,,discourses ,,of ,,keidansky ,by ,bernard ,g4 ,richards ,,scott-,,thaw ,,co4 #edb ,fifth ,avenue ,,new ,,york ,,mcmiii ,copyright #aijc by ,scott-,thaw ,co4 7,incorporated7 ,first ,edition ,published ,march #aijc ,the ,heintzemann ,press ,boston ,note ,the majority of these papers have appeared in the ,boston ,evening ,transcript1 and thanks are extended to the editors not only for their permission to reprint the same1 but also for the many kindnesses they have shown my friend ,keidansky and myself4 ,all the papers have undergone many changes1 and numerous corrections and additions have been made4 ,b4 ,g4 ,r4 ,introductory ,heretical1 iconoclastic1 revolutionary2 yet the flashing eye1 the trembling hand1 the stirring voice held us spellbound1 removed all differences1 and there were no longer any conservatives and extremists2 only so many human beings led onward and upward by a string of irresistible words4 ,outrageous heresies1 some said1 yet those who paused to listen for a moment lingered longer1 and as they hearkened to the harangues1 marked the words and followed the flights of fancy1 it came to them that these dreamers of dreams and builders of all sorts of social ,utopias upon the vacant lots of the vague future2 these ribald rebels holding forth over their glasses of steaming ,russian tea in the cafs1 or on the street corners under the floating red flag--that they were but a continuation of the prophets of old in ,israel4 ,those who paused to listen were loath to depart and some prayed for a perpetuation of the things that came out of a throbbing heart and soaring mind4 ,faint reflections here of the outpourings of a soul1 but mayhap they will shed some little light upon the inner life of that strange cosmos called the ,ghetto and point again to the ,dream it has harbored and cherished through the harsh realities of the centuries4 ,why perpetuate these things1 you wrote to me1 since that life is so fast slipping away from under my feet2 practicability is urged on every hand1 and to-morrow ,i may be led under the canopy1 perhaps elected to the presidency of a congregation1 given full charge of an orthodox paper1 or put into a big store on ,east ,broadway1 and then1 what ,i said would only stand out to taunt and menace me about the life that could not be4 ,besides1 ,i may become so radical that ,i shall not want to say anything4 ,yes1 we change1 and the castles we build in the air become tenement houses1 and we are either the tenants1 or worse1 the landlords2 but life has its own theories1 and if the fine poetry of youth be reduced to plain prose in later years1 and wisdom teach us to be stupid1 why1 we are still a pace ahead and those who will come after shall put their shoulders to the ,dream and move it up at least one inch nearer to life4 ,and if the dreamer dies1 as you said yourself1 will not the ,dream live ever on8 ,surely6 ,and let me send you the glad assurance that death will come sooner than the presidency of a synagogue4 ,you are safe1 ,keidansky2 the orthodox will never forgive you4 ,we change1 yet those who fail also come to their own1 and even lost souls make great discoveries4 ,did you not say that ,life is the profoundest of all platitudes8 ,b4 ,g4 ,r4 ,new ,york1 ,march1 #aijc4 ,contents ,i ,keidansky ,decides to ,leave the ,social ,problem ,unsolved for the ,present #a ,,ii ,he ,defends the ,holy ,sabbath #g ,,iii ,sometimes ,he is a ,zionist #ac ,,iv ,art for ,tolstoy's ,sake #bc ,v ,three ,stages of the ,game #cc ,,vi ,the ,badness of a ,good ,man #da ,,vii ,the ,goodness of a ,bad ,man #ec ,,viii ,the ,feminine ,traits of ,men #fe ,,ix ,the ,value of ,ignorance #ge ,x ,days of ,atonement #he ,,xi ,why the ,world is ,growing ,better #ie ,,xii ,home1 the ,last ,resort #aje ,,xiii ,a ,jewish ,jester #aag ,,xiv ,what ,constitutes the ,jew8 #abi ,,xv ,the ,tragedy of ,humor #aci ,,xvi ,the ,immorality of ,principles #adi ,,xvii ,the ,exile of the ,earnest #aeg ,,xviii ,why ,social ,reformers ,should be ,abolished #afe ,,xix ,buying a ,book in ,salem ,street #agc ,,xx ,the ,purpose of ,immoral ,plays #ahc ,,xxi ,the ,poet and the ,problem #aic ,,xxii ,my ,vacation on the ,east ,side #aii ,,xxiii ,our ,rivals in ,fiction #baa ,,xxiv ,on ,enjoying ,one's ,own ,writings #bai ,,discourses ,,of ,,keidansky ,i ,keidansky ,decides to ,leave the ,social ,problem ,unsolved for the ,present ,the lecture at the ,revolutionary ,club1 ,canal street1 was over1 the audience rose1 one by one1 and ere their departure1 those who made it up1 lingered on for awhile and stood in little groups of two1 three and four1 and earnestly discussed the things that had been1 and particularly the things that might have been1 said on the subject4 ,the peroration was delivered with fervor and gusto by one of the red ones of the ,ghetto4 ,it was on ,the ,emancipation of ,society from ,government1 a theme packed with meaning for those present1 and as almost everybody was willing to be interviewed on his or her impressions1 there was quite a little exchange of opinion afterwards4 ,the speaker1 besieged by a small circle of questioning dissenters and commentators1 was holding an informal1 compulsory reception4 ,a few hard workers of the sweat-shops1 who slumbered peacefully during the discourse1 came up towards the platform to tell the speaker how well they liked it4 ,it was during this hobnob medley of varying voices that ,i introduced ,keidansky to a lady1 a friend of mine1 who1 having heard of the wicked things he says1 and the queer things he does1 desired very much to meet him4 ,as she greeted him the lady rather perfunctorily remarked3 ,and so you are a dreamer of the ,ghetto8 ,no1 ,madam1 ,keidansky answered somewhat brusquely2 ,i am a sad reality4 ,a sad reality8 ,why so8 ,smilingly1 pityingly1 she queried4 ,oh1 the reasons are not far to seek1 not easy to find1 and hard to relate1 he said demurely4 ,besides1 why augment the soporific tendency8 ,we have just listened to a lecture4 ,the monstrous evil of government still exists4 ,the tremendous task of its abolition is still before us4 ,yes1 ,i know2 but tell me1 please4 ,well1 then1 if ,i must speak of myself--and ,i like nothing better--,i will tell you4 ,he cast down his eyes and spoke quickly1 as quickly as he could think of the right words1 which he was trying to find with evident effort4 ,a dreamer disillusionized1 a great might-have-been become small1 a would-be victor vanquished1 a social reformer forced by society to reform1 a herald of a new dawn lost in the night1 a rebel rejected by the rabble1 a savior of society without even the ghost of a chance to become a martyr1 a visionary grown wise1 an enthusiast at last awakened to things as they are1 an idealist knocked out by cold1 hard facts--don't you think it's a sad reality8 ,i--we--wanted to do so many things and-- ,i wanted to change the world1 and the world has changed me so that ,i am beyond recognition4 ,that's a little and belittling way the world has with all who wish to save it4 ,we--my comrades and ,i--wanted to transform this earth into a ,heaven1 and we came near going to--the other place4 ,pardon me1 madam1 but some of the fellows actually went there1 one sent me his regards the other day4 ,he is at court now1 working for the king of the ward--assistant chief wire-puller1 or something4 ,good salary2 hardly any work to do4 ,better than ,socialism1 he says1 under which system he would1 at least1 have to perform a few hours' work a day4 ,but there was a time when he would walk six miles--he had to walk then--to hear a denunciation of the present political parties and the evil powers that be4 ,now he would talk six miles to win a single vote for them4 ,the others who have gone have not fared so badly as he3 they have not grown so wise1 have remained poor1 and1 more or less--honest4 ,but as to the things that might have been4 ,there were great books to be written1 which were abandoned because--oh1 well1 it is so much bother to deal with publishers4 ,there was a powerful educational movement to be started in the ,ghetto1 which has also been relinquished for the manifold blessings of ignorance4 ,why1 ,i wanted to solve the social problem1 and now ,i do not even see my way clear to do that4 ,you see1 we all came here with a smattering of ,socialistic ideas and ,utopian ideals4 ,we brought them over from ,russia--the land of the knave and the home of the slave--and we wanted to see them realized in this country1 where the gigantic development of industry and the trusts were illustrating the beautiful possibilities of ,socialism4 ,that idea appealed to us ,jews1 at least1 above all others4 ,and we set ourselves with great zeal to the task of its promulgation4 ,the common ownership of all the means of production and distribution of wealth1 every member of society contributing to the work of the nation2 those who do not work1 neither shall they eat1 etc4--we had everything down fine--too fine4 ,if we were asked1 who shall do the dirty work under ,socialism1 we answered1 the bosses of the present political machines4 ,and we demonstrated by all the proofs furnished us by our leaders--at the rate of ten cents a pamphlet--how the great change was inevitable from ,marx's material conception of history and our own hysterical conception of materialism4 ,the rich had not as yet consented to the equal distribution of all wealth2 but the poor had2 they were fast coming our way1 and we were all getting ready for the great change4 ,oh1 when a fellow gets the social revolution into his head he can see millions of proletarians marching to victory1 and then the ,coperative ,commonwealth looms up big before him in all its ,bellamy glory4 ,but after awhile1 and a few gentle hints in the form of hard knocks--confound it--comes the calm1 sober1 second or second-hand thought4 ,socialism8 ,what an arch bureaucracy1 what a preposterous attempt to harness life with a monstrous system of rules1 regulations and restrictions6 ,what an endless chain of entangling laws1 what an appalling monotony of order6 ,the individual gagged1 bound hand and foot by an overwhelming mess of statutes2 not permitted to tell the truth unless it is officially recognized as truth by the ,state4 ,thousands of laws to be broken every day and as many heads to be mended4 ,heaven save us6 you cry out1 and you come to realize that it isn't because a lot of contemptible capitalists have paid him for it--as it has been alleged by some of us--that ,herbert ,spencer has declared ,socialism to be the coming slavery4 ,perhaps ,spencer wasn't wrong1 after all2 and the best solution of the social problem you had becomes a terrible problem1 and you lay it on the table1 or throw it into the waste-basket4 ,then comes communism1 as preached by my friend ,john ,most and comrade ,peter ,kropotkin2 individualist anarchism1 as presented by ,benjamin ,r4 ,tucker and others4 ,beautiful theories these are1 enchanting studies2 but1 alas1 only theories1 so vague1 so fantastic1 so far off1 so dimly distant1 so elusive4 ,and the problem is so stubbornly real1 so disagreeably near1 so puzzlingly capricious1 and so spitefully independent of all solutions1 that--oh1 well--,i haven't as yet solved the social problem1 and ,i don't1 as yet1 know when ,i will2 but perhaps the problem will stay long enough1 until ,i get ready to do it4 ,the speaker looked touchingly perplexed as he continued3 ,i cannot find my way through these things1 and don't know the way out4 ,the problem is vexing and vast2 the solutions various and voluminous4 ,the solutions are in themselves highly problematic4 ,our doubts are endless1 our ignorance is infinite4 ,finality is the most fatal folly4 ,nothing is certain but uncertainty2 nothing is constant but change4 ,even the dream of transformation becomes transformed4 ,life has its own theories and is regardless of our patented plans4 ,the logic of events makes our own systems illogical4 ,the wind of ,time blows out our little labelled lanterns4 ,time puts all our wisdom to shame4 ,life is so pitifully brief1 and the problem that has troubled the ages cannot be solved in a day4 ,but what are you going to do about it8 ,i interrupted4 ,why1 ,i have decided to leave the social problem unsolved for the present1 he answered4 ,if ,i could spell ,english well ,i would write a book showing why ,i refuse to solve it for the present2 but as it is1 those who wish to know what ,i write will have to learn ,yiddish4 ,however1 from what ,i know of the ,english language1 ,i like it immensely4 ,it is so rich1 so big1 has so many words2 a splendid means for concealing one's thoughts4 ,and the ,english and ,americans1 who master it1 know it and appreciate the fact4 ,but ,i see they are putting the lights out4 ,we'll have to leave the hall now4 ,good-night1 good-night4 ,pleased to have met you4 ,,ii ,he ,defends the ,holy ,sabbath ,we are so happy in this country that we must celebrate even when we don't want to1 said a ,hester street storekeeper1 and then he quoted the words of the ,psalms in the traditional monotone3 ,and they who led us captive requireth of us a song4 ,he stood on the sidewalk in front of his dreary and dilapidated grocery store4 ,it was ,sunday morning4 ,the chosen people of old who have elected to come to the chosen country of to-day moved up and down in large numbers1 almost crowding the street4 ,they stood in little groups idly1 and conversed loudly in a more or less ,americanized ,yiddish1 often lapsing into a curious ,english of their own4 ,their dress and outward appearance denoted the degrees of their ,americanization and prosperity4 ,there were those who live in the ,jewish street1 or in the immediate vicinity1 which is also within the ,ghetto1 and others who1 after spending their first years here1 have now travelled by the road of success to nice1 high-toned districts1 such as ,allen street in the ,west ,end4 ,on ,sunday they all come down there1 for then you can meet everybody1 all the ,landsleute1 you can hear all the news1 and there was a time when ,sunday was the liveliest day on the street4 ,thus these people walked up and down the thoroughfare1 while some stood in small gatherings and talked4 ,women met1 chatted for a few minutes1 and then took half an hour in parting4 ,all the stores were closed1 all the places of business deserted1 and it seemed strange and incongruous to see all these people out on the street4 ,it seemed as if the people were there for no purpose1 as if they had nothing to do4 ,one wondered1 at first1 if it were a holiday2 but the absence of even a suggestion of the spirit of ,sabbath soon made it clear that there was no religious meaning in this day1 so far as the ,hebrew people were concerned4 ,aside from that1 the people would not be out so if it were a holiday4 ,they would be at home1 observing and celebrating the day4 ,it appeared as if their idleness was forced upon them2 they suggested gatherings of workers who are out on a strike1 waiting for settlement4 ,upon investigation the stranger found that this was an enforced idleness1 a compulsory holiday4 ,the ,christian ,sabbath was forced by law upon the ,jews1 who had celebrated their ,sabbath the day before1 and they could not begin the week's work until their loving neighbors were through4 ,and this1 too1 was the week before ,passover1 the busiest season in the ,ghetto4 ,my friend1 the storekeeper1 stood upon the sidewalk in front of his emporium and continued his plaint1 not without quaint gestures3 ,they call this the freest country on earth1 and yet here we have been compelled to close up our stores two days in the week for the whole winter4 ,a number of us have already gone out of business1 and the ,uppermost only knows what will happen with the rest4 ,we cannot make it pay in five days2 rent is very high1 profits are small1 and around here times are always hard4 ,the poor people who trade with us only know prosperity by sight or hearsay4 ,we have preserved our ,sabbath through all the persecutions and sufferings which we have endured in the past centuries4 ,our ,sabbath is as dear to us as life itself1 and now it is endangered by the laws of this free land4 ,we cannot afford to close our stores on both ,saturday and ,sunday4 ,sunday used to be one of the best days of the week for business4 ,it is the first day of the week with us4 ,it is the day after our ,sabbath1 when every household needs a new supply of food4 ,it is also the day on which our people from the country1 having a day off1 come in to buy their goods--that is1 they used to come in when we were permitted to keep our stores open on ,sunday4 ,now all is changed1 and the business is going down and down4 ,we will not keep open on ,saturday1 and the police won't let us keep open on ,sunday4 ,it is outrageous1 the way they treat us2 it is scandalous1 ,i say4 ,keidansky1 the radical of the ,ghetto1 is quite a unique1 native character4 ,he is the young man who once told me that he had more good ideas than were good for him1 and ,i believe now that he was right4 ,i met him one day in one of his resorts1 a kosher lunch room of the ,jewish district4 ,i asked him for his opinion on the ,sunday question1 and he told me what follows--among other things--over a few glasses of ,russian tea3-- ,so far as ,i'm personally concerned1 one day is as good as another for a ,sabbath1 and we can't have too many of them4 ,any day on which we can rest and be at our best1 is a holiday4 ,i am too religious to be pious4 ,i can sanctify as many days as ,i can celebrate4 ,the new conception of 'kosher' is whatever is wholesome1 digestible and tasteful4 ,to be really happy is to be holy1 and those who have lost this world will not be entrusted with another4 ,i hate uniformity1 and it's very tiresome to rest when everybody else rests2 but since it would be most convenient to suspend business and activity when the majority of the people observe their ,sabbath1 since the ,christians do not want to rest on the same day that the ,lord rested1 and decided to get ahead of ,god and repose on the first instead of the seventh day1 why1 let it be ,sunday1 then--as far as ,i am concerned4 ,convenience is the first step to happiness1 and tolerance is the beginning of philosophy4 ,there is nothing intrinsically sacred in any day2 it is only an artificial measure of time1 and time is only a blank space1 absolutely worthless unless we write upon it with our deeds4 ,all days are made holy or unholy by what we do in them4 ,so1 you see1 so far as ,i am concerned1 ,saturday or ,sunday1 any day1 will do4 ,personally ,i have never been compelled to close up my store4 ,i have never been so unfortunate as to own a store4 ,this1 however1 is only my point of view4 ,one of the most immoral things ,i know of is to force your own petty brand of morality upon the lives of others1 and ,i can hardly conceive of anything more irreligious than forcing your particular religion upon others4 ,to respect the religion of your neighbors is a deeply religious principle1 and those who have no religion at all can almost make up for it by respecting the religion of others4 ,religious liberty is one of the most precious principles of our country1 is it not8 ,and here this fundamental principle is rankly violated by the law1 or rather by what ,i think must be a silly misinterpretation of the law4 ,there are thousands of ,jews encumbered by and compelled to rest on1 if not to observe1 a ,christian ,sabbath4 ,i do not like to believe with some of the ,zionists that the seed of anti-,semitism has been sown in this country and that a good crop will soon be up to encourage the restoration of ,israel to the ,turk's ,palestine4 ,i am rather inclined to think that this idea is anti-,semitic4 ,but certainly the stranger in this country would be extremely surprised at the way the ,jews are treated here just now in regard to the observance of ,sabbath4 ,who is to blame8 ,the law or those who enforce it8 ,oh1 the law4 ,but perhaps our people now suffer the consequences of having been among the first to bring laws into the world4 ,when people saw that the world was too good they began to make laws1 and ever since they have kept up making and multiplying them faster than even the lawmakers can break them4 ,why1 one can hardly walk two steps before he finds that he is breaking a useless law which it is very tempting to violate4 ,i am not so radical as some of my friends4 ,i do not believe that all the stupidity of the age has been incarnated into our laws4 ,a great deal of it has been left in our customs1 traditions and superstitions2 but a law that interferes with religious liberty in a free country is bad enough4 ,i tell you it is just exasperating to walk through the ,ghetto of a ,sunday now and see all the places of business closed up and all the public resorts abandoned4 ,the poor housewives of the ,ghetto whose cupboards are all empty and who need so many things on ,saturday night1 after their ,sabbath1 and have to wait until ,monday--it is a great hardship for them4 ,i tell you it's dead wrong to force this blue law upon the people4 ,the ,hebrew1 to whom the traditional ,sabbath is as dear as life1 ought to receive due consideration1 or rather the right to do as he pleases1 in so far as he does not harm others4 ,the law should have nothing to do with ,sabbath1 anyhow4 ,people can never be made religious by law4 ,if you are going to write about it1 tell the whole story and show how ill-treated we are4 ,perhaps you can convert the ,christians to the spirit of ,christianity4 ,let the voice of the chosen people be heard6 ,,iii ,sometimes ,he is a ,zionist ,word flashed across the cables that ,dr4 ,theodore ,herzl and other leaders of the ,zionist movement had held a favorable interview with the ,sultan of ,turkey1 and the followers of the cause--the restoration of ,palestine to the ,jews--were all in a flutter of gladness4 ,as it was interpreted by the faithful1 the vague1 meagre cablegram meant that the ,sultan was willing1 that he was hard up1 and that the ,holy ,land was for sale4 ,and who could doubt when this was announced by the ,new ,york ,yiddish dailies1 under four-column headlines8 ,no one could doubt but the jester4 ,he said that this only proved that the ,yiddish papers also had big type in their composing rooms4 ,he said that the truth about a certain movement could not be found in any party organ4 ,in fact1 if one wanted the absolute truth about anything he would advise him to go home and sleep it off4 ,but serious and sane folk will ask no jester for advice4 ,the jester can only add to the sadness of the nations2 but he cannot impair the faith of the believers4 ,so the ,zionists were rejoicing while their opponents were debating in the lighter vein1 and laughing at the mistakes of the so-called new ,moses and the errors of his followers4 ,the news had also reached ,keidansky's circle1 and the question was taken up again for consideration4 ,they were all at ,zarling's on ,leverett street1 where the kosher eatables are inviting1 where tea is ,russian1 the newspapers ,yiddish1 and the attendant members of one industrious family1 ranging from several bright pupils of the grammar school up4 ,the poet1 the young lawyer1 the short-sighted medical student who has for many years been writing a scientific work1 the ,anarchist orator in embryo1 the flower vendor and undiscovered inventor of an ingenious self-lighting lamp and a wonderful fuel-saving stove--they were all there1 and1 of course1 ,keidansky was with them4 ,they all sat about a little round wooden table in a corner of the big dusky store1 pouring out wisdom and drinking tea4 ,the long row of kosher ,vienna wurst hanging over ,zarling's brass-railed counter were mocking and menacing the vegetarian of the group as he was munching a cheese sandwich4 ,they were all heartily opposed to ,zionism4 ,each one had the solution for the social problem1 which would also settle the ,jewish question1 and ,keidansky said that it was highly problematic whether there was such a thing as a ,jewish problem4 ,however1 they all had plans for making this a better world1 plans which the ,jews were eminently fitted to help to carry out1 and the benefits of which they would reap in the form of an ideal state of society1 with universal brotherhood1 and without racial hatred and anti-,semitism4 ,they took ,zionism severely1 scathingly to task1 and as there was no ,zionist present it was an easy victory4 ,the ,jewish ,state was nipped in the bud1 or rather abolished ere its establishment4 ,the poet and the orator sailed heavily into the dubious personality of ,dr4 ,max ,nordau1 one of the leaders of the movement1 and thus again avenged themselves on the man who1 in his gentle booklet on ,degeneration1 so wantonly threw so much mud on their revolutionary idols4 ,reference was made to the demolishing review of the ,doctor's book by the only and original ,g4 ,bernard ,shaw1 and ,whitman and ,wagner and the others were saved4 ,keidansky listened silently to all that passed1 looked into a book and sipped his tea4 ,if the conversation was not good he could find something in his book1 and if the book was not interesting he could at least enjoy his tea4 ,so he once said when told that he was not attentive and not true to the spirit of the order of midnight tea-drinkers4 ,everybody had spoken1 and ,i turned to ,keidansky for a word4 ,sometimes1 he said1 ,i am ,zionist1 and all longings leave me and ,i yearn for naught but the realization of the old1 long-cherished1 holy dream that our people have carried along with them and fondly caressed through their cruel exiles of the ages--the restoration of our never-to-be-forgotten home1 ,palestine4 ,the passion for the race returns1 the old feeling of national pride and patriotism comes back and takes its old place1 the consciousness of ,israel awakens within me1 and ,i am completely swayed by the mastering desire to see ,judea 'emancipated1 regenerated and redeemed4' ,i feel again the unity ,i have forgotten4 ,the old ,messianic hope looms up big before me4 ,the ,heimweh of the long-lost wanderer1 the grief-stricken1 menaced nomad takes possession of me4 ,i feel the terrible danger of dissolution3 it is so bitter to stare destruction in the face1 to contemplate annihilation of so long and so miraculous an existence4 ,i feel that there is no place like his old home4 ,the homeless ,jew must return to ,palestine4 ,the big world is too small4 ,it has no room for him4 ,good or bad1 he is always offensive1 and he is exalted only to be cast down into an abyss of misery4 ,civilization is not even civil1 and it has no hospitality for its earliest light-bearer4 ,the world is a wretched ingrate4 ,we have given everything1 including the means of future salvation2 we receive nothing but calumny1 and are doomed to everlasting damnation4 ',we have given you your religion1' we say to the ,christians4 ',that's nothing1' they answer2 'it has not affected us in the least4' ,and they prove it4 ,they keep on baiting and persecuting and killing their neighbours1 not as themselves4 ,what must we do8 ,get back our old home1 though we have to pay for it4 ,there1 at least1 will we find 'a crust of bread and a corner to sleep in4' ,we must have a common cause1 an object of unity1 a centre of gravity1 in order to survive as a people1 and this is what we can have in the proposed ,jewish ,state4 ,and what an inspiring picture it will be of ,israel1 bruised and bleeding from the travail of his long1 futile travels1 at last straightening up his back and returning home to rebuild his national life and his temple in ,palestine4 ,there he will create an ideal republic1 fashioned after the teachings of the prophets and the lessons he has received from the teachers of the nations--a republic that will teach the world justice and righteousness4 ',and from ,zion shall issue the law1 and the word of ,god shall go forth from ,jerusalem1' and our poets to come shall sing new psalms to ,god on the banks of the ,jordan1 in the shades of ,lebanon and in the beautiful gardens of ,sharon and ,carmel4 ,i have never been there1 and though ,i have gone through life without a geography1 yet ,i seem to remember all these places4 ,the grand1 vigorous ,hebrew language shall come to life again and we shall have a glorious literature of ,israel's resurrection4 ,ah1 how beautiful the vision that looms up as ,i contemplate these things6 ,and then-- ,keidansky ceased speaking1 paused1 and asked for another glass of tea4 ,and then8 ,i asked4 ,then1 he continued1 the mood passes1 the feeling alters1 the picture that a fleeting fancy has thrown upon the canvas of my view1 fades1 a change comes over the spirit of my dream4 ,i remember that ,i am no longer the pious little boy praying in the synagogue of ,keidan1 'a year hence in ,jerusalem4' ,the greater vision appears before me1 the larger ideal comes back1 and ,keidansky is himself again4 ,sometimes ,i am a ,zionist1 but only sometimes4 ,the rest of the time ,i am as strongly opposed to it as any of you1 because with all my imputed universalism ,i have great hopes for my people1 and because ,i have marked out a greater role for ,israel to play in the history of the future than being a mere little bee building a little hive in a tiny obscure corner of the globe4 ,here the medical student protested that a man cannot be both for and against an idea at the same time1 that those who are not with us are wrong and against us1 and that ,keidansky is a long distance off--for he said1 scientifically analyzed-- ,scientifically analyzed1 you are a bore1 ,keidansky broke forth infuriated1 and don't interrupt me when ,i am solving problems and making history4 ,be consistent1 boys1 and do not ask me to be so4 ,give me1 at least1 the right that you grant to a character in fiction1 the right to be irrational1 illogical1 and1 above all1 superbly inconsistent4 ,i am a character in life and nothing is so fictitious4 ,at times1 ,i want to be with all1 feel with all1 believe with all1 see the beauties of all ideals1 and also point out the great fact about them--that they are all fatal--and yet that to be without ideals is baneful and deadly4 ,i cannot be partial1 and that is why they expelled me from ,de,leon's ,socialist ,labor party4 ,partiality is destructive to art1 and ,i might have been an artist1 if ,i had had the patience and self-abnegation and a lot of other requisites and things4 ,but to return to the larger vision1 which eclipses the dreamlet of ,zionism4 ,the ,jew must not be relegated to an obscure corner of the world1 to a little platform whereupon he will recite a piece in an unknown tongue4 ,i want a big stage for him--the world4 ,i want a great play for him--all its multitudinous activities4 ,for he is a wonderful actor4 ,he has versatility1 illusion1 imagination and dramatic power4 ,it is an inspiring part he plays in the world-drama4 ,so let the play go on1 and do not ask him to waste his energies and bargain with the ,sultan for a bit of barren land that has been taken from him so long ago4 ,he has a bigger task to perform1 a larger mission to fulfil4 ,he must live among the nations and help them in their upward struggle for a higher civilization and a nobler life4 ,if there are evils to be abolished he will help abolish them1 and if there are dire problems1 why1 he has brains1 which he loans more often than money4 ,and this is the spectacle that ,i gloat over and glory in seeing3 ,israel among the nations1 the saviour and the outcast1 the redeemer and the rejected1 the revered teacher and truant student1 the honoured guest and persecuted resident1 helping nations to make their histories1 here and there1 writing great words in them1 ministering to their arts and helping to humanize humanity4 ,to be persecuted and oppressed by the nations is inconvenient and annoying1 but to make music1 paint pictures1 write books1 sing songs1 mould statues for them--how superb6 ,ah1 what a tragedy to be a ,jew1 and yet1 how glorious6 ,the nations need the ,jew and he must not desert them in their hour of need1 and if he is true to his best self and keeps on growing he will not die and vanish as a people4 ,in any case 'tis nobler to die for a good cause than to live in impotence4 ,so let the ,jew remain1 with whatever nation he abides1 and as a good citizen help it grow great and good1 and show that ,ibsen was right when he called us the aristocracy of the race4 ,let not1 ,i say to the ,zionists1 the ,jew be like the little boy who runs away from school after he receives a thrashing and before he has taught his teacher a lesson4 ,to sacrifice for ,dr4 ,herzl's scheme our vast opportunities in the world1 which owes us so much1 and to which we are so indebted1 would be selling our birthright for a mess of pottage4 ,so let us remain4 ,we can do so much in so many countries with the teachings and spirit of ,judaism4 ,we1 too1 are frail and have many faults1 but we can improve where there's lots of room and plenty of opportunities4 ,life is a melodrama1 and in the latter acts the long-lost brothers1 ,jew and ,christian1 who have for so long waged war against each other1 will recognize1 understand each another1 and perhaps1 things will end happily1 after all4 ,meanwhile we will forgive ,france for the ,dreyfus affair1 because of her perfect prose and beautiful poetry4 ,i will even forgive ,captain ,dreyfus for