band played "America," buglers gave the funereal signal, and Mr. J. J. Peklo, commander of the Company of Baron Filipovic, addressed the audience on the subject of independence and liberty.....

At Resurrection Cemetery

(Summary)

There were two ceremonies at the Resurrection Cemetery: one by the Company of Baron Filipovic No. 2, and the other by Slovak organizations.

Speakers at the Bohemian ceremonies were: the Right Reverend Tomas J. Bobal of the Bohemian Parish of St. Cyril and Methodius, and Mr. Josef Sladek.

The Slovak ceremonies, held in another part of the Cemetery, were attended by uniformed members of the Veterans of Crown Prince Rudolph (with their own band), Knights of St. Michael, Cadets of St. Aloysius, Artillerists of St. Martin, and Sokols of St. Vincent. The speakers were Reverend Max Relic; Mr. Ladislav Hruban, organist of St. Michael's Church; and the Right Reverend Bartolomej Kvitek of the Parish of Archangel Michael.....