The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-11-15

magazine can exist in this country. They
all fail. and yet there are many beautiful
| Hebrew writer's to-day. When Dolitz<i
| was 20 years old in Russia he was looked
up To a. "A great poet. But what do the
| Jews care about him here? For he writes
| in Hebrew. Why, Hebrew writers are
| regarded by the Jews as tramps. a. useless
| beings. Driven from Russia because we
are Jews. we are despised in New York
| because We are Hebrew scholars! The
rahhis too, dosps" the learned Hebrew,
and they have fearful influence on the
! ignorant people. If they can dress we'll
and speak English it is all they want. II is
a shame how low-minded these teachers
of the people are. / was born OF rabbi
and brought up by him, but in Russia they
are for literature and the spirit while in
America il il just the other way"
The old order thus gives way TO the new
in th" New York Ghetto with much sorrow
| and suffering 20 some. One scholar peddles
| for living. another runs a printing press in
! a Canal street cellar. third is still able TO
| earn s. a week as a teacher, and there is
| fourth whose wife is drnssmaker, 40 that ,
| thanks 10 her. he may still live. But We
| notice that there is more scholarly conten-
| ton in the Ghetto than the contention for
the maintenance of the Hebrew literature
and language. Young Abraham Cahan
started in some years ago as fiery and mill
tant rcalist We do not quite understand
why there should have been any need or
such hahi, and manner of the spirit in n
matter of the kind, but We remember that
nearly all rcaists are fiery and militant.
Young Mr., Cahan modelled himself upon
MIR ". d. Howclls with tremendou, ardor
and turned out realistic fiction az first in
liddish and then in English His English
story of "lekl' was a clever performance.
and We think tina, Mr. Howells reviewed il
There il a whole chapter here telling about
Mr. Cahan and his socialls,ic and literary
work, and very interesting chapter II L..
There il young art, too, growing up
in the Ghetto. We have a chapter here
about 1t, and the chapter includes, to-
get her with much else, an account of Jacob
EIstein whose sketches illustra this
volume. Canal street with it, cafes, where
he poets, Socialists, scholars and journal
lists meet, i, called here the. mind of the
Ghetto, and Hester street. where the COM
mon life is the thickest, is called its heart.
In Hester street, at the corner of Forsyth,
shackle building. of which the stairway
leading To the garrett is pcstiferous and
dirgy. Under the slanting roof Of this
garrett the one window of the studio looks
out upon the pushcart market of this be-
wi!dcring quarter. Near the window j.
a dimuuiivc oil stove. on which the artist
cooks his tea and eggs. His wardrobe
hangs on peg il the door. The miserable
iron hcdstead is showed hard in under the
low slant of the roof Jacob Epstein was
born in the Ghetto twenty years ago. He
has a melancholy wistfu face" His art
education consists of two terms at the
Art students League. He belongs to
a number of debating societies, and is now
hCsitating in his mind wheth her TO become
a Socialist or an Anarchist, although he
is tending toward a humane socialism,
He pays 81 mont h for his room. and spends
si2 "A month for his meals which he cooks
himself II il not surprising to BE- told
that he j. serious. ambit olIs and idealiotiC
II will surprise some TO hear that "w,hal
he j. very happy Once he spent a winter
az Greenwood Lake, thinking hat il would
be well TO live closer to nature. Coming
back he said: Clouds and trees are not
satisfying, L. is only in the Ghetto that
| have ideas for sketches"
We should like to say more of The Spirit
of the Ghetto" but We think We have said
enough 20 indicate that it Is an unusual