The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-12-12

of the weaker party. The freedom of
 the young Is ever curtailed. The home
 is often their prison. Youth and age is
 bad match, and that's the disadvan-
 tage of home See this moonlight: it is
 beautiful, is it not? But a flower must
 have sunshine in which to bloom. All
 respect for age; but youth must have
 freedom.
 Il hope this is not true of many
 phases of life but am thinking now of
 a condition in the Ghetto that creates
 appalling misery a condition that makes
 the home most desirable place, to run
 away from. Between the Jewish chil-
 dren, who have acquired their uplifting
 education here in American schools and
 their parents, who have brought their
 ignorance and fanaticism over from
 Russian-Where the despotism of the
 throne and the tyranny of the Torah,
 have united in making the densest,
 darkest, Ghettoes-between these chil-
 dren and parents there is a difference
 in time and progress of several hundred
 years. I would like to pause here and
 tell you about the Jewish religion-how
 1t has enlightened the world and dark
 ened the life of the Jews, victims of fla
 tai fanaticism; how the world has &C.,
 cepted the spirit of Judaism in various
 forms and to its benefit, and the Jews
 have remained bound by thousand
 rigd rituals, iron precepts, meaningless
 stuff about pots and pans" to their
 awful detriment-how they persecuted themselves when they could get no
 Christian nation to do it for them--but
 there's no time to talk about these
 things now: besides want to get back
 to the home. So many things occur to
 me and I do not know what to say first.
 Write about it? Perhaps, some day. It
 may be that I, too, have been cursed to live by the sweat of my pen, but oh--I hate to write. Besides, whats the use? It is too late to convert my people to
 Judaism. now.
 But what I mentioned before shows a pronounced phase of misunderstood ing, arrangement and division between children and parents, also a good illus tration of the bad, narrow and uncon- genial home.
 Under any circumstances the old and the young are out of joint; but here the clashing of interests is so ac- centuated that the children is heart tearing. There are parents, crude, care less, callous, often essentially material mercenary, miserly, whose only mental occupation is their blind, outlived fatal istic faith; they are Russian products, and they cannot follow, cannot compre- bend their Americanized, intelligent, idealistic and aspiring boys and girls; they follow them, but blindy, praise or blame indiscriminatey; they cannot appreciate the many and noble longings of these youths. No sympathy and the home stiflingly small. Yes, they love each other if there can be any love without respect and understanding. These bright boys and girls that you meet in the North End, and who do so much towards the education of slum students and settlement workers-they are what they are, not because, but rather in spite of, their parents They struggle and strive upward alone and and also act as missionaries of civilization in their homes. They beau tify their little rooms with pictures and boks and trifles of art, and they play sweet music-but what is the use, ask you, of thought, a work of art, a poem, a piece of music, if you cannot share it with those who are near and, are dear to you. What is the use of these things if you cannot share them with someone? And what is to be done when there is no response at home. They children are so lonely in their sorrows and in their joys, and the home is so compressed. so "Kleinlich,' so 'eng" (only these German words can give my ,meaning). How terrible to see the grandeur of the universe and have gulf in the Ghetto! If I say harsh and bitter things it is because I have looked into it and seen an appal- ling spectacle of crushed hearts. broken spirits, blighted hopes, ruined lives, thwarted beings and stilled souls. have looked into the gulf and this is why I want to jest about the holiest things in the world.
 But speaking generally, home is a dangerous place, and he was a wise sea captain who bribed his son-clandes- timely gave him $50 for running away from home While away the youth will come into contact with realities, learn what the world is, what it demands and finally become big enough to build his own home. Or. he will come back to be, at last, understood and respected. | But let him go forth He will find ev- arywhere pie that will give him dyspep- sia as badly as that which mother used | to make.
 As it is, the home covers a multitude | of sins. It is very faulty, and, above al, 1t lacks perspective. The persons within it are not seen in the proper light. They are either underestimated | or overjudged. Home is either a mu- tual admiration, or mutual mutila- ton, society. Close as the home is there is ever plenty of room for preju- ! 1ice and illusion. The lights in which | things are seen are artificial-and so are the subjects. If the child is q | has graduated at the head ! )f his class and is a veritable phono- graph for remembering facts he is at | once regarded as genius and not q lit lie time and effort is wasted on him, l and he is sent forth to bore and prey |, Ipon an innocent world; but if he have 'eal talent and show it before anyone | las had time to decide that he has it, |