having been such a bore1 if he will stop writing books4 ,let the ,jews remain in ,russia instead of going to ,palestine1 for think of the love of freedom that tyranny engenders6 ,think how good all our oppressions have been in that they made us love liberty and truth4 ,think what a chance to shed blood for freedom there will yet be in ,russia4 ,our people should remain there4 ,things are changing4 ,what a fine literature it is producing1 and how noble ,russia is--underground4 ,away with your petty neutral little ,state1 ,i say to the ,zionist2 the ,state to be bought on the instalment plan from the ,sultan1 to be built on the soil of superstition1 where the ,jews will go back to their traditional customs and fall asleep4 ,the land is barren and sterile1 and ,i do not believe in starvation1 even on holy land4 ,even the orthodox must have a religion2 but they will never acquire it in ,palestine4 ,they will cling to the old4 ,they will not progress4 ,the ,bible--and ,i bow my head in reverence for that great work of fiction--will never be edited and revised as it ought to be1 in ,palestine4 ,judaism will not grow in ,palestine4 ,the ,jews will cling to the letter1 and the spirit of it will starve4 ,god save the ,jews from ,palestine4 ,judaism there will not grow2 it will stagnate and die4 ,the ,jews must live among the destroying forces of civilization4 ,it is only when they outgrow their obnoxious superstitions and down-dragging traditions that they become great4 ,the speaker waxed warm2 his eyes flashed with enthusiasm1 his voice grew loud4 ,i want none of the ,jewish ,state1 he said4 ,the whole world is holy land4 ,wherever there are good1 honest people is holy land1 and from every corner of the earth shall issue the law1 and the word of ,god shall go forth from every place1 including my garret4 ,give us a big stage1 give us the world1 give us the universe1 and let me watch it from its centre--my garret at #c ,birmingham ,alley2 let me watch the great and glorious play with ,israel's heroic part in all the activities and growth and progress of the world1 and ,i will 'thank whatever gods there be4' ,and this is my larger dream2 a better1 more humane world1 created by the brotherhood of men1 with ,israel as peacemaker and fraternizer4 ,amen4 ,,iv ,art for ,tolstoy's ,sake ,it was at one of a series of lectures given under the auspices of the ,social ,science ,circle during the winter season4 ,the audience which assembled in the gloomy little hall on the third floor of an ,east ,broadway building was rather small in size4 ,in announcing the lecture no rewards had been offered to those who would come to listen to it1 as often seemed necessary2 the speaker of the evening was only a member of the club1 who worked for his ideas1 and not an eminent lecturer who lived on his reputation and whose name would draw a crowd4 ,the majority of young men and women of the ,ghetto would not think of wasting an evening on wisdom2 they would commit no such folly1 when they could have such a lovely time at the near-by dancing schools4 ,still1 the few and the faithful were all present1 and those who were thirsting for knowledge came to be saturated4 ,max ,lubinsky was the speaker1 and his theme1 ,tolstoy's ,theory of ,art1 was teeming with vital import4 ,keidansky1 as a member of the committee in charge of the literary work of the circle1 acted as chairman of the meeting4 ,in introducing the speaker he made a few remarks1 somewhat as follows3 ,tolstoy has theories of art4 ,personally ,i am rather sorry for this1 because if he did not have them he would be a greater artist4 ,even as theories of life often mar existence1 so theories of art impair the artist4 ,admitting that art with a purpose can help the world1 it is certain that art for its own sweet sake can create and re-create worlds4 ,after he had contributed some of the greatest works of art to the literature of ,russia1 ,tolstoy decided to find out just what art was4 ,during his investigations1 which lasted many years1 he found that the art of the world was in great part lazy1 unemployed1 corrupt1 suffering from ennui1 and ministering to the debauched1 poor rich people1 whom the poor man ever envies2 he decided that art should become useful and go to work1 and he gave it an employment--the promulgation of his ideas of social regeneration4 ,once1 ,tolstoy tells us1 art was primitive and simple and pious1 and it was good art and true2 but during the ,middle ,ages1 when the upper class and the nobility became sceptical and pessimistic1 and could find no more consolation in religion1 art became divorced from the church1 because they took it up as an amusement and study4 ,and ever since art got into such bad company--among people of culture and those who understand it1 who cherished all its wonderful enfoldments and caressed all its capricious moods--ever since art got into such bad company1 it became as beautiful as sin1 and so complex1 mystic and ambiguous that even the ,russian muzhik or peasant cannot understand it4 ,and so--as it seems to me--argues ,tolstoy1 the fact that the muzhik cannot appreciate ',tannhuser' proves conclusively that ,wagner never wrote any real music4 ,then1 the dear old master delves deeply into all definitions1 origins and explanations of art4 ,he finds no designation1 no description that satisfies him2 they all hinge on and culminate in beauty--in the production and reproduction of beauty that is in life1 in nature1 in the worlds within us and without2 and ,tolstoy is rather shy at mere beauty1 and thinks it a temptress1 a siren and a song2 besides1 beauty1 he says1 changes and depends on taste1 and taste varies1 and as all these definitions are too far-fetched and vague1 he finds one that is still more indefinite4 ,art is the communication of feeling1 the expression of the religious consciousness4 ,of course it is that1 but first and foremost it must have the sterling qualities of art in form and matter4 ,tolstoy1 however1 would make this the chief basis and standard of art1 for his would be an art that would detract men's minds from mere beauty1 that would make them helplessly pious1 that would unite mankind1 make life as monotonous as possible1 and convert humanity to ,christian ,anarchism4 ,every book1 picture1 statue and composition of music should be degradingly moral4 ,and the question arises1 what does he mean by religious consciousness8 ,walt ,whitman expressed his religious consciousness in a manner that shocked the world1 and it is not at all pleasing to ,tolstoy1 and yet ,whitman was the most religious man that lived in centuries4 ,the ,abb ,prevost wrote ,manon ,lescaut to express his religious consciousness1 and ,robert ,ingersoll delivered his lectures to do the same2 to express their religious consciousness1 great sculptors mould nude figures of women1 out of worship of the divine beauty of the human form2 and ,st4 ,francis of ,assisi expresses the spiritual emotion in quite a different manner4 ,but no1 ,tolstoy has a certain kind of religious consciousness in mind1 and this should be expressed by all art and all artists in a uniform mode until we have gone back to primitive conditions4 ,i yield to no one in my admiration of the grand old man of ,russia4 ,he is one of the noblest souls that ever walked this earth1 and as an artist1 when he is at his best and does not preach1 he is superb2 there are few like him4 ,but when he begins to philosophize and moralize1 few can rise to the height of absurdity as quickly as he can4 ,as it seems to me1 ,tolstoy's position is something like this3 ',christianity is a colossal failure1' he says1 'so let us all become ,christians4 ,our civilization is dreadfully slow in its advance2 it has not as yet outgrown its barbaric primitiveness1 so let us all go back to barbarism4 ,all government is evil1 so let us be governed solely by the teachings of a man who lived nearly two thousand years ago1 a man who was pure and who made no study of the wicked conditions of our time4 ,it is only thus that we can become free--by a circumlocutory process of self-abnegation1 self-sacrifice and self-annihilation4 ,let us become slaves of the theory of minding our neighbors' business and we will be free4 ,the power of will is the greatest thing in the world2 he who follows his free will becomes a slave and is doomed to damnation4 ,let us be ourselves2 let us stifle our feelings1 become altruists and get away from ourselves4 ,all government is tyranny2 let us abolish all government1 adopt a rigid1 ancient1 mystic morality1 and let everyone become his own tyrant4 ,our morality is a failure2 it has produced a false art2 therefore we must have a true art which will promulgate our morality4 ,art that exists for mere beauty cannot be understood by the great masses1 therefore let us have an art for the masses which will be beautiful4 ,our ,christianity is a failure1 therefore we must convert art to ,christianity and send it forth as a missionary of the ,gospels as ,i interpret them4' ,this1 as ,i see it1 is the queer position of ,tolstoy1 but his theories are exceedingly well-meant and highly interesting1 and ,i am glad that we are to have a lecture this evening on ,tolstoy's theories of art by one who is a thorough student of ,tolstoy and to whom the master's teachings are near and dear4 ,i must not forget that ,i am not the speaker of the evening2 ,i merely wanted to hint at the importance of the subject so that you may give it due attention1 but ,i must not transgress upon the time of the lecturer1 for the way of the transgressor1 according to ,tolstoy and others1 is said to be hard4 ,besides1 the chairman is not supposed to have any opinions2 his duty is only to eulogize the speaker--in a merciless manner--and to introduce him with a few appropriate1 well-chosen and ill-fated remarks4 ,the chairman at best is only a relic of barbarism1 and should be abolished4 ,and ,keidansky at last introduced the speaker1 his friend1 ,max ,lubinsky1 who1 after treating his audience to a bit of satire at the expense of the eloquent and loquacious chairman1 proceeded to give a simple1 sympathetic and modest interpretation of ,tolstoy's ,what is ,art8 illustrating his talk with copious reading from the book1 and now and then referring to his written notes4 ,it was a comprehensive review of ,tolstoy's book he gave1 and as to his own ideas on art he did not sufficiently differ from ,tolstoy to have a formidable opinion on the matter1 and he had too much reverence for the great ,russian to voice it just then4 ,the presiding officer did not close the meeting without again remarking that art with a purpose is art with an impediment1 and that the only excuse of art is its uselessness4 ,from what ,i overheard after the meeting ,i observed that there was a strong anti-,keidansky feeling in the gathering4 ,he had evidently gone too far1 had voiced his notions too freely1 and had no right to take up so much time in speaking4 ,besides1 most of those present were social reformers1 tremendously in earnest1 and they felt1 more or less1 that ,tolstoy was right2 that art was only great as an advocate4 ,as we were walking together1 homeward bound1 a little later1 ,i said3 ,my dear fellow1 you've got yourself into trouble4 ,they are all up in arms against you and your awful heresies4 ,you have almost delivered the lecture of the evening yourself1 and the circle won't stand for it4 ,next thing you know you'll be court-martialed4 ,i almost expected that this would happen1 said ,keidansky1 but ,i had to say what ,i did4 ,it was an imperative duty4 ,i am only sorry that ,i forgot a few more things ,i had on my mind to say4 ,audiences confuse me and make me forget my best points4 ,i suppose they will call a special meeting and pass resolutions to condemn me and my proceedings4 ,but this will only prove the superiority of individuals over society4 ,before a society can pass resolutions1 the individual acts4 ,i suppose they'll say lots of things now4 ,they will say ,i was trying to make epigrams4 ,epigrams are always hateful--to those who cannot make a point in a volume4 ,they will say ,i was uttering platitudes4 ,after you convince people that there are such things as platitudes in the world1 they begin to find them in everything you say4 ,i once had an uncle 7he is still living1 only he is very rich1 and so ,i disowned him71 and at one time ,i explained to him the theory of our moving along the lines of least resistance4 ,a short while after that we had a very intimate interview and my uncle told me that ,i was a lazy1 good-for-nothing visionary2 that ,i did not want to do anything1 and moved along the lines of least resistance4 ,i had to say what ,i did because ,i did not want the people to go off with such crude and false conceptions of art4 ,i knew that ,lubinsky would not dare to differ from ,tolstoy4 ,he adores the old man4 ,so do ,i1 but ,i cannot afford to give up my mind to any one--not until ,i become a respectable member of the synagogue1 and join a number of secret orders4 ,then it does not matter4 ,the worst thing about a charming1 noble personality is that our admiration for it gets the better of our reasoning power and we become ready to follow it in all its follies4 ,this is the regrettable influence that ,tolstoy has exerted upon ,lubinsky4 ,thus our emancipators enslave us4 ',be yourself1' says ,emerson1 and you become an ,emersonian4 ,but there is something else ,i wanted to say on this question of art4 ,we ,jews anticipated and lived in perfect accord with ,tolstoy's theory of art--that art must be religious and must be burdened with a message1 or a purpose--and the result is that we have no fine arts of our own1 except poetry1 which has more sighs and sobs and tears and piety than music and beauty4 ,of course1 the reason for the absence of art among us is one of the commandments1 which forbids the making of images1 and oh1 ,i cannot tell you how sorry ,i am that this commandment was ever observed4 ,i do not object so much to the other nine commandments1 but for this one ,i can never forgive my people4 ,and here1 by the way1 is an example of what the religious consciousness can do for art4 ,there is a religious consciousness which makes people unconscious of religion4 ',the piety of art is the quest of the unattainable1' and the more freedom you give it from missions the greater the mission it will fulfil4 ,one more answer to the theory of art for ,tolstoy's sake3 ,here is a fable that occurred to me as ,i was listening to the lecture4 ,i have no time to elaborate and polish it1 but ,i give you the right to plagiarize it4 ',you must pardon me1' said ,art to ,beauty1 one day1 'if ,i do not pay so much attention to you as ,i used to1 but this is a world of evils and problems1 and ,i will have to leave you for awhile and go forth and help to make a better1 juster system of society4' ,and ,art went forth to fight the battle of the poor and the oppressed1 and ,beauty waited wistfully for its return1 alone and deserted1 withered and faded4 ,after many years ,beauty went in quest of her lost lover1 ,art1 who had not returned1 and she came upon a field of battle1 and there1 transformed into rebel warrior1 was her lost lover1 ,art4 ,and even as she gazed1 a shot was fired from the enemy1 and it pierced the heart of ,art1 and he lay prostrate and dead before her4 ,v ,three ,stages of the ,game ,we had been speaking of the only law that never changes--the law of change3 of the glorious ascent of the youthful nonconformist1 and of the sad descent of the older and wiser compromiser--a theme1 by the way1 as old as age and yet as new as youth4 ,we all had friends we once looked up to and now looked down upon1 and we indulged in a few reminiscences4 ,every army had its deserters1 every cause its traitors1 and the crusaders who carried the red flag also changed their minds1 lost heart and ran home4 ,oh1 the flesh-pots of ,egypt4 ,even the vegetarians cannot forget them1 remarked my companion4 ,they who led the strikes among the sweat-shop workers in the course of time became heartless capitalist bosses2 and there were ,anarchists1 who wanted to abolish all laws1 who became lawyers and went into politics4 ,one by one many of the promising young men of the ,ghetto broke their promises and left the uplifting movements they brought into existence4 ,some died1 some married for love of money1 some took wives unto themselves1 some became lawyers and doctors1 some dentists1 some wire-pullers1 some went into politics1 and some moved to ,brooklyn4 ,compromise8 ,they all hated that word and then--they compromised4 ,recently ,i have been thinking of three particular stages of the game--this grim and gruesome little game called life1 said ,keidansky4 ,the first is when we sternly demand the truth1 the second when we ask for justice1 and the third--when we beg for mercy-- ,there you are with your eternal questions4 ,it was ,zolotkoff who once called the ,jew1 bent and bowed by his sorrows and fearful of the future--it was he who called the ,jew a living interrogation point4 ,you just reminded me of the simile4 ,but no2 ,i cannot tell you at which of the three stages ,i have arrived4 ,i am at all and at none4 ,what ,i really want ,i never ask for1 because ,i hardly know what it is1 and cannot formulate the demand4 ,if ,i knew just what they were1 perhaps ,i wouldn't want these things4 ,yet sometimes ,i think if ,i could play1 if ,i could play the violin1 ,i would express these starved longings and stifled yearnings4 ,i could not only tell1 but in the expression perhaps find what ,i want4 ,in words ,i cannot do it2 they are so formal1 definite1 rough4 ,the other day my friend1 the violinist1 came and played for me4 ',i'll tell you a story1' he said1 and he took his violin and played--a beautiful1 thrilling story4 ,the ,unknowable was revealed for a moment2 and it occurred to me then that if ,i could play1 ,i1 too1 might perform the miracle of expression1 which proves the divinity of music4 ,as it is1 ,i cannot tell my desires2 and yet ,i want but little here below and ,i don't want anything up above-- ,you don't mean to renounce your part of the world to come8 ,i asked4 ,i don't know that it is coming to me1 said ,keidansky4 ,besides ,i am a little bit 'shy' on the world to come4 ,i am afraid it is fashioned too much on the style of this one1 and down here1 you know1 ,i am sometimes tired of everything4 ,the entire panorama is so farcical1 the whole game so monotonous1 and our heroics are so ludicrous4 ,the valetudinarians make me sick4 ,i am weary of ',the ,book of ,jade1' and clever people are awful bores4 ,yes1 ,i am somewhat afraid of the second story they call the other world1 for it may really come1 and history might repeat itself1 even up there4 ,the mortal fear of oblivion makes one crave for immortality2 but1 perhaps1 one life is enough4 ,no matter how sinful1 or how saintly1 a human being has been1 one world is sufficient of a punishment4 ,virtue is its only reward2 evil is its own punishment4 ,the life beyond--is beyond4 ,let it stay there4 ,promises of ,heaven and threats of the ,midway do not move me so much now1 for the chances are that they are one and the same thing1 and this is the only place we are sure of and ought to make the most of4 ,there is some good down here in spite of the reformers4 ,the good is right beside the evil1 and we can seldom tell the difference4 ,the saint and the sinner often exchange pulpits and each proves the imperfection of the other4 ,paradise is right next door to ,purgatory2 in fact1 you want to be careful when you are around that way lest you enter the place you weren't sent to4 ,we ought to make the most of it1 ,i say1 and ,i know ,i am right1 because ,i have been condemned by a number of orthodox rabbis4 ,you contradict yourself1 ,i said4 ,i do it to be consistent1 said ,keidansky4 ,but ,i have digressed and transgressed1 and all because of your useless question4 ,as ,i was saying1 when we are young1 ignorant1 innocent and inexperienced1 we sternly demand the truth1 the whole truth1 and nothing but the truth4 ,we come to enlighten this dominion of darkness1 to right a world gone wrong and to guide a poor and deluded mankind to the eternal verities4 ,iconoclasticism becomes our creed1 infidelity our religion4 ,we are to repeal the world's laws1 to shatter its idols1 to demolish its traditions1 and we at once reject its standards and ideals because they are not founded on truth4 ,we question1 investigate1 analyze1 and the imagination of youth works wonders4 ,we are all gods in our dreams4 ,the re-creation of the world is but an easy task4 ,with all the modern improvements1 it can be done in less than seven days1 it seems4 ,glorious quest of truth and the golden goal1 enchanting castles in the air1 of which youth is the architect6 ,have you ever been young8 ,i was born old1 yet ,i know something about it4 ,and for the rest1 you know what happens4 ,most of the things in the world end sadly1 because in the ending of a thing there is sadness4 ,we find1 at last1 that what we wanted cannot be had for the asking2 that we must pay for it with our lives2 that the truth is--there is no truth--that as much of it as we find is often more than we want2 that illusion is a necessary element in the composition of the world2 that everything is relative and the quest of truth is a relative virtue4 ,i hate the compromiser and deserter and ,i have nothing to say in their defence1 but change is in the very nature of things1 and sooner or later we must recognize that absolute truth does not exist1 and we must accept the old foundation for building whatever we can in the world1 and realize that perfection is a long and laborious process of becoming4 ,later on we really see that all is for the best1 that the pessimists are here as an object lesson1 and we conclude that it is folly to be too wise4 ,we cannot repeal the world's laws all at once1 but we can break them gradually4 ,there is much wisdom in folly and some truth in falsehood1 too4 ,the stupidity of the world is an absolute necessity3 the world's work has to be done4 ,so1 at least1 we decide1 and we abandon the impossible quest after the absolute truth and become satisfied with justice1 mere justice4 ,we only ask for fair play4 ,at this stage of the game we are already hardened and inured to things1 and we manage to get along with justice1 such as it is when we get it or buy it in court4 ,at this time1 if we are prosperous1 we read and relish ,omar ,khayyam1 the philosophy of whom is well expressed by the street urchin when he says1 ',i don't give a hang4' ,and we also laugh at the poor fools who seek after the truth4 ,later on still1 when we grow weary and weak and cannot have justice--are not crafty or strong enough--we come down a little lower and beg for mercy4 ,thus we reach the third stage of the game4 ,the speaker paused for a moment1 watching a little boy who was trying to float his little boat on the pond--for we were lucubrating in the ,park1 where we met by accident4 ,that's all very well1 ,i said1 but what have you to suggest8 ,why1 nothing that would make a sensation in a newspaper1 he said1 but something that by chance or miracle may have some reason in it4 ,it is this3 ,let the youth continue his noble1 heroic1 if melodramatic1 quest of truth1 that those who grow wiser and weaker may get justice4 ,let the young strive for the impossible and the possible will be attained1 and those who ask for justice will really have it4 ,let them question and analyze and shatter idols and become bombastic and hysterical and build castles1 and dream and disturb the order of the world--and let us admire their heilige dumheit--that some day those who have grown feeble may find at least fair play4 ,the more the world will tolerate the extravagances of youth1 the more it will benefit by its achievements4 ,let the wildest imaginations have free play and things will grow fairer and more fair4 ,let them dream4 ,to be disillusioned is a trifle2 but never to have dreamed is terrible4 ,finally1 this earth will be turned into a heaven by all those who have failed to do it4 ,and those who have grown older and sadder and merely ask for justice1 let them really demand it with all their might1 and so shall their efforts not be in vain1 and so shall those who beg for mercy receive it--or none beg for mercy4 ,if those who ask for justice would only be just to those who are in the other stages of the game1 and if those who beg for mercy would only be merciful6 ,no matter at what stage1 let all play fairly and honestly and be tolerant of others1 and all things will tend towards ultimate decency4 ,again1 were there more demanding truth1 there would be fewer satisfied with mere justice1 and none would beg for mercy4 ,at any rate1 more truth1 more justice2 more justice1 more mercy1 or no need of it at all4 ,if only every one would want something1 mean something1 do something4 ,personally ,i cannot do very much1 for you see ,i am somewhat of a preacher myself4 ,going on the 'elevated1' are you8 ,sorry for you4 ,good-bye4 ,,vi ,the ,badness of a ,good ,man ,i was looking for ,keidansky1 but he was nowhere to be found4 ,he was not at home1 and my visits to a few of his favorite resorts were also in vain4 ,then they told me over at ,schur's bookshop on ,canal street1 that there was an entertainment being given by the ,alliance on that evening1 and ,keidansky was to contribute an essay to the literary programme1 a paper on ,the ,badness of a ,good ,man4 ,it serves them right1 ,i said1 and ,i forthwith betook myself to the dreary quarters of the ,alliance1 which formed the intellectual centre of our ,ghetto4 ,the exercises were already in progress4 ,the hall was packed2 hardly any standing-room left4 ,the pictures of ,karl ,marx and ,michael ,bakounin--the respective fathers of ,socialism and ,anarchism--looked down upon a pious and picturesque congregation of people who swore by their names2 the same studious1 serious1 troubled1 yet occasionally smiling faces of young men and young women of the ,jewish quarter--seekers after light among the people that walk in darkness4 ,the hall was brightly illuminated4 ,the people were in their best4 ,it was ,sunday evening4 ,even ,keidansky had condescended1 or compromised1 and paid some attention to external appearances1 this time4 ,he brushed his clothes for the occasion1 as he once remarked4 ,at any rate1 there was some change in his attire differing from his usual negligent appearance4 ,this was an entertainment4 ,there were several readings and they were all teeming with trouble1 and propt with problems4 ,the recitations1 well given by several young women1 were compositions like ,hood's ,song of the ,shirt1 ,william ,morris's ,socialist chants2 the songs of suffering and joyless toil1 sung in ,yiddish1 were by ,edelstatt1 ,rosenfeld and ,goldstein4 ,the people over here enjoy their sorrows1 it seems4 ,keidansky was already on the platform when ,i came in2 in fact1 he was already reading his paper4 ,his paper was a typical utterance of the iconoclast that he is1 and craving the indulgence of the reader1 ,i quote here as much of it as ,i copied then and there1 ere we come to the conversation4 ,i do not know what he said before ,i entered1 but after that he hastily and nervously read somewhat as follows3 ,he is a good man and a worthy1 and a useful member of society4 ,all his neighbors say so1 and he stands well in the entire community4 ,his friends are legion4 ,he is always ready to do them a good turn1 and they are in turn ever ready to reciprocate4 ,he lives1 acts1 thinks and speaks like all other good men2 and he is exceedingly popular and highly respected4 ,he is tolerant4 ,he agrees with everybody on almost every conceivable subject4 ,he is a good man4 ,this is a free country1 and every man has a right to his honest opinion--provided he is not a crank1 or eccentric1 and does not make himself obnoxious by differing with everybody4 ,in that case1 of course1 the man is beyond recovery2 he is lost to all shame and to the good old political parties and principles4 ,he respects every honest opinion and sentiment1 and when he does meet a man who differs from him1 why1 he gently and adroitly changes the subject and smiles irresistibly and talks pleasantly1 anyway4 ,oh1 well1 we are bound to differ on some things--but what is the difference so long as we both vote the same ticket8 ,have a cigar8 ,when the man does not vote the same ticket it is really too bad1 you know2 but there is still a smile and a pleasant word4 ,his generous contributions to the charities of the city are well known4 ,the newspapers frequently have paragraphs in praise of his philanthropic deeds4 ,the press is one of our greatest institutions4 ,it is the palladium of our liberties1 and a great medium of advertising4 ,there are always good words1 cigars and drinks for the newspaper 'boys4' ,they are a lot of fine1 clever1 noble fellows--according to the press1 and he believes it4 ,he is a good man4 ,he travels through life in the good old-fashioned way4 ,he is guided by the morality of our common ancestors1 abides by their time-honored customs and reveres their sacred traditions4 ,he thinks as his fathers thought1 whose fathers thought as their fathers thought1 and whose fathers--never thought anything4 ,he is a good man1 and he is agreeable4 ,he once almost agreed with a ,christian ,scientist--he sold him a parcel of property4 ,christian ,scientists have faith4 ,it is good to do business with people who have faith4 ,there is always much truth in what other people tell him1 only we are bound to differ on some things1 as he always says4 ,he is a patriot and his lungs are ever at the service of his country4 ,it is my country1 whatever it does or does not do4 ,let us give three cheers for the stars and stripes1 and hang the social reformers4 ,the people are always right and they know it4 ,he believes in the people1 and they have faith in him4 ,they have already sent him to the ,board of ,aldermen1 and there are many other places they may send him to4 ,there is a ,congress at ,washington1 and many good men are sent there4 ,he is persistently honest4 ,his honesty has been brought to the notice of many4 ',honesty is the best policy' is a line ever on his lips4 ,his reputation for veracity is enviable4 ,it pays to tell the truth1 he says4 ,he tells the truth as he sees it1 and he sees it as everybody else does4 ,he is the most active member of the largest congregation in his district1 and is considered a strong pillar of the church--even of society at large4 ,he gives aid and succour to the weak and the failures2 but he is always on the side of the strong and the successful4 ,it is the largest movement in his community1 social1 political1 or religious1 that receives his staunch support4 ,and it so happens that he is ever in accord with the tendencies of the largest movement4 ,he is a good man4 ,he is eminently practical1 and he harbors a horror for visionaries and their ,utopias4 ,he loathes agitators and rebels1 disturbers of peace and order4 ,peace1 order1 accuracy1 submission1 obedience1 duty--and uniformity is a good word1 too4 ,children1 you must always abide by the powers that be1 and obey your parents2 they know better what is best for you4 ,they have buried many children4 ,gentlemen1 respect the flag4 ,this is a free country1 and the ,government can do as it pleases with the people4 ,vague1 unexpressed longings of a new time1 hungry desires of the age1 wistful heart-whispers for a freer1 higher life1 muffled music of far-off seas1 stifled and half-drowned voices of the submerged ,ego crying ',i'--these do not disturb his dreams4 ,he has no dreams4 ,far be it from him to be touched by the shapeless1 new-born aspirations which are suspended in the air waiting for some one to give them form4 ,he is a man of facts1 and lends no credence to far-away fictions4 ,his health is so good that he is not easily affected by theories and books4 ,he is consistent and hardly ever changes his mind2 at least not more often than do those who draw up the platform of his political party4 ,his intrepid loyalty to his party cannot be forgotten as long as he lives2 he stands as solidly within its ranks as a mortared-in brick within a wall4 ,when he says a thing it is said1 and he keeps every promise he makes1 good or bad4 ,he prizes highly and is keenly jealous of his reputation1 and believes in living up to it4 ,he will not differ from you on matters of art or literature1 because1 well1 because1 as he says1 he is not well up in these things1 and besides1 it is all a matter of taste1 is it not8 ,but he likes a good old-fashioned melodrama2 don't you8 ,he is a good man4 ,fathers point him out to their sons as a paragon of virtue4 ,he never swerves nor deviates from the path of duty and righteousness1 as he sees it4 ,he is indissolubly linked in the great chain of real1 practical1 daily events of the world1 and he never chases any phantoms--not he4 ,he never fights with fate4 ,he takes things as they come1 and many things come his way4 ,providence seems to be on his side4 ,he never complains of the powers that be in heaven or on earth4 ,god made the world1 and no man can ever change it4 ,all that is1 is well for the industrious and the successful4 ,there is always room on the top for those who