THE GROWTH OF THE MODERN NATION 31great deal to a particular breed of courageous and strong-minded women. The
memoirs of revolutionaries rarely fail to pay tribute to the mother or grand-
mother who first instilled them with their lifelong political faith:
My grandmother was a woman of great intelligence and strength of character, and in
the breadth of her mind and reading undoubtedly excelled the majority of her contem-
poraries. After her husband's death, she ran the estate herself, controlling the servants
and the workmen with an iron hand...
Patriotism was the main motor of her life. The entire passion of her intense and pow-
erful nature was devoted to the cause of her country's freedom... and in the conspira-
torial work of the January Rising she played a prominent part in the neighbourhood,
chairing secret meetings in the house, and carrying guns. She took on danger with utter
contempt. The failure of the Rising provoked the greatest trauma of her whole life.
Henceforward, she always wore the same black dress with its thin white lace at the neck
and cuffs, and on her finger a ring decorated with a white cross in pearls on black enamel
I was perhaps seven years old when one evening I asked her about that ring. We were
alone in the drawing-room... and the rays of the oil-lamp flickered on the pearls.- 'It's a ring of mourning for those who died', she said...
But when I asked her to put it on my finger, she shook her head. - 'You can only wear it when you're a real patriot, my child.. .'
- 'And what does that mean, Grandma, "being a patriot"?.. .'
- 'A patriot is someone who loves Poland above everything else in the world', she
replied, 'and who will abandon everything, even life itself, for her Freedom.. .' - 'I want to fight for Poland, Grandma', I said, only half comprehending what I meant.
.. After a while, my grandmother's eyes flashed. - 'Yes, I believe that's what you do want. Do you promise to fight for Poland, my child?'
- 'I promise, Grandma', I repeated, enthralled by the ominous feeling
and power in her voice.
Then she drew me towards her, caressed me, and placing the ring on my finger, held it
there tightly. - 'Now, there, run along and play with your sisters. But don't forget, and don't tell a soul
'31
Thus was the young Aleksandra Szczerbinska initiated at her home in Suwalki
into a revolutionary career which was destined to involve her in the same sort of
conspiracies and gun-running escapades that had preoccupied her grandmother.
Thirty years later, as Mme Pilsudska, she entered respectable politics as consort
of the Chief-of-State of the Polish Republic.
In many homes, in an atmosphere of supercharged patriotism, no formal
initiation was necessary. A youngster who listened to his grandmother
playing one of Chopin's Mazurkas, could not fail to notice the further impli-
cations:
And she played it for me
On an old piano,
In the room with the portraits
Of her two executed brothers.^32