Sokol

“ The Sokol idea has become a part of the Czech essence, a characteristic trait of the Czech soul, which in foreign lands manifests itself by the foundation of Sokol societies wherever a greater number of Czech kinsmen are settled. A great number of such societies were founded by Czechs in France, Germany and in the Slavonic lands; and the Sokol societies of the Czechs in America have attained an imposing development wherever they were founded early. They exist almost in every state of the Northern Union. ”

“ A sound mind in a sound body, inspired by patriotism and the spirit of brotherhood, is the aim of the Sokol. Physical and moral perfection, patriotism, democracy and progress are the definite aims. A system of gymnastics worked out by the founder, Tyrs, is the basis of all the physical training. ”

“ Sokols are active workers in the cause of popular education, they combat vicious literature and coarse entertainments, they oppose everywhere reactionary tendencies, fight for equal rights and freedom of all men; they are champions of democracy, ardent patriots in the cause of free Bohemia, and their institution is the principal tie that binds together the various branches of the Slav race. For today the Sokol idea has outgrown the narrow confines of the Bohemian lands, and there are Sokols among the Slovaks, Poles, Russians, Croatians, Serbians and even Bulgarians. ”

“ And as Sokol was now the head of his family, he must return from school to the house where the women were mourning his father.
Cheremi thrice made the sign of the cross. “Plum was a good man,” he said.
“And loved his son,” Perolli added. For Plum with his last effort had avenged himself, had closed the account. He left no blood feud to darken the life of the little Eagle. The boy would be known as the son of a hero, and to-day would take his place as a chief and a member of all village councils. ”

“ The principles, or rather the spirit of the Sokols, one might sum up as patriotism, progress, energy, discipline, and the chief means by which these ideals are sought to be realized is strict physical training of the youth of both sexes. The Bohemian Sokols have produced from their ranks some of the best athletes of America. ”

“ Sokol—the falcon—is the bird that by his swiftness and energy best symbolizes the active, vigorous life which is the ideal of Sokol societies; the falcon who flies high in the free skies is also the symbol of freedom—and every Czech is born with a devotion to freedom. The ideas of Tyrš found many followers. The Sokol Unions gathered in them the best elements of Bohemia, and in a surprisingly brief time this organization became the pride of the nation, as the personification of the nation’s yearning after a more vigorous and untrammeled life. ”

“ Of the Sokol system was to effect its extensive national mission, it was obliged to adapt itself to the social conditions in which we live and which present the majority of grown—up in workshops, industrial or commercial establishments, or in offices, from devoting any time during the day to their training, it was obliged to democratise itself and to become accessible to the broadest classes. ”

“ The opinion a member has of his duties towards himself, his surroundings, and towards the entire world has its influence on his whole civil life, on his personal honour and worth; so the Sokol idea forms itself gradually into the conception of a perfect civil virtue founded on the soundness and steadiness of the body. ”

“ Bohemian women have appreciated the importance of the teachings of Tyrš, and the intelligent Czech woman considers it her duty to join the Sokol society of her town. At the last great Sokol meet—one is held every five years and is looked upon as a great national holiday—over five thousand women and girls took part in the athletic exhibition in Prague. Women who are members of the Sokol organization give to the nation sound, healthy children, and teach them passionate devotion to Bohemia. ”

“ They say in Bohemia that to be a Czech is to be a Sokol. The Sokol idea penetrates all classes of the people and makes the entire nation democratic and liberty-loving. It is no wonder that in the present war the Bohemian people have taken an anti-Austrian stand, and that thousands of members of Sokol societies here have enlisted as soon as this country declared war on Germany. ”

“ It is in this rich variety of exercises for every age, calling and sex that the Bohemian method of physical training differs from other systems. The Sokol institution thus obtained a distinctive, solid foundation from which the further education of intelligent Bohemians could proceed. A sound and strong body, the primary requirement, fostered by the numberless Sokol societies, assists in the better development of the individual man’s higher faculties. For we know now that man’s mental processes are closely connected with his physical make-up ”

