The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1885-08-15
JEWS AS FARMERS:
THREE HUNDRED RUSSIAN ExlLEs IN
SOUTH JERSEY.
Visit to the Colony Near vineIand-HO
the Families Pay for Their Homes
interviewing a Member of
the Community.
rvineland on. 81 Correspondent !


Russia established three years ago on
/, 100 acres of land near here, purchased
by the Hebrew immigration society OF
New York and the Jewish society OF
London, has outlived the hardship OF its
first years, and is beginning to be pros
porous community. The land is rolling
sea of little scrub oaks four or hve feet
high, punctuated with erect dead pine
trunks Scattered here and there among
the hills and hollows of the tract. the
sixty frame shanties in which the colonists
live are hardly noticeable. The little
patches of field, on which the grubblng
up of the oaks has exposed a light, sandy
soil that every breeze raises In cloud OF
dust, seem mere occasional scratchings up
of the face of the barrens There are no
street, no church, no stores, mills or facto-
ries, nor any other indication except the
scattered houses that 300 people are there.
Since the first year, when all lived to-
gether in barracks, the land has been di-
Vided Each family has about fifteen
acres. Each plat cost the societies from
$3.50 to 800, and the occupant is to pay
for it one-half the cost. They must pay 3
per cent a year upon this price. and this
interest is credited upon the principal, so
that they practically have thirty three
years in which to pay for their homes
Under this arrangement the colonists take
more interest in their work, and although
they were all natives of cities, tradesmen,
artisans, and mechanics, and know little
of farming, they have got their small
clearings into a fair state of cultivation,
and will this year raise an abundant crop
Of strawberries, raspberries, and black
berries.
These small fruits are all the land can
be made to produce profitably. Finding
the colony in the wilderness is like look
ing for four-leaved clover. a query ad.
dressed to the open door Of WhiteWaShed
shanty apparently several miles from any
where recently: rs there a Russian
Jew colony anywhere around?" brought
out flaxen- haired man, dark wife, with
a red handkerchief hood fashion on her
head, and two children. Smiles were the
prominent characteristic of the group
The man talked English. The rest jab-
bered
"Ye-es-a; thees ees eet
Are you one of them?"
"Ye-es-a - with double sized smile
How are you getting along nova
days?"
SCoo-o coma cen an see, and the wife
and children repeated the invitation in
Russian, while the man led of the
visitors horse to a convenient tree In
side the one chair was carefully wiped
with towel before the visitor was al
lowed to sit down. The man sat on
bench and contemplated a bowl of milk
and some bread on the table. He hoped
the gentleman would excused him.if he
went on with his dinner; he had to get
back to work-a While the wife and
children smiled contentedly with re-
Elected satisfaction of hunger, and neigh.
bors peered in at the door and window,
between bites and smiles in his slow, I'M
certain English the man said the
sixty families In the colony were get
ting along first-rate now, with the money
they got from their berries and from work
ing for other berry growers In summer and
chopping wood in winter. They liked
the country "ver-a moo ooch; oh, 20 moo
ooch better than cen Russia. They were
all going to vote as soon as they got their
papers They have no church, but the
rabbi holds services around in the houses
every Saturday. Their children all go to
a district school, The wife-neighbors
iabbered apparently approving comments
as this information was given. When
the bread and milk and the information
gave out, the whole party stood outside
and smiled as the stranger drove away,
the wife insisting on shaking hands as she
said:
"Coo-oom-a-a age-e en!"
Further on a slender, dark colonist,
with a brogue like Villain Macavi in
- allied Back, said he was cloakmaker,
and couldn't farm; so he got cloaks from
Philadelphia and made them up. All ne
and his family could earn was 81. 80 a
day "Wo ould I like to go back to
Roosia? Oh, would l, F." he exclaimed.
in answer to question, and then his
English gave out for a While bud
where ish de mo-ooney?" he resumed.
"Ah, no. / shall die herel We zhall all die
herel And We are vroom de cities!" And
the maker of cIoaks looked mournfully
away over the scrub oak loneliness and
went back to work.
The owner of the sole mill and store In
the vicinity said that the colonists were
doing we'll considering that they had been
ignorant of agriculture. They were
orderly, honest, and industrious, and
would make he thought, good citizens
They never quarreled with their neigh
bors, and rarely among themselves, and
always paid their debts