The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-04-23
From the New York World.

From the New York World.
 ~ EM SEMKE HERSH, at the age of
 1O4, sits content at the hearthstone
 V of his daughter, Mrs. Rachel Brock No. B Columbia street, Brooklyn, the proud possessor of that most cherished jewel the philosophers stone. Sem Sem kes beard is long and his hair is gray, and he is very old, but his heart is still young and his steps, though they totter some, may ye be added to, for he has not given up his nomadic habits, which have carried i'm from Poland to Ger many, from San Francisco 10 New York, and over the lills and wales of hallowed Palestine.
 One hundred and four years! A life beginning with the dawn of the nine teenth century and lasting well into the twentieth. Mere than a life, even an epoch And as result of all these years spent on the earth what has Sem Semke accomplished? Has he not found the philosophers stone? Surely enough. What is the treasure that Sem Semke has found, ans where did he find it? In the Vale of Moab perhaps, or among the towering Rockies. or in the subway of New York. A. any rate, Sem Semke has 1t. wearing it next his heart and on it he reads this inscription.
 For In all lis life Sem Semke Hersh has never lifttd his hand to do what men call work. He is known a tramp, but he scouts the appellation. though he ad- mits that he is stranger to such toll as others knew When he Is accused of being an ider his little gray eyes twinkle with mitigation, he plucks his gray beard and mItters to himself as he did when seen iy representative of The World yesterday.
 Work? Of course, l have worked all my life. I worked in my cradle, tryin z to find ways to make other wait on me and bring me my needs. I worked as soon as I could walk learning how to escape the dfudgery of life-no, rather, trying to make life happy and worth living let us say; for to exist as most men do is not to live not to enjoy the blessings of this world
 Tt did net take me long when I came into the world. to find this out. I looked l about me and saw misery and trouble. I saw my psrent, with knitted brow, try ing to eke out a livelihood. I saw my mother bending over her work till late into the night; l saw my brothers and sisters sent out to work at early ages. and I m.'e up my mind that l would have nonHof 1t. l would be happy, and if it was necessary to do not work-l mean work as I saw it-I would escape it.
 'tAl this time did not work? Does not the genius striving to perfect an inven- tion work O. yes. I was working while they cal1sd me a loafer. and when they kicked me out of doors and bade me make my own living l had solved the prob lem.
 'I wenl from the village of Btalistok. in Russian Poland. where l was born. Into the larger towns, where l found that there were more who felt as l did, so that I had companions. | tried to convey my ideas of them. but they were not sufficiently advanced 10 grasp my full meaning They were idlers. the most of them were impious men, while was a thinker. an optimlst. and above all God-fearing person, intent and constant in my devotions, spending many hours day in the synagogues.
 'I never stole. nor have ever done dishonest act I have never been a beggar. either and have never asked for aims. I,have, to be sure. asked for money | from others, but that was because I saw that these others had more than they