“ The Bosniac Christians are not half so well off as the Bulgarians, who have to deal with the real Turks. The arch-priest will be here to dinner, and he will be able to give you some account of the Bosniac Christians. But Bosnia is a beautiful country; how do you intend to proceed from here?"
Author. "I intend to go to Vallievo and Ushitza."
Collector. "He that leaves Servia without seeing Sokol, has seen nothing."
Author. "What is to be seen at Sokol?"
Collector. "The most wonderful place in the world, a perfect eagle's eyrie. A whole town and castle built on the capital of a column of rock." ”

“ The great emergency for which Tyrš tried to prepare his people has come. The very existence of the Czech people is in the balance. But the Sokol idea has proved its soundness. In the forefront of the determined opposition to German tyranny are men trained in the Sokol halls of the Bohemian cities. ”

“ They're bought and paid for, just like us.
"Tovarisch, Major Androv, kak pazhavatye," came a voice behind him. He turned and realized it belonged to General Valentin Sokolov, commander of the MiG 31 wing at the Dolinsk air base on Sakhalin. Sokolov was three star, top man in all the Soviet Far East. Flanking him were half a dozen colonels and lieutenant colonels.
"Comrade General Sokolov." He whipped off a quick salute. Brass. Brass everywhere. Shit. What in hell was this all about?
Now the project director, Taro Ikeda, had broken away from the Soviet group and was approaching. ”

“ The Russians who fought and bled for their country are almost extinct. One of the last who died in the sacred cause was Nicholas II. and the other Romanov victims of the Red invaders, German and Jewish. A remnant persisted to the end. To them the Red Usurpers of Moscow could never be anything except an alien domination.
I recall the night before we left Ekaterinburg. The Reds were approaching, but Sokolov went into the darkness and the rain to obtain the evidence of important peasant witnesses. ”

“ Sokolovski was released more dead than alive and sent to the Caucasus, where he died at Pyatigorsk. Of Ibayev it may be said in one sense that he died too; for he became a mystic.
Ootkin, “a free artist confined in prison,” as he signed himself in replying to the questions put to him, was a man of forty; he never took part in political intrigue of any kind, but his nature was proud and vehement, and he was uncontrolled in his language and disrespectful to the members of the Commission. ”

“ He was arrested in Petersburg and then conveyed to Moscow, without being told where he was going. Useless tricks of this kind are constantly played by the Russian police; in fact, it is the poetry of their lives; there is no calling in the world, however prosaic and repulsive, that does not possess its own artistic refinements and mere superfluous adornments. Sokolovski was taken straight to prison and lodged in a kind of dark store-room. Why should he be confined in prison and we in barracks? ”

“ Gaines grinned and slouched over to the big man's side. "Think of how much more expensive you are to the government than me," he chortled as he bent over to strap on heavy, leaded shoes. "Big fellow like you must cost 'em twice as much to outfit for this job."
Sokolski grunted and struggled into the thick, radiation-resistant suit. "Think how lucky you are, runt," he responded as he wriggled his right arm down the sleeve, "that they've got those little servomechs in there to do the real dirty work. ”

“ Sokolov withdrew.
"I do everything myself," she said to Peter Ivanovich, pushing aside the albums lying on the table; and observing that the tobacco ash was threatening the table, she unobtrusively insinuated an ash tray close to Peter Ivanovich, without interrupting her conversation; "I should consider it hypocritical to assert that I cannot attend to practical things for sheer grief. ”

“ Sokoloff says: "Bering stayed three years in Okhotsk, exerting himself to the utmost in equipping [Pg 101] expeditions, enduring continual vexations from the Siberian government—especially on account of Pissarjeff—and conducting frequent examinations and investigations into the quarrels and complaints of his subordinates. During all this time he was sternly and unreasonably treated by the Admiralty, which showered upon him threats and reproaches for slowness sluggishness, and disorder, for false reports and ill-timed accounts." ”

