The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1883-07-19
Leading Traits of Americans.
Paris Register.

The Americans, the Yankees, as
they call them, have become a fruit
full subject of study for foreign physi-
ologists. One of the latest writers on
the inhabitants of the United States,
the German scientist, DR.. George
Seelhorst, says: "The North Ameri-
can nation is of English origin, but
mixed with French blood in the
North, with Spanish blood in the
South, and with that of nearly all
other European nations in every
part of the vast country. In spite of
mixture, the race differs from all
others, and is asserting itself as a de-
cided and separate type. Itspower of
assimilation is so great that after a
few generations, sometimes after a
single one, the original character of
the immigrant is lost and merged into
the American type. | have frequent
~ seen children of German immi-
grants between the ages of fifteen and
twenty who had become perfect
Americans in features, the projecting
underiaW, the slendernesS of body, and
more than all in their manner Of
thought. Even the most tenacious
of all types, the Israelitic, soon
disappears, because the American
Jew feels himself first of all a citizen
of the United States" Yea, one
might say, the American had adopted
many traits from the Jews, i. e., from
the Indians, who have so much Of the
Jew in their physiognomy that
among all the hypothesis concerning
the origin of the Indians, not one is
more obstinately adhered to, or de-
Tended with more acutenesS and sci
ence, than that which assumes the
lost ten tribes of Israel to have been
the original ancestors of the Indians.
The first European discoveries no.
ticed the Jewish type of the Indians,
and MonteSini called the atten-
ton of the learned Jew, Manasse
Ben Israel, to the fact, who, in
consequence, wrote his celebrated
work. LA Esperanto de Israeli" in
which he endeavors to prove that the
Israelites were the original discover
ers of America. This question has
since been frequently discussed and
supported by numerous analOgies.
Not only has striking resemblance
between the Indian and the Jewish
type been believed in, but it has also
been asserted that many Indian words
are related to or derived from the He
brew, and more parti ;ularly that there
existed in the manners, the religious
views and customs of the Indians
many points which rendered con-
nection between these and the Jews
highly probable.
Judge Freedman, of New York, has
caused some excitement by deciding
that certain sum of money left by a
Mrs. Gilman in the hands of Mr..
McArdle 20 pay for masses for the
rest of her soul after death must,
now that she is dead, be returned to
her estate for distribution among her
heirs. The excitement is based upon
a misapprehension of the exact nature
of the decision. Judge Freedman ex-
pressly stated that if Mrs. Gilman
had bequeathed the money directly
from her estate to pay for masses the
bequeSt would have been legal. This
point was recently decided in SINH
lar spirit by Judge Tuley, of Chicago,
and while the English courts hold
such beq0ests to be void they are gen
ally admitted and sustained in this
country. But in this particular case
Mr.. McArdle received the money
from Mrs. Gilman during her life,
and he, therefore, became a trustee
for a particular purpose. The law
that for every trust
sum there must be a living benef-
ciary, known in legal terms as the
cestui que trust, falling which the
trust lapses and the money goes to
the heirs. In this case there was no
living beneficiary, and on this tech.
1icality the trust money must be re-
turned to Mrs. Gilman's estate. That |
was the extent of Judge Freedman's
lecision, and as there was no theolog-
cal point at issue whatever a great |
leal of theological wrath was unnec-
,ssarily poured out upon the judge
~ persons who were i'll informed.