A Bride of the Plains

em all! they

of the plain first with grey and then with mauve and pale-toned emerald, with rose and carmine and crimson and blood-red, until the sun-triumphant and glorious at last-woke the

n reach-a sea of tall straight stems, with waves of brilliant gr

axen tendrils like a maiden's hair; down on the ground-a carpet for the feet of the majestic corn-hundreds and thousands of orange-coloured pumpkins turning their huge

nd that horizon line which is still hidden by a silvery

e sea mutable, ever-changing, restless-bending to every breath of the summer breeze, full of strange, sweet sounds, of moanings and of sighs

an reach, and long, dividing lines of amber-coloured sunflowers, vivid

tanya (cottage) with a group of stunted acacias near it, and a well whose tall, gaunt arm stretches weirdly

mp, and above it the sky-blue and already glowing through the filmy mist which every minute grows more

fertile land and ripening fruit there is no sign of human toil, no sound o

tinal sleep in peace; the stork can continue undisturbed his preparations for his impending long voya

tched houses scarcely peep above the sea of tall-stemmed maize, only the white-washed to

saying Mass; he, at any rate, is astir and busy with his day's work and obligations. Surely it is strange that at so late an hou

uld you! Such a day is thi

th of September, the ugliest, blackest,

e villages around are taken away by the abominable government? Away for three years to be made into soldiers, to drill and to march, to carry guns and bayonets, to obey words of

, packed into one of those detestable railways like so many heads of cattle and separated from their mothers, their sisters, thei

e have nothing to do with other villages or with the towns: they do just as the good God wills them to do. It is our lads-the lads

bless him!-still wanting a mother's care of his stomach and his clothes, and a father's he

and cares no more about his native village and the narrow cottage where he used to run i

er, why then you go to war, you get shot at, killed may be, or at any rate maimed. Three years! You may never come back! A

they will turn their thoughts in other directions-there are the men who have done their military service, who have

They hate to be packed into railway carriages like so many dried heads of maize in a barn, they hate t

"Marsch!" and "Rechts" and "Links"-I ask you in the

hole and sound in body. Bless them! They are sound e

ce his chest measurements by a few needful centimètres; but it was no use. The doctor who examined him said that with regular food and plenty of exercise he would soon put on more flesh, and he would get both for the next three years. And János-

your chest and your back, they look at your eyes and make you open your m

rever he may command, over land and by water. By water! I ask you! When there was Albert and Jen? who could not bear even the sight of water; they would not

like common malefactors and treated like brigands and thieves until they did swear. And a

ter his three years' service, with two of his front teeth gone

h day of September the very blackest in the whole calendar, and wh

the packing of our lads into the train will commence, but until then they are making merry, bless them! They are true Hungarians, you know! They will d

rw?rts" and "Rechts" and "Links" and all that God-forsaken gibberish, and put them in irons and on bread and water if they do not obey. But yesterd

ancing began. The first csárdás was struck up at eight o'clock last evening, the last one is being danced now at eight o'clock in the morning, while the whole plain lies in silence under the shimmering sky, and while Pater Bonifácius reads h

asily led toward good or evil. They are dancing now, when they