The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1866-10-26

WIS 4 m0neysehnnRcr), others Keep
fruit stores and cake shops, drive .
business -i1le old clothes, oT pursue va
rious handicrafta, while ~ few ilnd eHl
| pidyment In military service,
The prevalence Of rebellion, ~ tlfe
fenfral 'bf6yinees for die last thirteen
| yeara has told sadly on the .pfosperlty
Foff X II f,,no fec. and the Jews have
/ nnt Af,,liLelv owing 10 the nature Or
tLa,r ncc1nationg been the greatest
sutterefa Their numbqr, they esti
mate though not very exactly, ut from
t.s Too, ~ gour hundred. They are una
h16 N tfaee their tribal pedigree, keep
WI rceieter, and never, on my 0cda-
| zion, assemble together ~ ono con
gregafion. ~. .t f.aE#
esUnlil recently they had D common
center in tho yenornted synagogue,
though their liturgieal services. had
long been discontinued. Now, how
ever, the congregation seems 30 be-
following the fate or their building
No bond Of Union remains, and they
arc ii danger Of being speedily alb
sorbed by Mohammedanlsm Or heath
enism, One Of them, 10 my know
ledge, has become 0 priest Of Buddha,
taking, not very consistently, for his
aAcefdotal name, the characters Pen
nm. which signify "One who ii rooted
and grounded In the Truth" The
large tablet that once adorned the en-
trance of the synagogue, bearing on II
the name Of Israel, has been appro-
priatdd by b Mohammedan m0eque,
aud some efforts have been made TO
draw tho people over 20 Tie filth Of
Mohammtd, from which their prao1
ices tlilIer so little Tint their heathen
neiphbora have never been able TO
distinguish them from Moslems
| " Ono Of my visitors was b son Of tho
last Of their rabbits, who, some thirty
| of forty years ag0, died In the PROV.
| ihee Of kadsuh. With him persisted
| the knowledge or tie aAcfad tongue,
| and though they still preserve several
Peoples Of tile jewish Scriptures, there
| 'ib not d man among them who eAn
| read d word Of Hebrew. Not long
lago Il was seriously ptoboshd to eS
! pose their pafehmentA 70 public view
Ia the mdfket place, III hopes they
| might attract the attention of some
wandering Jows who would be able TO
restore 10 them the language Of their
tatherss Since. .tha-eessation of their
| qitual worship, their children oil grow
| up without tho Aeal OF the covenant.
| The young generation are unercuin-
tised, aud M might be- expected, they
| DO longer take pains 10 keep their
blood pure froms intermixturG with
| Gentiles One of them confessed 10
me that his wife was q heatbens They
fefnember the MINES Of the Fehsta OF
| Tabernaeles, the Feast Of Unleavened
Bread, and,h fcw other ceremonial
tites which were practioed by former
generation, but all such usagea are
DOW neglected, and the next half cen
tary il otunlikoly 30 putin period TO
tlIeir existence as distinct people.
! In the margin of the Poyong Luke
stands a lofty rock, so peculiar and so
solitary, that II IA known by The name
Of the Little Orphan Its kindred
rocks ure oil on the other side Of the
lake, whence il seems 60 have been
torn away by some violent eonvulaion,
and planted immovably in the bosom
Of the waters. Such, to me, appeared
chat fragment Of the Israeitish ma
don. Alfoek rent from the sides sof
Mount Zion, by some great national
catastrophe, and projected into this
dentral plain Of China. il stands there
an orphan colony, sublime IN its
antiquity and solitude But It'll now
On the verge OF being swallowed up
by the surrounding flood, aud the
spectacle is o. mournful one, The.
Jews Themselves are deeply conscious
of their sad aituntion, and the shadow
Of an inevitable destiny seems TO BE
testing upon them. FL
Poor, unhappy people As they IN
CURED about tho destruction Of the
Holy City, and the dispersion of the
tribes, aud referred to their own, de-
laying condition, what could do TO
comfort them but point TO Him who
u the oedsolatioh OF Israel? True, /
Gold them, the city of their fathers
vas broken down, and their people
scattered and peeled, but the straw
was not trodden under foot until il
had yielded precious seed for dissem
hating in other fields The dikes had
not been broken down until the time
bad come for pouring their fertilizing
waters over, the lace OF the earth
Christian civilization, with all its
grand results, had sprung from jew
ish root, and the promise TO Abraham
had been already fulfilled, that " in
his seed all the nations of the earth
| should he hlaaaad y w - M