The Washington herald., 1911-12-27
THE ROTHSCHILD FAMILY.

Il
financial dynasty. died in the palace that
had long garden skirting the avenue
Marigny on the side facing the grounds
| of the Elysee. But it wanted air and
sunlight on the west and south sides,
where six-story buildings marred its
limits. The house itself. built late in the
nineteenth century, approximated in its
general structure to the one built for
Nine. de Pompadour. the favorite of the
French Bourbon Kings. and inhabited
by her brother, and which at present
! is the white House of the French re-
public. 1t has the gay air of the period
in which the famous Gabriel planned 1t.
1t is bathed in sunshine from morning
till night.
OF the three sons of the shrewd and
humorous Baron james de Rothschild,
but one now survives, Baron Edward.
quaint old gentleman of regular habits
and who rose to some of the highest
functions during the Grevy presidency.
The eldest Of the brothers was Baron
Alfonso so named because of his moth
er's admiration for Lamartine's genius
as a poet. He had a London West End
air, and in Partisan clubdom was dubbed
the Gentleman Jew" Without aiming
at high personal distinction, he had 1t.
| 1t came of natural refinement and the
deep sense of responsibility. though he
bore with apparent ease the cares OF his
great financial situation.
In his brother Gustave the atavism
of blunt. homely Germans prevailed. and
| 1t was brought out further by his mar
riage with an Alsatian lady, the daugh-
ter of Mr.. Anspach, a prominent and
very wealthy Jew. who ended his career
as a Judge of the Court of Cessation,
the highest French judicial tribunal. She
has the outspoken frankness that pre-
vailed in her native province before it
came under the Prussians," as the Pa
risian jargon expresses 1t. for the pres
ence of these 'oppressors' often
obliges those AIsatians who still are
French in feeling to use pantomimic
gestures instead of words
In objecting. as a loyal Alsatian,
frankly to the presence of the newly
accredited German Ambassador at the
dinner table Of President Theirs in 1872,
Baroness Gustave was the cause of and
occasion for an incident that set Bis
marck fuming and for some days seri-
ously compromised the pacific effort of
the then chief executive Of the but re-
Gently established French republic.
There never IS a great deal to say
about the ceremonial part of a Jewish
funeral. 1t is Just like the funeral of
some continental PrOtestants. at which
a pastor, whose church the deceased at
tended. Officiates, with perhaps more
than rabbiniCal plainness But at these
instances at least there are flowers.
There are none when the remains OF a
Jew are being taken to the tomb in the
very plainest hearse that can be pro-
cured.
In fact. the orthodox Jew, in anticipa-
tion of his death, keeps in readiness
coarse winding sheets which. in conjunc-
ton with a white muslin blouse-like
belted garment. cap. and prayer mantle
the ''memento-mori" gift of the old-fash-
ioned Jewish bride to the bridegroom
are carefully kept to serve, when the
lamented occasion requires. as his shroud
to be buried in. During his lifetime the
orthodox Jew wears this white blouse
and cap but twice every year-On the
New Years feast and the Day Of Atone
ment-the latter in good truth terri
BILE day to cleanse the soul of the
sinner OF his transgressions of the year
and to have the slate either wiped clear
or fit punishment meted out and recorded
by the recording angel"
Morose, isn't 1t? this preparing for
death. so to say, on the day which to
the average pair comes once in a life
time. but sublime Is the chlldlike SIM
plicity of faith and the utter trust in
their belief in the never-Ceasing vigil
lance of the Master, Jehovah. to whom.
in his terribly glory, they kneel but
once a year-On the Day Of the Atone
ment-to rise in the consciousness of
having their sins washed white as the
muslin blouse and prayer mantle they
wear, by the King OF Kings"
What chiefly struck one at the fu-
neral of the late Baron Gustave de
Rothschild was the multiplicity OF rela-
tives descended from his father. the
first Baron James, the founder of the
Paris branch of the banking house.
Among these descendants were a son,
grandsons. great and great-great grand
sons, Rothschilds. Lamberts. Leoninos.
Ephrussis, Sterns, Sassoons. and Cub
bays. They presented not only the prin
ciple Of blood relationships, but the
financial world of Paris, Brussels. Genoa,
Milan, Odessa, Bombay, and Calcutta.
None of the French RothschiIds have
been politicians. But they had their
preferences, and on a few occasions
showed them and their wives more dis
tInctly, but never to a degree to give
offense to the powers in being. The first
Baroness James never forgot how the
Duchesse d'Anjou sighted her, and how
Queen Marie Amelie received her with
marked courtesy at her court, and had
a chair placed for herself beside the
round table at which she and the prin-
cesses sat engaged in needlework,
while the King chatted elsewhere on the
questions of the day with the baron.
Baroness Gustave always liked the
treaty OF Frankford. The preference
of Baroness Alphonse de Rothschild, with
out being antaGonistic to anything French,
were decidedly English, and she ar
ranged to be buried close to her mother
at Willesden.
Among the numerous multi-millonaires
descended from the first Baron James
there was one who devoted himself to
medical science, dramatic literature, and
the collecting of autographs of great
writers-Baron Henri, only son of the
second Baron James and the Baroness.
nee De RothschIld, of Frankfort a lady
Of singularly fine character, who in all
sincerity, good Judgment, feeling. benevo-
lence, and dignity lives out her own life,
and can with truth be called une mattress
femme.
painful sensation has been caused by
the sad death OF the Marquis of Water
ford. the head Of the Beresford family,
for long years so prominent in the his
tory Of Ireland. He fell into the flooded
River CIodagh. which runs through his
rropertv NJ Trrra 0huOra and UaE droUO-