Page:Czecho-Slovak Student Life, Volume 18.djvu/305

varied pictures. Varied though they be, however, from that of a young boy bending over his first Christmas “crib” cut from wood, to the master sculptor standing before his great bronze of Music, the pictures all tell one story, have one basic idea. But to understand his work, we must first know something of his life.

Prof. Albin Polášek. (From a painting.)

Albin Polášek was born in the little mountain city of Frenštát in Czechoslovakia, February 14, 1879. In his childhood he showed marked talent in carving figures in wood and at the age of fourteen began apprenticeship in the establishment of a Vienna wood-carver. His bold and original spirit, however, found little to its liking in the conservative methods of his master, and young Albin resolved to immigrate to America, where his brothers, both priests, lived. The Rev. Emil Polášek secured a position for him with a statuary