River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1882-06-22
THE JEWISH EMIGRANTS.
Curious scenes I'm Castle Garden A
Half Dressed, Poverty = stricken

.th'sa New York Letter

4 ENatA DEEcSG1s ~
Crowd.
sGath'sa New fork Letter.
Emigration is serious sight here, es-
pecially since the halfaaked Russian
/ Jews are coming in by swarms. An
observer of these people says no body
| of poorer people ever passed the gates
/ of Castle Garden. A Russian refugee
can be recognized anywhere by his
long coat, his small cap, and his dirty
bodily condition. In this they are as
unique as in their poverty. Women
who attempt to cross Battery Park, and
who encounter group or two OF refu-
gees near the entrance, frequently turn
back, unwilling to risk further adven-
ture or closer contact. The other en-
igrants in Castle Garden are often seen
to avoid the Russians.
The Russians differ from the other,
however, in the pride and confidence
of their mien and Garage. Never ls
one seen-among the men, at least
| whose head is not held high, whose eye
does not meet the public gaze unhinch-
ingly, and whose department is not that
of a man who understands and APP
preciates the freedom that is the boast
of the land he has found. There seemed
to be five hundred in and around Castle
Garden Yesterday. They will not accept
manual work. The officers here can
not gel enough milihands to meet the
demand. They go to these men and
| offer them instant work at good wages,
but they want to stay IN New York.
They are peddlers and small trades
men, of whom from other nations 1t
| has been limited that far too many have
come and are huddled in the cities of
the land. These refugees dislike to 60
| far from the Committee. Some who
have been sent out on good lands in
OHIO have returned quickly. saying that
they were not suited. They want to go
to Vineland, N. j., or some place near
the head quarters of the committee, to
which they can return easily If every
thing is not to their taste. What they
want, and all they ask for, is money.
They understand money, and have
somehow come to think they are to
get it.
The young girls are possessed of all
thebeauty for which the youth of their
race are famous. After their additions
at the Croton taps roses bloomed in
their cheeks, and their large, deep,
black eyes, Oriental features, shining
black hair and perfect teeth were seen
to good advantage. But they were no
| more careful of their dress than their
elders. They and the elder women
were not only scantly clad, but were
often wholly without, not ornament
alone, but nearly ali the lesser
articles of attire that go to make a
woman's dress complete. There was
not hat, hood or bonnet among them.
They often conducted themselves in
the crowded yard with freedom to
have been looked for only in the pri-
vacy of home, and appeared either
unconscious of or unconcerned about
| the presence of the multitude around
| them.
| The Jewish agents here says that in
one town of Russia ten thousand reiu-
gees are awaiting to come to America,
and the Jewish bankers are giving them
money to come. The Government here
is going to give tents to shelter one
thousand of them. Saturday, as / came
| up the North River, / saw twelve stea-
mers taking crowds of emigrants away
from different steamships. Is not
American citizenship cheap enough?
1u6 movement Vi tue IeucolduS 10 OOli-
Quoted as poetic rather than purely
business matter. The Aid Society is to
be sincerely sympathized with, for it is
handling a most peculiar people, and
its troubles multiply every day. These
refugees have been so tenderly handled,
so wept over, SO commiserated and
fondled, SO to speak, in Paris, Ham,
burg. London, Havre, in short, wher-
ever they have stopped, that far great
er degree of intelligence and humility
than theirs would have been deadened
before they have reached here. Wretch
ed enough when they escaped their
prosecutors, and, willing to accept any
thing then, they have come to expect
every attention and all considerations
here. Thus it comes about that they
fingered here until they cost the Com
mittee $25 head. They are every
where called religious martyrs, and it
is perhaps natural they should expect,
as they do, time and assistance for cele-
brating in full from every religious
festival and custom, and should loudly
complain, as they do, if their daily fare
is not that which their religion has
taught them to demand. Nowhere has
even a harsh word been spoken to
them