can crawl up4 ,he adapts himself to all circumstances1 and profits by most of them4 ,he moves along the lines of least resistance2 is ever drifting into his proper niche4 ,he will 'get there4' ,where he cannot be aggressive1 he is agreeable1 and usually gains his end4 ,he never falters1 nor fails to fall in line with the rest4 ,it is always safest to be on the safe side4 ,he positively believes in the benefits that accrue to those who are negative4 ,he possesses all the negative virtues of his honored ancestors1 who now slumber beneath their eulogistically inscribed tombstones4 ,he meekly follows their present example of abstaining from most of the vicious pleasures of life4 ,he is a good and respectable man1 and he never lets his desires run loose2 they must abide by certain laws4 ,he is deeply interested in all matters concerning public improvements4 ,why8 ,the motive of a man's interest in public affairs is often a private matter2 but the impeccable reputation of a good man should be a sufficient shield against the scrutiny of the inquisitive4 ,the inquisitive will never go to heaven1 and they will 'get it' here on earth4 ,he is modest4 ,he frequently complains of the credit and the honors that are given him by the community--lest his hearers should not know that he bears the burden of demonstrative public admiration4 ,he is profusely grateful for all he receives1 which1 he constantly protests1 is so much more than he deserves4 ,he only tries to do his duty in his humble way4 ,he is effusively cordial and friendly4 ,he has a pervasive1 confidence-inspiring smile for all who pass him1 known or unknown4 ,he clasps your hand firmly and shakes it long4 ,he is congenial even to the congealing4 ,he is a self-made1 self-advertised man4 ,he has affluence2 he has influence4 ,his exemplary character is worthy of emulation1 as the newspaper and his political friends say2 and his emoluments are not few nor far between4 ,he is intensely1 surprisingly religious4 ,the creed of his fathers is good enough for him4 ,he questions not1 nor doubts--not he4 ,a good1 devoted churchman1 he is a regular attendant2 and he never sleeps nor slumbers1 no matter how long and how old the sermon be4 ,he is a brave man4 ,the good souls of his district are most lavish in praise of his piety4 ,alas1 it is not possible to enumerate all his splendid deeds1 his high-classed qualities and his standard virtues4 ,but1 then1 that is hardly necessary4 ,they speak for themselves1 or for their owner4 ,he is a good husband and father1 and his word is law unto his wife and children4 ,he is an excellent citizen1 a loud-mouthed patriot4 ,he is a good man4 ,he is going to heaven4 ,and1 oh1 ,i do wish he would go there soon6 ,after ,i had listened to this scandalous screed and other sombre and shadowy things that were on the programme of the entertainment1 ,i finally overtook the offender1 and shook hands with ,keidansky4 ,i've been looking for you1 ,i explained1 and they told me you would be here1 so ,i came1 and caught you in the act4 ,glad you showed up1 he said2 but ,i am rather afraid4 ,do be lenient4 ,i cannot defend nor explain everything4 ,well1 ,i began1 leniently1 according to this harangue of yours1 we would have to change our conception of goodness and morality1 and-- ,no1 we don't have to1 he answered impatiently2 but we can't help it2 it is always1 always changing4 ,the good man of one age is the dead man of another4 ,between vice and virtue there is often no more than a change of mind4 ,goodness is only a point of view1 and morality ceases to be moral after awhile4 ,what's a good thing to do to-day will1 in all probability1 be the best thing to avoid to-morrow4 ,it's all a question of time2 no standard stands forever4 ,why1 the coat of tar and feathers is going out of fashion1 and even in ,new ,england1 it's no longer a crime to be happy4 ,morality is but an arbitrary agreement1 subject to change4 ,it is a catalogue of certain accepted virtues1 which should be edited1 revised1 and reprinted1 from time to time2 for many of the articles in this booklet go out of fashion1 and otherwise become stale1 obsolete1 and even obnoxious4 ,at best1 the goods are not what they are represented to be by the drummers1 that is1 the preachers1 when it comes to their delivery--when it comes down or up to real life4 ,what do you think of virtues that consist either of doing nothing1 or of doing things for no other reason than that they have bored other people to death4 ,the catalogue is full of them1 and just now we have come to a time when our current conventional morality is a kind of mortality--dead and deadening4 ,it holds us down to outworn1 oppressive systems1 customs1 regulations1 and the uniformity of things is stifling4 ,it prevents growth1 it impedes progress4 ,we cannot live as free1 untrammelled individuals4 ,we must be citizens1 members of society2 we must be what other people call respectable4 ,everybody owns everybody else4 ,everybody follows1 no one leads his own life4 ,no one has any initiative4 ,everybody examines your moral conduct1 and dictates the term of your existence4 ,how can one have a religion1 if he must live up to the faith of everybody else8 ,how can we live if we must follow the dull and noble examples of those who are dead and never knew any better8 ,everybody listens to what the people say1 and no one hears his own voice4 ,this is an age of machinery4 ,there are no more individuals2 there are automatic walking and working machines which have been wound up by public opinion to run so many hours according to a well-approved system of regulations4 ',what's the use of common-sense8' says a character in one of ,jacob ,gordin's plays4 ',what's the use of common-sense when we have a ,constitution8' ,thousands of fools are kneeling before the fetish of public opinion4 ',what will the people say8' they all ask4 ,nothing1 ,i say1 nothing4 ,the people never say anything4 ,they only talk4 ,individuals say it all4 ,those who depend upon others1 who see strength in union are weaklings4 ,united we fall1 divided we stand4 ,those who dare to tread in the path of freedom1 who dare to do things and say things1 who own their bodies and never raise any mortgages on their souls1 who make their own morality--they are the people who advance the world's progress and help to civilize our civilization4 ,they have nearly always been called bad by their contemptible contemporaries--yet they represented all the goodness worth having4 ,god give us the men who have virtue enough to do as they please1 and courage enough to shock their neighbors4 ,but it's all system and monotony and imitation with the majorities1 and a lot of slavish1 knavish1 puny and pious little beings1 afraid of their own voices and not daring to draw their breath any more often than their neighbors do1 and with whom morality and sanity is a matter of majority rule--beings like these are called the good people4 ,this idea must be reversed4 ,we must come to realize the utter badness of the conventional1 crawling1 yours-truly-for-a-consideration1 good people4 ,also we must come to realize the supreme goodness of so-called bad people--people who are too religious to go to church--to whom tyranny of any kind is the height of immorality1 and slavery the depth of it4 ,we must have more bad people to save this wicked world4 ,and heaven save us from most of the good people of to-day4 ,it is one of those 'dumb-driven cattle' that ,i tried to pay my respects to in my paper--one of those cattle that here in democratic ,america become leaders of men4 ,they do not know that the progress of the world has been built upon discarded customs and broken laws--but let us go down the street4 ,i must have a drink of something before ,i can solve the problem to your satisfaction--or even convince myself that ,i am right4 ,,vii ,the ,goodness of a ,bad ,man ,perhaps it was to the disgrace of the ,alliance that ,keidansky's disquisition1 his merciless tirade against the good man1 was received with some show of hand-clapping favor2 and it may be to the credit of the membership that there were those in the audience who were surprised1 shocked and startled1 who dissented from and resented his utterances4 ,at any rate1 the dissenters and commentators stirred up a discussion1 and for several days after that it was a topic of conversation and disagreement at the club1 at the cafs and such places where our circles would congregate4 ,those who dissented and disagreed with the man who questioned the very bases of our morality said many1 varying things and not all things were said in ,keidansky's presence4 ,and he8 ,sometimes he would say a word in explanation1 or his defence1 and for the rest he listened1 looked wise1 smiled and relished every attack made against him4 ,his opponents finally agreed that his was a one-sided1 partial view1 and they told him that1 after all1 it was better to have a good man than a bad one4 ,but it yet remains to be proved1 he argued1 that the average good man is not a whole lot worse than the so-called bad man4 ,they all dared him to prove it1 to present the other side of the case1 the goodness of the bad man4 ,i don't care to prove anything1 said ,keidansky4 ',even the truth can be proved1' he quoted a favorite decadent2 but if you want me to1 ,i'll try to show you the other side of the story1 as it seems to me4 ,i'll write it to-night or to-morrow1 and read it to you all1 say1 on the evening of the day after to-morrow1 at the ,alliance4 ,we all agreed to be there1 and accordingly assembled at the appointed time1 and waited until ,keidansky appeared with a folded manuscript sticking out of his coat pocket4 ,he was all out of breath4 ,he had been walking very fast so as to get here just in time to be late4 ,he had just finished his composition4 ,my lamp went out last night1 he explained1 and so ,i had to do it all this afternoon1 and just got through4 ,and so here is his paper as he read it to us on ,the ,goodness of a ,bad ,man4 ,he is a bad man1 a worthless1 useless member of society4 ,most of his neighbors say so1 and he does not stand well in the community4 ,his friends are few1 with long distances between4 ,he would not go far out of his way to do a fellow a good turn2 does not believe in favours1 he says1 and nobody cares much for him4 ,he lives1 acts1 thinks1 speaks like a bad man1 and to say nothing of popularity--very few of us have any--but who will have any respect for a man that scorns1 jeers1 sneers and pokes all manner of fun at respectability8 ,respectability1 he says1 is a mark of public formality behind which to hide private rascality1 and the prettier the mask the more ugly the face4 ,he disagrees with nearly everybody on almost every conceivable subject4 ,no matter what other people think of his opinions1 he actually believes them to be right4 ,he is a bad man4 ,he is not at all tolerant4 ,when he disagrees with any one--and he does that most of the time--he bluntly and boldly tells him so up and down1 and he is ever ready to state his reasons and argue the case4 ,he will not conceal his convictions1 even when he is your guest4 ,of course1 this is a free country1 and every man is entitled to his opinion--but one should have some tact1 politeness1 diplomacy1 courtesy4 ,if every one had these there would not be so much difference of opinion and discord in our land1 and there would be more peace on earth4 ,polite people do not try to force their opinions upon others4 ,polite people have no opinions that differ from those of others4 ,i doubt whether it is polite to have any opinions at all4 ,the aristocracy is setting a good example4 ,it never thinks4 ,persons who think too much are ever behind the times4 ,but even if one has a right to his opinion1 he certainly has no right to be cranky1 eccentric1 and disturb the mental peace of the community with his queer1 revolutionary notions4 ,stubborn1 stiff-necked1 hard-headed1 determined1 impulsive1 he is ever present with that ubiquitous mind of his1 ever ready to give everybody a piece of it4 ,considering the frequency with which he gives everybody a piece of his mind1 ,i wonder that it is not all gone by this time4 ,he is a bad man4 ,he is aggressive and arrogant4 ,his faith in himself is offensive1 his self-reliance1 self-satisfaction unbearable4 ,he has too much respect for himself to follow the dictates of others4 ,his life is a life1 he says1 and not an apology for living2 he will have to pay for it with death and wants to make the most of the bargain--live fully and freely in his own way1 however reprehensible4 ,he does not want his neighbors to love and interfere with him--unless he cared for their affection4 ,he says it would be a sin to love his neighbors if they did not deserve his love4 ,the welfare of the community1 ,i heard him say1 depends upon the absolute freedom1 the self-salvation of each individual4 ,no one can ever do anything for another unless he has made the most of his own life--good or bad4 ,self-preservation in the end prompts us to do most for others4 ,selfishness is a pronounced form of sanity4 ,altruism has enslaved the world4 ,egoism will save it4 ,and ,i could quote you such monstrous heresies as will make your hair stand on end4 ,he is a bad man4 ,the world belongs to those who take things for granted4 ,he will not take anything for granted and that's why he has to take more hard knocks than anybody else4 ,he impiously questions1 doubts1 examines1 investigates everything on the face of the earth and--,god save us--even the things that be in heaven4 ,he is a living interrogation point1 ever questioning the wisdom of this world and the promises of the one to come4 ,nothing is so sacred as to be above his scrutiny2 he has little reverence for any of our glorious institutions4 ,he says they are the handiwork of men and often as crude and as useless as men could make them4 ,whatever has been erected can be corrected1 he says4 ,he thinks lightly of our laws2 thinks they are at best but a necessary evil and that in the course of human events it becomes necessary to abolish all evil4 ,he is a bad man4 ,he does not even recognize the sacred authority of tradition1 and has no decent regard for precedent4 ,precedent1 he argues1 only proves that some people lived before us and did things in a certain way4 ,he does not even--well1 think of a man who doubts the holy right of the majority6 ,he does not believe that the majority is always right2 in fact1 he contends that it is always wrong4 ,by the time the majority discovers a truth it becomes a falsehood1 he avers4 ,the majority only thinks it is always right4 ,the majority is but another word for mediocrity4 ,he does not heed what the people say4 ,the monster called majority1 in spite of his many heads1 does very little thinking4 ,what the people say seldom amounts to a meaning4 ,morality1 he argues1 is that which is conducive to one's happiness1 without interfering with or injuring his fellow-men4 ,to be moral is to live fully1 freely1 completely4 ,morality has nothing to do with the abnormal stifling1 starving1 thwarting of instincts and feelings4 ,a truth1 he told me1 is a truth1 and a principle is a principle1 whether it is held by many or by one4 ,numbers no more make right than might does4 ',the strongest man on earth1' he says1 'is he who stands alone1' and he always quotes a man named ,ibsen4 ,he is a bad case4 ',customs and conventionalities be hanged1' he says1 ',i have my own life to live and mean to manage it in my own way4 ,i have laws of my own and must obey them4' ,i heard him say it myself1 and ,i wonder what he means by these things4 ,there are always those who know better than you what is good for you1 but you don't want to mind them1 he told me4 ,the most advisable thing in the world is never to take any advice4 ,there may be those1 he once remarked1 who have lived longer than you have1 but they have not lived your life4 ,he has a mania for principles4 ,i think that is a chronic disease with him4 ,he imagines it is all one needs in life4 ,there is not a material advantage in the world but he would forfeit it for a moral principle1 as he calls it4 ',ideals are very well1' ,i once said1 'but one must live4' ',not necessarily1' he answered4 ',one must die1 if one cannot live honestly4' ,always he talks about the so-called social problem of the age4 ,i do not know just what that is2 but if there is such a thing as a social problem it is how to abolish social reformers4 ,this man is a social reformer1 and he has some scheme of his own how to reconstruct society on a basis of what he terms justice and truth4 ,in the promulgation of this scheme of his he foolishly spends much of his spare time and not a little of his money--and ,heaven knows he has not any too much4 ,but he says he does it all for his pleasure2 that it is out of sheer selfishness that he would uplift the fallen and elevate the lowly4 ,he is a bad man4 ,it is no disgrace to be poor1 of course2 but it is criminal of the poor not to know their place4 ,i half told him so1 but he answered in his usual contradictory way that the poor have no place at all4 ,he travels through life very much by his own crooked road1 with his own conception of morality1 justice and truth4 ,out of justice to the dead1 he argues1 we ought to abolish most of the institutions they have left behind4 ,otherwise they are being disgraced every day by the clumsy workings of the things they have established4 ,if our honored ancestors desired to perpetuate their taboos1 fetishes and inquisitions they had no business to die2 they should have stayed here4 ,by going to either of the places beyond they have forfeited their right to manage things here below4 ,the dead should give the living absolute home rule4 ,he is a bad man4 ,he hardly ever gives any charity4 ,he does not believe in charity2 says it creates more misery than it relieves1 and perpetuates poverty--the crime of mankind4 ,charity1 he claims1 curses both the giver and the receiver4 ,it makes the former haughty and proud and the latter dependent and servile4 ,what he wants is justice and the rights of all to earn the means of subsistence4 ,and there is no use in quoting the ,bible1 when he talks of poverty4 ,the ,bible1 he says1 is a great book which could be immensely improved by a good editor with a long blue pencil4 ,all the immoral problem-plays pale into pitiful insignificance beside some of the stories told in the ,bible--and they are not anywhere half so well told4 ,did you ever hear such blasphemy8 ,he is an infidel4 ,he does not even believe the newspapers2 has little faith in the great power of the press4 ,most of the newspapers1 he told me1 are published by the advertisers and edited by the readers4 ,journalists ever follow public opinion1 and they are never sure of what they believe in because it is hard to find out what the people approve4 ,weather ,bureau predictions are often ,gospel truths beside editorial convictions4 ,the best papers are yet to be printed4 ,he has such rank disregard of the past and the present that he seems to think that all things really great are yet to come4 ,he puzzles and vexes me4 ,i don't know just what he is in politics4 ,i doubt whether he is either a ,republican or a ,democrat4 ,i suspect he votes for the ,anarchist party4 ,what an absurdity6 ,they will never elect a ,president1 and this foolish man has not the ghost of a chance to get an office4 ,he is not at all consistent4 ,he changes his mind very often4 ,no matter how zealous or ardent he is about his ideas he is ever ready to reject them to-morrow and accept other views4 ,he does not believe in the newspapers1 in things visible and present1 yet he has the utmost faith in far-away fictions1 intangible ,utopias and the realization of iridescent dreams4 ,i dare not repeat all his outrageous blasphemies1 and ,i positively cannot mention his awful heresies as to his religion4 ,he cannot accept the religion of his fathers because they were infidels2 infidels who built little creeds out of fear1 who were afraid of their shadows1 who had monstrous1 libellous conceptions of ,god4 ,he says that he has too much faith to belong to any denomination4 ,religion is so large that no church can hold it4 ,no one should meddle between man and his ,maker4 ,christ1 ,i have heard him say1 may never forgive the ,christians for what they have made out of him1 for robbing him of his humanity4 ,no church for him4 ,he would rather worship beneath the arched dome of the starry skies and offer up a prayer to the ,god that dwells in every human heart and thinking brain4 ,he is a bad man4 ,he is always on the ungrateful side of the few1 the poor1 the weak and the fallen2 and he even sympathizes with beggars1 criminals1 fallen women and low persons2 is not afraid to mingle with them4 ,and what advantage can he ever derive out of that8 ,absent-minded1 forgetful1 engrossed in his queer ideas and impossible ideals1 he gets lost in his theories and books1 and loses life4 ,he does not realize that millions have found this world as it is and millions more will leave it so4 ,poor man1 he is a dreamer of dreams2 and to see the invisible1 to hear inaudible voices1 is the most expensive thing in life4 ,he sacrifices affluence1 influence1 power1 political office1 honor1 clat1 applause1 the respect of the community1 the regard of his neighbors1 the praise of the press1 the advantages of politics and of the people's approval--sacrifices all these for his pitiful brain-begotten fancies4 ,he is a dreamer of dreams4 ,yet he seems to like this journey along the lines of most resistance1 says it is least resistance to him1 and he tells me that he enjoys his poverty and all1 immensely4 ,he freely indulges in most of the vain and worldly pleasures of life as he sees them1 regardless of all others1 considers one day as holy as another and no day so mean as to wear a long and sanctimonious face on1 and he says that the only thing which he prohibits is prohibition in any form4 ,his wife does not fear him1 does not have to obey him1 does as she pleases1 and his children are as free and wild as little savages4 ,he is a bad man4 ,but what can be done8 ,ministers and other good men have repeatedly tried to save him1 but he evades all their efforts1 avoids all their sermons4 ,he would save them the trouble of saving him1 he says1 because he thinks he can do it so much better himself4 ,what can be done8 ,all things are here to serve him1 none to subserve him4 ,he is a law unto himself1 and has little or nothing to do with the ,government1 so he says4 ,he is a bad man4 ,he is not going to heaven--and yet1 and yet--if there were more like him this world would be so different1 and perhaps no one would ever want to go to heaven4 ,there was a pause and a silence at the close of the reading1 but our essayist was soon spared the agony of suspense1 as he mockingly remarked4 ,then came comments of varied shades of opinion1 approving and disapproving1 constructive and destructive1 too many to mention1 and ,keidansky enjoyed them all4 ,at length ,i ventured to ask him what sort of administrator his friend1 the bad man1 would make if he was ever elected to office4 ,he would never run for office1 said ,keidansky1 and if he ran he would never be elected2 and if he ever was elected he would certainly be a dire failure because he does not believe in managing other people's business4 ,the best of men will not want to1 cannot do it1 and politics is no test4 ,the man who goes in with or for the crowd ceases to be himself2 and therefore we ought to invent our public officials and not make them out of men4 ,however1 don't press me1 ,i am not at all sure about these things4 ,i only know that the bad man is coming2 that he is here2 that he is a dire terror--and will save the world4 ,what ,i gave you here is a mere suggestion1 a hint of a possibility1 a premonition4 ,every conception is spoiled by the description of it4 ,he will come1 and time will not tame him4 ,he will come1 and the divine institution of police-court morality is doomed4 ,the virtues of the future will be useful4 ,they will be conducive to growth--real happiness4 ,but1 as ,i say1 ,i don't want to appear dogmatic2 nor to be too sure of things4 ,the most useful thing about our theories is that we know them to be useless4 ,the best thing about our ideas is that the world has not accepted them yet4 ,if the world had accepted them these ideas would probably now look like last winter's snow4 ,better to wait until it is ready for them--then they will not go to waste4 ,better a bad world than a good world come too early--before the people are ready for it4 ,but what's the use6 ,i've done it1 my friends1 and my apology for life is--that ,i never apologize4 ,come1 it's getting close1 up here4 ,come1 let us forth into the darkness and pray for eternal night--for night hides all the ugly splendors of the world4 ,,viii ,the ,feminine ,traits of ,men ,you are as inquisitive as a man1 said ,keidansky4 ,you mean-- ,i tried to correct him4 ,i mean as inquisitive as a man1 he repeated4 ,this was at a social gathering1 a ,purim festival given by the ,b'nai ,zion ,educational ,society at ,zion ,hall4 ,we sat in the little back room adjoining the main hall1 which formed the library of the society4 ,there was a good fire in the stove2 we were just far enough away from the music and the dance to enjoy it1 and also to relish our chat4 ,i suppose ,i had gone beyond the point of discretion in my quest of information2 that ,i asked some questions of a rather personal nature which my friend thought best to leave unanswered1 and hence the rebuke ,i received4 ,some one1 said ,keidansky1 ought to write an essay on ',the ,feminine ,traits of ,men1' and point out in what a pronounced form men possess the traits1 objectionable and acceptable1 they constantly attribute to women4 ,for centuries women have borne the blame and ridicule and criticism for qualities they either have in the mildest1 most insignificant forms1 or do not possess at all--when you compare them to men4 ,and it's about time they should be vindicated1 and the truth should make them free from this popular misconception4 ,it seems to me that in a certain way men have actually monopolized most of the objectionable traits of women2 and to have shifted all the blame on them for all these years was a crying shame--an outrageous wrong4 ,yes1 some one ought to write about it2 some one who is young1 handsome and gallant--so that he may receive the gratitude of the fair sex4 ,for instance1 woman is said to be inquisitive4 ,but who1 really1 is so anxious to know1 so peevish1 petulant and prurient as man is8 ,who like him will go to so much trouble to find out the minutest detail about men1 women and things that surround him8 ,who is so eager and diligent in his search of information1 knowledge and light8 ,who like unto him--,i mean1 his majesty1 man--takes such loving interest in his neighbors and pries so pitilessly into their private affairs8 ,who makes such an excellent reporter1 detective1 biographer8 ,who are the successful editors of our newspapers8 ,men1 of course4 ,they are the ones who constantly load you with questions1 who are ever endeavoring to peer into your inmost self and who always want to know about your past1 present1 future1 former and later incarnations4 ,i am told1 on good authority1 that genealogy--which ,i understand to be the science of proving that your great-grandfather was somebody and that somebody was your great-grandmother--that this science has been nurtured and garnered and brought up to its present state of perfection1 or imperfection1 by men4 ,it's appalling1 this curiosity of man1 he continued fervently4 ,he can go sixteen miles out of his way to pick up the smallest scrap of a fact1 or fancy4 ,he can collect endless stores of useless information4 ,he fancies nothing so much as facts4 ,his thirst for knowledge cannot be satiated even by flattery4 ,men not only make encyclopdias1 but they actually use them4 ,they not only build and endow libraries1 but they actually utilize them--spoil their eyes over musty1 misty1 mazy volumes4 ,and then1 how anxious we all are to be posted on the most unimportant things concerning our friends and the people we meet and know2 we are ever attempting to read their minds and their hearts1 and if there are none1 we put meanings into them4 ,have not the greatest novelists been men8 ,motke ,chabad1 the ,jewish jester1 once came to a strange town near his native city of ,wilna1 and as he entered the community a patriarchal old ,israelite accosted him with the usual ,shalom aleichem4 ,ma simecho8 ',peace be with thee1 stranger4 ,what is thy name8' ',it's none of your business1' answered ,motke4 ,when asked why he thus rudely acted toward the old man1 ,motke ,chabad explained that had he told the stranger his name the other would have asked where he came from1 what his business was1 how many children he had1 if he was married1 how old his father was1 if he was still living1 if he had any relatives in ,america1 if he ever was blessed by the great rabbi of ,wilna1 etc41 etc41 and1 said ,chabad1 'to say nothing of my morning prayers1 ,i had not as yet had my breakfast1 when ,i met him4' ,chabad1 you see1 knew his brother1 man4 ,men curious to know8 ,rose ,dartle is nothing beside ,andrew ,lang1 and he has this advantage over her--that he exists and can find things out4 ,another instance4 ,you go into your store or factory in the morning4 ,you have a slight toothache4 ,you feel and look rather seedy1 and the man who works next to you comes over and sympathetically asks you why it was that she rejected you1 why the other fellow won her heart1 by what magic charms your rival eclipsed you1 etc41 and he keeps on with his queries until you tell him-- ,go stand up on the first corner4 ,take off your hat and cry out3 ',gentlemen1 this is a hat1 this is a hat6 ,look into it6' ,and in a few seconds you will have a big throng of curious men standing about and staring at you4 ,women who will happen along will pass right on1 but men will stand there and stare--like men4 ,there was a time when certain things were considered beyond the scrutiny of curious men1 when they were held too sacred for investigations and explanations1 when the things that were not understood were deemed holy and when men stood in reverence before these things and bowed and took off their thinking caps4 ,but now they want to know everything--even the things that are of prime importance4 ,and there is no use in telling them that nothing really exists--not even the logic of ,christian ,scientists4 ,they want to know4 ,they must find the facts or make them4 ,what's the use of living if one doesn't know just on what date ,king ,pharaoh died8 ,no news may be good news1 but you can't run a newspaper on that principle now-a-days4 ,whether the things happen or not man wants to know the facts and the details of the cases4 ,they must know4 ,knowledge is power4 ,to know is to be able to boast of it4 ,and men ever boast of what they know or think they know4 ,but why say more8 ,the collected knowledge1 the accumulated data and science of the world sufficiently prove the inquisitiveness of men4 ,it is one faculty which works many ways1 you know1 and these ways are shaped by circumstances and conditions4 ,now a man peeps through a keyhole to get some material for a bit of gossip1 and then he looks up to the stars to make an astronomical observation4 ,but the ,darwins and the ,newtons and the ,herschels prove how curious to know men really are4 ,and it is their extreme vanity1 too1 that makes men so presumptuous1 ostentatious and obstreperous4 ,they have so much faith in themselves that no self-respecting person can trust them4 ,they are so confident in their right to know1 so convinced of the value of their knowledge1 so sure of the absolute necessity of their volubility4 ,they are so unbearably overbearing1 self-conscious and self-centred that they forget there are others besides them in this world4 ,it is their vanity that makes men speak in volumes4 ,then they say that women gossip1 but you know that they are far outdone1 almost totally eclipsed in this respect1 too1 by men4 ,men are the real1 rapid-transit champion gossips and talkers of the world4 ,it was a dark and dismal night1 as the story goes1 and we all sat around the fire and the captain said1 ',jack1 tell us a story1' and ,jack told a number of stories1 and so did others1 and we all told of divers devilish1 wicked things our friends had done1 and in our heart of hearts were awfully sorry we did not do these things ourselves1 and we made mud-cakes out of good1 well-preserved reputations4 ,oh1 how well we can and how we do talk about our neighbors2 but you know1 people do like to talk about those whom they love4 ,marie ,corelli recently said--now do not scowl because ,i quote ,marie ,corelli4 ,she is a very good woman2 only she could not resist the temptation to write a few novels1 and they may not be so bad1 only ,i could never get myself to read them because ,i heard that ,queen ,victoria liked them immensely4 ,hold on1 though2 ,i guess ,i did read one of these novels in a ,yiddish translation2 but that was because the translator did not say whose work it was4 ,i think he thought it was original with himself4 ,in fact1 he passed it off as his