The San Francisco call., 1898-04-17
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least importance. are pure fiction, but the one definite idea runs through them all, that the character of the Jew
 whether he lived in the days of Ra- meses or in the days of Victoria, has 1 been influenced by practically the same forces and the same surroundings Perhaps the most striking impression that will be gained by the Gentle reader of the work before us is that i MT. Zangwill has so much information so many facts, so much lore touchlne Jewish matters, that he throws It out, spills it a perfect cataract With foam and spray dashing ,.bout in the shape of description. analyses and dla- logue. till he is well nigh drencheo ln the torrent of his own eloquence
 It has beet said that no one can be- come a capable biographer unless he have a great love or a great hate of his subject. Adapting this line of req soning to the author of "Dreamers or the Ghetto" one is forced to conclude that there lives to-day no man better qualified to divine and transcr1be the feelings and sentiments of his brethren in faith. He possesses the great love of his race, tempered with due recogni- tion of it's errors and shortcomings, ana when a voice should be raised ln US oe- fense he is well to the fore.
 One of the most notable of the short stories in MT. Zangwills last volume is entitled Joseph, the Dreamer and perhaps this is the one that has ln- spired the predatory pessimism, as well as the streak of that quality pervad1ng the entire book. The scene is lald III the Ghetto of Rome at the time when sufferance was yet the badge ot the lew and it's endurance was accompa- nied by the yellow outward mark. Joseph the son of Manasseh, has been to St Peters attending the midnight mass His impressionable nature IS aroused, and it's restless cravings after spirituality are satisfied. He Is anxious to initiate the Christ even to martyr dom. His mother, good Jewess as she is, attempts reasoning without avail, and Joseph leaves to inform his father of his conversion.
 Rachel sat on the floor and rocked to and fro in an agony of apprehension. The leaden hours crept along. No one came, neither son nor husband. Terrible images of what was passing between them tor tured her. Toward midday she rose and began mechanically preparing her hus- bands meal At the precise minute of year-long habit he came. To her anx- ious eye his stern face seemed more pallid than usual but it revealed nothing. He washed his hands in ritual silence, made the blessing and drew a chair to the ta- ble A hundred times the question how cred about Rachel's lips. but it was not till near the end of the meal that she ventured to say, Our son is back. Hast thou not seen him?"
 Son, What son? We have no son." He finished his meal
 Thus is Joseph sacrificed to what eventually proves to be vision. Dis owned by his parents, it only remains for the inquisitorial Council of Sixty tc render verdict and judgment, which il does swiftly.
 Joseph ben Manasseh was to suffer the last extremity of the Jewish law Al Israel was called together to the Temple An awful air of dread hung over the as | semblage; in a silence as of the grave | each man upheld a black torch tha l flared werdly in the shadows of thu | synagogue. A rams horn sounded shril | and terrible, and to its elemental music | the anathema was launched, the ap | palling curse withdrawing every human right from the outlaw, living or dead and the congregants, eXtinguishng theil l torches, cried Amen" And in a spirit ual darkness as black, Manasseh tottere( home to sit with his wife on the floor ant i bewail the death of their Joseph, while | a death-light glimmering faintly swan on a bowl of oil, and the prayers for tht repose of the soul of the deceased rosc l passionately on the tainted Ghetto air And Miriam, her Madonna-like face we with hot tears, burnt the praying-shaw she was weaving in secret love for the man who might some day have loved her and went to condole with the mourners holding Rachels rugged hand in those