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which at almost any bank in the United States a person who wishes to send food to his relatives in Bohemia may purchase a food draft. There are four standard packages of which two are intended for Jewish people of Eastern Europe who want kosher food. The other two are designated as packages A and B. Package A sells for ten dollars and contains 242 lbs. flour, 10 lbs. beans, 8 lbs. bacon and 8 cans of milk; package B costs $50 and contains 140 lbs. flour, 50 lbs. beans, 16 lbs. bacon, 15 lbs. lard, 12 lbs. corned beef, 48 cans of milk. The food was selected so as to give the most nutrition for the money, and it is estimated that the ten dollar package contains enough food to last a family of four people for 10½ days, while the larger package will supply the family larder for 58 days.

This plan has just been placed in operation, and to be successful it must be well advertised. As to its success among the Czechoslovaks there exists no doubt, because both their racial organizations and their newspapers will keep its advantages before the people. If you have brother, cousin, friend in the Czechoslovak Republic, buy a ten dollar or fifty dollar food draft from your bank and mail it to him. If you have no relatives with whom you are in touch, send your ten or fifty dollar gift to the Czechoslovak National Alliance, 3734 W. 26th St., Chicago, to the National Alliance of Bohemian Catholics, 3207 W. 22nd St., Chicago, to the Slovak League, 524 Fourth Ave., Pittsburgh, Pa., or to any of their local branches. Help the hungry, feed the children, give the old country a chance to get on its feet.

Among the few who have contributed to make the Czech literature, and especially Czech poetry, known outside Bohemia is Mr. Paul Selver. And among the Englishmen he is so far the only one. It was in May 1911 that “The New Age” published three translations from Bezruč’s “Ostrava”, “Thou and I” and “I”—and they represent very characteristically the beginings of P. Selver’s literary work. From that time onward he became regular contributor to that paper, and it will be found that the work he published there falls into two main phases,—verse translation and verse satire. For the purpose of the present article, these may now be examined in a more detailed manner.

It is significant and interesting to note that Selver’s earliest published translations were from Bezruč. An organic sympathy for the Czech language and especially for its poetry,—a sympathy due to deeply rooted temperamental and racial influences—had led him to the works of Bezruč and Vrchlický while he was still a university student. At first in a necessarily unsystematic manner, then directed by the advice of the late Dr. Josef Karásek, whose “History of Slavonic Literatures” had led him to write enthusiastically to the author, he began to survey the whole field of modern Czech poetry. The connection with Dr. Karásek resulted in further correspondence with Czech authors, especially with Fr. S. Prochazka, who helped him to obtain material for his purposes which otherwise would have remained inaccessible to him. The first-fruits of these activities were the translations contained in his “Anthology of Modern Bohemian Poetry” published in the year 1912. This volume which contains specimens of over 40 poets, nearly all contemporary, is the first attempt of its kind since Sir John Bowring published his “Cheskian Anthology” in the early part of the 19th century. There is no need to discuss the intrinsic merits of these translations here. When the book first appeared, Dr. Arne Novak devoted a long essay to it in “Národní Listy”, where he quoted parallel passages of translation and original to show the fidelity of Selver’s renderings. And it is natural that the skill exhibited on that occasion has not diminished as the result of eight years continual practice and experiment. But to this point we may return later.

Although Selver had been specially attracted by the Czech poets, his interests had not been confined to them. Throughout this time he was studying also the poetry of the other Slavonic nations. In 1916