own--which was a brave thing to do1 though the book proved to be popular4 ,but ,i lost my train of thought4 ,marie ,corelli recently said that she never endured such a babel of gossiping tongues as she once heard when being entertained to luncheon at a men's club1 and she added1 'nor have ,i known many more reputations picked to pieces than on that occasion4' ,but a recent writer told us what awful gossips all the historians have been1 and they were all men4 ,we were told that ,herodotus1 who is the father of history1 was also one of the most inveterate of gossips4 ,saint ,simon was considered essentially a gossip1 and even therefore a wonderful historian of the time of ,louis ,,xv4 ,pepys1 this writer told us1 was the greatest gossip that ever lived1 also the greatest historian of his time4 ,even ,mommsen1 we were told1 shows some of the traits of a gossip in his monumental history of ,rome4 ,the same was said of ,gibbon and many others4 ,gossip is not only the raw material of history1 we were informed1 but it is also the raw material of the realistic novel1 and as ,i said before1 the finest novels have been produced by the sons of ,adam4 ,women are also charged with being loquacious1 but that is another trumped-up1 false charge4 ,you well know that the loquaciousness of men is prodigious1 tremendous4 ,man is the most wonderful talking machine ever invented1 and one of his favorite topics is the talkativeness of woman4 ,men talk you to mental derangement and death wherever you go4 ,there is no escape4 ,nearly every man you meet is ready to tell you the sad story of his life--sad1 because he is ready to tell it4 ,many of them write their autobiographies1 and what with these and their sermons and orations1 novels and essays1 histories and philosophies--there will soon be no more room for libraries4 ,and the worst thing about man's garrulity is that he taxes the intellect so heavily1 that what he says is loaded with so much meaning4 ,anything a man says1 you know1 is in danger of becoming literature4 ,it's appalling4 ,he always makes you think1 whereas what little a woman does say is so light and airy1 breezy and restive4 ,a woman1 too1 writes a book1 occasionally1 but she does not mean anything by it4 ,but men are so very bad in this respect1 so terribly blatant4 ,they never cease talking4 ,when they don't talk they write1 and the pen is worse than the sword4 ,why am ,i afraid to ask the man1 who stands near me waiting for a car1 what time it is8 ,because he might tell me of his grandfather's heroic exploits in the ,civil ,war4 ,to have gone to war was cruel2 but to have left some one behind to boast of it was criminal4 ,why am ,i afraid to read the latest short story that ,i have written to my friend8 ,because he might show me a poem just done4 ,and ,i nearly forgot to point out what a monumental proof of nave garrulity the ,talmud is4 ,the ,talmud1 that strange conglomeration of law1 love1 legend1 gossip1 fable1 and occasionally a bit of wisdom1 which one can find if one searches diligently4 ,they say also that women are capricious and changeful2 but the progress of the world shows how easily men change their minds4 ,yes1 someone ought to write an essay and point these things out1 and vindicate a much-maligned sex4 ,it's a good chance for a man for some interesting gossip on the subject4 ,i suppose1 then1 that you believe in woman's rights1 ,i at length haphazarded an interruption4 ,yes1 answered ,keidansky1 ,i believe that women should have all their rights1 and should not1 as the ,french cynic would have it1 be killed at forty4 ,it's too late4 ,i mean1 he added quickly1 that it's too late to talk any more about it4 ,,ix ,the ,value of ,ignorance ,what do ,i know8 ,i don't know anything1 said ,keidansky1 and ,i don't care to4 ,i thought you were always in quest of knowledge1 ,i remarked4 ,i am1 he answered3 ,i am infatuated with the quest1 ,i love it4 ,it is so exhilarating1 stirring1 full of excitement and fraught with danger4 ,danger8 ,wherein is that8 ,i asked4 ,the danger1 he emphasized1 is in finding the knowledge ,i am in quest of2 for once your search has been answered with success1 and you have informed yourself with the facts of the case1 the game is up and the fun is over1 as the ,americans say4 ,the hallucination of the glorious quest is shattered1 the suspense is spoiled1 the ecstatic expectations are destroyed1 and we become fit subjects for illustrations in the ,fliegende ,bltter4 ',a little knowledge is a dangerous thing' and a lot of it is fatal4 ,yes1 knowledge is might1 but illusion is omnipotence4 ,so ,i like to seek information well enough1 but ,i would rather not know4 ,i became interested1 although scandalized1 and my companion kept on musing aloud4 ,not to know is to hope1 to fear1 to be in delightful uncertainty1 to dream fair dreams1 to imagine the most impossible things1 to wonder and marvel at all in childlike innocence1 to build the most beautiful castles in the air1 to give the imagination full swing1 to conjure up the most fantastic mythological melodramas1 to stand with deep awe and inspired reverence before all the mighty manifestations of nature1 to form the finest idols1 to build splendid religions1 to have faith and to foster it1 to see the invisible1 to draw gorgeous rainbows of promise upon the horizon of life1 in a word1 not to know is to sustain perfect illusion1 not to go behind the scenes1 is to enjoy the entire performance4 ,on the other hand1 my dear fellow1 to know is to have your wings clipped1 to see the distance between the earth and the skies and the difference between you and what you thought yourself to be1 to feel your littleness and become dreadfully aware of the absurdity of it all1 to have the imagination arrested for trespassing1 to be rejected from the castles you built for non-payment of taxes1 to be punished for the idleness of your idols1 to see your little demigods crumble at the rate of sixteen a minute1 to become aware of the futility of the whole business1 the shortness of terms given you1 the unstability of your credit1 to find that you are but a feather blown hither and thither by the whirlwind of the world1 that your greatest plan may be demolished by a whim of fate1 to learn that the stupid moon really does not look so pale because of your unrequited love1 and that the great sun does not shine because you are going to a picnic1 to discover that your credulity was the only miracle that ever happened1 and that even gods suffer from dyspepsia1 to lose faith1 become sceptic1 abandon religion1 move out of the balmy fairyland of tradition and freeze in the realms of right reason4 ,to know is to be deprived even of that little confidence in your power to alter the course of the universe2 to recognize how inexorable1 inscrutable1 indifferent1 the powers of life are1 and what a common pedigree all things of beauty have2 it is to have the dramatic effect of the play spoiled and to vote it all a farce and a failure4 ,we are all becoming so educated now-a-days that we no longer know the value of ignorance1 and we have nearly forgotten things of goodness and of beauty that it has brought into the world4 ,ignorance is the mazy mist of morning in which so much is born2 it is the mystic dimness wherein all things awe and enchant forever4 ,ignorance is the beginning of the world2 knowledge is the end of it4 ,in the unexplored vastnesses of ignorance the mind soars through all the heavens and works wonders2 in the measured spheres of knowledge the mind travels carefully and creates little as far as mythology1 theology1 religion and poetry are concerned4 ,were it not for ignorance we would not have had all the wealth of legends and fables and fairy tales and sagas and mrchen1 strange1 weird1 wonderful1 to intoxicate the imagination of the world and enable us to live for centuries in lands of magic and charm and dreamlike realities4 ,and if you see some works of beauty and nobility in the world to delight you1 it is because we have just come out of these lands1 and we are imitating and re-creating what we saw there4 ,there are some who still dwell in them1 and they send us messages and often bless us with their visits4 ,thank you for stopping me4 ,i should not have liked to be run over before you had listened to the rest of my argument2 besides1 it makes a mess of one4 ,this is a dangerous crossing--for a debate4 ,but1 to continue3 ,were it not for ignorance--had we known everything about ,god--,europe would not be dotted with all the beautiful cathedrals and the wonderful treasures of art that are an everlasting source of enchantment and inspiration4 ,were it not for the same reason we would not have such a beauty spot in ,boston as ,copley square1 with its two imposing churches1 ,library and ,museum of ,art4 ,and remembering that all objects to delight the eye1 the ear and the mind began at the earliest shrines of worship1 we can barely calculate how poor and meagre all our arts would have been were it not for this ignorance4 ,what would poetry--in the largest sense--what would it be were it not for this ignorance concerning ,providence8 ,and poetry is the main motive1 the quintessence of all the other arts4 ,religion is the great question mark of the world1 and what you ask for religion ,i ask for ignorance4 ,whether the makers of the ,bible wrote on space or not1 no one can deny its high value as a work of poetry and fiction2 and as much can be said for all the other sacred books of the great faiths4 ,the mood of ignorance is worth everything3 it is wonder1 amazement1 navet1 child-like innocence1 fairy-like dreaminess4 ,in ignorance we trust1 trusting we serve1 serving we achieve1 achieving we glorify our names4 ,not to know is to long for1 to expect everything--and work for it2 while to know is to be sure of this or that1 and there is something significant in the coupling of the words1 'dead sure4' ',tis good to have faith2 what we believe in is or comes true4 ,the illusion is the thing that makes the play4 ,we are all chasing after phantoms1 but the chase is a reality1 and it's all in all4 ,the less we know about the results--perhaps the more we do4 ,and not knowing how incapable we are1 some of us do remarkable things4 ,a ,jewish legend tells us that before the human soul is doomed to be born it knows everything1 is informed of all knowledge--including1 ,i presume1 a knowledge of the ,talmudic laws of marriage and divorce--but that at its birth an angel appears1 gives the child a schnel in noz1 or tap on the nose1 which causes the infant to forget everything it knows so that it may be born absolutely ignorant4 ,that is a good angel1 ,i say1 who performs a good office1 and not like the rest of them1 who1 according to ,john ,hay1 are loafing around the throne4 ,here is a useful angel4 ,for to give the child its ignorance is to confer a great boon2 to make it capable of something in life4 ,it is a valuable gift1 though earthly creatures soon spoil the good work of the angel and stuff the child's head full of all sorts of useless knowledge4 ,soon the mind is clogged1 the faculties for thinking1 wondering1 understanding are turned into a phonographic apparatus for remembering what should never have been learned1 and the imagination is nipped in the bud1 told to be correct and keep still4 ,with all my inability to learn and disinclination to know1 there are still a few things ,i have been trying to forget all my life1 but ,i cannot do it4 ,at the point of a cane my rabbi drove these things into my head4 ,so if ,i ever impart any information to you1 forgive me for ,i cannot forget4 ,here in ,america and in modernity1 where superstition is such that people actually believe in the existence of facts1 the schools and colleges form tremendous systems of stupefaction4 ,poor little heads of innocent children are packed1 cramped and crowded with dates and names and all sorts of insignificant data4 ,they teach them everything--except what interests them1 and they are made to repeat and to remember all things dry and dull and dreary4 ',facts1 facts1 facts1' the teachers cry1 not knowing that there are no facts in real life4 ,minds are measured1 ideas must be of a certain size1 you must think but one thought at a time and remember all things in history that never happened4 ,thus1 fancy1 whim1 suggestion1 imagination are sadly neglected1 and the finest faculties are left behind4 ,everybody knows everything1 but no one understands anything4 ',tis so with people generally--they are all clamoring for what they call facts1 explaining things after fixed formulas1 making the most astonishing1 dead-sure statements2 in short1 spreading useful knowledge4 ,they all have ideas and theories and philosophies after a fashion2 they have sized this universe up1 past1 present and future1 and they can explain everything except themselves4 ,everybody has found a few 'facts1' and after these fashioned a universal panacea1 a little patented plan for solving the social problem4 ,there are so many solutions that it is hard to find just what the problem is4 ,reform is so much in style that even a corn doctor proclaims himself a social saviour4 ,the social reformers with their sure cures1 positive facts and all-saving systems are the plague of the age4 ,there is no escape from these things they call certain and positive and indisputable4 ,figures and statistics and so-called facts make up the sum of our life4 ,life is harnessed by systems and we are strangled by statistics4 ,the subtle1 the strange1 the symbolic1 the suggestive1 the intuitive1 the poetic and imaginative1 the flash-lights that make you see eternity in a moment--these are overlooked and neglected4 ,the things really true are forgotten4 ,what is that ,persian legend about the man who devoted his life to planting and rearing and raising the tree of knowledge in his garden1 and afterwards1 in his old age1 was hanged thereon8 ,what8 ,there is no such ,persian legend8 ,well1 then1 some ,englishman ought to write it4 ,at any rate this shows the value of knowledge4 ,the fruit of the tree of knowledge is now sweet1 now bitter--but mostly bitter4 ,we analyze and examine so much these days that we find within ourselves and in our surroundings the symptoms of all diseases and all evil4 ,to quote a quaint but true ,zangwillism1 ',analysis is paralysis1 introspection is vivisection1 and culture drives us mad4' ,we measure things so closely and leave no room for the surprising1 the spontaneous1 the freely flowing1 the lifelike4 ,the age of reason has come and we are no longer wise4 ,we have forgotten what we owe to ignorance4 ',he knows everything1' said the doctor2 'there is no hope for him4' ,in their ignorance of human nature and natural law idealists have dreamed and created the most unattainable ,utopias1 and their impossible visions shaped our destiny and made us great4 ,the stirring speech that ,lametkin delivered this evening is partly due to his ignorance of things and his blind faith in his panacea1 but it enthused his audience immensely1 and it will have a wonderful effect upon their lives4 ,the other day ,i read some beautiful lines by ,owen ,meredith about the child who cries 'to clutch the star that shines in splendor over his little cot4' ,the matter-of-fact father says that it is folly1 that it is millions of miles away1 and that 'the star descends not to twinkle on the little one's bed4' ,but the mother tenderly tells the child to sleep and promises to pluck the star for it and by-and-by ',lay it upon the pillow bright with dew1' and then the child sleeps and dreams of stars whose light ',beams in his own bright eyes when he awakes4' ,now in these lines one may find justification for all the idealizations of art1 but they are also suggestive of the value of ignorance4 ,so it is4 ,we must learn to see the invisible4 ,we must be oblivious to the obvious1 to see anything4 ,we ought not to try to clear up everything4 ,if life were not a problem play it would not interest us so4 ,let the mystery remain4 ,intimations of immortality are good enough2 proofs would kill our longing for it4 ,whence8 ,whither8 ,i rather hope these questions will never be answered4 ,the halo1 the maze1 the mystery1 the shadowy strangeness of it all makes it worth while and gives the fancy freedom to fly4 ,statistics sterilize the imagination and figures dry up our souls4 ,do you remember ,whitman's ',when ,i ,heard the ,learned ,astronomers8' ,the lecturer with his charts and diagrams soon made him unaccountably sick1 till rising and gliding out of the lecture room he wandered off by himself 'in the mystical1 moist night-air1 and from time to time looked up in perfect silence at the stars1' and thus became himself again4 ,let others seek what they call facts3 for me the lights and the shades1 the dimness and the flash1 the chiaroscuro of life4 ,let others pierce through phenomena and impregnate realities2 my favorite amusement is to walk upon the clouds and play ball with the stars4 ,i cannot grasp such details as the size of the earth1 the distance between sun and moon4 ,logic8 ,lockjaw4 ,go study your astronomy and let me lie on my back in some verdant field and gaze upon the stars1 and ,i shall be content4 ,let others study botany1 give me but the fragrance of the blooms and flowers and let me gaze upon their gorgeous riots of color4 ,for others the study of anatomy1 for me the beauty of the human form to behold4 ,let others study ornithology1 and let me listen to the thrilling music of the winged songsters4 ,take all the sciences that explain everything away1 and give me the things beautiful to behold1 sweet to hear and pleasing to touch4 ,and before you run away let me also tell you that there is a mood of contemplation which1 for comprehension1 passeth all science and analysis4 ,but1 after all1 he added1 as we were about to part1 ,i could only hint at these things1 for it takes a very learned man to prove the value of ignorance4 ,x ,days of ,atonement ,all day the ,ghetto was astir4 ,there was a babel of excitement at the markets1 an unusual rush and bustle on ,allen street4 ,the stores were well filled with bargaining1 buying men and women1 and the push-cart vendors were centres of attracted crowds4 ,everywhere housewives were busy washing1 clearing1 cleaning their homes4 ,the spirit of awe1 reverence1 expectancy1 was in the air4 ,the great day of ,rosh ,hashona was approaching2 ,new ,year's day was drawing nigh4 ,we stood on the sidewalk in front of ,berosowsky's book and periodical emporium1 the strange place where you can procure anything from ,bernard ,feigenbaum's pamphlets against religion1 to a pair of phylacteries1 from ,tolstoy's works in ,yiddish to a holy scroll4 ,we stood and gazed on the familiar yet fascinating scene4 ,we had just left the store1 wherein we glanced through the current newspapers and other publications4 ,it is so stupid to read4 ,let's go out and look at the people1 ,keidansky exclaimed abruptly as he threw down a eulogy of a ,yiddish poet written by himself1 in the paper of which he is now editor4 ,not far off was heard the short1 shrill sound of the ram's horn4 ,it was the bal tkio1 the official synagogue trumpeter practising for the nearing ominous days4 ,hard by1 a cantor and his choir of sweet voices were rehearsing the quaint hymns and prayers of the great fast1 singing the strange1 tearful1 traditional melodies that have never been written1 and yet have come down from generation to generation for hundreds of years2 the weird musical wailings1 the tunes of the cheerless chants1 charged with the sighs1 groans and laments of centuries of sufferings1 flooded the noisy street1 mingled with the harsh cries of the hucksters1 and were lost in the general buzz and roar of the crowded district4 ,the days of awe and of atonement are upon us1 said ,keidansky1 and these evocative1 awakening voices are drawing1 drawing me back to the synagogue1 back to the days of childhood1 faith1 hope1 ignorance1 innocence1 peace1 and plenty of sleep4 ,a broken note of old music1 then a flood of memories1 a sway of feeling1 and no matter what ,i have1 or have not been1 ,i am again as pious and penitent1 and as passionately religious1 as ,i was when a child in the most ,god-fearing ,ghetto in the world4 ,did you say something about free thought1 the higher criticism1 universal religion1 about the law of evolution applied to religion1 about all creeds being equally true and equally false8 ,did you talk to me about these things8 ,well1 a scrap of ,yom ,kippur melody and the faith of my fathers is my faith4 ,our instincts destroy our philosophies4 ',our feelings and affections are wiser than we are6' ,the old is preserved for our self-preservation4 ,the new is destructive1 bewildering4 ,the old is often worth deserting1 yet it is bred in the bone2 it is comforting and consoling and easy to live up to4 ,the new is bewitching1 but baneful2 it breeds discontent1 ennui1 we can hardly ever live up to it4 ,blessed are those who live in the world they were born into4 ,they are also damned1 but that's not in their time4 ,tradition1 ,keidansky continued musing aloud1 is far more beautiful than history1 and even nature with all her charms has to be improved upon by art1 by illusion4 ,in the course of time science may build up some interesting superstitions1 but meanwhile it is our poor debtor4 ,it has filled the world with cold facts4 ,it has emptied the heart of its fond fancies4 ,and what do we really know1 after all8 ,the greatest philosopher of the age pauses and stands nonplussed before the ,unknowable4 ,the densest ignoramus in the world knows it all2 knows all about the worlds beneath and beyond--their climates1 inhabitants1 populations1 moral status1 tortures and pleasures4 ,what do we know1 anyway8 ,next to nothing1 and we feel lonely and desolate and powerless after we have had everything explained to us4 ,orthodoxy1 at least1 gives us the consciousness of having some control in the universe2 it gives us a sense of shelter and of safety4 ,we know we have a kind of vote in the general management of things4 ,we can accomplish something by our prayers1 by fasting4 ,and when the fearful days come1 the days in which the destiny of every mortal for the coming year is determined on high1 we ask for atonement1 and fast and pour out our griefs in mournful prayers and burn candles for the dead4 ,our voices are heard on high1 because we believe they are1 and our names are entered in the ,book of ,life for another year4 ,do not smile now1 nor look so wise4 ,all that is1 is well1 and whatever we believe in is true4 ,the greatest sacrifice we made to science was our ignorance4 ,but whether it is this or that1 there is something rooted so firmly and so unfathomably deep within us that calls and pulls us back to all that we have deserted and tried to forget2 and when these hallowed days come1 we can no longer drown our feelings4 ,no matter how far ,i went in my radical conceptions--and ,i often went far enough to be excommunicated by my worthy brethren--no matter how iconoclastic we became1 how absorbed we were in our abstractions1 and how fearlessly we theorized1 the season of awe1 beautiful1 terrible awe1 the judgment days drew near and hearts became heavy and the melody of the song of ',kol ,nidro' invaded our minds and shut out all the other music we ever heard in our lives4 ,it is all a strain of music that1 once heard1 keeps singing in our memories forever--this faith of our fathers4 ,go where we will1 do what we may1 the beauties of the old religion are with us yet and we cannot1 we cannot forget4 ,among the radicals of the ,new ,york ,ghetto there is no more advanced nor brilliant man than is my friend ,bahan4 ,he has edited some of the best ,jewish publications2 he has written much of what was best in them1 and he was always on the side of free-thought and new ideas4 ,like myself1 he belonged to the circles that had reformed ,judaism altogether4 ,he had not entered a synagogue for purposes of prayer since he left ,russia as a youth1 and that was many years ago4 ,he is now on one of the best ,new ,york papers1 and when ,rosh ,hashona and ,yom ,kippur arrive1 he writes about these holidays so fervidly1 feelingly1 enthusiastically1 with such tears in his eyes that one would think that these unsigned articles are the work of the most pious and orthodox ,hebrew in ,new ,york4 ,and1 perhaps1 they are too1 ,keidansky added1 aside1 only if ,bahan were accused of orthodoxy he would protest his innocence4 ,that was years ago1 my friend continued after a pause4 ,i was young1 seeking new worlds to conquer1 and so ,i fell into bad company--among people who think4 ,they are mostly free-thinkers and free-talkers1 and in the course of time my religion dwindled and ,i became as erratic as any of them4 ,the worst thing about one who begins to think is that he also begins to talk4 ,i began to talk1 to voice my doubts and heresies1 and soon the world1 or at least my relatives1 were against me4 ,i kept on saying the most unsayable things1 and when ,new ,year's came ,i refused to go to the synagogue1 because ,i had discovered the existence of the ,unknowable4 ,we quarrelled1 and things came to such a pass that ,i left my cousin's home1 where ,i had been living1 during the ,days of ,atonement4 ,i knew what ,i knew and ,i was ready to make all sacrifices for the right of ranting and raving over the shameful superstitions in which humanity was steeped4 ,the world was before me and so were all my troubles4 ,but even when ,i refused to go to the synagogue1 ,i was at heart of hearts exceedingly lonely without it1 without the beautiful service of ,rosh ,hoshona4 ,when the eve of ,yom ,kippur came ,i did not know what to do with myself4 ,our circle of friends was to meet at the home of one of its members and spend the evening gayly and happily1 though it was the sad and solemn ,fast of ,atonement4 ,i had promised to come1 and so1 when all the inhabitants of the ,ghetto were wending their way to their respective houses of worship ,i started with a heavy heart to join my friends1 glad that ,i had made the promise and sorry that ,i was keeping it4 ,i arrived at my destination1 a street in the ,west ,end ,jewish quarter4 ,when ,i neared the house ,i heard a loud1 rather boisterous conversation going on4 ,i rang the bell4 ,even as ,i did so ,i heard a number of shouts and loud peals of laughter4 ,i did not wait for the door to open4 ,i turned and walked away4 ,i walked right on1 not in the least knowing whither4 ,before ,i was barely aware of it1 ,i was in ,baldwin place1 in front of the ,beth ,israel ,synagogue4 ,the cantor and his choir were just chanting the awe-inspiring1 soul-stirring prayer of ',kol ,nidro1' that wonderful product of the ,spanish inquisition1 written by a ,morano during the darkest days of ,israel and freighted with the sighs and cries and moans of a suffering people4 ,those strains of music brought me to my own life again4 ,i entered the synagogue4 ,i had come into my own4 ,i felt such peace and consolation as ,i had not known for ever so long4 ,do not ask me to explain it1 ,i cannot4 ,if the incurability of religion could be explained it could also be cured4 ,this is what happened1 and this is what still happens to me from time to time4 ,it may be strange1 but mine is a government of1 for1 and by moods1 and as they come and go ,i become everything that ,i have been and that ,i may be4 ,i've been greatly moved by many preachers and teachers and ,i have followed some of the most advanced advocates of our time1 the most universal universalists2 but let me hear one of the beautiful old chants1 such as ',kol ,nidro1' or ',unsana ,taukeff' and ,i become a most zealous orthodox4 ,did ,i ever tell you about it8 ',unsana ,taukeff' is the most important prayer on the two days of ,rosh ,hoshona and the ,day of ,atonement4 ,it is known as the ',song of a ,martyr in ,israel6' ,the story of the prayer is one of the prettiest in ,jewish folk tales4 ,it is the song of ,rabbi ,amnon1 who was the rabbi of ,metz1 in the days of ,bishop ,ercembud 7#ajaa-ajag74 ,rabbi ,amnon was of an illustrious family1 of great personal merit1 rich and respected by ,jew and ,gentile alike4 ,the bishop frequently pressed him to abjure ,judaism and embrace ,christianity1 but without avail4 ,it happened1 however1 on a certain day1 being more closely pressed than usual and somewhat anxious to be rid of the bishop's importunities1 he said hastily3 ',i will consider the matter and give thee an answer in three days4' ,as soon as he had left the bishop's presence1 however1 his heart smote him and an uneasy conscience blamed him for having1 even in the remotest manner1 doubted his faith4 ,he reached home overwhelmed with grief4 ,meat was set before him1 but he refused to eat1 and when his friends visited him he declined their proffered consolation1 saying3 ',i shall go down mourning to the grave4' ,on the third day1 while he was still lamenting his rash concession1 the bishop sent for him1 but he failed to answer the call4 ,finally the bishop's messengers seized him and brought him before the prelate by force4 ',let me pronounce my own doom for this neglect1' answered ,amnon4 ',let my tongue1 which uttered these doubting words1 be cut out4 ,it was a lie ,i uttered1 for ,i never intended to consider that proposition4' ',nay1' said the bishop1 ',i will not cut out thy tongue1 but thy feet1 which refused to come to me1 shall be cut off1 and other parts of thine obstinate body shall also be tormented and punished4' ,under the bishop's eyes the toes and thumbs of ,rabbi ,amnon were then cut off1 and after having been severely tortured he was sent home in a carriage1 his mangled members beside him4 ,rabbi ,amnon bore all this with greatest resignation1 firmly hoping and trusting that his earthly torment would plead his pardon with ,god4 ,the days of awe came round while he was on his death bed1 and he desired to be carried to the synagogue4 ,he was conveyed to the house of ,god1 and during the services he asked that he be permitted to utter a prayer4 ,his words1 which proved to be the last1 given in ,english1 are somewhat as follows3 ',i will declare the mighty holiness of this day1 for it is awful and tremendous4 ,thy kingdom is exalted thereon2 ,thy throne is established in mercy1 and upon it ,thou dost rest in truth4 ,thou art the judge who chastiseth1 and from ,thee naught may be concealed4 ,thou bearest witness1 writest1 sealest1 recordest and rememberest all things1 aye those which we imagine buried in the past4 ,the ,book of ,records ,thou openest2 the great sophor is sounded2 even the angels are terrified and they cry aloud3 ,the day of judgment dawns upon us1 for in judgment they1 the angels1 are not faultless4 ',all who have entered the world pass before ,thee4 ,even as the shepherd causes the flock he numbers to pass under his crook1 so ,thou1 ,o ,lord1 causest every living soul to pass before ,thee4 ,thou numberest1 thou visitest1 appointing the limitations of every creature according to ,thy judgment and ,thy sentence4 ',on the ,new ,year it is written1 on the ,day of ,atonement it is sealed4 ,aye1 all ,thy decrees are recorded2 who is to live and who is to die4 ,the names of those who are to meet death by fire1 by water1 or by sword2 through hunger1 through thirst1 and with the pestilence4 ,all is recorded2 those who are to have tranquillity2 those who are to be disturbed2 those who are to be troubled2 those who are to be blessed with repose2 those who are to be prosperous2 those for whom affliction is in store2 those who are to become rich1 those who are to be poor2 who exalted1 who cast down4 ,but penitence1 prayer and charity1 ,o ,lord1 may avert all evil decrees4' ,when he had finished this declaration1 ,rabbi ,amnon expired1 dying in ,god's house1 among the assembled sons of ,israel4 ,i can never forget these prayers1 nor these days1 go where ,i will1 do what ,i may1 ,keidansky continued4 ,did you say something about free thought1 the higher criticism1 universal religion1 the law of evolution1 the study of comparative religion1 the absurdity of superstition8 ,come1 let us go over to yonder house2 the cantor and his choir are now singing ',unsana ,taukeff4' ,and ,i followed him4 ,,xi ,why the ,world ,is ,growing ,better ,the world is growing better than it ever was before1 said ,keidansky2 we no longer practise what we preach4 ,and before ,i had time to recover from my surprise and utter any protest1 he hastily continued in his exasperating manner3 ,we still believe in certain doctrines1 hold certain theories1 advocate certain ideas1 preach certain gospels2 but we feel different and act much better when it comes to real life4 ,we are far wiser in adjusting our acts to our ends1 or rather our deeds are more wisely adjusted to our aims than we know4 ,we do not desecrate these principles we entertain by putting them into practice4 ,we don't feel like doing so4 ,we let the abstractions float above us as vapor in the air4 ,we have human instincts1 good motives1 noble longings1 and our conduct is fairly decent in spite of our conflicting codes4 ,from a thousand pulpits we are told to do this1 that1 and the other2 a thousand theories would divide our paths in life2 a thousand methods of salvation are presented to us by the only and original authorized agents