With the help of Jan Aleksander Karłowicz [pl], he published two volumes of Lithuanian folk tales translated into Polish in 1894.

He was one of the organizers of the Great Seimas of Vilnius but started drifting away from the Lithuanian public life due to anti-nobility attitudes.

He edited and published the Polish-language newspapers Litwa (1908–1914) and Lud (1912–1913) that were aimed at Polish-speaking nobles and peasants in hopes that they could be convinced to "return" to their Lithuanian roots.

[12] His contributions ranged from polemic about nobility's role in the Lithuanian National Revival to short notes on prices of grain at different markets to romantic poetry.

[12] He also collected information about Simonas Daukantas, author of the first history of Lithuania in Lithuanian, and published data for his biography in 1898 in the United States.

[13] He initially chose Jelgava as it was home of the linguist Jonas Jablonskis which was visited by other Lithuanian activists, including Pranas Mašiotas, Juozas Tumas-Vaižgantas, Gabrielius Landsbergis-Žemkalnis.

[5] He attempted to become a broker for manor sales, later worked at an auction company and the office of the railroad engineer Petras Vileišis.

[22] When the Lithuanian press ban was lifted in 1904, Davainis-Silvestraitis moved to Vilnius in August 1904 and worked at the bookstore established by Petras Vileišis.

[17] Not finding a steady income in Vilnius, he moved to Saint Petersburg in December 1904 to work at the editorial office of Lietuvių laikraštis.

[12] However, he refused to join the National Democrats Party [lt] (Tautiškoji demokratų partija) organized right after the Seimas by Jonas Basanavičius because of its anti-nobility platform and demands that land should be distributed to peasants.

[28] With the help of Jonas Basanavičius, Davainis-Silvestraitis established and edited the Polish-language newspaper Litwa in July 1908[29] and ethnographic magazine Lud in 1912.

[32] Davainis-Silvestraitis also served a three-month prison sentence for publishing an article urging to protect Lithuania from nihilistic influence from the East (i.e.

[41] Davainis-Silvestraitis was proud of his noble birth and was interested in his family's genealogy even claiming that they reached the legendary Palemonid dynasty.

Unlike many other nobles of the period, Davainis-Silvestraitis was proud of his Lithuanian heritage and rejected Polish culture which was seen as more prestigious at the time.

[39] He read Polish works of Józef Ignacy Kraszewski, Adam Mickiewicz, Władysław Syrokomla, Teodor Narbutt.

[48] The original notes were lost when Davainis-Silvestraitis gave them to another person for safekeeping so that they would not be confiscated and destroyed by the Tsarist police in 1895.

[11] Karłowicz asked Davainis-Silvestraitis to attempt to corroborate and authenticate some of the more unusual tales published by Veckenstedt (they were later proved to be falsifications; see also pseudo-mythology).

This resulted in text alterations (e.g. adding names or functions to mythical beings) thus degrading the quality and authenticity of the tales.

[58] That year, articles harshly criticizing Veckenstedt for falsifying Lithuanian folklore were published by Karłowicz in Mélusine and Davainis-Silvestraitis in Wisła [pl].

[12][64] However, linguist Jonas Jablonskis critically evaluated the publication for mistakes in phonetics and morphology and urged more care in future studies.

[69] Karłowicz also helped Davainis-Silvestraitis to publish an article in the journal of the Gypsy Lore Society about the customs of the Romani people in Lithuania in 1889.

[12] He supported efforts to introduce Lithuanian language services at Roman Catholic churches in Vilnius and surrounding area.

[76] In 1906, Davainis-Silvestraitis began writing articles for Kurier Litewski in an attempt to find cooperation with different Polish activist groups.

[77] He objected to the Polish ambitions of establishing a multi-cultural society along the lines of the old Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and urged Poles to support the national state of Lithuanians.

[79] In 1906–1907, he wrote articles to Vilniaus žinios in which he described towns and villages around Vilnius (e.g. Žasliai, Kernavė, Sudervė, Nemenčinė, Videniškiai, Eišiškės, Šalčininkai, Dieveniškės, etc.)

[30] The newspaper supported the concept of the ethnographic Lithuania and fiercely criticized ideas about recreating the old Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth by the Polish National Democracy.

[88] When it became clear that Litwa would be discontinued, Gabrielė Petkevičaitė-Bitė, Mykolas Sleževičius, and Kazys Grinius published articles in Lietuvos žinios criticizing Davainis-Silvestraitis' approach to the "re-Lithuanization" of the nobles.

[88][89] Such comments were hurtful and Davainis-Silvestraitis felt misunderstood and not appreciated, rejected by the younger generation of Lithuanian activists and by his own family.

Like many other poets of the time, he wrote romantic poetry in which he proclaimed love to the homeland, expressed abstract hopes for its bright future, idealized its heroic past, and urged to learn and use Lithuanian language.

The poem mixes the legends about Palemon with historical facts and folklore tropes but lacks coherence and poetic merit.