Page:The Czechoslovak Review, vol4, 1920.pdf/326

might be found in Fenimore Cooper’s “Hawkeye” in his celebrated book “The Deer-Slayer”. It is the strength of their faith which binds them and holds them together. The Sokols are possessed of the simplicity of a Quaker.

Flanked on all sides with humanity numbering at least 100,000 spectators, the arena was a fitting place for the Sokols to exhibit their physical and mental prowess. On all sides, on every street the picturesque costume of the Sokols is seen and one wonders immediately whether or not every Czech and Slovak is not a Sokol. The women also in similarly colored garbs mingled with the vast crowds.

Courtesy Czechoslovak Information Bureau.

Ten Thousand Sokol Women Drilling in Prague.

Monday, June 28th, the President of the Republic, Thomas G. Masaryk, appeared accompanied by his Cabinet and other dignitaries of the Republic and followed by the invited guests, took seats at the side of the vast arena. Immediately an imposing duel began. From opposite sides in ranks thirty-two deep 10,112 men marking time to the sound of the music of a band of 150 musicians marched into the arena, divided into files of sixteen and sub-divided again into lines of faultless precision. These drew forth applause that resounded throughout the amphitheatre. That marvelous march ended with men distributed with mathematical accuracy in a line that covered the entire square, 640 men in each direction.

Then the first series of figures in standing position with flexible movements of arms and hands followed the musical accompaniment. The second and third series followed in rythmic steps and in whichever direction and in whatever angle one looked there was a symmetrical line of kaleidoscopic movements and figures that dazzled by their brilliancy, rapidity and splendor. Instantly it would arrest itself, the band would strike up a new theme, the trumpet ring out and another figure would follow, breathlessly watched by the vast throng with restrained attention. For three-quarters of an hour the men, whose arms, shoulders and bodies gave a vivid impression of health and vigor, continued their evolutions, then closed their ranks,