from on high2 but our humanity makes us all akin1 our instincts guide us and our yearnings lure us all the same way to perdition and to happiness2 and we follow after and pave the way for the ideal world4 ,how widely1 vastly different our religious and moral beliefs and our abstractions are4 ,and yet1 how nearly alike1 how similarly we all act and perform our parts in the world's work4 ,we still differ1 dispute and debate over the future1 the trend and ultimate aim of things2 but we no longer allow these differences to prevent us from acting in unison and harmony in all things that are conducive to our better development and chief good4 ,a dozen men cannot agree upon a ,church1 so they form another trust2 and1 aiding the industrial growth of the country1 they work out their own salvation1 and in the course of time endow colleges and build mansions and pay fabulous sums for great paintings1 and even feed the beggars that live on theology4 ,these men agree on one thing1 and that is most important of all4 ,as ,i said1 we still listen to and believe in many of the crude1 incongruous and misty creeds that are preached to us1 but we walk upon more solid ground when it comes to life1 and all that we want to make of it--which is the most possible4 ,we build wiser than we know1 and we disobey the preachers because we can rise above them1 do better1 and put their advice to shame4 ,have we discarded the book8 ,well1 we have followed life2 and see1 this world is quite inhabitable now4 ,that we differ in theology1 on legends1 myths1 is a trifle1 but that we agree on the education of the young1 hygiene1 athletic exercise1 morning walks1 cold baths1 pure diet1 music1 pictures3 that we agree on the value of all these things makes the game worth the candle4 ,for instance1 we are perpetually urged to1 and we half believe it best to1 renounce the world1 the flesh1 and the devil1 forfeit all the joys of life1 and join the ,society for the ,prevention of ,anything2 but in actuality1 we are all strenuously engaged in capturing the world1 in gratifying the flesh and in getting as much devil into us as is possible in the pitifully brief span of this short life4 ,this is absolutely necessary4 ,the more devil within us the better4 ,a man with no devil in him will not go to heaven1 or any other pleasurable resort4 ,by doing and daring and deviling we become strong1 and if the world is better to-day than it ever was before1 which it certainly is1 it is because we no longer practise what we preach--have nearly always practised better4 ,if man did not do things1 and do them so much better1 sermons would never become obsolete2 but as it is1 loads of them have to be dumped in some swamp every little while4 ,we have also been advised as to the beautiful virtues of humility1 meekness1 timidity1 obedience1 submission1 self-effacement1 self-suppression1 wiping yourself off the face of the earth with benzine and a rag1 and we have believed in the advice1 but fortunately only believed2 for a voice from within prompted us to feel and be different and do more wisely4 ,so we cultivated haughtiness1 pride1 aggressiveness1 have given free play to our physical and spiritual forces1 have become conscious of our powers1 and more powerful still1 and the phantom of freedom is becoming a fact and the world is growing fair4 ,we walk with our heads erect nowadays1 no matter what conception we have in our minds4 ,we have become so arrogant that we even question the divine right of bishops and policemen4 ,we take off our hats for nothing1 known or unknown4 ,no matter what we believe1 we feel that obsequiousness is the most disgraceful word in the dictionary4 ,then we are becoming so self-appreciative and selfish that we refuse to let others save us4 ,the salvation of a soul is a rather delicate matter1 and it cannot be done at short order while you wait1 by all those whose advertisements we have read4 ,it is not quite so easy a matter as it is to find a watchmaker to put your timepiece into good repair4 ,in fact1 we are growing so egoistic that we want to do it ourselves4 ,we no longer want any mark-down bargains1 such as salvation for a prayer1 a fish dinner or ninety-eight cents in charity4 ,we feel the fraud of bribing our way into heaven4 ,those are cheated most who get their things cheaply4 ,it is the height of impudence and imbecility to think that putting on a long face1 or some other act of piety or penance1 will change your destiny1 and incidentally1 the course of the universe4 ,at least1 we feel that these things are wrong1 no matter what we think4 ,life or death or immortality1 a man must pay his rent4 ,everything has its price4 ,what you get for nothing is worth the same4 ,the theological bargains will not wear well at all4 ,you must pay honestly and fairly for everything you receive1 and for all you become4 ,what we procure for nothing is not worth while4 ,we are only cheating ourselves miserably when we attempt to get what is best through bribes and pass through the gates on false pretences4 ,whatever we have been told1 we feel that we cannot follow the newspaper advertisements in these things and buy redemption at closing-out bargain sales4 ,no one can grow for another1 no one can acquire1 no one can become for another1 no one can be saved by proxy or buy salvation4 ,each must work and suffer and struggle his way up4 ,i see that you are a little incredulous about these things1 he said1 after a short silence4 ,do you find it hard to follow me8 ,i know exactly what ,i mean1 only the difficulty lies in making you see it as ,i do4 ,no2 don't be in haste4 ,let's walk a little more4 ,i am afraid your education is being sadly neglected2 ,i haven't talked at you for some time4 ,no2 ,i never hasten4 ,whenever ,i am in a great hurry to get to a place of the most urgent necessity ,i walk into a second-hand book store1 like those on ,fourth avenue1 and look at the titles and read the prefaces of old and odd volumes4 ,never mind the swarming1 surging1 scurrying crowds4 ,they are attending to the world's business1 and make it possible for me to be idle and look on4 ,but what ,i was driving at is this3 ,that there is one life and many theories of it1 that most of these theories are a disgrace even to ,sunday schools1 that it's all hitting the nail on the finger4 ,while these theories would have us go by various little walks and byways and lanes and alleys1 life prompts us to take to the open road that leads to strength and happiness4 ,while these theories would have us thwart and stifle and starve our desires1 life forces us to give them full play in spite of all conventions and creeds1 and the result is civilization and all its blessings4 ,way down into the recesses of our souls we are so deeply religious that we all do better than we believe4 ,take three children of different birth2 send them to three different schools1 instruct them in three different religions1 and then1 will they not1 when they grow up1 work and aim and struggle and trade and worry and aspire and get dyspepsia--in short1 live and die in very much the same way1 and more or less fairly and squarely8 ,inasmuch as their morals will be useful1 will they not be of the same brand8 ,will they not do better than they respectively believe8 ,there are other illustrations4 ,the leading orthodox rabbi of this city naturally believes in the restoration of ,palestine1 the regeneration of ,judaism1 the resurrection of the ,hebrew language1 and the resuscitation of many things long dead and passed away4 ,in his speeches he is a most ardent advocate of the revival of ,hebrew lore1 the essence of all wisdom according to him1 and the greatest of all tongues1 the ,hebrew language1 which revival1 he avers1 is the most radiant promise of ,zionism4 ,the neglect of the ancient lore in this country is his most woful regret4 ,but his own son he sends to ,harvard for a modern education1 and the son will become a man of the world and a useful1 valuable member of society because his father did better than he believed4 ',a year hence in ,jerusalem1' cries the pious ,hebrew at the close of his holiday prayer1 and then1 as soon as the festival is over he buys himself a little house1 pays #hjj down1 raises two mortgages and1 trusting in ,god1 he hopes to pay up the entire sum in about ten years1 and he and his family are happier and this country is richer and better for their being here4 ',a year hence in ,jerusalem1' and here we are doing what we can for our own good and for the good of whatever country we abide in1 and all of us are well because we act better than we preach and believe4 ,most of us believed in the colonization of ,palestine when we were way back in ,russia1 yet we came over here feeling that this is the new promised land4 ,palestine may be a good place for the old to die in1 if the superstition is true that the worms will not touch your corpse there1 but ,i don't think it is a promising country for the young to live in4 ,the land that was once flowing with milk and honey now lacks water4 ,no1 ,i don't know in what part of ,new ,york they make the ,passover wine that they bring from ,palestine4 ,i am somewhat of a ,zionist myself1 as you know1 but as soon as ,i can afford it1 as soon as my ,yiddish play is produced and the ,new ,york critics condemn it to a financial success1 ,i will send for my little brother to come from ,russia to this country1 and as there is no genius in our family1 ,i am sure he will do very well here4 ,yet ,i believe in the restoration of ,palestine1 and so long as the ,zionists permit me to live in this country ,i am willing to support their movement4 ,and1 let's see1 there 's something else4 ,i want to fix you up so that you will never again come to me with that hackneyed plaint that the world is going to the dogs because we do not practise what we preach4 ,we have laws and we all preach against intermarriage1 do we not8 ,we all condemn the intermarriage of ,jew and ,christian1 of ,protestant and ,catholic1 of chorus girl and rich college student1 of an actress and a minister2 we prohibit these things and perhaps rightly1 and yet-- ,and yet8 ,i asked anxiously4 ,do not be alarmed1 he answered quickly2 ,i am not going to advocate intermarriage or assimilation4 ,by this time you will1 perhaps1 have gathered from what ,i said that ,i do not much believe in measures that have to be advocated2 rather do ,i favor the things that heart and soul prompt us to do1 whatever our beliefs and theories and in spite of them4 ,the advocacy of a thing1 or the supposed necessity of advocating a certain measure1 proves the uselessness1 untimeliness and futility of it4 ,it is hardly wise to advocate anything4 ,things must be brought about by conditions to be of vital import4 ,least of all should any one ever advocate intermarriage1 and yet1 and yet--do you remember these lines8 ',two shall be born the whole wide world apart1 ,and speak in different tongues and have no thought ,each of the other's being1 and no heed4 ,and these over unknown seas to unknown lands ,shall cross1 escaping wreck1 defying death1 ,and all unconsciously shape every act ,and bend each wandering step to this one end1 ,that one day1 out of darkness they shall meet ,and read life's meaning in each other's eyes4' ,yes1 he concluded1 as we were about to part1 the world is growing better than it ever was before--and it isn't because we have a more efficient police force either4 ,,xii ,home1 the ,last ,resort ,there is no place like home1 said ,keidansky1 and there's nothing like running away from it4 ,what is the matter with the home8 ,i asked4 ,nothing1 he answered1 except that very often everything is4 ,you are surprised8 he continued4 ,that's promising4 ,somehow when ,i see you shocked it makes me feel as if ,i am saying something1 and ,i am encouraged to go on4 ,what do ,i mean8 ,just this3 ,there is no place that is so small1 petty and narrow as the home is2 there is no place so close1 cramped and crowded2 so limited1 restricted and tape-measured4 ,there's no place where there is such agreement1 unity and uniformity2 where there is so much subordination1 subjection and coppression--if you will pardon the coining of a word--as in the home2 no place where there is such conformity of opinion1 speech and action2 where there is so much dependence1 inter-dependence and inter-domination2 where so much good advice is given you1 so many high examples set up and so many paragons of perfection presented to you2 no place where there's so much upholding of old standards and so little scope for building new ones2 where respectability is regarded with such reverence and the neighbors' say held so sacred2 no place so lacking initiative1 so barren of originality1 so devoid of daring--no place where you are so tenderly cared for1 so kindly comforted1 so closely watched1 and so grossly misunderstood as the home4 ,it is the most dangerous place in the world4 ,no1 do not interrupt me--,i know just what you are going to say4 ,let me state it for you--while ,i am at it4 ,what ,i said is blasphemy1 of course1 and what you want to say is that the home is the garden where all our virtues flower and bloom2 that it is the foundation of our morals1 the birthplace of our highest ideals1 the great character-builder1 the school of patriotism1 the source of true religion1 the protector of our national life1 the benign soul-uplifter1 the place where goodness and purity flourish1 and the place where the best principles are manufactured4 ,i know just what you are going to say because ,i1 too1 have heard some sermons and have read some after-dinner speeches in my life4 ,and ,i do not say that these utterances are altogether misleading4 ,there is some good1 ,i doubt not1 in a sermon and some shadow of truth even in an after-dinner speech4 ,but because the home has ever been the subject of indiscriminate encomiums and puffy panegyrics1 no one has ever dared to say anything against it4 ,it has not been treated as a human institution1 and so many crimes have been committed in its good name4 ,it is because these beautiful things about it are1 or are supposed to be1 that so many of us have been sentenced to stay home without a proper trial4 ,granting even that the halo is not hollow and that home is the ideal place it is pictured to be1 the admission is perhaps the strongest argument against it and for running away from it2 for1 in that case1 the home is almost too good a place to stay in1 too tame and agreeable1 a nest of the neutral1 a triumph of the negative1 maybe1 and hardly a place where you can grow1 learn1 enlarge and expand distinctly and in your own way4 ,i fear me that in any case home is about the last resort where one can express his individuality and become fully equipped to grapple with the world and those who own it4 ,do not misunderstand me4 ,no one intends to wage wanton war against that which is held in reverence4 ,the radical is only ahead of time because all the others are behind it4 ,no one wishes to abolish merely for the sake of abolition4 ,there is no satisfaction in mere annihilation4 ,no one wishes it4 ,wisdom and folly have the same intention4 ,to say that the most destructive radical and the most orthodox conservative are in perfect agreement as far as their aim is concerned will be dangerously near uttering a commonplace4 ,both seek well-being and happiness4 ,there was a time when there was a little difference between the two2 when one of the two parties wanted to postpone that welfare unto another life2 but now1 in this hasty age1 both demand all that it is possible to procure here and now4 ,there may be difference of opinion1 but there is no difference of intention4 ,the object of all is to preserve the virility of our being1 the veracity of soul1 the strength to do and to be4 ,there may be a question as to my being a conservative1 but there is no doubt that ,i am a conservator4 ,i would conserve everything that is conducive to growth and happiness4 ,what ,i believe1 what ,i say1 has this object in view4 ,and having this in view1 ,i realize that in the course of human events it ever and anon becomes necessary to demolish the divinities that be4 ,if ,i seem to attack this sacred institution it is because it has a very seamy1 sore and searing side to it4 ,in the first place there are usually parents at home4 ,what a pity that parents and children cannot be of the same age2 that there cannot be some understanding between them4 ,what a sorrow that those who brought us into the world should have no sympathy with us--that those whom we love most should understand us least2 that there should be such conflicting contrasts in feeling1 in thought1 in temperaments and tendencies4 ,but regrets do not alter circumstances4 ,they exist and they are obdurate4 ,the old look backward3 the young look forward4 ,the old have become hardened1 inured to things and indifferent3 to the young this is the greatest danger4 ,the old are relics of the past2 the young are the hopeful heirs of the future4 ,to the former life is a lost game1 to the latter it is a beautiful dream4 ,the old stand with their backs to the rising sun1 with their faces towards their graves2 they belong to a dying world and--the pity of it6--they would shape the destinies of those who belong to the glorious future2 they would make the children prematurely wise and deprive them of most of the fun in life and all the benefits that come from folly1 error and indiscretion4 ,age would convince youth that life is real and earnest and a practical business--which is not true in the case of youth--and should not be4 ,there is constant disagreement1 or agreement--which is often worse1 for it implies submission of the weaker party4 ,the freedom of the young is ever curtailed4 ,the home is often their prison4 ,youth and age is a bad match1 and that's the disadvantage of home4 ,see this moonlight3 it is beautiful1 is it not8 ,but a flower must have sunshine in which to bloom4 ,all respect for age3 but youth must have freedom4 ,i hope this is not true of many phases of life2 but ,i am thinking now of a condition in the ,ghetto that creates appalling misery1 a condition that makes the home a most desirable place--to run away from4 ,between the ,jewish children1 who have acquired their uplifting education here in ,american schools and their parents1 who have brought their ignorance and fanaticism over from ,russia--where the despotism of the throne and the tyranny of the ,torah have united in making the densest1 darkest ,ghettos--between these children and parents there is a difference in time and progress of several hundred years4 ,i would like to pause here and tell you about the ,jewish religion--how it has enlightened the world and darkened the life of the ,jews1 victims of fatal fanaticism2 how the world has accepted the spirit of ,judaism in various forms and to its benefit1 and the ,jews have remained bound by a thousand rigid rituals1 iron precepts1 meaningless stuff about 'pots and pans1' to their awful detriment--how they persecuted themselves when they could get no ,christian nation to do it for them--but there's no time to talk about these things now2 besides1 ,i want to get back to the home4 ,so many things occur to me and ,i do not know what to say first4 ,write about it8 ,perhaps1 some day4 ,it may be that ,i1 too1 have been cursed to live by the sweat of my pen1 but oh--,i hate to write4 ,besides1 what's the use8 ,it is too late to convert my people to ,judaism1 now4 ,but what ,i mentioned before shows a pronounced phase of misunderstanding1 estrangement and division between children and parents1 also a good illustration of the bad1 narrow1 uncongenial home4 ,under any circumstances the old and the young are out of joint2 but here the clashing of interests is so accentuated that the condition is heart-tearing4 ,there are parents1 crude1 careless1 callous1 often essentially material1 mercenary1 miserly1 whose only mental occupation is their blind1 outlived fatalistic faith2 they are ,russian products1 and they cannot follow1 cannot comprehend their ,americanized1 intelligent1 idealistic and aspiring boys and girls2 they follow them1 but blindly1 praise or blame indiscriminately2 they cannot appreciate the many and noble longings of these youths4 ,no sympathy and the home stiflingly small4 ,yes1 they love each other1 if there can be any love without respect and understanding4 ,these bright boys and girls that you meet in the ,ghetto1 and who do so much towards the education of slum students and settlement workers--they are what they are1 not because1 but rather in spite of1 their parents4 ,they struggle and strive upward alone and unaided1 and also act as missionaries of civilization in their homes4 ,they beautify their little rooms with pictures and books and trifles of art1 and they play sweet music--but what is the use1 ,i ask you1 of a thought1 a work of art1 a poem1 a piece of music1 if you cannot share it with those who are near and1 somehow1 are dear to you4 ,what is the use of these things if you cannot share them with some one8 ,and what is to be done when there is no response at home8 ,these children are so lonely in their sorrows and in their joys1 and the home is so compressed1 so 'kleinlich1' so 'eng' 7only these ,german words can give my meaning74 ,how terrible to see the grandeur of the universe and have no one to tell it to6 ,how awful this yawning gulf in the ,ghetto6 ,if ,i say harsh and bitter things it is because ,i have looked into it and seen an appalling spectacle of crushed hearts1 broken spirits1 blighted hopes1 ruined lives1 thwarted beings and stifled souls4 ,i have looked into the gulf1 and this is why ,i want to jest about the holiest things in the world4 ,but speaking generally1 home is a dangerous place1 and he was a wise sea captain who bribed his son--clandestinely gave him #ej--to run away from home4 ,while away the youth will come in contact with realities1 learn what the world is1 what it demands1 and finally become big enough to build his own home4 ,or1 he will come back to be1 at last1 understood and respected4 ,but let him go forth4 ,he will find everywhere pie that will give him dyspepsia as badly as that which mother used to make4 ,as it is1 the home covers a multitude of sins4 ,it is very faulty1 and1 above all1 it lacks perspective4 ,the persons within it are not seen in the proper light4 ,they are either underestimated or overjudged4 ,home is either a mutual admiration1 or a mutual mutilation1 society4 ,close as the home is there is ever plenty of room for prejudice and illusion4 ,the lights in which things are seen are artificial--and so are the subjects4 ,if the child is a mediocrity1 has graduated at the head of his class and is a veritable phonograph for remembering facts1 he is at once regarded as a genius and not a little time and effort is wasted on him1 and he is sent forth to bore and prey upon an innocent world2 but if he have real talent and show it before any one has had time to decide that he has it1 his wings are clipped immediately and he is forthwith cast down and discouraged4 ,but there is always enough appreciation of talent to discover a mediocrity4 ,home is the nest of nefarious nepotism1 and between that and disparaging prejudice1 countless youths go to the devil4 ,the home judgments as to capacities1 aptitudes and abilities are tremendous4 ,if a boy is color-blind1 he is born to be a painter2 if he has no sense of proportion1 why architecture is his sphere2 if he stammers1 he is placed upon a chair1 made to recite pieces1 and hailed as the coming orator2 if he is a little bit hard of hearing1 they dedicate his life to music2 if he has absolutely no imagination1 they say history is his field2 they try to make a lawyer of him when he has a wonderful proclivity for telling the truth1 a merchant when he has a fine sense of honesty--and1 by heaven1 they want to make a minister of a fellow who has a sense of humor6 ,one must leave home to find what he can do2 and then do it2 and then come back and do what one can for the education and welfare of his parents4 ,leave your home that you may suffer hardships and learn1 and then come back to cheer the old folks up4 ,forgive them for what they have done to you with their sincerity and devotion--and build your own home4 ,but run away for awhile if you would grow4 ,it is too narrow and the atmosphere is not healthy4 ,there is ever disparagement1 disagreement and fatal favoritism4 ,no son ever walked in the ways of his father2 no father ever wanted him to do otherwise4 ,there is always someone at home who knows what is best for you1 only you don't want to mind4 ,but1 oh1 the tyranny of tears1 the despotism of tender words1 and the fearful sincerity of the intentions to do you good6 ,all inquisitors have been sincere4 ,there is no need of arguing that there is something radically wrong with the average home4 ,conditions prove it4 ,we are1 most of us1 running away from home to get acquainted with things as they are--running away to the tune of ',home1 ,sweet ,home4' ,even as we hum the sweet melody1 we go forth into life to get some education1 make our fortunes1 and build our own homes4 ,do you remember ',die ,heimath1' and how ,magda is tortured by home and loving parents8 ,it's the same argument that ,sudermann presented in this play1 and again1 in ',die ,ehre1' he showed us phases of the home4 ,there was silence for a space1 and then ,keidansky continued3 ,homes of a thousand tender memories clustering from the cradle up through all the paths of life2 homes of kind deeds and unforgotten words2 homes wherein love and freedom are wedded1 wherein the most beautiful dreams are born2 homes wherein folks look into each other's eyes and understand1 wherein there are no clouds of suspicion and misunderstanding1 and each one is taken at his worth2 homes unblighted by cold wisdom1 wherein the old are young and the young are old--,i have heard--,i have read--of such homes4 ,the pale moonlight streamed into the open window of the attic4 ,the disorderly piles of books1 heaps of old papers and magazines1 the queer little pictures about the walls1 the small table with a confusion of all things mentionable upon it--all these presented a strange picture in this dimness4 ,keidansky sat on his bed1 his head leaning against the inclined ceiling4 ,it was this sense of home and comfort that prompted his remarks on the subject4 ,in the dusk the faces in the little pictures seemed to listen attentively and change expression as he talked so fervidly4 ,i sat in the only chair in the room--thinking1 wondering4 ,i felt pensive4 ,an extreme view1 eh8 my friend asked after awhile1 and he answered3 ,perhaps it is4 ,and that reminds me1 he added1 that you once said that my apparent mission in life is to throw stones4 ,well1 granting that it is1 who shall say that my task is not as important as any8 ,and ,i1 drowsily1 absently1 also asked1 ,who shall say8 ,,xiii ,a ,jewish ,jester ,they were telling stories of ,motke ,chabad1 the jester1 who many years ago lived1 moved and had his joke on everybody in the city of ,wilna1 where he was well known 7but not so well liked7 as the troublesome town clown4 ,after nearly everybody in one group at ,zarling's had contributed a ,chabad yarn to the general entertainment1 the question arose as to whether there ever really existed such a personage as the redoubtable ,motke4 ,he had said and done so many impossible things that it became a matter of wonder whether he had said and done them at all4 ,so daring were his utterances1 so strange his adventures1 his queer pranks so preposterous1 that he was considered by some to be an imaginary character4 ,he possessed those vices of individuality which art raises to the dignity of virtues4 ,he had become a tradition1 and so a matter of doubt and speculation4 ,this last was clear at our discussion4 ,the poet suggested that1 whether ,motke ever existed or not1 he was certainly a great humorist4 ,but even this did not satisfy us4 ,we were bent upon investigation4 ,the medical student made a motion that we ask ,zarling1 who is a native of ,wilna and at least has known some one who knew ,chabad2 but here ,keidansky protested4 ,do not ask any one1 he said1 who has known1 or known of1 him closely2 his description would be too familiar1 intimate1 personal1 and it would mar and discolor the halo that tradition had cast about him4 ,no1 do not ask the ,czar1 for he knows too much about him and those who were near our hero never understood his significance4 ,you must have perspective to see the picturesque1 even as you must be a poet to see that which does not exist4 ,it is only for the blind that an eye-witness can write history4 ,artistically speaking1 the closer you get to life the less you know about it4 ,realism fails because it takes the existence of reality for granted4 ,because it becomes systematic and too sure of its subject4 ,those who have known1 those who have touched elbows with ,chabad or his brother's grandchildren1 will be accurate1 but not truthful4 ,to describe a person truly1 one must include all its infinite possibilities of failure or success--what he might have been1 what he longed to be1 what he could not be with his given conditions1 what he was not1 what he was believed to be1 etc41 and he who has decided all about the exact measure of a person cannot fathom his possibilities4 ,we are all so sure of the conditions of contemporary life that it will take a succeeding generation to know all about it4 ,and ,i am not trying to hinder the work of this investigation1 because it may prove the non-existence of ,chabad4 ,that would not matter in the least1 for the anecdotes and tales that are being circulated in his name1 and his storied misadventures and gloried misdeeds create him in fancy and he exists in imagination--which is all that is necessary for one desiring to point out the benign and malignant work of the scoffer4 ,but he did exist1 so we are told by those who have known some one who knew him intimately4 ,he did exist1 because1 while we have superfluous virtues to attribute to all sorts of saints who did live1 we have not a superfluity of humor to ascribe to one who has never been4 ,some one must have given birth to these things which we can all admire but could not create4 ,some one must have been witty enough to think these things1 and reckless enough to say them4 ,we all have the convictions1 but he had the courage1 and that was long ago4 ,he did exist1 this beggar1 braggart1 buffoon1 town-gossip1 dealer in wind and old clothes1 match-maker1 man of all occupations and no means of existence1 practical joker and general jester of the ,ghetto of ,wilna2 for such he was and as such he did his good work4 ,he was an outcast1 and as such he ministered to the sanity of society that hath cast him out1 and kept it from going to the extremes of stupidity4 ,for so it is2 the outcast reduces respectability to the ridiculous2 the criminal points to the futility of the law2 the rascal shows the relativity of right2 the infidel reforms and enlarges our religion2 the enemy of order advances our progress2 the earthly materialist proves the baselessness of all our idealisms2 the ascetic demonstrates the stupidity of excess2 the prohibitionist drives us to drink2 the strongest accusation convicts the accuser2 the plaint of the pessimist makes life interesting2 the tyrant gives the greatest lesson in freedom2 men write books to prove what fools they are1 and the jester suggests what a tragic farce it all is4 ,so many efforts in life1 life itself defeats its own purpose4 ,it is the undesired that happens4 ,help comes not from heaven because we expect it from that source4 ,they who break laws to suit their own convenience make larger laws for the welfare of society4 ,i told you before that the outcasts of society are often its saviors4 ,now be in order1 gentlemen4 ,i have the floor this time4 ,this is my chance to get killed4 ,not to the point8 ,but there are many points to this1 and if ,i have deviated from one ,i was only getting so much nearer the other4 ,i was trying to show what good this scoffer and sycophant has done1 and to point out the value of the jest4 ,god created the world and he saw what he was 'up against1' so he smiled1 and thus humor was born4 ,after awhile the divine flashlights from on high began to play hide-and-seek in the unlit chambers of the human brain2 men became possessed of the sense of humor1 and this was the awakening and dawn of civilization4 ,the lightnings of the mind which suddenly reveal the multitudinous contradictions of life1 the mental illuminations which cause the immediate recognition of the incongruous1 the flash which makes you see all in a moment1 the wide view which makes the universe as small as the lantern in your hand1 the whimsicality of thought forever creating unsuspected analogies and unexpected comparisons1 the sense of proportion which reduces all things to what they are1 or should be1 truth seen through the falsehoods1 the sureties discovered through the absurdities1 the exactness of things measured through their exaggerations1 miracles of instantaneous reasoning and feats of ingenious deductions1 the intellectual rapid transit between the sublime and the ridiculous1 which keeps you from going to either extreme1 the magic charm which keeps you above