The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-06-06
NEW ROCKS.
some Pleasant Essa vs..

of permanent lnterestI ana, secondly, Is
tho trea ,nerlt admirable from an artistic
nojor Of view? We should have to return
qualified replies as regards the contents
Of a volume entitled "A Book Of f says" by
g . stree, (i. f, button & Coz. 1t would
hard. be alleged that any of the topics
s Of perennial interest; neither can it be
said that the nter's, in any OF them is ex-
haused rs for the treatment, it is unde-
niably better than the average, too good.
indeed, 70 be marred by the many misprints
tina, We have noted. Let us take, by
ynv Of illustration, the essays on "The
Paradox of the Jew" and on @The Persist
ence Of Youth What does Mr.. Street
mean by THE Paradox of the Jew? He
means, he tells lis, that, whereas the poor
Jaw was strenuous man. worthy In the
main, despite hi. faults, of glorious past,
the rich Jew is a sham, barely worthy OF
an ienobe present. Or, again: the poor
Jew goried in his race when it was most
despIsed and rejected, whereas the rich
jew now that nobody but fool despises his
race, changes his name, and hopes to be
taken for a Scotchman. We should bear
in mind that the author Is speaking Of
rich Jews living now in England, and he is
careful to add that he does not speak OF
bear the most honored names among the
Israetes, are as proud Of their race as
is the poorest refugee from Poland, he is
well aware. He insists, however. that his
paradox is true Of large and increasing
number Of prosperous English Jews, and
i, seems to him miserable ending to
noble struggle, feeble. unnecessary
abandonment of ca,lse that has been
y-ith al inpraIihle hprOiSn
Mr. Street denies that in England Jew
is strongly tempted any longer to abjure
his race and religion. "Your rich English
Jew of to-day must know we'll that any
fair-minded Engshman VIII individually
accept him on his merits. We all, if we
know any Jews at all, know those that are
independent and generous, and good fell
lows" But, even if the temptations to the
prosperous Jew to dissimuate his judaism
were million times stronger than they
are, it would still amaze Mr.. Street that
any Jew could wish to forego his heritage
in the history Of his race.
How can he remember that the prayer
his grandfather or even his father says
on the eve of every Sabbath was said
before the captivity in Bahy.onia, and
has been said ever since, and then wish
to diss ocate himself from it all?' Our
author adds that, IL he were Jew he should
even hesitate to abandon his Kosher food g,
seeing that the sanitary laws of his people
had kept the Kosher prescriptions bind
ing in every extreme OF want. The essay
ends with reminding US Of the saying that
every country has the Jews it deserves.
In Russia the Jews would absorb the wealth
of the country II they were not peeeouted
whereas in Hungary they strike fair
bargain with the Magyars. In France,
and even in Germany. their wealth is just
excessive enough to make them hated 1t
used to be said, half q century ago, that
in Scotland Jew would be lucky to max
living and that in New England he would
starve to death. 1t is certain that few
Englishmen outside the stock exchange,
. are Inconvenience by Jews, and, there
' fore, as a nation. they witnessed the en-
joyment Of equal rights by Jews with
neither envy nor alarm. Why, then, should
any English Jew be ashamed OF his race
and his religion?
In the essay on -The Persistence OF
Youth" the author directs attention to
fact that many OF us must have noticed.
that in our day men are not only considered
young, but act young, and, to all intents
and purposes, are young at much later
age than was the case hundred or even
fifty years ago. In the early part OF the
nineteenth century, man was a man at
20 or SO, middle-aged man at go
and old at so. At the present time he
is boy up to about So, young man
up TO 50 and he is hardly regarded as
old until he has exceeded David's maxi
mum Of life by six or seven years. Is
anybody" asks Mr.. Street, now regarded
,och -
his age? Not, am certain, under TO-.
After reminding ia that in the middle of
the last century Thackeray made eabo-
rate fun of his Paul de Florac for posing
as young man at 40. our author goes
on to cay: Il am acquainted with a young
fellow whose friends and relations are
making serious efforts to wean him from
dissipation and bad companions, and set
tie him in some regular business, and he
is 81"
In the year 1900 when the Unionist Min
istry was being reconstructed, the London
newspapers commented on the eXtraor-
binary youthfulness OF Mr.. Wyndham
and Lord Selborne and it was thought
audacious Of Lord Salisbury to give high
Office to these lads. As a matter of fact,
they were about 40. and Pitt and Fox we're
at the blaze OF their reputation and in1u-
ence fifteen years earlier in their lives.
The truth is that at present in the United
States as we'll as in England, the merely
young in years, those who had the exclu-
sive title of youth few generations ago.
no longer have the place to themselves.
The young man Of 20 or 80 no longer ti-
umphs in his young manhood over his
seniors They are all young men, too.
Young men of 49, OF so. OF GO bar his way
and elbow him aside. The young man
has his compensations. for nowadays at
20 man Is more and more a child Mr..
Street has often met he tells US. boys OF
20 from the universities who inform you
that they intend to smoke when they are
81 Such examples Of arrested mental
development purpose to limit their enjoy
ments during the next ten years or more
to athletic games and have no desire to
compete with the young men twenty years
their seniors in the serious struggles Of life.
What is the explanation Of all this: Mn
Street thinks that we grow up more slowly
We are by no means sure of that. The
average physical strength to-day Of men