Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1908-03-20
THE MISER OF THE
YODO QUARTER

In the Yodo Quarter, or the Jews
quarter of the great city of Amsterdam,
the narrow, i'll kept streets were bustling
with life and activity.
There was no lack of dirt or noise. No
stint of bright colors in the shabby gar
ments, no dearth of tawdry jewelry; for
in those narrow lanes, and along the evil
smelling canals, it seemed as if the ten
tribes of Israel had foregathered from
every quarter of the known world. Jews
from the Holy Land, who carried them
selves like princes, men with grand faces
and wondrously shaped heads. jews
from Morocco, with faces as swarthy as
any Moor, curly headed, beady eyed,
hawk -nosed, red-lipped Jews from cold
chimes, fair-complexioned, sleek and fat.
Jews with the stamp of rural life upon
them. Jews with the sign of cities in
gait and manner Rich Jews, poor Jews.
honest jews knavish Jews, Jews gener
Gus and Jews mean.
1t was worth while watching those
small traders, il you were a student of
humanity. A battle royal between Ma
than kadoE and Benaiah Gera over ten
cents worth of sprats was well worth
going a long way to listen to. Nathan
was a hawker of fish, and Benaiah was a
wealthy tapestry manufacturer, man
worth 100000 guilders, if he was worth
a dollar. Yet it hurt him to the marrow
of his bones to part with a cent. That
was why he used to go himself to the
stalls, and to the street hawkeTs in the
Sodo Quarter to purchase the food for
his household, as he feared that servant
might cheat him out of his hoard.
But as compared with Shimei de Bar
zillai the Moorish jew, the tapestry
merchant was a wild spendthrift, al
waster of substance and winebibber.
Shimei had lived for years in the Yodo
QUARTER of Amsterdam, and even the rag
pickers and bone and bottle collectors
held him in contempt on account of his
parsimony. Yet he was accounted a rich
man, even in the wealthy city of AM
sterdam, where so many solid men dwelt.
This miser had two stately daughters
who had money in their own right
which caused them to be much sought
after in marriage. They had not much
love for their father, nor had he over
much for them. They dressed gorgeous
ly and lived well; but they drove a hard
bargain with all who worked for them
aided with them.
He had one son, a youth who had left
Holland under suspicious circumstances
This lad had been engaged in the dia-
mond cutting industry and when he left
Amsterdam he made his way to Kimber-
ley in South Africa, and became an illicit
diamond buyer. Some folk in Kimberley
even went SO far as to say that Shimei's
son got hold of many uncut gems with
ont the formality of purchasing them.
He left Kimberley much as he had left
Amsterdam, hurriedly, and without any
formal lcavetaking, and lot OF uncut
gems left the principal mine unknown
to the management at about the same
time. The gems were missed very soon
afterward, and, by some process of rea-
soning known only to the official mind,
| the police of South Africa connected
Shimei junior with the lost diamonds
so that he had scarce set foot on the
Hook of Holland ere person with a
warrant pounced upon him, and free
passage back to Africa was provided for
him.
4 young Hebrew stowaway ON the
boat that had brought the youth from
Cape Town had received commission
from Shimei junior just before the Hook
was reached.
The young Moor, who trusted no
man, not even his own father, had said
10 the stowaway, IF you 90 TO the Yodo
QUARTER in Amsterdam, and ask for Shi.
mel de Barzillai anyone will point him
ont to YOU. Give him this letter and this
bundle of old clothes, and tell him that
his only son is dead, and he win reward
| YOU, for he is a Just man and generous.
| He will sorrow for his son, and the
clothes he must keep in memory of the
son he loved"
| In due time Shimei Junior found his
way back to Africa to stand his trial
for robbery, and the stowawav reached
the Nodo Quarter. Amsterdam, and
/ found the old miser. to whom he de-
| iivered the letter. At q glance the Moor
saw that the letter was in the hand
writing of his son who was supposed to
he dead, and thinking it was but trick
to fleece him of his money he drove the
bearer from the house with blows and
curses.
! This is a Just man and generous"
snarled the fellow as he rubbed his
shoulders to ease the pain the old mans
stall had given him. 1t was evening,
and as he stood there his eyes fen upon
the form of Dom de Joughe. the Dutch
man who peddled second hand clothes
Dom was sitting on one of his baskets
| counting his days takings. The stow
away sauutercd across the street and
| offered for sale the bundle of clothing
that had been given him by the man on
the steamer, and after much Chaffering