The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-05-06
THE BARONESS DE HIRscH.
Special Memoir By One Who Knew
Her Life Intimately.
Hondon Chronic,e.)


with the lack of great women recorded
in its annals. 1t is true that few of the
daughters of Israel have sought or OBJ
tanned notoriety, but this is no evidence
| that moral and intellectual distinction
is rarer with them than with their Cen
t tile Sisters-it only proves that women
! may live great lives in secret and not
| be known to fame. In Glare, Baroness
de Hirsch and Gereuth, who died on
Saturday at the age of 90, a great per-
sonality has passed away The world
has lost one of its greatest benefactors;
one who let not her right hand know
what her left hand wrought; pure and
lofty soul, who simply worked for her
! fellow creatures without thought of
self.
Living for the greater part of her life
in Paris, the daily life and example of
Baroness de Hirsch's was silent re-
proach to anti-Semitism. "Out of Zion,
! the perfection of beauty, God hath
shined,'' wrote the Psalmist. If Zion
in this passage means the Hebrew ma
ton, the perfection of "a beautiful char
acter has just passed away from the
earth and the Jews have lost their best
friend.
Englishmen whose conception of the
Jewish race is framed by La France
Juive," or La Derniere Bataille," by
materialistic German Jews, who, in
| their struggle for cash, renounce Ger
many without becoming English, shirk
all civic, patriotic and communal duties,
would readjust their views of the pos
sibilities Of Jewish destiny and charac-
ter had they known-even as l knew
her-the ate baroness. One could not
be in her society for a day without see
ing that she was absolutely free from
that desire to shine, to be in evidence,
which is a distinctive note of our time
and not least in average Jewish char
acter. One recognized that her atmos-
phere was outside the sphere of strug
Cling and competitive humanity. Her
enormous riches left no evil mark; she
was untouched. While abhorring the
display of wealth for it's own sake, the
simplicity of her life suggested neither
oStentatiouS aSceticism nor parSimony,
and whether at Bath House-which was
given I'D when the baron died-or i'll
the magnificent hotel in the Rue de
FElySee, OF at the picturesque old castle
at Eichhorn, among the wooded hills of
Moravia, or in modest villa with one
hired carriage at Pau, the baroness i'm
pressed all who knew her with the fact
that her interests in life were too deep
to be satisfied with the knowledge that
she was the richest woman in Europe.
She had, in full. the qualities of sin
cerity and simplicity, with a heart as
tender to human suffering and as true
to those she loved as though her intel
lectual abilities and SoundneSS of judg-
ment We're those of the ordinary wo-
man. They were nothing of the kind.
Bred up in the midst of great affairs,
and practced in the control and eX-
penditure of revenues exceeding the
budgets of some states. the Baroness
de Hirsch joined singular business ca
.a..sr Il
lieVing the sufferings of the saddest
people on Gods earth. With all this
weight of care and responsibility, and
the requisite GOODNESS of temperament
for wise as well as generous admins
tration of her affairs, she had from her
Sirlhood the power of inspiring affec-
ton and respect.
The Baron de Hfrsch once told me the
1dyll of his courtship-the way in which
he won his wife. He loved her, and
she loved him. But the lady's father
the Belgian banker and Senator Bisch-
offsheim-was not prepared to sane
ton the match, and refused his con-
sent. On one OCCASION however young
Hirsch, who remained on friendly
terms, happened to be in the room
where the banker was discussing with
his business advisers an extremely
knotty point of high finance. The dis
cusSlon was prolonged without finding
a solution. At last the senator turned
TO the young man, who had silently
followed the deliberations. and invited
him to express his opinion. Hirsch
complied. Bischoffsheim listened at
tentively, but uttered not a word. When
Hirsch had finished. he rose from his
seat, led his would-be son-in-law to |
another room, where his daughter !
Claire was sitting alone. Still silent. |
he placed the hand of Maurice de |
cob
room without word. Thus the young |
people were betrothed. The union was |
blessed with an only son-the idol of |
his parents-as handsome as his father |
He survived until manhood, a good !
sportsman, and of brilliant abilities. |
After his death neither the baron nor |
his wife were either the same again;
and to that great and irreparable loss |
may be attributed the bent which |
Baron de Hirsch developed late in life !
the task of raising up the downtrod- |
den Jew, and giving light and hope to
millions of his prosecuted co-religion-
lists. To this end he devoted his vast
wealth; some people say not wisely
Those in his confidence on this matter
believe that the colossal ideas of the
baron and his wife are destined to sur
ViVe, and that even more valuable than
the gold which was lavished on the
dumb and inactive Jewish Coloniza-
ton association, and the innumerable
Jewish charities in all parts of the civ
ilized world, and especially in Russia,
was the indeStructible idea to which
he and his widow, when he was gone.
devoted their later lives and fortunes.
The baroness was gifted with an in
tuition and good sense on the outbreak
Of anti-Semitism in Russia and France /
which left her no illusions. Writing
to me before a recent visit to Russia,
she said: Il think you can scarcely
realize how very dreadful the state of
things is at present-worse than it ever
has been, and quite hopeless, unless re-
dress comes from the crown and from
the law" And later on, after l had
visited the new Russian minister of
the interior, and again conversed with
NJ. Pobedonostzoff, and had reported
to her the result, she wrote:
I'VE Jews are, alas, only too much
au fat of the doings and the state of
things in Russia, and have only too
positive evidence of such. For half a
it has been tried to open the
eyes of the authorities, but they will
not see. and L have very little hope
for the future. A very sad and tangi-
BILE effect of the Franco-Russian
friendship is the rapid growth of anti
Semitism in France. Twenty-Five years
ago it was absolutely unknown there.
We must bear with it and hope for
better times"
Such was the spirit of the woman
who is dead. In all her relations of
life there was sweet reaSonableness
and sanity of judgment, combined with