The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-04-23
HOW ONE MAN LIVED
 1O4 YEARS IN lDLENESS

| needed and were far enough advanced | in my line of thinking to share With | me.
 'I have looked at it in this way: This
 man has struggled hard, he has toiled un-
 til he must rest. He has given so much | time to his work that he does not know | how to enjoy himself. Let me teach him, | let me show him the beauties of this life.
 His friends have departed, and he has | forgotten to pray for them. Let me do this
 for him and by the earnestness of my
 prayers prove that 1 am good man and
 a lover of my fellow beings.
 "Sometimes my plans have failed, and
 I have had to go nearly hungry, sub
 slsting on mean fare. But on such oc- | casons I have not suffered as the mere | idler would. My tastes have been culti- vated, and l have always wanted the best l that life affords But when 1t has not | come I have made myself believe that | what did get was just as good, and so !, have been contented. No matter what | has happened have taken is as my snare | and have been satisfied.
 "I came to America forty-cdd years ago
 and was made citizen. But though New 1 York with its thousands of my own people
 was something nearer to my old country | than anything had seen, l could not be
 content l went back to Russia and : brought over with me my little girl
 Rachel Then wandered away again. vis-
 iting South Amercas many countries.
 For five years I lived here in New
 York on Norfolk street, always happy ] always willing to pray for my friends, | always with a smile for every one. They i liked old Sem Semke. I know, for they 1 have ever been kind to me. But as soon | as I became very well acquainted with , a people I would find sordidness and | greed and the habit Of hard toll growing I IL Il. I... 1..ss | I left my New York friends and sailed for Palestine. without any money What
 could money muy me that l could not | get for nothing?
 'I tramped through Egypt, Siberia and | China and fin the last country I found ] the people nearer to my ideal than any i where else in the world. They are phil ! osophers the Chinamen and welcomed me as good man. They gave me all | I needed and thanked me for taking it. | though I was not of their religion and | they would not have my prayers. "Then I went to Russia. It was many
 years since I had seen Russia. and the
 changes were not good ones. I was glad 1 to get back to America.
 1.-TWO years ago found my devotions--
 spend many hours day in the syna-
 gogue-were taxing my strength. I was very feeble and thought I was going to
 die. wished to spend my last hours =
 Palestine, so went theme" His coming bacy consisted of dropping ! in unconcernedly on an olS friend. Leon Meizer, at No. Atlantic avenue, Brook | lyn, on Saturday evening while the fam
 fly was at supper. and inviting himself 1 to share the meal. He had nothing to |! say of where he had been, why he had | come back, or. in fact. on any sub 1 ject.
 The Mezers notified old Sem Semke's daughter. Mrs. Ralph Brock. herself an
 old woman. living at No. 23 Columbia l street She went to the Melzer house | and took her father home.
 | Father is an old man." said Mrs | Brock. "IIe is intensely religious, and | from now on will spend nearly all his | time in the synagogues. He has never 1 done any work since I can remember,
 but he is not tramp-he is philoso- pher."
 Which, indeed, is scarcely to be dis puted
 | Leon Melzer the old mans lifelong friend who has inquired into the matter. and Mrs Brock, the daughter. declare that the records of the town on Btalstok,