Inspired minstrel! I am not gifted with the art of striking harmoniously the strings of a silver harp, but I have feelings and a heart. Whoever desires to have a heart-to-heart talk, he will get a response from my soul--he will always receive a cordial answer, even if the difference between his opinion and mine is as opposite as heaven and earth.

Minstrel! Why do you draw your inspiration from wrong convictions which are treacherously spread? Why do you allow your beautiful lute to caress the ear with perfidious melodies and to poison the soul with insidious venom by spreading false whispers of instigators?

Listen, minstrel, I respect you, for it appears that your heart speaks through your tones!. Your tones indicate that you are not as yet acquainted with our conditions. 2It is possible that you have been only a short time in this country and that you, without proper investigation, condemn that which you should defend.

And here are your lines, minstrel!

"I remember the time when we were forbidden to sing our native songs in churches.

The people became indignant and accomplished their purpose,

And "Swiety Boze" (O Holy Lord!) rings again through the hamlets.

Shall we forsake these ancestral treasures

Because there are no signs of persecution here?

Shall we praise God in [an] unknown tongue,

And follow the priest as our leader?

If thou forbideth us our Polish songs,

And if thou acquainteth not children with the history of our fathers,

For perhaps you fear a bishop's anger,

Then you harm Poles and betray the fatherland."

[Translator's note: The above is a literal translation].

How terrible and how false are your accusations in these few lines. Look around. Do you know or can you find a Polish priest here in this country, even if he is not exemplary, who forbids praying in Polish? Can you find a priest who would deprive his countrymen of patriotism? Can you find a bishop who favors denationalization or considers patriotism a crime?

Look around! Who built Polish schools--which is sometimes a heroic feat? Who cares for them and endures being scoffed and sneered at on account of them? Who defends them if not the priests? Who deserves credit for teaching our children about the kings Chrobry, Casimir, and Krzywousty? Who taught them about King Jagiello and King Batory? Look around! The traitors quite often denounce the parochial schools as a poison and advise us that we should send our children to public schools, that the children should be taught Polish at home in the evening. And who else but the priests whom you attack opposes this suggestion, publishes Polish readers and Polish history, and defends the Polish language against these real traitors of the fatherland?

Yes, the priest has a very difficult task; the task of inculcating patriotism in children, and the priest does that despite the opposition, despite the intrigues, scoffing and jeering of the people of ill will.

But the priest has yet another task. When he defends truth and fights for it, he must also rebuke its opponents. You are mistaken when you maintain that the 5priests condemn the Polish National Alliance or the Polish Roman Catholic Union on principle only, in order to bark and bite and spread discord among our countrymen. Examine the annals of our discords. If a priest does his duty and points out the treacherous, harmful, and ugly deeds of some individuals, if he shows that these individuals are attempting to destroy religion or patriotism, if he gives a warning that some members of the organization are in danger of being misled by these instigators, then immediately there are protests, insults, and accusations that the priest spreads discontent in the society, that he forces religion upon the people, that he is despotic, that he is trying to establish slavery in a free country, and that he causes quarrels and sows discord.

Look around carefully. That there are priests with faults, big faults, cannot be denied. Priests are human beings and as such they err. But we cannot, with the hand on our heart, make such grave accusations against our clergy in general, that is, against the majority of our priests, as you do, if we wish to speak from our heart. Tune your lute first so that it can sing praises of real merit and 6then you may change its pitch so that it can hurl thunderbolts of indignation at those who really spread depravity, at those who are trying to denationalize children, at those who support only public schools, scoff at Polish books, at patriotism, spread disbelief by giving bad example, and then you will accomplish your mission.

You ask for harmony, yet you exude venom, because you are presenting this matter in a false light. You fail to see merits and you invent faults. Your lute is melodious and yet it is treacherous, for it leads to perdition instead of salvation; for it leads into dangerous waters, like a mermaid in the days of yore.

Stanley Szwajkart, Editor.