Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1884-04-11

4n0 making OF matrimonial matches
has long been quite business. among
jews OF certain class in this city.
There are among them . large number
who live comfortably off the proceeds OF
their labor as match-makers, and there
are Others who only occasionally act rs
mediators in such transactions-for
profit, OF course, One of the latter
class had lawyer arraigned last week
Tor falling TO recover q fee,- as per
agreement With view Of ascertain
ing the extent of the practice of match
making among the Jews by paid inter-
mediators, a reporter visited the Jewish
section OF the city of which the corner
OF Ludlow and Grand streets is the
center. In his ramblings he CHANGED
70 meet cultured Russian Jew, who
has travelled considerably. and is. by
virtue OF this and his superior talents,
looked up to by his coSreligionists in the
section referred to; vet he is by no
means an orthodox jew s.Oh, yes,
he said. in answer to the reporters in
CURRY, that business Is pretty extern
sively carried on in this city, and. in
fact. all over the world among Polish
and Russian Jews; and the German
Jews are also prone to ii. 1t is an
Oriental practice and fiourishes best in
Russia, Roumania and other places that
do not enjoy the benefits of civilized
life In the Orient young people do
not en- oy the free intercourse that they
have in this country. There few mar
r1ages are contracted among Jews
without the instrumentality of the
shodchen, as the intermediator is called
in the Hebrew vernacular. and there
are many who thrive at the profess: ON
and travel from one country to another
in the pursuit of their calling, much as
| commercial drummers do. Their &c
ompense depends generally upon the
liberality OF the contracting parties, hut
quite frequently they bargain for AID
receive from the groom a percentage OF
the BRIDES dowry. Sometimes the coDl-
mission is over ten per cent
"There are numberof shodchen in
this city. especially in this locality.
Every young Jew VINO starts in business
or appears capable of supporting a wifi,
is looked upon by the intermediItor
legitimate prey, and no matter how -
termined he may at first appear to Sc
main bachelor, their Establishments
and arguments soon convert him to
their views. They are cunning Set,
and number among them women as well
as men. BY clever diplomacy.t they often
succeed in getting their man to promise
them 81, 900 for a desirable wife and
leave the mercenary groom to discover
after marriage that his wife has cost
him more than her dowry amounts to
by hundreds of dollars"
do rabbis ever act as go-between.
in matrimonial matters?"
Every frequently; yet not so often as
is generally supposed. In France, how
ever, matrimonial affairs are nearly al
ways arranged through rabbis. know
of Instances where one of them has re-
ceived twenty-five or fifty thousand
francs as q fee. / recall one case in
particular The rabbi found an accept
able husband for u daughter of Rus
sian General in the person of a German
Hebrew baron. The BRIDES dowry was
about 20.000,000 francs. The General
is worth something like 200.000. 00C
francs. and at one time donated one
million roubles to the Russian schools.
The baron is regarded among the Jews
of Europe as fully as benevolent rs the
Rothschilds. His most noteworthy act
of charity was the presentation of a
million rancS to the Alliance Israelite.
/ II myself was engaged through 9
shodchen to the daughter of a wealthy
Russian at the age of seventeen. was
then studying the Talmud at Seth.
Hamedrish. For eighteen months
was engaged without having seen my
prospective wife. She was to bring q
a Of 4 ~
was balanced on my part by my family
connections, rs | am the descendant OF
noble family OF Munich. Philosoph-
zeal studies were something delighted
in, and that broke of the match, as il
was too evident that I was drifting
away from ancient orthodoxy. Did /
have no voice in the selection of the
woman? 1t would have been consid-
cred glaring audacity for me to have
made any objections or given utterance
to my impressions of the lady, no mat
ter how homely or disagreeable she
might have proven. 1t is considered a
grave transgression among Polish and
Russian Jews to break off an engage
ment. They are more willing to over
look separation after marriage"
"Are there no love matches?''
Every few. The Oriental Jews are
too practical to give way to sentiment,
and regard love as purely poetical
feeling, passion that only grand
minds are susceT tible of. Very fire.
quenily the contracting parties never
see one another until their wedding
day"
Il should not think that such a
custom could be successfully trans
planted in this country"
:" 1t will flourish here just as long as
the Polish and Russian Jews cluster
in colonies. as they do in this part of
the city. 1t would be necessary to dis
tribute them over the country to lead
them to drop this and other old coun-
try practices. Only by dispensing them
can the poorer class of Jews ever be
thoroughly Americanized. In the
higher circles of Jewish society here
the shodchen are not extensively pat
roniZed."
~ How did the custom originator
" Its history is very ancient, and
thrived best in Russia under the reign
of Nicholas, when early marriages
were necessary as a protection for the
youth of the country, who. If unmar-
fied, were liable to be carried off to
Siberia for military training. To save
their sons during that reign of terror.
parents had them married at tender
ages. Those were terrible times. ]
can distinctly remember hearing the
shrieks OF anguish of mothers whose
young children were torn from them in
the dead of night by the soldiers.
These mothers in droves would en-
deavor to follow their offspring, only
to die of hunger and fatigue at the
roadsides. My own mother saved me
from being carried off by Disgusting me
as girl until became seven or eight
years of aee.-N. y Mad and Express.
Confidence. in Her Lawyers Ability.