The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1891-10-09
Our New Neighbors.

ers in that locality. A syndicate Of
sympathizers with these outcasts from
Russia has purchased large tract Of
land near Hartford upon which col
ony will be located. and about one
hundred and fifty farms, scattered
throughout the valley from the shore
of Long Island Sound to point as far
north as Hartford, have been settled
upon by Jewish families.
The row that the New England far
mer has had to hoe during the past
twenty-five years has been very hard
one indeed. and it was only by the
hardest labor and the closest attention
to the income from his farm and the
expense Of carrying it on that he has
been able to keep his head above water,
and the fact that competitor has bean
planted almost within the shadow oil
his humble dwelling, who is only desir-
GUS Of accumulating money, who is
governed by no code of moral ethics;
who gives his body and its clothing but
an occasional thought; who allows his
house. his barn, his shed and his fences
to fall into ruin and decay about him,
-
while he sits contentedly on bench in
the shadow of his home munchine
onion tops and drawing savage consola.
tion through the stem Of a monstrous
pipe, has the effect Of filling the bosom
Of this frugal laborer with disgust.
AS successful tillers of the soil the
Russian Jews who live in the Connec-
ticut valley have proven themselves an
absolute failure. They have no con-
ceptiou of the science Of farming, and
they apparently possess no ambition
that spurs them forward in the direction
of improvement, They are content
with planting an acre or two of pota-
toes, as many acres of onions, small
plat of corn and few vegetables.
Goats take the place Of cows with
them, and lard is used instead of butter.
But very little bread is consumed by
them. They eat a great many soda
crackers. A barrel of crackers, quart
of salt and few pounds of lard now
and then is about all the patronage
that the country grocer can count ON
from them the year round.
The heavy work of the farm is gen.
orally performed by single horse that
is never more than half fed. In pillow.
ing the field but little care is taken in
turning furrow. If the top crust is
broken the plowman seems to be salts.
fed. The narrowing is done with a
couple of small trees cut down and
chained together at the butt. Their
fields are never hoed more than once.
If weeds spring up thickly among the
potato vines, they are cheeriully ac-
corded the right of way after the first
hoeing is finished.
The wives of these men manifest
moro energy by far than is shown by
their husbands. While the man of the
house is idling about in the shade she
is often to be found welding hoe, OF
trudging along after the harrow. To
her is left the work Of preparing wood
for the fireplace, and as no wood is
brought to the house from the hills she
goes to the nearest rail fence for hel
supply.
The Russian Jew manifests no dis
position to adopt the customs and
methods of the men in the midst o.
whom he has cast his lot. He learns
nothing from observation, for he never
observes. He makes no effort to ac-
quire knowledge of the English Ian
guage. He lives in filth and travel.
about in rags, and be firmly resists al
efforts that tend in the direction of hi,
reformation. Almost without exception
every family. the first year of their resi-
dence have become public charge
They have been cared for during the
winter by the town authorities. They
sleep on palette of straw or hay on the
floor, and one room answers for dining
room, bedroom and kitchen. The
housewife neglects her especial domain
for the field. and as a consequence the
living apartments of the families be-
come nothing less than i'll smelling,
filthy dens. The children, governed
by no sanitary rules, are very suscep-
tible to disease, and hardly a season
passes that scarlet fever, diptheria,
measles and other contagious diseases
do not break out among them in the
most malignant form, and the adult
members of the family show as little
concern at case OF smallpox as they
would at hard cold.
The impression prevails that these
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