Serbia, valiant daughter of the Ages,
Happiness and light should be thy portion!
Yet thy day is dimmed, thine heart is heavy;
Long hast thou endured—a little longer
Bear thy burden, for a fair tomorrow
Soon will gleam upon thy flower-spread valleys,
Soon will brighten all thy shadowy mountains;
Soon will sparkle on thy foaming torrents
Rushing toward the world beyond thy rivers.
Bulgar, Turk and Magyar long assailed thee.
Now the Teuton's cruel hand is on thee.
Though he break thy heart and rack thy body,
'Tis not his to crush thy lofty spirit.
Serbia cannot die. She lives immortal,
Serbia—all thy loyal men bring comfort
Fighting, fighting, and thy far-flung banner
Blazons to the world thy high endeavor,
—This thy strife for brotherhood and freedom—
Like an air-free bird unknowing bondage,
Soaring far from carnage, smoke and tumult,
Serbia—thy soul shall live forever!
Serbia, undaunted, is immortal!
Among comparatively recent books in English accessible to the general reader are:
Servia and the Servians
Mijatovich—L. C. Page Co.
The Servian People
Lazarovich-Hrebelianovich, 2 vols.—Scribners
Servia by the Servians
Alfred Stead—Heinemann
The Slav Nations
Tucic—Hodder and Stoughton
Serbia, her People, History and Aspirations
Petrovitch—Stokes
The Story of Servia
Church—Kelly
Hero-Tales and Legends of the Serbians
Petrovitch—Harrap and Co.
With Serbia into Exile
Fortier Jones—The Century Company
The spelling of names follows "Servia by the Servians," except "Serb."
The author is indebted to some of these books for facts embodied in this little sketch—as well as to several persons familiar with Serbia.
She gives warm thanks to Madame Slavko Grouitch, wife of the Serbian Secretary for Foreign affairs, who first interested her in Serbia.