Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-01-28

Written for The Evening Star.
There is a great line of them-these
dreamers of the Ghetto. 1t includes some of
the greatest names in the history of
thought and action, such names as Spin
oza. Uriel Acosta. Fra Giuseppe Franchi,
Mendelssohn, Heine, Lassalle, Maimondes,
Disraeh. Not all of these were born in the
Ghetto, or lived in it; but they were of kin
to tie Ghetto, and only q generation or
two removed from It,
The last of the line today-the last great
dreamer Of the Ghetto-is Israel Zangwll.
the famous author and eloquent advocate
OF the Zionist movement, who is now In
America pleading for that cause. And he is
really son of the Ghetto. He was born
in a Jewish slum in the Est End of Lon
don. the son of an alien immigrant who en-
tered England in 1S4S, no richer in the
worlds goods than most alien immigrants.
About twenty-seven years ago Zangwill--
mere fed-used to write little broadsheets
In Yfddish. set them in type and print them
himself, and sell them to his co-religionists
in the East End. They were eagerly
bought by the crowds around the Jewish,
markets, and bitterly denounced by many
OF the orthodox as being heretical But
some of the stuff in them was so good that
It has been incorporated, word for word, in
the books which have since made Fang
Dickens of the Ghetto"
More Than Writer.
Today that lad is recognized. as one of
the lew living men of letters deserving the
title Of genius. But he is something more
IMAM writer. He is lion in English So
clety' and Judaism, however much it may
argue over his opinions, undoubtedly re-
CARDS him as one of it's greatest philos-
md 1aad ArA
death or Theodore HerZl Zangwill is prob
apiy the strongest personal force in the
Zionist movement.
But What fight he had before he
Teacheo this lofty position Few American
boys who have won OUT can equal ~his
lowly beginnings
Little Israel, as a boy, might have been
i TOO Tor the sweat shop, like SO many of
and passion for learning The elementary
schools helped him somewhat but he p,-a O.
lcaiiy educated himself, until he became a
pupll-teacher in Jewish free school and
subsequently, by home work. a bachelor OF
arts of London University
me itch for scribbling took him very
young He confesses that he wrote a
mover Wnen ne was nine years old. and
forgot about it until he was reminded.
after he became famous. by schoolmate
who had written it down from his dicta
tlon. Surely no younger novelist boosted
an amanuenSiS.
lowed; and then. when he was a pllpiI-
teacher. Zangwill buckled down Seriously
to literary work.
His First Success.
He went down to Ramsgate, the favorite
seaside resort near London for a DAVIS
holiday. The famous comedian T. T..
Toole was fond of stopping there with his
intimate, Sir Henry Irving. ZangwilI had
written comedy, and he figured it out
that If he could meet Toole on the beach
he would force him to listen to the juye-
nile stuff, and perhaps even to accept it.
The lad was only about fifteen at the time.
He didn't meet Toole. Tired of prone
nading on the beach, he lay down upon the
sand. A fragment of torn newspaper f1ut-
tered in his face Idly picking it up, he
found that it was an advertisement of a
prize competition for stories inaugurated
by a magazine called Society" When
Zangwill got home he fished out a story