; the
name upon a tombstone will be made to end, according to circumstances,
in "off" or "vitch," sometimes in the Roumanian "esco" or the Greek
"opoulos." If this is known to the departed, one would like to learn
how it affects them. A great deal of energy has been brought to bear
in the production of official books which place on record the
repugnant details of all the crimes that have ever been imagined by
men or ghouls, which crimes, so say the books of nation A, have been
committed by the incredible monsters of nation B. At times, from
motives of economy, the same photographs have been used by both
nations--an idea which in 1920 was adopted in Hungary, where an artist
conceived a poster showing a child with uplifted finger saying to its
mother in solemn warning: "Mother, remember me; vote for a Social
Democrat." This poster was forbidden by the censor, and, a few days
afterwards, appeared on all street corners as that of the Christian
Socialist party. People of the Balkans found that Western Europeans
were impressed by figures, so that they issued lists of schools whose
pupils were more numerous than the total population of the villages in
which they were situated. Frequently a village would be stated, on the
sworn testimony of its most respected inmates, to be exclusively
filled with persons say of nation A. Not for a moment would it be
admitted that the population might perhaps be mixed. And very
possibly, on going to investigate, the Western European would discover
that the village was entirely uninhabited and had been so for many
years.... We must also have some understanding of the old Balkan
humour if we are not to resent, for example, that story which they
tell of a Bulgarian Minister who happened to be sojourning last year
in Yugoslavia at a time when a great memorial service was being held
for ninety-nine priests whom the Bulgars had assassinated during their
occupation of Serbia in the European War. This Minister cherishes the
hope that his country and Yugoslavia will bury the hatchet. "How
unfortunate," said he, "are these recriminations. I shall have
pleasure in sending them ninety-nine priests, whom they can kill, and
then we can be good friends.")

Thus we have two points of mutual esteem. The vast majority of people
in Belgrade and Sofia are not chauvinist; let them close their ears to
the wild professors who, in their spare time, busy themselves with
writing books and discoursing on politics, a tas