the abysses of the stupid1 small and great1 the bright footlights to the tragedy of life--such1 in brief1 is humor4 ,and what else is there that is so powerful to prevent extravagances1 to check excesses1 to arrest all sorts of frenzies1 to curtail abnormal credulity1 to sober all kinds of intoxications8 ,in the ,ghetto1 as everywhere else1 humor is the saving presence2 it makes existence tolerable1 and preserves the sanity of the little journey to the grave4 ,it was dark and dismal and dreary and dingy in the ,russian ,ghettos1 and life had the color of last year's snow1 and it all seemed like a funeral procession in a sultry1 rainy weather2 from without we were harassed by our enemies2 from within we were harried by our friends1 our guardians of sacred law and traditional superstition2 it was sad and sorrowful1 and so we jested4 ,god sent us some sunshine in the form of such scoffers and outcasts as ,motke ,chabad1 and we laughed4 ,we laughed and forgot to weep4 ,humor is essentially pathetic1 but the absence of it is tragic4 ,did we not laugh a little we could not have lived4 ,humor1 my friends1 is the redeeming grace4 ,if you have ever been very serious in life1 why1 you can laugh it down4 ,what shall we do to be saved8 ,cultivate a sense of humor4 ,how could we have lived it through without a ,chabad8 ,with a smug1 smooth1 sullen1 soulless respectability that moves along the lines of least daring and most obedience1 that cannot do any good because it must fulfil the ,taryag ,mitzves--the #cac precepts--that commit all sorts of prescribed follies on earth to be admitted into heaven1 that divides its time between praying in the synagogue three times a day and preying upon its less fortunate neighbors the rest of the time1 with a mob of skull-capped numskulls that did not think because its mind was made up--has been made up for it centuries ago--a crowd that would not move an inch because1 as is insisted1 'the hell that was good enough for our fathers1 is good enough for us'--with a class of good people like that1 how should we have fared if we had not had a ,motke to chastise it with his jests and jeers and sneers and arrows of scorn8 ,he laughed with the lowly and for them2 he was on the side of reason as against precept2 he stood for natural needs as against supernatural suppositions2 he was one of the under-dogs1 but he barked loudly for their cause1 and his service shall not be forgotten as long as we have a sense of humour left--as long as we are human6 ,crude were his jests1 and clownish most of his jokes2 did he have the talent of a ,heine or ,brne1 he could not be what they were without their possibilities2 he was a rough-hewn1 ,ghetto-enclosed child of darkness1 but he did his work in his own way1 and the work told the story4 ,god has spoiled his chosen people by choosing them4 ,many of them are stiff-necked1 stubborn1 reactionary2 and they do countless things in the name that would not countenance it4 ,as often as not the powers that be in ,jewish communities are haughty1 proud1 unjustly aggressive1 and they prey upon and oppress the humbler children of ,israel4 ,it is well that there should ever be some one constantly to criticise1 castigate1 scold1 and ,carlyle these powers that be and guard and interpret the law4 ,so1 in a sense1 every good ,jew should be an anti-,semite4 ,he should beware of the abuses of organized bureaucracy by leaders of the community4 ,he should be opposed to the inimical doings of the united many4 ,united action is seldom good action4 ,the individual should look out for the crowd4 ,in organization1 every one gives up part of his soul1 and so even organized religions are soulless4 ,so let the good ,jew keep an eye on what the leaders in ,judaism are doing1 and to make sure that he is right1 let him put his ear to the ground and listen to the voice of the rejected prophet and blasphemous jester4 ,many stories of ,chabad have been told1 but a few things may be mentioned to help me out of my poor plight1 to illustrate my meaning4 ,thus1 once upon a stormy day1 when the rain and thunder and lightning became fearful and awesome1 ,motke was seen running through a street of ,wilna1 at his greatest possible speed1 frantically waving his hands4 ,a few ,jews witnessing this1 and overtaking him1 stopped him1 demanding what the trouble was4 ',such terrible thunder and lightning1' said he1 all out of breath2 ',i fear me that the ,almighty is about to give us a new ,law6' ,here is a blessed bit of blasphemy which strikingly voices the protest of a law-entangled1 ritual-ridden1 tradition-tied people against the grinding yoke of the ,torah4 ,there is a story by another ,ghetto jester1 driving at the same evil4 ,there came a time once--so the story runs--when the children of ,israel became weary of this heavy yoke1 when they could no longer live up to the laws forced upon them amid the dramatic effects of ,sinai1 when they could no longer bear all the sufferings and persecutions that living up to these laws entailed1 and they prayed to ,god that they might be delivered from the ,law1 that they might be permitted to return to him the ,tables of ,stone2 and the ,uppermost consented to take it all back2 and so1 upon a day1 the ,jews from all corners of the earth started on a journey toward ,mount ,sinai1 with heavy-laden trains and ships and caravans of scrolls and ,biblical ,commentaries4 ,they came from all parts of the world--from ,east and ,west1 ,north and ,south1 from the ,occident and the ,orient2 there were all manner of ,jews1 and they came by all means of transportation1 but they all labored painfully under their tremendous loads1 which they brought to be returned4 ,at ,sinai1 they were to give up their burdens4 ,arrived there1 they piled up their great packs of 'precept upon precept' around the holy elevation1 until their luggage formed a mountain larger than ,sinai4 ,when the ,uppermost appeared in his invisible1 yet blinding glory1 he asked for the meaning of this huge mountain of books1 and the ,jews1 with their faces to the ground1 cried1 ',it is the ,law4 ,take it1 ,o ,lord4' ,the ,lord--so runs the story--was astonished at this1 and he told the chosen people that only ten simple rules of living had been given to them at ,sinai4 ,he knew nothing of all these volumes4 ,these multitudes of laws and endless commentaries were of men's making1 not of his giving4 ,they were empty vaporings of idle brains4 ,he refused to take the ,law back in its present form4 ,so the ,jews journeyed to their respective homes in all parts of the world1 wiser1 if not relieved of their burdens4 ,i was irresistibly reminded of this story1 and could not help telling it4 ,it is the product of a far more subtle brain than ,chabad's was4 ,i do not remember the name of the author now1 but he and ,chabad unwittingly worked for the same cause4 ,a boisterous group of dancing-school fellows1 as the intellectuals called them1 entered the place1 demanding1 at the point of their pay1 something to eat4 ,keidansky's audience became restless4 ,but he persistently kept on1 despite all kinds of interruptions4 ,religion1 as you all know1 is the absence of the sense of humor1 he said4 ,it goes to all sorts of absurd extremes4 ,its tower commands but one view of life1 and that view is marred by emotion4 ,when faith is not blind1 it is1 at least1 short-sighted4 ,the loyal member of the sect is not a seer4 ,enthusiasts are painfully one-sided4 ,they see1 or rather they feel1 but one side4 ,all their glances are on one thing4 ,so we need the man with humor1 who can see all things in one glance4 ,the jester is the wide-eyed1 all-observing fellow4 ,he is the many-sided1 much-seeing man4 ,the sense of humor is the true sense of proportion1 and it has been rightly urged that only the humorists have perceived and painted life as it is4 ,only they have presented life in all its largeness4 ,of course1 the humorists1 who merely chose to jest and not write great tragedies1 did not do such things1 but they were ever great reformers4 ,the man who laughs can be deeply religious without being a pietist3 he can be deeply religious1 yet behave decently2 his existence is a sure cure for hysteria4 ,he infuses a little reason into things which prevents the sublime from becoming ridiculous4 ,a maggid1 or preacher1 once announced that he had written a new commentary upon the ',hagadah4' ',what6' everybody asked1 'are there not enough commentaries already in existence8' ',yes1' said ,chabad1 'but he cannot make a living out of those4' ,at a wedding of the ,jewish aristocracy of ,wilna1 where wealth was flaunted pompously1 ,motke was asked to say something funny4 ',all the rich men of ,wilna ought to be hanged1' he said4 ,the wealthy guests were scandalized4 ',wherein is the joke8' they asked4 ',it is no joke1' said ,motke4 ,in the synagogue students of the ,talmud were disputing a point concerning the use or rejection of an egg 'with a blood-drop' in it--a point to which so many pages of the holy books are devoted4 ',why don't you throw the rotten egg out8' said ,motke1 who stood near4 ',what's the use of wasting so much time8' ,once1 it is told1 when all his resources were at an end1 ,chabad went to the burial committee of the town1 told the members that his wife had died and asked for the means of performing the last rites and ceremonies4 ,he accordingly secured a few roubles1 and when the committee-men and their officials came to take charge of the body1 they found ,motke1 his wife and children1 at their table enjoying a bountiful feast of roasted goose and things4 ',gentlemen1' exclaimed the master of the household1 'you will have her2 ,i swear to you1 you will have her4 ,she is yours2 it is only a question of time4' ',fare thee well1' said ,motke one day to a rich merchant4 ',i am going away1 and all ,i want of you is a few roubles for expenses4' ,his request was refused4 ',then ,i am not going1' he announced1 'and you need not fare well4' ,chabad was also a match-maker1 and his humor made him the best caricature of the institution4 ,thus once he came to a young man to speak of a match with a certain young woman4 ',oh1 but she is lame1' protested the young man4 ',yes1' ,chabad admitted1 'but that will keep her home1 and prevent her from going out too much4' ',but she is blind1' the young man argued4 ',so much the better1' said the shadchen2 'she will not see you flirting with other women4' ',she is also deaf1' insisted the youth4 ',that is certainly fortunate1' was the reply2 'you will be able to say what you please in the house4' ',but she is also dumb1' pleaded the victim4 ',still better1' ,motke assured him4 ',there will always be quiet and peace in your home4' ',but she is also humpbacked6' the young man cried out in anger4 ',well1 well1' said ,chabad1 'do you expect her to be without a single fault8' ,now ,i am almost ready for the maledictions1 said ,keidansky1 as he was nearing the close of his argument1 but ,i was suddenly called away4 ,,xiv ,what ,constitutes the ,jew8 ,one day when ,i made a perilous ascent to ,keidansky's garret1 barely escaping harm through boxes and barrels and darkness and things in the way1 ,i found him hard at work on an article--this time in the ,english language--on ,what ,constitutes the ,jew8 ,a kind and interested editor to whom ,i had the honor of introducing him1 asked my discovery to write on the subject1 and pleased with the suggestion he took it up4 ,he motioned to an up-turned coal scuttle for a seat as ,i entered1 and bade me take a ,jewish paper and be quiet4 ,while ,i waited he finished his essay4 ,i haven't any time to talk to you1 he said1 looking disconsolate and running his long fingers through his curly black hair3 ,i want to read you this thing ,i've just scribbled4 ,there he goes again-- he broke off in despair1 as the old man in the next attic began to chant the ,psalms4 ,but ,i shall read louder than he does1 said ,keidansky1 ,i pay rent here--sometimes--and ,king ,david1 the fruit vendor1 in there1 sha'n't put me down4 ,i listened1 and he read as follows3 ,and after we have read about him in the comic weeklies1 have seen him delineated in popular works of fiction1 have observed him caricatured in various publications1 have beheld him portrayed on the vaudeville stage and have heard from the slum student of the ,ghetto2 after we have visited a few money lenders--on important business--have heard our minister talk patronizingly of him1 telling pityingly of how he hath a great past and possessed more than a few commendable qualities1 and of how he was1 alas6 doomed to damnation because he would not accept the religion that he hath given to the world2 after we have bought clothing in one of his stores1 taken a personal peep at the ,ghetto1 met a reformed rabbi1 conversed with a distant descendant of his people1 read the polite charges of his friend1 the anti-,semite1 and gone down and made beautiful speeches before him prior to the election2 ,i say even after we have done these things1 or some of these things have happened to us1 we must still ask the question3 ,what constitutes the ,jew8 ,for1 of a verity1 he is so complex in his character1 so heterogeneous in his general composition1 so diverse in his activities1 so many sided in his worldly and heavenly pursuits1 so widely varying in his appearance1 so wonderfully ubiquitous1 and withal such a living contradiction1 that even after we have made the above painful efforts to understand him1 we are still at a loss to know--what we know about him4 ,he represents one of the ancient races and yet is as up to date as any2 he reaches deepest into the past and looks furthest into the future2 he is the narrowest conservative and the most advanced radical2 in religion he is the most dogmatic1 sectarian1 stationary1 orthodox1 and also the most liberal and universal reformer2 he is a member of the feeblest and strongest people on earth2 he has no land of his own and he owns many lands2 his wealth is the talk and the envy of the world1 and none is so poor as he2 his riches have ever been magnified and exaggerated1 his dire poverty ever overlooked4 ',as poor as a ,jew' would be a truer simile than the one now in use4 ,he is the infamous ,shylock1 the money-lender1 yet he borrows as much and more money than he lends to others1 only he pays his debts and so there is no talk about it2 ,christians and others who borrow from him go to court1 denounce him1 call him ,shylock1 and give him several pounds of 'tongue1' though he asks not for flesh1 because it is not 'kosher1' and because whatever he is he is never cruel4 ,come to think of it1 what a fine thing the ,shylock story has ever been for those who did not want to pay their debts6 ,he loans money to kings1 and the kings oppress the ,jews2 he is the great concentrator of wealth1 and he is the ,socialist and ,anarchist working ardently for the abolition of the private ownership of wealth2 he is eminently practical1 and is ever among the world-forgetting dreamers1 'the great host of impracticables'2 he has no fine arts of his own1 and he carries off the highest prizes for his glorious contribution to the arts of the nations4 ,now he is exclusively confined to his own ,hebrew1 religious lore1 believing that beyond it there are no heights to scale1 no depths to fathom1 and then he becomes a ,georg ,brandes1 a great interpreter of the literatures of the world2 his own literature is so ,puritanical1 so religious and chaste that there is hardly a single love song to be found therein1 and then comes a ,heinrich ,heine4 ,he is the slave of traditions and the first to break them2 persecute him and he will die for the religion of his fathers2 give him freedom and he will pity them for their crude conceptions and applaud ,ingersoll2 he is intensely religious and the rankest infidel2 he condemns the theatre as being immoral1 and he is the first to hail ,ibsen and applaud him1 even on the ,yiddish stage2 there is no one so clannish and so cosmopolitan as he is1 and these contrasts can be multiplied to the abuse of time and space4 ,if1 then1 he is everything and to be found anywhere1 to be seen in all sorts of circumstances1 in all walks of life and walking in so many diverse ways1 making his way in such strongly contrasting conditions1 how shall we know him8 ,how shall we know what constitutes the ,jew8 ,he does not always abide in the ,ghetto1 and1 things are coming to such a pass1 that he rarely has the old ,ghetto appearance4 ,i suppose if our dear ,mr4 ,zangwill had his own way he would fill the world with ,ghettos4 ,he could use them in his business4 ,but perhaps the time is drawing nigh when we must have the books of ,mr4 ,zangwill and other works of such excellence to preserve the most picturesque life of a unique people and save it from oblivion4 ,the ,ghetto walls are falling1 falling4 ,old-fashioned folk1 like other things1 go out of fashion4 ,the old-style long garb1 the 'capota1' will take itself away after the toga1 and such is the awful power of civilization that even the time-honored skull-caps of the men and the wigs of the women are vanishing before it4 ,time1 with its scythe1 cuts down even the curling sidelocks and the long beards dear to tradition4 ,up-to-date fashion is a democratic tyrant1 an expansionist invading and permeating all places and peoples4 ,so we cannot count on these externals4 ,physiognomy is another thing by which to be misguided4 ,other outer details may help us as much as medicine can help the dead--or the living1 for that matter4 ,then there are names4 ,what's in a name8 ,an opportunity for misunderstanding4 ,one cannot even know himself by his name4 ,all these artificial designations do not designate4 ,what1 then1 are the telling traits1 the conspicuous characteristics by which the typical1 representative ,jew may be known8 ,now ,i am blissfully ignorant of anthropology1 and could not analyze scientifically1 even at the risk of being destroyed critically4 ,but through a certain accident--an accident of birth--,i may be enabled to make a few suggestions1 which ,i will offer with all due and undue apologies1 of course4 ,first and foremost ,i should mention his wonderful versatility2 he is the most versatile actor in this play called life4 ,he has acquired this versatility throughout his wanderings1 sufferings1 trials and tribulations1 and1 together with his prodigious adaptability1 it constitutes the secret of his survival4 ,originally a being of the highest talent with the radiant glow of the ,orient upon his brow1 he had walked through the histories of many nations1 and being persecuted by all peoples who recognized his talent1 he received a most liberal education in the school of sorrow4 ,thus his abilities were cultivated and he learned to adapt himself easily to all circumstances and to create his own little world wherever he pitched his tent4 ,mentally alert1 keen of comprehension1 quick to grasp any situation1 almost too shrewd to be wise1 practical to the detriment of his high ideals1 calm1 careful1 cautious1 calculating1 hopeful in the face of despair1 optimistic to a discouraging degree1 often too regular and respectable to become great2 intensely individualistic1 proud of his past1 anxious about the future1 ever devoted to his cause1 self-appreciatory1 at times too sure of his capabilities1 confident in the ultimate decency of things1 deeply in love with life--these are among the qualities that may be attributed to the ,jew4 ,his isolated1 peculiar and purely religious life1 'the spiritual ,palestine' which he has carried along with him in his wanderings through the darkness and cold of the ,ghettos1 has under all circumstances and in all hazards preserved those fine domestic and social qualities for which he is noted4 ,what can now be said about his domesticity1 his love of home and care of family2 his sobriety1 thrift1 peacefulness and good deportment1 the readiness with which he cares for his poor1 his public spirit in the interests of his community--wherever that may be--his unequalled kindness2 what can now be said about these things would be mere repetition2 but these are nevertheless some of the undisputed qualities which constitute the ,jew4 ,believing himself chosen of ,god1 he has strong faith in the part he plays1 the work he does1 and the mission he is to perform with his being4 ,and like others who have much faith in themselves1 he has abundance of conceit4 ,but let us not call it that4 ',sublime egotism' sounds so much better1 and besides1 the line of demarcation between the two is so fine that it does not exist4 ,the ,jew is strongly individualistic in his social tendencies1 and for that reason often so progressive4 ,he dares to deviate from the trodden path4 ,he is not always in harmony with the rest of his community in which there is from time to time much discord--discord that sometimes amounts to war4 ,thus the persecution of the ,jews often begins at home4 ,his receptive mental attitude often brings him into the ranks of the most radical1 despite his traditions1 which would hold him back4 ,he has talent to waste1 and much of it is really wasted because he lacks opportunity for cultivation and frequently has not the required concentration and application4 ,perhaps it is better so2 for if all ,jewish talent was brought out in the various forms of greatness1 what would--what would the anti-,semites not say8 ,they would say that the ,jews have stolen their talents4 ,for anti-,semitism is the cry of despair of defeated mediocrity1 or it is the plaint of the blinded ,christian maddened by jealousy because he has been beaten by the wandering ,jew in his own game of trade1 commerce1 politics1 or art4 ,but the ,jew is kind1 his kindness is unsurpassed1 and the ,hebrew line in which his people are called 'merciful sons of the merciful' is literally true4 ,he pities the anti-,semite as he pities all who suffer and who are in want of the good things and the good qualities of life4 ,the ,jew is a great possibility4 ,sensitive of and susceptible to all things1 to the very color of the atmosphere around him1 with a soul sharpened by sorrow and a mind of keenest understanding1 he can become anything and everything1 assimilate himself with any and all conditions1 and illustrate life with a new meaning or adorn it with a worthy work4 ,he is like unto an olian harp on which various breezes play various tunes4 ,his beautiful1 consecrated1 peaceful1 religious1 home life1 the life wherein the home is a synagogue and the synagogue is a home1 this on the one hand and the strange world with its hard realities1 with its stumbling-blocks and stunning blockheads1 on the other1 have created in the ,jew a striking two-sidedness1 a kind of duality and1 if ,i may so call it1 a sort of conciliation between the ideal and the real4 ,this forms another trait by which you may tell him4 ,thus he is very practical1 and still dreams1 hopes for the restoration of ,palestine1 and loves his home and his country wherever he abides4 ,he is an ardent ,zionist and a good citizen at the same time4 ,murder1 or any other kind of talent1 will out4 ,say rather that talent will out even if it must come in the shape of murder1 so to speak4 ,people capable of the highest good and noblest greatness are often cast down into the abyss of degradation by their loving neighbors1 or other circumstances4 ,people must live1 you know1 and therefore they often live a living death4 ,not permitted to live rightly and happily1 they still must live somehow4 ,the instinct of self-preservation preserves much evil1 but life is life4 ,those who have talent and are not permitted to use it for the good of all1 use it for their own temporal good1 regardless of the consequences4 ,the thought that ,i wish to leave here as we part with the ,jew is3 ,that they who walk in darkness find the ways that are dark4 ,over-praise is damning1 and ,i want to be careful4 ,the ,jew has on the whole been far1 far better than he has been permitted to be--and this1 too1 is one of the charges against him4 ,he is a graduate of the school of sorrow1 with the highest honors4 ,what is that story about the man who in his long quest after the ideal1 at last found her in the woman who has suffered8 ,well1 here is the ,jew1 a being who has suffered4 ,,xv ,the ,tragedy of ,humor ,sometimes1 said ,keidansky1 it is grossly immoral to live up to your highest principle4 ,and in reply to my half-uttered protest1 he quickly continued3 ,no1 no2 ,i am not jesting4 ,it's a sad business1 this jesting about the human tragedy4 ,for what is it but mocking each other's wounds1 laughing at one another's infirmities in this great lazaretto1 where we are all pitiful patients8 ,what is it but scoffing at our sores1 grinning at our gashes1 deriding our diseases1 laughing at our own weaknesses8 ,no1 ,i am not jesting1 and the speaker eyed me strangely as he looked up from his manuscript on the little table in ,machtell's caf4 ,beneath the levity is lead1 he said slowly4 ,behind all the fun is crushing failure4 ,behind all the satire is sorrowful shortcoming4 ,behind the smile is a searing smart4 ,grief lurks in the grin4 ,through all the drollery despair peers forth1 and there is nothing more lugubrious than laughter4 ,comedy is made up of error1 failure1 confusion1 misunderstanding1 misfortune1 misdirected efforts and wasted energy4 ,whenever error ends fatally it is called tragic1 but that is not the worst4 ,the real tragedy is not the play that ends with the death of the leading characters1 but the one in which they are condemned to struggle and live on and laugh and be laughed at4 ,each one of us is his own caricature4 ,there is so little to do1 yet we all overdo it4 ,we all reduce our lives to absurdities4 ,our efforts exaggerate their importance and betray our barbarities4 ,we overdraw our characters and all our lifetime suffer in our own estimation4 ,the more serious we are the more extravagant is the farce4 ,as we creep along the roads1 the shadows we cast mock and menace us4 ,we are poor debtors1 all4 ,with infinite intentions in a world of infinitesimal possibilities1 our efforts constantly caricature and cartoon our aims4 ,all our works are filled with comic illustrations galore4 ,we make them ourselves1 and they overshadow our works4 ,did you ever see any one fall on the street and a lot of lookers-on laugh8 ,well1 that is in a measure the history and interpretation of humor4 ,we seek and do not find2 we fight and do not conquer2 we play and do not win2 we attempt1 but do not achieve2 we aspire and do not attain2 we desire and are not gratified2 we long for light yet grope on in darkness2 we struggle and are defeated2 we strive for salvation and discover it to be a mere sham2 our labor is lost1 our love is not returned1 our devotion is not understood1 our wings are broken at the point of flying1 all our yearnings are in vain2 and then1 the newspaper humorist writes half a column of pointed jottings out of these things2 or else the literary comedian will prepare a series of funny papers4 ,do you understand now what an appalling1 grim and gruesome spectacle there is behind all these little jests8 ,and how tragic it is for the humorist who sees it all8 ,they say that a ,scotchman laughs on the third day after he hears a joke4 ,it does not take so long to find that there is nothing to laugh at4 ,it is all so sad4 ,think what a tremendous tragedy the funny paragrapher sums up in a few lines and sells to ',puck' for #b4ih4 ,come1 take up a column of comicalities in any publication and see what is at the bottom of every jest4 ,what is it about8 ,is it about a man and a woman linked together by law1 with a ,chinese wall of misunderstanding between them1 'so strangely unlike and so strongly attached to each other' that it is hell for both of them8 ,or1 is it about a woman who wears her life away in the farce of ',vanitas ,vanitatum8' ,is it about the greedy mercenary who loses his soul to gain the world8 ,or is it about one who gives up the world to gain nothing8 ,is it about an enthusiastic youth who1 to escape the materialism of his surroundings1 jumps from the frying-pan into ,bohemia2 or is it about a philosopher who1 gazing at the stars1 falls into a mud puddle8 ,is it about the poet starving in a garret1 or is it about the artist lost in the quest of the unattainable8 ,is it about the moral principle trampled under foot because of the material advantage1 or is it about the low life of him who longs for the highest8 ,what is it about8 ,is it about a man who bleeds and a woman who laughs1 or is it about beings who sell themselves for life with promises to love1 honor1 cherish and protect8 ,is it about some one groping in darkness1 grappling with the impossible1 or is it about a great republic gone mad over the visit of an effete representative of monarchy8 ,perhaps it is about a bright ,american girl in quest of a titled idiot1 or else about a being so degraded that he is in mortal fear of work and has a horror for soap6 ,it may be about mediocrity dreaming of talent1 of failures chasing the phantoms of success1 of fading beauty1 waning love1 of the stumbling of the blind1 or of any and all the confusions of error and the thousands of misunderstandings of the home and of people who are near and fail to be dear to each other4 ,the list is too long4 ,it can never be exhausted4 ,but at the bottom of any one of the jests1 old or new1 you will find an excruciating little tragedy4 ,it is all so sad1 sorrowful and depressing4 ,the humor of the situation8 ,say rather the tragedy of the case4 ,and to look behind1 to peer through the panorama1 to see all this1 to have a sense of humor and to have it bad1 is not such a cheerful thing as it is thought to be1 for it is also a sense of our hopelessness4 ,it is a sad business1 this jesting about the human tragedy--or the human farce4 ,in other words1 it is to see the futility of all our efforts1 the failure of all our fighting1 the uselessness of our aspirations1 the emptiness of our aims1 the vanity of our strivings1 the nothingness of it all4 ,life1 with all its faults and foibles and failures1 with all its incongruities1 irreconcilables1 clashes and unfitnesses1 stretches out before you as just so much material for sardonic satire4 ,scrambling1 squabbling1 scurrying1 seething1 squally squads and crowds of humanity1 how gruesomely grotesque it all is and how ludicrous6 ,with all its heroics1 brave deeds and still greater bravadoes1 with all its gloried wonders and wonderful achievements1 with all its glorious boasts1 lofty hopes and superb masteries1 with all our arts and philosophies1 humanity and the whole world seems to me like a swarming mole-hill1 and at times moves me to nothing but to laughter4 ,it is so ridiculous1 all the mimicry of the whole microcosm4 ,tell me1 have you ever been seized by a sense of the utter absurdity of it all1 so that you laughed and laughed until there were tears of blood1 almost1 in your eyes8 ,i wonder if you know what it is to have a mocking demon within you to laugh and leer at everything you do1 at every step you take1 at your best deeds1 finest words1 greatest strides1 noblest endeavors4 ,imagine a voice that at every turn of the road--especially when you act your grandest1 talk your loudest1 achieve your highest--that at every turn of the road exclaims3 ',how absurd1 how silly of you6' ,imagine a state of mind when all is farce around you and your own caricature is your constant companion4 ,such things happen to some people1 and to them everything is so unreal1 so absurd1 so stupid2 the greatest events1 the sublimest utterances1 are ever so laughable4 ,the more seriously the people play their parts the more ridiculous the performance seems4 ,the greater the tragedy the more laughter4 ,what is so funny as ,hamlet's soliloquy8 ,what are so laughable as the ravings of ,job8 ,and so it sometimes feels with the other sublimely sad things that have been written4 ,the moving finger writes1 and the mocking voice within laughs--laughs at everything and you can take nothing seriously4 ,you take up the best1 the most pathetic things you have written yourself1 and even these make you smile4 ,such things have been said before and they were absurd and out of place--in the first place4 ,whatever you do you hear the mocking voice from within say3 ',silly creature1 those things have been done before1 and they have only led fools to their dusty death4' ,you whisper the sweetest things1 prompted by love to your lady fair1 and the voice from within3 ',silly fool1 these things have been said before and the course of true love never did run long4' ,you have a feeling that it is all histrionic1 all acting1 all farce1 and that we are all overdoing our parts tremendously4 ,strutting1 swaggering1 blustering1 bombastic swashbucklers all4 ,it is not life4 ,it is an historical novel4 ,it will sink into nothingness4 ',o1 ,thor1 du ,thor1 du prahlender ,thor6' ,do you remember ,bret ,harte's parody on ,hugo's ',les ,misrables'8 ,so easily is the sublime tipped over and made ridiculous4 ',tis but a slight step from pathos to bathos4 ,but wait until ,i address this letter to the ,new ,york ',abend ,blatt4' ,abe ,cahan came over here and spoke for the ,socialists this afternoon1 so ,i wrote the thing up4 ,he is in the other room with that blatant crowd of ,jewish actors4 ,they are taking him to task for one of his reviews in the ',arbeiter ,zeitung' of a recent performance of theirs4 ,they never know exactly what a critic means except when he does not criticise4 ,they are to give here ,gordin's ',jewish ,king ,lear' to-morrow night4 ,you don't know ,cahan8 ,he is one of the brightest1 biggest men in our movement4 ,i come in here1 ,keidansky explained1 because these actors are so ignorant of the conventions1 simple and natural1 and ,i like them for it4 ,there is a story by ,j4 ,l4 ,peretz1 ,keidansky continued1 after he had folded up and addressed his communication1 that ,i want to tell you apropos of what ,i have been saying4 ,peretz is one of the literary masters of to-day1 but he writes in ,yiddish1 so the world misses his greatness4 ,the story is about a reformer1 a revolutionary1 an idealist4 ,he addresses a meeting in behalf of his cause1 speaks fervently1 passionately1 'spits fire1' waves a sharp sword at his audience and makes a ringing appeal for the truth4 ,in the room where he speaks there is a mirror4 ,accidentally he looks into it4 ,he sees himself4 ,his enthusiasm leaves him at once1 his fervor vanishes1 he loses his power of speech1 becomes calm1 indifferent1 and finishes his oration in disgust4 ,he no longer feels the saint and hero he felt4 ,while speaking so excitedly he looked like a murderer in the mirror4 ,after this he has an unearthly dream about the part of hell that is allotted to reformers4 ,when he wakes up he receives a postal card asking him to come to another meeting of the revolutionists4 ,he immediately burns the card4 ,this is giving but the faintest outlines of the story1 but you see ,peretz1 like ,heine1 also has the sense of humor developed to a tragic extent--to the extent of seeing the absurdity1 futility and irony of it all--even our grandest efforts4 ,yes1 so it seems to some eyes1 and so it is at least to those who see it so4 ,after all1 what is it8 ,a cry and a struggle and a sigh1 a flash of light and a streak of dawn and darkness1 and then we stand by the grave and weep for the dead that the living may see our tears4 ,ah1 the helplessness and hopelessness of it all2 the desolation and despondency1 the thoughts that paralyze the mind and stifle the soul2 all things out of joint1 out of proportion1 and ,fate cries out to you in the slang phrase 'you don't fit6' ,ah1 the humor of the entire procession and the deep tragic background behind it4 ,seek and you will find1 and when you find you shall not want it4 ,wealth makes us weary of it4 ,fame brings her wreath and finds her poet dead4 ,faith consoles1 but we have the consciousness all along that we are sick and are taking medicine4 ',love grows hate for love's sake and life takes death for guide4' ,love8 ,have ever two souls come near each other8 ,those whom we love most understand us least4 ,happiness8 ,the art of finding happiness is one of the lost arts4 ,no one is ever consciously happy4 ,knowledge is almost positive proof that we cannot know4 ,with it we are more puzzled than we were without it4 ,the last word of science is 'wait4' ,what do we know8 ,moses went up to heaven1 but ,god refused to be interviewed4 ,the people1 like the modern editor1 insisted upon a story and so we have the ,bible4 ,but science and the higher criticism has interrupted our reading and spoiled the pleasure of it4 ,what do we know8 ,even ,professor ,daniel ,de ,leon does not know everything4 ,man asks questions1 investigates1 'und ein ,narr wartet auf ,antwort4' ,life contains more emptiness than anything else4 ,life is a long wait for that which does not come4 ,is life worth living8 ',tis not worthwhile asking the question4 ,if that is so1 or seems so1 ,i hazarded the question1 then why be here8 ,why1 to see it all1 to enjoy the tragedy1 ,keidansky answered with swift enthusiasm4 ,i would not advise my best friend to commit suicide4 ,such an exciting farce4 ,what would life be1 what would art be without the tragic elements in it8 ,it's great6 ,but ,i began to tell you why it is sometimes grossly immoral to live up to your highest principles1 when my train of thought was wrecked4 ,some other time4 ,come1 let's go into the other room and ,i'll introduce you to the players and to ,comrade ,cahan--if he is still alive4 ,,xvi ,the ,immorality of ,principles ,yes1 ,i have promised to tell you why it is sometimes grossly immoral to live up to your highest principles4 ,it was a rash promise1 yet ,i shall try to make it good4 ,and though it was several weeks ago1 ,i am more than ever inclined to think the same way4 ,thus spake ,keidansky when ,i reproachfully reminded him of a former utterance4 ,there are the missionaries1 he said1 who go forth among peaceful1 law-avoiding savages to force upon them a religion that has outlived its usefulness1 a religion that has not prevented them from doing such an immoral1 impolite thing4 ,they go forth to promulgate the truth of which they are not sure4 ,they invidiously invade the premises of goodly primitive people1 and ruthlessly trample upon their traditions1 beliefs1 superstitions and feelings4 ,we shut people out of our country1 and we send missionaries to offer them free admission or standing-room in our heaven4 ,heedless that their bodies are starving1 we come and ask to let us save their souls4 ,we forget that they have a right to their religion1 to their way of non-thinking1 to take the medicine they like2 that their method of salvation is best for them1 ',that human hopes and human creeds ,have their roots in human needs4' ,we forget that they have just as much a right to wear their mental corsets as we have to wear ours1 or1 if you wish1 that their beliefs are as true to them as ours are to us4 ,we forget that they speak to ,god in their own language4 ,we go forth among them and mock at all that is holy and dear to their hearts4 ,of course1 missionaries1 like all agitators1 are devoted people1 living up to their very highest principles1 and we all mean well2 but this sort of business1 this invasion and utter disregard for others1 is to me grossly immoral4 ,and to court and minister to the needs of cannibals and brigands is too much altruism on our part1 and that excessive phase of it is wicked and hurtful4 ,but1 ,i protested1 is not the legitimate advocacy of ideas justifiable8 ,yes1 said ,keidansky1 the legitimate advocacy of ideas4 ,there are those who on one day of the week would turn our cities into cemeteries1 who would stifle our spirits and starve our souls1 who on that day deny us music and mirth and song--think it a sin to smile1 wicked to be happy1 and a crime to make merry4 ,if they could reach the sun1 they would stop it from working overtime and shining on the ,lord's day2 yet if the sun should ever reach them1 their piety would not cast such a pall over the community4 ,yes1 ,i know2 but listen4 ,have patience4 ,patience is a ,christian virtue1 which ,christians have forced upon ,jewish money-lenders4 ,i know that there are many people to-day who have quite a high opinion of the ,almighty1 believing that ,he loves light and sunshine1 laughter and joy1 and glories in the happiness of every living thing1 down to the humblest worm4 ,but ,i am speaking of the others--those who deny the pleasure of everything except self-denial2 for whom the only laws of life are the blue laws4 ,just now our city is being held up by the police1 and at the point of a club told to be good and pious and religious4 ,we are told not to breathe1 or sigh1 or sneeze1 or smile1 or show any signs of life on ,sunday4 ,orders to stop the circulation of our blood on that day have not yet been issued1 but everything comes to those who wait--every evil comes to those who have over-zealous pietists among them4 ,to heaven1 or be damned4 ,it is a case of your adherence1 or your life4 ,you must be killed1 or cured4 ,now in this disregard of disbelievers1 the narrowness of vision and hurtful overzeal1 ,i discern something immoral4 ,yet it is a matter of principle to spread whatever gospel one has been captured by4 ,personally1 ,i have never been so tortured by any as by those people who wished to save me1 and out of justice to them1 ,i must say that they tortured me according to their highest principles4 ,it must be admitted that there is an amount of good and pleasure for the agitator1 involved in agitation1 yet his work cannot1 generally1 be called moral on the ground that it conduces to happiness1 because he is only one1 and those whom he is molesting to save are many4 ,and so many of those who sacrifice and abnegate and deny themselves1 who neglect nature1 ignore the laws of their being1 emaciate their bodies and starve their souls1 is it not immoral of them to weaken their constitutions1 minds and spirits1 and diminish their power for positive good in the world8 ,in the end1 are not many of them miserably misled by their highest principles8 ,if he loseth the world1 what shall it profit a man that he gaineth his soul8 ,of what earthly use is a soul1 without a wicked world to use it in8 ,to what good is a soul without all the opportunities of losing it8 ,alone in the mountains1 far from the madding crowd1 it is easy to be sane and soulful and saintly2 but to me1 every effort to separate the soul from the world is immoral1 though it is in accord with some lofty principles4 ,the soul outside of the world is a tramp who shirks work4 ,to remain in the world1 to do1 to work1 to wage war against weakness1 to live strongly and have no fear--that is the soul doing its duty1 and sowing happiness for all4 ,and speaking of happiness for others1 in the first place1 it is not right to force it upon others against their consent1 and in the second place1 it is wrong to do it at the expense of your own welfare4 ,do all that you can for yourself first1 or you are not justified in trying to manage other lives on a better basis4 ,i believe in perfection1 but ,i believe that as much of it as is possible should begin with the perfectionists4 ,i believe that nothing is worth doing1 unless there is a sound reason for it4 ,i believe in egoism4 ,altruism may have done much good1 but ,i pity the ,altruists1 who have enervated1 weakened and impoverished themselves by their mostly futile attempts to help others4 ,largely1 altruism is an attempt to do for others what you cannot do for yourself4 ,there are principles which have led people to lose all that was good in them4 ,the roads to unattainable ideals and impossible perfections are strewn with countless corpses of lost victims4 ,people lose their health1 peace1 welfare and all1 trying to do for others what1 in so many cases1 cannot be done at all4 ,all this is wrong4 ,it is wrong to add to the store of the world's misery1 though you are attempting to alleviate it4 ,no1 no one should work for philanthropy unless he gets a good salary for it4 ,as to asceticism1 it has never been a profitable business4 ,contrary to other religions1 ,judaism rather stood for the joy of life than the arrest of it4 ,i have seen much of the problem of immoral principles among our radicals of the ,ghetto1 many of whom have ruined and wrecked their lives because of the ideas they advocated4 ,if the dream of social justice would be realized to-morrow1 many of them would not have the strength to enjoy it4 ,others are so weak that they would not be able to stand the shock4 ,there were those who had others dependent upon them1 and who neglected everything and everybody1 particularly themselves1 for the sake of 'the cause1' and who finally became utterly useless4 ,they added to the poverty of the ,east ,side in their efforts to abolish it1 while if they had taken good care of themselves they would1 in the long run1 have done vastly more for their ideals4 ,among my plots for stories that ,i have never written1 is the case of a man who became a tramp1 because he was too anxious to abolish the system that produces tramps4 ,one of the finest poets of the ,east ,side is now a mental and physical wreck1 because he lived up to his highest principles--and neglected himself4 ,enthusiasts very often lose the sense of justice1 become oblivious to everything--except the invisible4 ,i know too well the nobility of the motives2 ,i know that there are more of them on the ,east ,side than any other place in ,america2 ,i know1 also1 that a cause requires such sacrifices1 yet1 what are the results8 ,very often1 failure4 ,it has been observed that a man1 who in the midst of a savage or barbarous community1 in defiance of current social or religious customs1 should attempt to live the ideal life of a perfect civilization1 would doubtless be quickly eliminated from such a society by violent and tragical means1 and thus effectively be stopped from influencing those around him to better ways of living4 ,a great deal of our enforced civilization of savage races has been fatal in its effects upon the health and happiness of the vast majority1 while it has failed to elevate the average morals of the survivors4 ,authorities say that this is likely to be the result1 whenever conventional education is forced upon a people in advance of their functional development4 ,the ,hawaiian ,islanders are pointed out as an impressive example1 and the missionaries1 as well as the radicals of the ,ghetto1 trying to convert their orthodox brethren1 ought to remember these things4 ,the way out of it8 ,some one says3 ',that course of conduct must be adopted which will promote the greatest possible development of life-giving energies1 both in the individuals immediately affected1 and in society at large1 including the life of posterity4' ,that's science1 if ,i have the quotation right4 ,principles should be founded on fact1 and be conducive to the largest happiness1 including even the happiness of the one who holds the principles4 ,in size1 they should be more than #h by #ab inches4 ,they should be a yard wide--wide enough and true enough for all4 ,yet they should be such principles as to allow others to hold other principles4 ,the right principles1 in accord with the best laws of life1 and not theology1 will come up to all requirements1 and they will be moral4 ,yes1 individualism by all means1 he added2 be yourself1 but don't be a savage4 ,,xvii ,the ,exile of the ,earnest ,i met ,keidansky at the performance of a ,yiddish play1 and our talk turned to matters dramatic4 ,i notice by the papers1 ,i remarked1 that ,sarah ,bernhardt has just produced a play written for her by ,f4 ,marion ,crawford1 the ,american novelist4 ,so we are going to supply the theatres of other countries with plays4 ,are you interested8 ,very much1 said ,keidansky2 this is not the only case of an ,american writing for the foreign stage1 and it suggests to me a fine possibility4 ,about ,crawford ,i know but little2 but he is one of our popular men4 ,he has1 according to his own confession1 written to please2 he has never offended any living beings by putting them into his works2 he has never attempted to picture life1 uninteresting as it is1 and he is1 on the whole1 not one of those that we should want to send away to write plays for the people of other lands4 ,and ,i am rather glad his ',francesca da ,rimini' has failed in ,london4 ,but if there are any among us who are terribly in earnest1 with tremendous intentions to elevate the stage1 to write plays that will instruct1 stimulate1 uplift1 to take all the struggles of humanity and put them into dramas--why let them learn some one of the foreign languages and go abroad and write plays for the serious people of ,europe4 ,yes1 if they persist in these things1 and want to make us think1 and all that sort of thing1 which is short of pleasure1 if they cannot amuse us with something funny or entertain us with something nice and romantic1 why let them go abroad4 ,it's the only way we can get rid of them1 and we shall not mourn the loss of those who would have us do nothing else but mourn4 ,we ,americans do not want any plays that require intellect1 for we need all that we have in our business enterprises2 we do not want to think in the theatre1 because it takes all our thoughts to advertise and sell our goods1 nor do we want our emotions stirred1 for that is a nervous strain1 clouds the mind1 and makes people unfit for speculation1 scheming or anything on the next day4 ,then1 these plays that arrest the brain and touch our very soul1 they make us sentimental1 soft-hearted1 kind-natured1 and draw us out on long conversations with our wives1 children and friends4 ,meanwhile the wheels of trade are turning1 and in the race for success we are left behind4 ,we are a healthy people1 and we don't want any morbid1 lurid1 ghastly productions over here1 and in a large sense all very serious works are morbid1 lugubrious and gloomy4 ,at bottom of them there is always a problem1 an evil1 a crying wrong1 a morbid state of something4 ,a happy home is not dramatic2 people at peace with themselves and the world are not good subjects for tragedy4 ,according to the conception of these earnest writers there is no plot for a play without a peck of trouble4 ,we don't want any such dramatic dishes served4 ,we don't want people to play upon our feelings1 and yet pay them for it4 ,occasionally1 we are willing to have something a little bit sad1 but we want it to end happily4 ,but the earnest ones tell us that in real life few sad stories end happily1 that their pictures are true to life4 ,hang it1 we ourselves know they are true to life4 ,there's plenty of trouble at home1--that's why we go to the theatre--to forget it4 ,gorky pictures a man--fat and forty1 successful and comfortable as a government official--a man1 who after reading 'a book of one of these modern much-praised writers1' comes to the conclusion that he is 'an insignificant nonentity1 a superfluous being1 of no use to any one4' ,this is just what one of the modern plays does for you4 ,see1 it seems to say1 see1 you crown of creation1 what a crawling creature you are4 ,your past is what it ought not to have been4 ,your present is what it ought not to be4 ',the future is but the past again1 entered through another gate4' ,yesterday you were a fool--to-morrow you will be a still greater one4 ,your best resolutions shall become bitter regrets4 ,you are weak1 and you make laws and build governments and create creeds1 and they make you weaker yet4 ,all the adornments of your civilization are relics of barbarism4 ,evolution is too slow for anything1 and you cannot get ahead of yourself4 ,you have talked all your life and not uttered an original thought4 ,there have been a few original beings1 but most of you are poor imitations--you must follow others4 ,you must have a master1 either in heaven1 or on earth2 you are a slave of society4 ,you strike for freedom and anti-conventionality only when it becomes a fad4 ,you don't understand4 ,your children cannot teach you anything4 ,you are too old to learn4 ,when you were young you had only your parents to instruct you4 ,your home rests upon false assumptions4 ,it is a field of battle--or there are no strong individuals in it and all is peace4 ,the theory of heredity is not true--your children are stupid2 your wife is a doll1 which you have chosen for her pretty cheeks1 and1 though she is fading1 claims the rights of a free-born human being1 and does not understand--but what's the use8 ,of what earthly good can such plays be8 ,why should we in this free1 independent and prosperous country listen to such things8 ,besides1 family quarrels1 filial relations1 disagreements between relatives are not fit materials for the dramatist4 ,it is none of his business to meddle in such private matters4 ,if there is trouble in the home1 if a man and a woman find that one and one is two1 if the interests of certain persons1 or classes1 are against those of others1 if people find their religion too small for them and their laws not big enough1 why there are courts that they can go to1 and legislatures and clergymen and lawyers and ,christian ,scientists and so many other sources of help and salvation4 ,for a writer it is extremely bad taste to deal with such matters4 ,his mission is to amuse us1 and he has no right to abdicate the sovereignty of his exalted office4 ,at least that is what we ,americans--the majority of our people--think1 and if there are writers among us so abnormally serious as to see things otherwise1 there is but one thing to do with them--we should send them away to other countries where people like that kind of dreary drama4 ,let them1 like ,marion ,crawford1 write for the ,french stage4 ,the ,french are not even shocked when they see a real resemblance between life and the drama4 ,in fact they put everything into their plays1 all their faults1 and ,i wonder how they can look at these plays4 ,so many things happen in ,france1 and it is all in their books and plays1 besides a lot of things that never happen4 ,you cannot in their country escape life and all its troubles by going to the theatre or reading one of their novels4 ,all life's tribulations1 turmoil and travail are in them4 ,not that the people are over-earnest1 but that they like something strong1 love to be stirred and moved1 and are recklessly unafraid of the vertigoes of thought4 ,they have great artists and wonderfully fine writers1 but their dramatic works are terribly upsetting4 ,a good performance of ',camille' breaks a person up for several days4 ,they are a dangerous lot1 all the ,french writers4 ,no1 we over here do not want such productions4 ,there are plenty of pretty incidents and fables out of our romantic history that we can use on our stage4 ,every veteran of our wars tells enough of his own heroic deeds to make a dozen of plays4 ,then there are so many historical novels1 guaranteed to have nothing to do with life1 that have not as yet been dramatized4 ,such plays would help us to understand our grand history4 ,but there is lots of room in ,europe for our would-be realists1 and our government would do well by making an appropriation for their instruction in foreign languages and their deportation to the lands of burdensome intentions1 revolutionary movements and problem plays4 ,this would mean peace in our own country4 ,there are the ,germans1 who love ,schopenhauer and beer and usually drink the two together4 ,they feel intensely1 revel in realism and have the keenest enjoyment of tragedy4 ,nothing is too sad1 sombre1 or too stirring for their stage4 ,all the unanswered questions that have vainly troubled the ages are raised in their dramatic and literary works4 ,what an uncomfortable prospect that is6 ,they always have men who writes plays that will never die4 ,they have no shame1 these ,germans4 ,they feel strongly and openly show it4 ,altogether they have a passion for the thoughtful1 and give the modern playwright with tendencies a splendid opportunity4 ,but what is to be said of a country that can produce such play as ,hauptmann's ',die ,weber'--a country that can send fifty ,socialist members to the ,reichstag8 ,yes1 we can safely send them to ,germany1 or else to ,russia4 ,it would be hard for an ,american to learn that language1 but ,russia is the land where they say the most daring1 the boldest things in the most candid manner1 or without any manner at all4 ,i don't know why it is unless it is because free speech is forbidden in that country4 ,there the play1 or the novel1 palpitates with life and vibrates with heart-throbs4 ,all the evil and oppression and ruin of the country cries out through its literature and drama1 and the people worship such art4 ,life itself is seen on the ,russian stage4 ,this is where we should send our earnest writers4 ,true1 there is a censorship in ,russia1 but the radical utterances of an ,american author will easily pass the ,russian censor4 ,there is ,norway1 where a man like ,ibsen1 who has made that country the scene of action of all the tragedies of the world1 is allowed at large after an exile of many years4 ,ibsen has held up the ,land of the ,midnight ,sun as a dominion of darkness1 yet they like him and are also proud of him in his country4 ,belgium is another good market for the serious and revolutionary drama4 ,in ,spain1 ,echegaray is doing nearly what ,ibsen is doing in ,norway1 and he has a number of literary companions with similar sombre intentions4 ,even in ,england they are beginning to write such plays1 and an ,american can easily learn the ,english language4 ,it's a good thing that ,henry ,james prefers to live in ,england1 only we ought to put a tariff on his psychological stories4 ,we need not fear4 ,any and all these countries will serve us as places of exile for our earnest authors4 ,but hold on1 ,i've nearly forgotten4 ,perhaps the expenses of sending these people to ,europe can be saved4 ,let them learn to write in ,yiddish1 for in the ,jewish theatres of the ,new ,york ,ghetto all sorts of serious1 sombre1 life-like1 problematic and powerful plays are produced4 ,,xviii ,why ,social ,reformers ,should ,be ,abolished ,it's quite a problem1 said ,keidansky1 suddenly1 after a pensive pause1 as he watched the glimmering lights of the ,cambridge bridge across the gloomy ,charles4 ,what is8 ,i asked4 ,how to abolish the social reformers1 he answered in a tone of determination4 ,it was nearly two o'clock in the morning when we left the little caf where we spent part of the evening1 and he said it was too early to go home1 which in any case was the last resort4 ,it was so roasting hot up in his attic1 that no matter what time he climbed up there1 he would be well done by the time he rose in the morning4 ,but the place he told me of had this advantage3 it was delightfully cool in the winter4 ,keidansky was physically exhausted and mentally lazy1 and would say but little at first4 ,he had spent the day in preparing an article for one of the ,jewish papers1 and during the evening gave two lessons in ,english1 visiting his pupils at their homes2 for it was thus1 he once informed me1 that he learned what ,english he knew--by teaching it to others4 ,incidentally these lessons he gave and his journalistic efforts helped to pay for the necessities of life1 such as rent1 laundry1 lunches1 symphony concerts 7on the rush71 admissions to picture exhibitions1 books1 gallery tickets to the best plays that came to town1 etc4 ,he had worked very hard that day1 he said1 which was a direct violation of his principle4 ,he did what he could to keep his ideas out of his article1 and he hoped it would be published4 ,he felt tired1 did not want to go home1 and proposed that we walk over to the ,charlesbank ,park where1 on a night like this1 we could at least in imagination conjure up a breeze4 ,your whim is law1 ,i said1 and we set off for the park4 ,i had been speaking of a ,yiddish melodrama which had been produced in ,boston a few days before4 ,keidansky had not seen the play1 but he intended to write a review of it for one of the ,new ,york papers4 ,he knew all about it and the species to which it belonged4 ,when capital punishment was abolished1 sitting through one of these plays would be an all-sufficient penalty for murder1 he said4 ,then this subject gave out and there was a pause1 after which ,keidansky made the startling remark concerning social reformers4 ,abolish them8 ,do you really mean it8 ,i asked4 ,yes1 though ,i do say it1 he replied4 ,what for8 ,i1 being puzzled1 queried again1 and he answered3 ,for the welfare of society1 and perhaps also the sure approach of the millennium4 ,he continued3 ,the social reformers1 as a rule1 are a most unsocial job lot of people4 ,as ,i have known them1 their business has been to frighten1 to scowl1 to scare1 and to make a mountain of evil out of a mole-hill that did not exist4 ,they are often the most blinded zealots1 the narrowest-minded1 one-sided partisans1 with tremendous1 almost ,dante-like propensities to conjure up hair-raising horribles1 but with the genius and the poetry of a ,dante left out4 ,their method is to cut life up piecemeal1 pepper it good and heavy1 and send you to bed with a few bitter morsels4 ,after a night of the most excruciating nightmares1 you wake up with a nauseous taste in your mouth1 and a pronounced case of reformania4 ,it is not so much what they say1 as how they emphasize it2 the very dictionary groans beneath the weight of their abuse of adjectives1 and after a time they convince you that you don't know your own address1 that you have not1 as you imagined1 been living on the planet earth1 but in the most devilish1 hellish purgatory4 ,in order to convert this earth into a heaven1 they must needs make it appear to be the blackest hell4 ,in order to abolish evil1 they must prove that nothing else exists4 ,to convince you of the infinite possibilities in the development of men1 they must prove to you that they have ever been divided between parasitic capitalists and starving slaves4 ,evolution1 as they concoct it for you1 has been a process of going from bad to worse1 from a mild form of slavery to a more abject one4 ,you see1 they are in for effect1 and with the aid of the most bombastic language and turgid phraseology they are bound to make it1 no matter how many people they dishearten1 discourage and dismay4 ,to damn humanity1 they think1 is but a trifle when their supreme end is to save the world4 ,hope is not in heaven1 earth sees no gentler star2 earth is hell and hell bows down before the social reformer4 ,the reformer that ,i mean is a man ever wandering about with a pail of black paint in one hand1 a brush in the other1 and with an expression of heartrending sorrow in his face because he cannot find a ladder high enough to enable him to put a few coats of his paint on the skies4 ,the world must be saved at any cost1 say these reformers1 and if the world is the cost1 why it is dead cheap at that1 when they can become saviors of society and possibly sainted martyrs4 ,and so they proceed to exaggerate the evils that exist in the most brazen-faced manner and to magnify the evils they imagine to the utmost extent4 ,they generously enlarge every iniquity that is and fully describe those that have never been2 they complicate every simple problem in order to puzzle mankind and to be misunderstood and to appear great4 ,the world has become so civilized1 the reformers reason1 or rather think1 that it is hard to find its monstrous wrongs and social reform are being forgotten1 and so out with our telescopes1 magnifying glasses and alarm clocks4 ,the capitalists must be dethroned1 the down-trodden wage-slave must be enthroned1 and then our saviors riot and revel in their never-ending disquisitions4 ,yes1 when there are many reformers in the world1 the world is in sore need of reform4 ,these people are pitifully short-sighted and can barely see one side of life at a time2 they dissect life and remove it from reality4 ,their solutions are so fine that they have nothing to do with the real problems4 ,they detach humanity from the world4 ,they abolish the concrete 7for convenience7 and get lost in their abstractions like the detective who disguised himself so much that he could not discover his own identity4 ,they conceive more evil than exists because they rarely know the difference between right and wrong4 ,they are visionaries without breadth of visions2 theorists1 not knowing the uselessness of all theories2 people who would save the world because they do not know it2 builders without a foundation2 saviors without the saving graces of truth and beauty4 ,they embitter humanity1 they darken the world1 painting it blacker than it ever was in the barbaric past and--they make me weary1 the more so because they constantly remind me how foolish ,i once was myself4 ,i tell you1 the world is better to-day than it ever was before1 and it would become still better if we could abolish these disparaging1 discouraging1 slanderous social reformers4 ,the true reformers are those who make us see how good and great the old world is4 ,as you said the other day1 the greatest explorers were those who discovered heaven on earth4 ,and after we have abolished the reformers we could gradually also abolish the other evils which afflict our civilization and mar existence4 ,they would no longer impede our progress and we could little by little wipe out the wrongs that oppress us and institute more just conditions for all members of society4 ,these things could be done gradually1 reasonably1 with good cheer1 and with the best results4 ,for another trouble with the vaudeville social reformers that ,i did not mention is their overweening1 overwhelming conceit1 which makes them so ludicrously unreasonable and prevents them from seeing that the world is just a trifle bigger than one of their numbers4 ,it was nearing dawn1 and ,i asked him how he was going to do away with the reformers4 ,well1 there's the rub1 he said4 ,i do not know exactly1 but ,i've been thinking that perhaps the only and best way of abolishing the social reformers would be by finding the true solution of the social problem and abolishing all the wrongs and iniquities of our civilization4 ,let us destroy1 annihilate the evils of unjust laws1 governments and monopolies1 and institute a just system of society and the social reformers will disappear4 ,let us have a society wherein all will share equally in all the joys and sorrows of life1 wherein none shall be starved and