The Little Hungarians
The Reception to Them When They Return to Their Country
The Leaders Story
The Daily Leader, Lexington, KY. November 11, 1899
Transcribed & Published at DVHH.org 29 May 2020 by Jody McKim Pharr

     The reception which is being given to the Twentieth Kansas volunteers, remarked Director Niklos Schilzonyi, of the Boys' Hungarian Band, now playing in Kansas City, to a reporter, "reminds me very much of the welcome which was given to my little musicians when they returned to their home in Hungary last November. The boys, who range from 6 to 16 years old, had been away from home for more than twelve months, and you know that this meant a good deal to people who had sons in the band and to those who had friends in the little company which, had traveled so many thousand miles.

     The boys are all students of the military band school in the city of Billed. Hungary, and as soon as they left the train they marched, like real soldiers, without being allowed to stop even to shake hands with any of their friends, to the church. There the ministers of the church were in waiting, and the first thing the boys did after getting back to their home was to attend religious services.

     The people from all over the---well, what you would call the country, had come to receive the boys, and there were days of merry-making. The night after we get home there was a grand concert and, of course, it was a most impressive occasion.

     The boys were then given a two-weeks vacation and they hastened off to see their parents. At the conclusion cf the vacation they were recalled to the school and they spent the next three months in study. At the end of that time we started for a second trip to the United States, stopping on the way to give concerts in Berlin, Leipsic and other European capitals. The most of the boys had spent the vacation in having a good time, free from all cares, but one of them, Josef Schwarz, who is 14 years old, and the solo cornet player, employed his days more profitably, as he composed a march. I must say that it is a very good march, too, and we are all proud of the young man for that achievement.

     "Were the boys anxious to return to America?" was asked.

     "Yes, indeed. They enjoy traveling in this country, and their parents are glad to have them here. It is understood of course, that they are under my charge, and I am responsible for their safe return to Hungary. As they are under the protection of the government every possible precaution is taken, and if anything should happen to me the boys would at once be sent back to Hungary. The government demands that a guarantee fund be kept where it is available, and this fund is sufficient to pay their passages from any part of America.

"While the boys are filling engagements in this country they must continue their studies, and two hours each day are devoted to this work. As director of the school I have supervision over this work, but I have an assistant to aid me In giving instruction to the boys. Some of them have been with me so long that I almost begin to feel that they are getting old, and yet the eldest is but 16. From 16 the ages run down to 6, for little Peter Bojar, the flute player, is only 6 years old.