The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-08-13
THE JEWS OF KIEFF.
A Visit to the Community Described
by Annette M. B. Meakin.

If all the Israelites now residing in
Kien were suddenly to leave the town
few students of the university and a
handful of military men stationed at the
fortress would be practically all that re-
manned. Every other well-to-do person
you meet with in the streets is OF He
brew extraction. Kieff stands on three
hills, rising alone in the center of vast
plain. The sloping sides Of one of these
hills form the Ghetto of Kieff, which is
known locally as the Podol. It is the
poorest and shabbiest part of the town.
and SwarmS with class OF Jews VINO
might be taken for gypsies at first sight
They have regular market in which
their old-clothes booths are erected.
Here stationary peddlers Cif l may use
the term) are to be seen patiently dis
playing their wares. tram line runs
down the side of the hill. SO that viSl-
tors have no difficulty in reaching this
market place. On projection of the
hill above stands the Andrewsky church
surrounded by rallied platform, from
which one can look down upon the
whole Jewish community of Kien it
self, and also of a fiourishing suburb
planted on the further side of the river
Dnieper
The observant eye soon distinguishes
a number of very comfortable detached
houses in the clean looking streets or
the suburb. and a question naturally
arises in the strangers mind. VINO
are the fortunate inhabitants of that
pleasant suburb" They are all Jews
Jews whose industry and thrift have
brought them well up the ladder OF
fortune. They are not stationary-they
are mounting steadily. Is it surprising,
then, that the lazy, easy-going Russian
neighbors are sometimes tempted to feel
little envy? One afternoon in No
vember last 1 took the tram down to
the Podol just to have a look around.
The street down which the tram runs
is lined with Jewish shops. modest. but
every door. Many of the old clothes SO
temptingly displayed in the market are
in quite good state of preservation. L
saw Jackets which l could have worn
myself with pleasure. Some of the
booths were filed with secondhand
books. but had not time to turn over
their pages. In the center of the mar
ket is high. well-built fountain. with
a place below for asses to drink.
Stretching to get a drink of the pun e.
fresh water that flowed frem the Jets,
1 saw a group of Russian peasants,
round whom there frolicked a swarm
of bright-eyed Hebrew gamins.
AS I got into the train that was to
Kieff, 1 found that it was filed with
bright youths, all in the orthodox
schoolboy uniform of long gray coats
with metal buttons and peaked caps.
A more happy. intelligent. and promis-
ing collection of youthful faces it would
be hard to find. They were all Jews
whose parents resided in the above
mentioned suburb. Some day. and be-
fore very long, they will be students at
the university; and later on, if Russia
is wise enough to make use of her Jew
ish subjects and throw open to them
the posts for which they are fitted, they
WILL perhaps, be professors of whom
the car himself will have reason to be
proud
The wealthy Jews of Kieff have been
appealed to for funds by the Zionists,
who are trying hard to facilitate the
return of Israel to Jerusalem but they
have not all cared to respond The
reasons are obvious.-Pall Mall Ga
zette