Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-08-06
THE CITY OF REFUGE
LONDON AND VICTIMS OF THE
PERSECUTION.
How the Hebrews Pour Into England
After Every Continental
Massacre.

Yes, that is where the shoe pinches Every
Jewish massacre In tar-o1 fRussia gals
the kibe'' of East London. The sequence
is absolutely sure. A week or so after the
sensation has died out of the London papers
you may note more Of those shaggy faces
and uncouth forms In the streets. and into
the schools there flows q new freshet Of
those dark-haired, grave-eyed children, with
the deep, patient eyes, as of those who in
infancy have looked into hell. You see them
driving up from the docks in the railway
omnibuses, with the stain and WEAKNESS
of long travel still on them. hugglns their
bundles. and clinging to some soiled letter
that shall tell them where, in all this great
hostile world. they can find friend. Then
they disappear absorbed into the vast re-
cesses of the great Wen and swelling It
In those regions almost to the bursting
point.
Making Of the Citizen.
Then begins the great process of citizen
making-the conversion of the children of
Israel into loyal, English-speaking Britons.
The factories are the state class rooms, and
the manufacturers are those wonderful and
patient people. the masters and mistresses
in our L. C. C. schools. How rapid 1t is!
How swiftly and eagerly these little quick
witted, dark-eyed people grasp the rungs of
pass from the wandering, afflicted Jews of
this generation into the clever and pros
porous Britons of the next. Perhaps the
new Russia will some day wake up from
her nightmare and realize what she is los
ing in driving over to US all this splendid
raw material, ever reviving our commerce
with fresh stream of life that flows by
a thousand channels from East London
over the whole land
Go into the schools between the Mile-end
and Commercial road, and watch this mir
acle at work-this gradual dawning into
new life of repressed and prosecuted vital
ity-this coming OF light to a Swallowed and
darkened people-and you will acclaim it as
one Of the greatest works that England is
now doing. 1t Is wonderful sight. The
checked energy seems to leap forward, like
some strong racehorse that has been held
on the curb-there is no stopping 1t. They
come In, these little children, still in their
soiied Russian garb. with tied tongues and
eyes quick to fear, utterly ignorant OF any
English phrase or word, unable to write or
read in any language. often amazingly dirty
"a ragged, undisciplined horde. That is for
the first week. But go and see them a
month or two afterward, and. 10! COM
plete changei The eyes are softened with
new trust the hair and faces are clean,
the clothes beginning to be neat, the
little lips are already talking fairly good
English. How they learn 1T so quickly
heaven alone knows, but they take in our
language at every pore; they seem to pick
1t up in the Fairgrounds, with their games;
they seem anxious to throw off the MEM
DRY of Russia as part Of that misery that
is over Within a year they are not merely
talking English, they are writing 1t with O
good approach to accuracy
Human Documents.
What memories must move dimly behind,
those watching eyes! Where do you come
from?' we say to one little child, just
rived "Aus Baltik'' The Baltic. which
for months past has been torn with terror
fury Of revolt and the red cruelty of re-
pressfon Have you father?" NO The
mother and child have barely escaped, and
the father has disappeared-into that pit of
terror. Hard by is the child of deserter
from the Russian army-a man who has
refused to join in shooting down his own
fellows. He will not go back to Russia.
repatriate him; the Jewish board of guar
dams would send him back; but he will
not bulge. Wise man! He is safer here.
Look at that child with the olive cheeks
and the raven-black hair--how the little
eyes flash with intelligence! She is only
passenger. Next week, she tells
and her sisters and take them all to Amer
lea. She is "transmigrant. She has
been here with her mother fol. several
months waiting. for the father; for these
families move In StageS-1ust one parent
with the children, and then perhaps the
other parent with the grandparents. So
this little person VIII go to the new land
beyond the Atlantic. We shall be poorer
for her going.
Come into this class room and look at
this upper standard-it Is a gathering from
all the world Here is one little person
from Roumania, another from America. an
other from France, two from Canada, three
from Russia. Question them. and you will
find few whose parents did not come from
somewhere across the water And yet-and
here Is the miracle-you would call 1t
gathering of English children, with English
speech and English ways. SO quickly have
they been folded into this amazing cosmo-
politan race of ours.