The core of the large settlement is likely to be a rancid bit of the Old World. Clerical domination to a degree not tolerated among other Roman Catholics, a stately church overlooking mean farm-houses, numerous church holidays, a tiny public school, built wholly out of State grant, with a sister in the garb of her order as schoolmistress, a big parish school, using only Polish and teaching chiefly the catechism, a high illiteracy and a dense ignorance among lads born on American soil, crimes of violence rather than crimes of cunning, horror of water applied inside or outside, aversion to fresh air, barefoot women at work in the fields, with wretched housekeeping as the natural result, saloons patronized by both sexes, the priest frequently urging his flock to "have as many children as God will give them," much loth motherhood, early death from excessive child-bearing, large families brought up by the third, fourth, or fifth wife, harsh discipline of children, political apathy, a controlled vote, and an open contempt for Americans and their principles. Little better off are the Slavs clustered by themselves in some "mining-patch" in the coal-fields or in the industrial quarter of a metal town. The general population does not associate with them, and they have their own church, school, customs, and festivals. The men pick up a little English, the women none at all. It is really the children that are the battle-ground of old and new. Let them mingle freely with Young America, and no pressure from their parents can make them remain different from their playmates. They dread the nickname of "Hun," "Hunkie," or "Bohunk" as if it were poison, and nothing will induce them to use their home tongue or take part in the organized life of their nationality. In the big rural settlement, however, the children can be kept from outsiders, and the parents, who want them to settle on the farm, usually have their way. A few of the more restless dive off the island into circumambient America. For a little time the second generation appears progressive; it dresses flashily and shows itself "sporty." But after it marries it loses spirit, settles down, and obeys priest and parent. Whether the system can hold the third generation remains to be seen. Obviously, the bird-of-passage Slovak or Croat who has left a wife at home, and who roughs it with his compatriots in a "stag" boarding-house in a dreary "black country," is a poor subject for assimilation. His life is bounded by the "boarding boss," the saloon-keeper, the private banker, and the priest--all of them of his own folk. Aside from the foreman's cursing, American life reaches him only through the eye, and then only the worst side of it. But for the good pay, he would hate his life here; and he goes back home with little idea of America save that it is a land of big chances to make money. SMALL ABILITY OF IMMIGRANT SLAVS