Page:Czecho-Slovak Student Life, Volume 18.djvu/374

In appreciation of his services in behalf of Roumania, he was decorated with the Roumanian order of Mare Cruce and for services rendered to Serbia, with the Serbian order of the White Eagle.

Soon after Mr. Vopicka’s retirement his book, “Secrets of the Balkans”, appeared. Here, in a vivid account, interspersed with anecdotes which shed sudden light on war time conditions in the Balkans as no general view could, Mr. Vopicka sets forth his diplomatic experiences. As dean of the diplomatic corps in “The Hotbed of European Politics”, he had many opportunities for intimate, personal observations and he treats exhaustively of a subject which has not heretofore been clearly and completely understood. It will be remembered, also, that the World War actually began in the Balkans, that the Archduke Ferdinand was murdered at Sarajevo, Bosnia.

Some of the chapter headings may be here included to indicate the scope of the book: “Early History of the Balkan Nations”, “Some Intimate Glimpses of Royalty—The First War Cloud”, “Early Serbian Triumphs on Battlefields”, “Bulgaria Enters the War Serbian Retreat King Peter’s Heroism”, “Buried German Explosives Found in Roumanian Capital”, “Czechoslovaks in Russia”, etc.

King Ferdinand and Queen Marie, intimate friends of Mr. Vopicka, are presented in something of a new light. It might be of interest to note that Queen Marie was his guest during her recent visit in Chicago. There is a brilliant chapter on Russia’s part in the war and her future. The book, as a whole, has been termed “a rare contribution to the annals of the World War”. In an interview we found out that this interesting volume of 330 pages is now being translated into Bohemian in Prague, and hence reproduction in this periodical of some of the beautiful illustrations in it is impossible at this time. In this connection we may add that Mr. Vopicka has recently been awarded the Czechoslovak Revolutionary Medal for his services during the war.

Mr. Vopicka is, at present, president of the American Traders Corporation, director in the Peoples’ Stock Yards Bank, and chairman of the directors of the Atlas Brewing Company. He was married Feb. 1883 to Victoria, daughter of Martin Kubin, and has six daughters. The Chicago Athletic Association, the South Shore Country Club, and the Iroquois and Bohemia Clubs count him a member.

Besides being the only American of Czechoslovak origin to hold a diplomatic post under the United States, Mr. Vopicka has built up a successful business and interested himself in the educational and political welfare of his city. Certainly his is a career worthy of praise.

A new influence in American painting has long been making itself felt in art circles here, in fact, we have grown so accustomed to it that it no longer seems new. We refer to the method of Corot and Bonnard, introduced in America, in the main, by the soldier-artists of the A. E. F. One of the first to bring it to the Middle West was Charles H. Kellner.

Mr. Kellner was born in Kasa, Czechoslovakia, Sept. 13, 1890. At the early age of nine he showed consider able ability, painting floral compositions without any preliminary studies whatsoever. The first time his father took him to an art museum, the boy’s enthusiasm was aroused to such an extent that he vowed he would be come an artist.

His parents were poor, and when he was fifteen he and a younger brother were sent to America. He struggled along in New York for four years, working in various factories by day and attending art schools at night.