The times., 1898-04-03
"Dreamers of the Ghetto"

according to his own statement, "a chron-
icle OF dreamers, who have arisen in the
Ghetto from its establishment in the six
teenth century TO its slow breaking up in
our own day. The book contains sixteen
short sketches, ranging in time and place
through four centuries, and from Rus
sia 10 Portugal. 1t is characterized by
the strong, vivid, essentially Semitic /
qualities OF Mr.. Zangwill and will be
found by many people even more inter /
esting than his most famous book, Chill |
dren of the Ghetto" because it deals /
with a wider variety Of people and things. /
il is not a book 10 be read in a hurry. /
Each one of these chapters should be .
thoroughly pondered and studied, for !
each represents. with the truth of strong /
imagination and thorough knowledge, I
some phase of Jewish character, some /
episode in Jewish history. This history,
OF all the biographies Of nations. is unique /
No other people ever We're bounded /
through civilized lands, prosecuted pro-
scribed imprisoned. despised, as were the
Jews: and no other people ever eNniolted'
under circumstances even remotely sim
liar 10 these, so strong and determined a
racial character. It is the strangest COM
bination of Oriental fatalism and Occi-
dental adaptability that history can show
In Mr. ZangwiIls books all these ele-
ments have been brought out, ana the
latest volume is in no way inferior 10 its
predecessors.
10 some people the very first story OF
all will appeal with a pathos not 10 De
found in any of the others. 1t Is cailed
"a Child Of the Ghetto and the author
exnIsins that this may in some sense
90 called the prelude 10 all the DINERS
a,sra,lsa an the dreamers had some such |
childhood. The scene Is laid in the jew
fish Quarter of Venice, the nrst 20 De |
called the Ghetto. The peculiar attract /
5,-aness of this little sketch lies partly in |
The. eternal beauty and tender emotions OF /
childhood Whatever the after life OF the /
little human being may be, whether ne /
be hero or malefactor, martyr or mere !
fanatic or swallowed up in the vast
rhrong of the commonplace people OF /
the earth a child's life. his thoughts. |
his haIf-formed ideals, the impression i
which the marvellous world makes on |
his developing and ultra-senstiVe mind |
all these things never fail 10 be inter |
esting when told by a sympathetic and /
skiIlful narrator. One reason for this Is /
that all children have. in some way or J
other. traits in common; and another Is, |
that they ike IN q world Of thGi- own, |
10 which the adult is seldom admitted, |
and then only by virtue OF special TEN |
normal human being is three or four |
feet high. and all things are adjusted on
that basis-where the normal human
mind deals with the simplest
OF facts and the most abstruse
problems with the same inquiring fear
lessness trembling terror, or implicit
faith.
These things being so. the grown man
who remembers with some clearness the
emotions and ideas Of his childhood. and
IL
sure Of a hearing. and if that childhood
was something apart from the ordinary
experience. infused with the history and
traditions Of separate people, with the
customs handed down for countless gen
erations from forefathers who dwelt in
the desert and talked with God face to
face, Ia The Stiffness Of d desert night and
the simplicity OF a primitive existence
In that case ii cannot fail TO be interest
ing. A Child OF the Ghetto is in some
respects unique contribution to litcra-
1ure. One is transported 10 strange and
fascinating world with the very first
page, for il reads IN this fashion-pctur-
ing the Ghetto Of the wonderful city
which was called the Bride of the Sea:
The frst thing the child remembered was look
ing down from a window and seeing, far
below, green water howlnS. and on II gondolas
plying. and fishing boats with colored sails, the
in them looking small children. For
he Was born IN the Ghetto OF Venice, On the SeE-
enth story Of ancient house. There Were two
more stories, up which he never went and which
remained strange regions leading toward the blue
eky. dusky Staircase with gaunt whitcwashed
walls, led down and dOwn-past doors whose lin
tels all bore little Tin cases containing holy He
brew w0rds-into the court Of the oldest
Ghetto in the world fey yards 10 the right
portico leading 10 the bank Of canal but
grim iron gate barred the way The water Of
another canal came night up 10 the BACK o. the
Ghetto and cut of all elTess that way; and the
other p0rticoes leading to the outer world were
likewise provided with gates guarded by Ncne-
tian watclmen. These gates closed at mid
night and opened in the morning. unless it was
Sabbath, a Christian holiday, when they re-
manned shut all dav, 50 that no Jew could 20 in
OF the court the street. the big and little
square, and the one or Two tiny alleys that made
up the Ghetto.
There were no roads in the Ghetto, any more
than IN the rest Of Venice; nothing but pave
meuts, ever echoing the tramp Of feet. At night
the Watchmcn EoWed round and round the canals
IN large barcas. which the Jews had 10 pay for.
But the child did not feel prisoner. lie
did not know that all little boys did not
wear under their WalstcOats ''Four-coTneTs, col
ored shoulder-straps with squares Of stuff at each
end and that they did not say, Hear, y Israel,
tie Lord Is God, the Lord is One, as they
kissed the fringes. No, the Ghetto all his
world and a mighty universe IL was. fill OF every
thing that the heart Of q child c0ud desire. What
eager swarm Of life in the great sunny square
where the Venetian mast lowered skywards. and
pigeons sometimes strutted among the crowd that
hovercd about the countless shops under the en-
circling coounade-paNn shops. old-clo' shops,
butcher shops wherein black bearded men with
yellow tuTbans bargained in Hebrew, What fasci-
nation IN the tail, many -windOwed houses. with
Their peelIHE plaster fronts ana patches Of bald
red brick. their green and brown shutters, their
rusty balconies their splashes Of many-colOred
washing In the morning and evening, when the
padiocked well was opened, what delight TO watch
the women drawing water, OF even 10 help tug at
the cha that turned the axle! The canal
that bounded the Ghetto al the back offered a
much more extended view but one hardly dared
o. stand there. because the other shore for
eign and the strange folk called genetians lived
there, and some Of these heathen rougls might
throw stones II they you.
still al night could creep there and look
Eiong the moonlit water and I'D al the stars. OF
the world that lay the other side Of the water
be only knew that il large and hostile and
cruel. though from his high window he loved TO
hook ont toward the great unknown spaces, mys-
ferrous with The dOmes and spires Of mighty
buildings. toward those strange mountains that
rose seawards, white and misty, like the hills
of dream and which he thought must be like
Mount Sinai. where God spake to Moses He
thought that fairies might live in then.
RnOmes pixies, for he had heard Of such
creatures. There were good spirits and bad spirits
IN the world. but they hosted inyisiby IN the air,
TRYING TO make little bows good sinful. They
were ALWAYS fighting with one another for little
had no power, and your guardian Sabbath angel
hoyercd tr1umphantly about. assisting your every
day good angel, you might tell by noticing
how you cast two shadows instead of when
the two Sabbath candles lighted. How
beautiful were those Friday evenings how snowy
the tableclGth, how sweet everything tasted. aud
how restfIl the atmosphere Such delicious peace
for father and mother after the labors Of the
week
Il was the Sabbath Fire-woman who forced
clearly upon the child's understanding what was
long but dim idea ia the background Of his
the people who lived inside the gates had been
chosen and coifsecTatcd To the service of the God