“ Joe Gaines, who was as short and skinny and dark-haired as his colleague was tall and heavily muscled and blond, shuddered at the sound. Sokolski grinned wickedly at his flinching.
"Check-up time, I suppose," muttered Gaines without looking up from the magazine he held propped on his knees. He finished the paragraph, snapped the magazine shut, and swung his legs down from the railing that ran along in front of the data board. "Dirty work for white-collar men like us."
Sokolski snorted. "You haven't worn a white shirt in the last six years," he growled, rising and going to the supply closet. ”

“ And the monastery of Rache-Churân is entirely devoted to the study of the subject."
"Do you mean that that gentle old man——"
"Petrie, a certain M. Sokoloff, a Russian gentleman whose acquaintance I made in Mandalay, related to me an episode that took place at the house of the mandarin Ki-Ming in Canton. It actually occurrd in the presence of M. Sokoloff, and therefore is worthy of your close attention. ”

“ The wine had to be tasted before the feast, and as the samples evidently gave great satisfaction, it was necessary to send more than one mission for this purpose.
§5 In this connexion I cannot refrain from recording something that happened to our friend Sokolovski. He could never keep money and spent at once whatever he got. A year before his arrest, he paid a visit to Moscow. As he had been successful in selling the manuscript of a poem, he determined to give a dinner and to ask not only 179us but such bigwigs as Polevói, Maximovitch, and others. ”

“ Sokolov had his “proof.”
Here is the narrative of the investigation. It is a good commentary on the homely saying, “Murder will out.”
It will be remembered that Ermakov went with{337} the bodies from the death-house. Now Ermakov lived at the Verkh-Issetsk ironworks, adjoining the city and situated along the route to Koptiaki—i.e., north-east of Ekaterinburg. The Stenbok-Fermer Wood lies a few miles beyond. At the works Ermakov found a detachment of his Red Guards (he was military komisar) and a number of conveyances ready harnessed. The whole procession moved off along the Koptiaki road. ”

“ The leaders of the people at home, men charged with high treason to Austria, because they are fired with love of their own land, the men who led Bohemian regiments over to the Russians, the heroes who created a Czecho-Slovak army in Russia, the workers who have organized the Bohemain National Alliance of America, are nearly all Sokols.
Will the Bohemian nation perish or will it emerge free from the awful, bloody contest? The Bohemians fight for their freedom and for the liberty of mankind. But they are not strong enough to win the fight alone. ”

“ If physical training was to be the means for the cultivation of the nation’s energy, it was necessary to take into account racial characteristics; the method must be such as to fit the needs and temper of the people. That method had to be discovered by Tyrš. He gave his Sokols a purely Bohemian system of training, one that satisfied completely the instincts of the young body for exercise and at the same time gave heed to aesthetic considerations: the search for the true beauty of the body. ”

“ The peasant had not been able in the faint light to make out clearly what was behind Vaganov. “Something long and grey, like a heap,” was all that they could distinguish. The baba (peasant woman) concluded that it was the Red Guard army marching to Koptiaki. Urging her horse onward, she immediately roused the whole village, informing the muzhiks that the “army” was coming “with transport and artillery.” They listened in consternation, alarmed chiefly for their hay crop. An army coming meant fighting in the neighbourhood, and here it was just the time for mowing. The hay might all be lost. ”

“ This man had stood on guard on the terrace communicating with the dining-room and overlooking the garden—a very important post with a machine-gun capable of sweeping the interior of the house and all the approaches from the garden side. On the very day before the murder, this man wrote in pencil on the wall of the house a record of his service as follows:—
Alongside this inscription he had tried to write the Russian equivalent, but could not spell out the word “karaul” (guard duty) , in Magyar örsegen. Scraps of paper on which other “Letts” had practised writing Russian words were also found. ”