The Savannah morning news., 1904-10-16

ing stretches Of masonry, presents In
viting tablets for the ready lead PEN
ell In most places it would be well
scrawled with pictures and the mag
nificent humorous writings Of the
Juvenile satirist. But on all the
length ana breadth of the great East
river bridge the only scrawl that dis
figures the Wilderness is a scrawl left
by a mechanic who jotted down some
figures as to the length of girder.
The Old. Grave Men.
But IL is only the children who
make it the Bridge OF Laughter. The
grown persons do not laugh. On the
recent afternoon that the writer spent
there his careful count showed that
there were at least seven thousand
people on the span, and, with the ex-
ception of the children, he did not see
a laughing face.
They are grave, patient and weary
these old men and women of the
Ghetto. All that district. for which
the new bridge is a portal to delight
and life, Is populated by the troubled
men of Eastern Europe. Almost with
out exception. they are the Jews OF
Russia, Russian Poland and the Far
East OF Hungary. and nearly all have
been driven out Of their homes.
The first thing about them that will
strike the beholder Is that these null
titudes have nothing about them Of
the much-talked-of aggressiveness of
the mighty Jewish race. The faces OF
these old, bent men are ineffably pa
tient, strangely mild; and their eyes
are deep with dumb sorrows.
The pathos of the East is in them
and on them. Before the stranger has
walked far in these bearded throngs,
among these plodding men with their
strange, antique gabardine-like coats,
their cheap, modern New York
clothes that still seem, somehow, to
have an Oriental 1T, their gentle po-
likeness and almost frightened defer
ence, he realizes all at once that he il
walking in very Bible Land-Bibie
Land pure and unchanged; the Bible
Land Of the old engravings in the
Old Testament OF ones boyhood
days Bible Land on a modern steel
suspension bridge, hung high over a
modern Navy Yard with steel battle
ships and cruisers
A Lucky BIunder.
Men and women are pale and their
faces are weary. The whir OF the
stitching machines, the driving OF the
sweat shops, has marked them deep,
But the deepest marks In their tired
faces are not the marks OF America.
They are the marks of Europe. This
appalling mass of TALL aspiring, loop
holed buildings In which they live
their crowded lives, Is better than that
from which they escaped The sweat
shop Is kinder to them than Russia
was. These old people have arrived.
They have settled down IN the Ghetto
for good For their children the tene-
ment house is only the stepping stone
to advancement. But for the parents
II Is the last stop.
SO, for these old people of the
Ghetto the blunder of the city in
building a bridge that cannot be used
has come as splendid gift. 1t has
brought unencumbered sky and un-
tainted air to their doors. Within five
minutes after Strengthening out from
the ten-hour stint at the sewing
machine, they can be on the iron
nights, looking forth, far over their
poor homes at the splendor OF the
noble city where II opposes its marble
and granite front 10 the visitors as
II II hid no Ghetto behind them.
The philosopher who declares that
the tenement house dweller wants
nothing better. should be hailed TO the
new bridge by his nice, long ears and
held there till his near-sighted eyes
have carried the message TO hts near
sighted soul--the message spelled by
the rush Oh inc poor 10 the SEthl
span.
Few voluntary gifts made IN this
world are as eagerly seized as this In
voluntary gift has been. Morning and
night the people Of the tenement
crowd Il. The women walk It with
their sewing and knitting. The
mothers bring their children and herd
them from Manhattan 20 Brooklyn
and back again with never-ending Joy
IN the light and afr. the breeze and
the panorama-as grateful for II as X
the great, rich city had bent all its
energies to building the big structure
solely that such as she might see
their children brighten In the unob-
structed sun.
II was lucky blunder for the
Ghetto. All summer II has been
blessing. And II is going TO continue
one now, even after the trains begin
to race over II for the wide roadway5
are boulevards spacious enough for
half cityful. And the Ghetto, hav-
ing discovered the steel road In the
air, and having descended on Il, will
not let II go. Bible Land VIII stay
there and look down each day. with
deep. pathetic eyes, on the new world
that surrounds H.