none shall be pampered to death1 wherein none shall have too much of the goods of the world and all shall have enough1 wherein no hungry babes will wallow in the gutters to become candidates for the prisons and insane asylums1 and no children shall be ruined by riches2 a world wherein there will be no temperance movements to drive men to drink1 no trust to destroy men's souls1 and no churches to harbor infidels2 a world without the constant clouds of harrowing1 sad thoughts1 without the rains of tears1 and with more and more of sunshine4 ,let us do that and we will abolish the obnoxious reformers4 ,let us abolish the monstrous crime of poverty1 which has not the shadow of a reason for existence in a world that is overwhelmed with wealth1 and the occupation of the reformers will be gone1 and they will vanish4 ,really1 we ought to be willing and ready to do anything for their abolition4 ,,xix ,buying a ,book in ,salem ,street ,i am going to buy a book on ,salem street1 said my friend1 when we suddenly encountered on ,tremont ,row4 ,do you wish to come along8 ,i was bent on any adventure1 and so we started for the quarter1 down through ,hanover street4 ,it was but a short distance1 and before we had done much chatting in the way of exchanging ideas1 we were at the head of the street1 facing the pawnshop of ,no4 #a1 with the welcome legend of ,money to ,loan4 ,we passed safely the bedecked and bedraggled second-hand clothing stores1 though the pullers-in were out in full force4 ,as my companion explained1 it is only the seeming strangers who are approached and asked to buy1 or sell1 but familiar figures and persons in their company are never molested4 ,one of these attendants1 a dark1 sad-eyed1 kind-faced young man1 was leaning against the door-post of a store and intently reading a ,jewish magazine4 ,we were across the street and we stopped to look4 ,this fellow1 who was engaged in the most sordid business1 was reading the ,zukunft1 the magazine of dreams1 ideals and ,utopias1 published by the ,new ,york radicals4 ,an elderly1 bearded and stout man came down the street4 ,without looking up from his booklet the youth mechanically asked3 ,any clothing to-day8 ,no1 the man shouted1 no clothing to-day1 and you'll never sell anything if this is the way you'll attend to your business4 ,it was the proprietor of the store4 ,for a moment the puller-in seemed dazed4 ,then he shoved his ,zukunft into his coat pocket4 ,he began to cast his eyes about for customers4 ,he looked a model of sorrow4 ,i was told that it was his idealism1 his striving for the impossible1 beautiful1 that reduced him to the ugly position he was in4 ,we moved on4 ,there were other men reading1 if only in snatches1 but they apparently owned their stores and had their assistants4 ,one of the pullers pointed out to me is one of the most enthusiastic ,zionists in this city4 ,children were playing on sidewalks and doorsteps1 sedately but happily4 ,a school-teacher from one of the neighboring institutions passed through the street4 ,several little girls recognized and flocked about her4 ,one took the teacher's umbrella1 the other asked for the privilege of carrying the young lady's ,boston bag4 ,they took hold of her arms and went along dancing and smiling as she talked to them4 ,above the rumbling of wagons were heard the pleasing notes of a piano and the singing of a sweet-voiced daughter of the tenements4 ,farther up the street was more crowded4 ,it was ,thursday afternoon4 ,the stores were all activity and bustle1 and the pedlers with their wagons and pushcarts were crying their foods and wares for the ,holy ,sabbath in quaint and singing ,yiddish phrases4 ,i was reminded by my friend that ,abraham ,goldfoden1 the father of the ,jewish stage1 in one of his operettas uses a swarming1 eve-of-,sabbath market-scene like this very effectively1 and makes his hucksters sing beautifully of the things they have to sell4 ,said my guide3 ,of course1 in the operetta of ',the ,witch' the pedlers are not so ragged and besmeared1 and you cannot hear the smell of the meat and the fish1 but neither can you buy and eat these things4 ,after all1 if art is beautiful1 real life is quite useful4 ,to our people1 said ,keidansky1 casting his eyes about1 everything here is a matter of course1 and there is nothing unusual about it all4 ,the strangest things are the strangers1 who come to stare1 study and wonder4 ,in fact1 the self-concentration of the ,jew1 probably the secret of his survival1 makes this the only place in the world1 the temporary ,palestine1 the centre of the universe4 ,there are other places in this city1 but they are only the outskirts1 the suburbs of the ,ghetto4 ,there are other peoples and religions1 but we are the people and ours is the faith4 ,the flattery that children receive from their parents afterwards helps them to bear the brunt of the battle4 ,the consciousness of his being chosen helped ,israel to find his way through the dark labyrinth of the centuries4 ,everything here is as it should be1 only a little more on the exclusive and pious ,european plan4 ,this is more of the old fashioned view1 but it is still extant1 inasmuch as the ,ghetto remains4 ,now we were near ,bersowsky's book-store which was on the other side of the street and we stopped1 facing it4 ,a street-organ was playing in front of the strange emporium and a band of children were dancing gayly to its music4 ,we could see the books and periodicals1 phylacteries and newspapers1 holy fringe-garments and sheets of ,jewish music in the windows from the other side of the street4 ,and as we came nearer we could see the very aged woman1 bewigged and kerchiefed1 wan1 wrinkled and wry--the most familiar figure in the ,ghetto--we could see her sitting on her high stool1 drinking a glass of tea and selling newspapers4 ,there were several simple prints and chromos in the window1 reproductions from pictures of ,jewish life4 ,parents blessing their children on the ,day of ,atonement1 the ,feast of ,passover1 high priests lighting the candles in the temple--these were their subjects4 ,in the windows were also brass candlesticks1 such as are being lighted and blessed on the eve of each ,sabbath4 ,we stood outside and mused4 ,this1 ,keidansky explained1 is the leading ,jewish book-store in ,boston1 and it is in a sense also the spiritual centre of this ,ghetto4 ,if any one were to ask me what is to-day the moral condition of the ,jews1 their spiritual state1 what are their intellectual status and religious aspirations1 if any one should ask me--,i would take them into this store and let them see what it contains4 ,religion1 history1 literature--it is all in here--at least in all its physical manifestations4 ,pentateuchs1 ,bibles1 prayer-books1 all books of religious instruction1 books of piety and penance1 volumes of the ,talmud and of ,mishna1 phylacteries and holy scrolls1 covers for the scrolls and curtains for the ,holy ,ark1 ram's horns to sound on ,new ,year's1 knives wherewith to kill cattle according to a merciful ritual1 candle-sticks and show-threads which the ,jews were commanded to wear at the bottom of their garments 7and some of them now wear under their garments7--in a word1 all that stands to preserve the old faith is here4 ,all the symbolism of our old faith is here incarnated4 ,and yet side by side with these are the things which tend towards the transformation or dissolution of the ancient religion--the publications of the radicals1 the destroying utterances of the revolutionists4 ,here come the orthodox for prayer-books and the anti-religious for free-thought pamphlets4 ,here you find the organs of the patriots and ,zionists1 who wish to preserve and regenerate the ,jewish people1 and also the organs of the ,socialists and ,anarchists who are fighting against all national ideas and for an assimilated humanity4 ,come in and ,i'll show you4 ,there is the ',zukunft' 7,future71 the best literary and scientific monthly we ever had1 which is published by the ,socialists4 ,it was formerly edited by ,abe ,cahan1 now ,dr4 ,caspe has charge of it4 ,and look6 ',die ,freie ,arbeiter ,stimme1' the ,anarchist weekly1 ably edited by ,s4 ,yanofsky1 one of the cleverest ,yiddish writers4 ,and1 my friend whispered1 this old lady1 who stands for all that is pious and ancient1 handing out the ',freie ,arbeiter ,stimme' and the ,socialist ',vorwrts1' is to me as strongly dramatic and as profoundly symbolic a picture as any thing in life and literature4 ,mr4 ,bersowsky1 who started this store1 now sells books1 it is hoped1 in a better world4 ,look at this young old woman--his widow--and see if hearts ever break around here4 ,the aged lady is his mother1 and she would not be in any other place in the world1 except where her husband1 and afterwards her son spent their last days4 ,so she stays here all the time the store is open1 and sells papers and books in spite of protests4 ,the ,jew is so practical that he always looks ahead2 he is chronically optimistic1 and his imagination creates everything that the world denies him4 ,dreamer he has been ever since the prophets1 and even before their time4 ,it must have been superb idealism and beautiful faith which enabled him to loan money to his neighbors during the ,middle ,ages4 ,it still requires fine imagination to do it to-day4 ,between the sordid and the sublime stands the ,jew1 who is either one or the other1 or both1 as circumstances shape his destiny4 ,you can see this in all his literature1 from the stories of ,motke ,chabad to the plays of ,jacob ,gordin4 ,is it not strange how quickly we adapt ourselves1 and how soon we come up to date and ahead of date8 ,but yesterday we had no literature except our religious guides1 our only beacon lights in the old-world ,ghettos2 and now we have splendid modern works1 both in ,hebrew and ,yiddish1 all breathing the modern spirit4 ,many standard works from all ,european tongues have been translated for us2 but we have a number of great masters of our own4 ,it is such a short time ago that we had no fiction to speak of us 7except the sermons of our preachers72 and now there is ,abromowitz and ,peretz1 ,spector and ,rubenowitz1 and so many others4 ,there is a whole group of modern poets1 who have also grown up in no time4 ,and the struggle between the old and the new1 which this literature represents1 the striving for the modern1 and the longing for the ancient--that is what makes it so painful and pleasant--so stirring1 and therefore such good art4 ,all grades of feeling and believing1 thinking and non-thinking1 are in the books and periodicals that you find in this store4 ,and the men and women who come here1 living in the same ,ghetto1 are often millions of miles apart in their ideas4 ,my guide asked for his book1 a ,hebrew story1 by ,l4 ,m4 ,lillenblum4 ,the elderly man1 who is a relative of the family and a partner in the business1 knew all about it1 found it after a long search1 and made my friend happy4 ,the story1 ,i was told1 was written about twenty years ago by a native of ,keidan4 ,at that time there was a general literary awakening1 and many talented men wrote profane and useful books in the holy language1 and shocked the orthodox ,jews of ,russia4 ,in ,keidan1 they wanted to excommunicate the author of ,the ,follies of ,my ,youth2 but the rabbi of ,kovno telegraphed1 saying that the infidel was a great man1 and should be left alone--with his book4 ,an old man came in1 and after much bargaining1 bought a silk praying-shawl4 ,several persons came in for papers4 ,a young man bought the ,zukunft and ,the ,merchant of ,venice translated in blank verse1 by ,joseph ,bovshover4 ,he wore glasses1 long hair1 carried an umbrella and a green bag2 in fact1 one might have met him in a vegetarian restaurant4 ,he was pointed out to me as a noted radical1 a dreamer1 who writes for the ,vorwrts1 works as a tailor in a sweat-shop1 and is said to be writing a book4 ,a comely young maiden1 with a madonna-like face1 came near the store4 ,she had a few mayflowers in her hand--and gave them to a ragged little child standing there4 ,she came in and bought a paper4 ,she did not read ,yiddish2 but it was for her father4 ,she was a college student1 ,i was told1 of advanced ideas1 but deeply in love with the people of the ,ghetto and their beliefs--was planning to devote her life to settlements and social reform work--one of the many dreamers who came into this store4 ,once1 said my guide1 ,i told her that ,i would put her into a book4 ',thank you1' she answered4 ',i don't want to sink into oblivion so soon4' ,but she is an idyl of the ,ghetto just the same4 ,look2 here are the poems of ,david ,edelstaat4 ,he sleeps now in a lonely grave in the ,jewish cemetery at ,denver1 ,colorado1 by the side of the fence1 for he was a delinquent in ,israel4 ,he went there by way of the corroding sweat-shop and a damp cellar in ,new ,york1 where he edited a little communist weekly4 ,many of our idealists go to ,denver this way4 ,it is the only time they travel and take a vacation4 ,the hospitals there are crowded4 ,but ,edelstaat's poems1 they are a sacred treasure among the ,jewish working people4 ,,xx ,the ,purpose of ,immoral ,plays ,the smoke was so thick and the din so heavy1 that ,i did not see him when ,i came in and barely heard his shouted greeting4 ,such was the crowded condition of the regular resort on ,saturday night2 yet ,i found ,keidansky tucked up in a corner of the caf1 oblivious to the obvious1 around him1 with a pile of newspapers in his hands4 ,the group had not as yet assembled1 so my friend was reading4 ,this has been a great week1 he said with gladsome emphasis1 after we had exchanged courtesies4 ,i at once suspected what he meant4 ,a great week1 ,i said1 because you have been able to see humanity piteously dissected1 human beings mercilessly analyzed1 souls stript of their raiment1 wounded and bleeding1 our fellow-men on exhibition1 crippled by custom and walking on the crutches of convention1 our best arrangements of life held up to ridicule and scorn4 ,a great week1 ,i said1 because you have fed on tragedy like a fiend8 ,yes1 there is something sad about tragedy1 answered ,keidansky1 ignoring my bitterness1 but the man who sees things clearly1 who looks a long distance behind the scenes1 the man who sees the worst and does not die1 but lives to cast his observations into a perfect work1 and to lift you up to the mountain-top with him1 is not this man great and gladdening8 ,is there not cause for exultation in a really big tragedy8 ,and this is saying but little about the sthetic pleasure of a story told in heart-breaking and soul-stirring manner1 he added4 ,some one must do this work1 and it makes one feel real good when the right man comes along4 ,the saddest stories are yet to be told1 before there can be much more happiness in the world4 ,we can never reach the heights until we realize the depths4 ,as for myself1 ,i give all the world to the man who can make it better than it is4 ,and such works are making the longed-for improvement1 by performing the miracle of making men and women think1 doing this1 not by any pedantic preachments1 but by the power of suggestiveness and the large vision of the newer and truer art4 ,art with a purpose8 ,but all art has this purpose4 ,and the less the purpose is consciously inculcated into art1 the better is that purpose carried out4 ,they call them problem plays1 but was there ever a great play without some sort of problem in it8 ,without some burning question of life1 and love1 and death8 ,what's that8 ,immoral8 ,was there ever a masterly and mastering work that was not immoral1 according to the popular judgments8 ,was there ever a work with a big purpose that conformed to the critics and to current lack of opinions8 ,could there be much of a purpose to anything that did not shock the world's conspiracy of cowardice they call morality8 ,gott ist mit dir6 ,you must go abroad and take some cure4 ,you have been reading the ,american dramatic critics4 ,it was a great week1 ,i say1 with ,ibsen and ,bjrnson1 ,sudermann and ,pinero1 and two wonderful artists to interpret them1 but the pleasure was very much spoiled for me by some of these critics4 ,ah1 these poor critics4 ,here are the papers1 and ,i can still hear them choking and croaking and cackling1 and my heart goes out to them and turns sick4 ,what a wonderful lot of fellows they are4 ,what endless platitudes and empty phrases--full of nonsense--they have delivered themselves of this week1 yet ,i don't think they are any the wiser for it4 ,i know one of the fraternity 7there is sufficient disagreement between themselves to be called a fraternity7 who is a perfect genius4 ,with one stroke of his mighty pen he once annihilated ,ibsen1 ,echegaray1 ,astrowsky1 ,paul ,hervieue and ,edward ,martyn4 ,it was all 'morbid trash1' he said of a series of their plays1 and it is strange that these men are still heard of occasionally4 ,that was after the ,john ,blair experiment1 and ,i walked into this critic's office and made a few extemporaneous remarks4 ,he said ,i ought to have more respect for a man who can get as much advertising for his paper as he can4 ,of course1 this was indisputable4 ,it would take so little courage to do it1 yet they dare not think their own thoughts1 the dear1 dear critics4 ,no1 there is not any use in trying to reason with them1 but ,i sometimes would like to get them all together in one room and give them all a sound horsewhipping4 ,one of the critics1 who writes in silk gloves1 swears in the most perfect1 correct ,english1 and compares every play he sees to something of ,shakespeare1 objects to ',the ,second ,mrs4 ,tanqueray' as an immoral play4 ,the dissection of this woman's heart and mind1 he protests1 is not the proper business of the dramatist1 nor is the inspection of his dissecting table after the job has been done a proper amusement for theatrical spectators4 ',a process of repentance and purification' and that sort of thing1 on the part of this unfortunate1 must be indicated1 if art is to approach this kind of life4 ,the entire scheme of ethics is bad4 ,yet the critic admits that the performance was terrible and touching1 and that ,mrs4 ,campbell--,heaven bless her for coming to see us--won a remarkable and complete victory in the part2 altogether he praises her very generously4 ,now1 what ,i say is this4 ,if we can be moved and stirred by an immoral play1 there is either something the matter with our morality1 or there is something radically wrong with our hearts4 ,i must recall to you the lines of ,stephen ,crane4 ',behold the grave of a wicked man1 and near is a stern spirit4 ,there came a drooping maid with violets1 but the spirit grasped her arm4 ,no flowers for him1 he said4 ,the maid wept3 ,oh1 ,i loved him4 ,but the spirit grim and frowning3 ,no flowers for him4 ,now1 this is it4 ',if the spirit was just1 why did the maid weep8' ,if our standard of morality is right1 why do our hearts go out for ,paula ,tanqueray1 for ,nora ,helmer1 for ,mad ,agnes8 ,is it because we have become so humane as to be far ahead of our morality8 ,what does it mean1 anyway8 ,we are told that the contents of the plays seen here last week1 are not fit subjects for the drama4 ,well1 art might as well go out of business1 if it is not going to look life squarely in the face1 if it is not going to sound the very depths of things1 and mirror conditions as they are to-day1 for modern humanity4 ,the play in particular1 it is clear1 must deal with the intense efforts1 the dramatic essences of life2 the play in particular will have nothing to do unless it takes up the crucial conditions1 the large realities1 the stirring struggles1 the sterling aspirations of the clashing life of to-day under the new and as yet unadjusted surroundings4 ,the drama must take up shame and crime1 error and suffering1 or there is no plot for a great play anywhere4 ,the few pretty1 romantic1 silly stories have been told over and over again4 ,now we have grown4 ,there is a larger life before us1 and we want something stronger4 ,we must have plays to educate our critics1--if that is possible4 ',he who is without sin among ye1 let him cast the first stone4' ,if ,christ had said nothing else1 would not this have made him a great man8 ,yet after eighteen hundred years it is necessary for another ,jew1 a ,portuguese ,jew named ,pinero1 to say the same thing through the medium of a play1 because the ,christians say that ,christ's teachings are immoral4 ,and then the stones of the critics are thrown at ,pinero4 ,here ,i said something about the relation between art and morality1 but ,keidansky protested4 ,art has nothing to do with morality1 he said1 and therefore it teaches such great moral lessons4 ,it re-creates and reproduces ,nature and life in forms of beauty and power4 ,and because it approaches elementary conditions without bias and preconceived notions1 and illumines its material with the touch of human genius1 it shows us life in its largeness1 right in its relativeness1 and raises us above our established moralities4 ,because art is the spontaneous expression of the humane1 the true1 the good and the beautiful in our souls1 it helps us to see the larger rights1 the greater justice1 and helps us to make1 change and advance our morality4 ,art touches the commonplace and makes it divine4 ,it makes a saint out of a sinner by showing causes1 and casting a kindly light over human weakness4 ,in real life ',the ,second ,mrs4 ,tanqueray' is a shameful scandal1 to be exploited by sensational newspapers1 and we avoid the parties concerned and run away from them2 but art raises the story to the height of the tragic and the epic1 and we suffer and grieve with ,paula1 and even the cold critic1 who tries so hard not to be humane1 is moved4 ,in life we are even afraid to mention the names of such people2 but art makes us weep for ,camille1 sympathize with ,sapho1 be sad1 or gay1 with the vagabond ,franois ,villon1 sigh for ,denise1 grieve with ,don ,jos1 and follow ,manon ,lescaut through the desert of ,north ,america4 ,art helps us to realize that there is no sin but error1 no degradation but dulness of the mind1 no vice but lack of vision4 ,i don't want to speak to you because you did not go to see ,bjrnson's ',beyond ,human ,power' and ,mrs4 ,campbell's acting in that piece4 ,yet since you did not go you ought to be enlightened4 ,you have read the story8 ,did you see how the critics dodged the issues of the play1 beating about the bush and puzzling each other8 ,a case of faith and reason1 you know1 and you mustn't talk about these things4 ,a blind leader of the blind1 a man who 'lacks the sense of reality' and sees only what he wishes to see2 a woman of intellect who wastes her love on him2 unbelieving children of a miracle worker2 the clash between the new and the old2 the decrepitude of orthodoxy2 the contrast between the master and his disciples and who can never realize the impossible1 unnatural ideals2 the faith that kills4 ,the play has all the tragedy of a dying religion1 and the last act is as powerful as anything ,i have ever seen anywhere4 ,what does it mean8 ,to me it indicates the dying of the old ,christianity1 and ,i believe that ,bjrnson1 unlike ,ibsen1 is a ,christian4 ,the quiet1 subdued1 subtle work of ,mrs4 ,campbell was worthy of the play4 ,and there was ,henrik ,ibsen's ',a ,doll's ,house4' ,i shall never forget the performance of it4 ,what a simple story1 how concise and terse1 not a superfluous word in the whole of it1 yet how strong and stirring6 ,it is primarily a picture1 a powerful dramatic picture without a shadow of preachiness in it4 ,you say there is a problem in it8 ,yes1 but it's in the picture1 the picture is the problem4 ,here is a perfect work of a great master1 if there ever was one4 ,there are whole cities made up of such dolls' houses1 with women as playthings1 toys1 means of amusement1 slaves of conventionality and of slavish men1 yet the critics are croaking and raising the cry of 'immorality4' ,save on the ,new ,york ,east ,side ,ghetto1 ,ibsen is comparatively unknown in ,america1 but it is not true that the ,american people are not interested in his plays whenever they are given and that they would not go to see them if more of them were performed4 ,in saying so the critics say what is not true1 as was manifest from the enthusiastic audiences at the last week's performances4 ,there is a ,yiddish translation of the play by the poet ,morris ,winchewsky1 and it was performed by ,mr4 and ,mrs4 ,jacob ,p4 ,adler1 but ,i have never seen it4 ,mrs4 ,fiske's ',nora' is positively great4 ,her delicacy1 her mastery of light and shade1 her manner of speech and poise1 and on the whole her perfect conception of the character is a stroke of genius4 ,why did you not see it8 ,do you want to go8 ,you can pay for my lunch4 ,ibsen and ,bjrnson have impoverished me this week4 ,so you don't think much of the ,american critics8 ,i asked at this point4 ,on the contrary1 he said1 with the exception of some1 ,i think they are all good advertising agents4 ,,xxi ,the ,poet and the ,problem ,this time ,i met ,keidansky in front of the ,jewish theatre4 ,he had just left the rehearsal of a play which he had translated from the ,german into ,yiddish4 ,as ,i approached he pointed to a huge sign on top of the building across the street advertising1 in a pretty jingle of rhymes1 a new biscuit of undreamed of deliciousness4 ,i have solved the problem1 he said proudly4 ,this was not such a surprise to me4 ,to solve problems was my friend's business4 ,what problem is that8 ,i asked4 ,the problem of the poet1 he answered4 ,after the ages of oppression1 persecution and poverty1 after the exiles1 insults and negligence of centuries1 the poet will at last come into his own1 into bread and butter and a respected position in society4 ,immunity from starvation1 peace1 prosperity will at last be his4 ,his worth will be recognized and he will be put to work and made a useful member of society4 ,what will he do8 ,i asked4 ,he will write the advertisements for manufacturers and storekeepers1 said ,keidansky2 he will sing the song of the products of modern industry1 chant of the wonderful performances of the age and glorify the fruits of our civilization1 extol the things of use and of beauty that serve the needs of to-day's humanity4 ,this will be an ample theme for his ,muse and the guerdon of his song will be tangible4 ,his talents will serve a great practical need4 ,he will prove at last that there is some advantage in genius4 ,the world1 the world of reality1 of facts1 figures and statistics will no longer ask1 ',what's the use of poetry8' ,the world will recognize its usefulness1 and commerce and trade and capital shall become its friends4 ,in graceful rhymes1 in silvery stanzas1 in beautiful verses will the poet voice the marvels of all the results of the inventiveness1 ingenuity and skill with which our era is so richly blessed4 ,and whatever article on the market will be the burden of his song1 it will bring good prices and make easy the life of the singer4 ,and people will no longer have to strain their eyes to find the poet's lines in an obscure corner of a magazine1 or in a little volume of tiny type2 the bards will no longer have to depend upon such poor methods of attracting attention4 ,in great1 glaring1 garish and golden letters their poems will look down upon people from the rooftops1 from the high walls of factories and barns1 from fences and huge signs by all the roadsides1 railroad sides1 mountain sides1 seasides1 and all sides1 and people will be compelled to look up to them1 because there will be nowhere else to look4 ,there will be no escape4 ,the large letters painted in glowing colors and with their artistic arrangement will arrest the attention of all4 ,and when a foreigner will come here to study this country and write it up1 he will not be able to see anything on account of these signs which will cover the land1 and after reading the inscriptions upon them1 he will go forth saying that it is the most poetic country in the whole world4 ,so inspired will the stranger become that he will go forth and tell the world of the wonderful things we make and advertise here4 ,thus poetry1 at last1 become useful1 will help us conquer the foreign market4 ,after all1 the bards will come down from the clouds and the garrets of starvation1 and in their song embrace the whole world2 celebrate the things concrete1 material and real4 ,poetry and the world will at last become reconciled2 spirit and substance will be united to the practical advantage of the spirit4 ,for too long a time has the poet wandered about in distress1 begging for a pittance1 persecuted everywhere1 singing his song for nothing1 with starvation and inspiration as his only rewards4 ,for too long a time has the poet1 'the unacknowledged legislator of the world1' been subjected to all manner of scorn1 persecution1 calumny1 and been compelled to seek in vain some one who will pay well for a dedication of his work4 ,his own lot was ever hard1 and1 besides1 he suffered all the sorrows of humanity4 ,he lived with all and grieved with all4 ,he put his life into his songs1 yet few paid any heed to them4 ,poets have ever been the victims of the prosiness of things4 ,the world was ever ugly to them because they made it so beautiful4 ,no matter how great their immortality1 they never could pay their rent4 ',a genius is an accused man1' said ,victor ,hugo in his book on ,shakespeare1 and then he goes on to enumerate all the banishments1 persecutions1 imprisonments and outrages that were heaped upon the poets of all lands and all ages1 including ,victor ,hugo himself4 ,yes1 a poet has ever been an accused man1 and nearly every one has found him guilty4 ,but as ,i say1 these cruelties had for too long been practised upon the singers and the time has come for a change4 ,with the advance of civilization he will be given useful employment1 a decent wage1 and thus enabled to make a living without working overtime4 ,richard ,le ,gallienne shall weep no more for a government endowment for the poet4 ,the poet shall become self-supporting4 ,he will sing of things whereof the owners can afford to pay for the song4 ,whether he will create immortal works or not he will work1 and work is immortal4 ,it will continue unto the end of time4 ,here ,i wished to remonstrate1 but ,keidansky would not permit me4 ,he continued1 as we walked along through the ,ghetto4 ,the human and other machines of the age are bringing such wonderful things into existence1 and the poet will lift his voice in praise of them4 ,it really takes the imagination of a poet to picture and glorify the countless commodities that are manufactured and put upon the markets of our time4 ,it takes a poet to point out their usefulness4 ,what will he not sing of on those huge street signs and in the double-page advertisements in the newspapers8 ,of pre-digested foods1 of squeezeless corsets1 of baking powder that bakes the cakes without any form of heat1 of ink that endows the pen with brains1 of cigars that are conducive to health1 of watches that make people up to date1 of a hair restorer that keeps the hair you have1 of shoes with which you can walk in the air1 of clothes that make man and woman out of nothing1 pianos that make ,paderewskys1 of bicycles and typewriters1 and razors and house-lots and furniture1 and peerless1 rare1 surpassing1 extraordinary everything mentionable4 ,what will he not sing of8 ,these things will be4 ,god will send us a ,bobby ,burns and he will sing the song of the best steamship company1 and he will not only be able to go abroad often1 but he may in the course of time even become the general passenger agent4 ,it takes a competent fortune to escape the materialism of the age1 and to acquire this the poet will associate himself with the material interests of the time and become as free as a bird in the woods4 ,the process has begun1 and already one finds pretty little poems and fine sentiments in all advertisements1 particularly those that meet one's eyes in the street cars4 ,i usually have a book with me on the cars1 but of late ,i find the advertisements more amusing4 ,pretty soon the best literature will appear in the advertisements of all publications4 ,one firm advertises in choice epigrams1 which show the possibilities for some future wits4 ,i do not know whether they are written by ,elbert ,hubbard or not1 but they sound like it and show which way things are going4 ,this is the solution of the problem of the poet4 ,i pondered over it long1 but found it at last4 ,our hope comes from ,parnassus4 ,the poets will help us conquer the foreign market4 ,,xxii ,my ,vacation on the ,east ,side ,green fields1 fair forests1 singing streams1 pine-clad mountains1 verdant vistas--from the monotony of the city to the monotony of nature4 ,i wanted a complete change1 and so ,i went to the ,east ,side of ,new ,york for my vacation4 ,that is where ,i have been4 ,thus did our friend explain his strange disappearance and unusual absence from ,boston for a whole week4 ,for the first time since he came here from ,new ,york he had been missing from his home1 his regular haunts1 such as the cafs1 ,jewish book-stores and the debating club1 and none of those whom ,i asked knew whither he had betaken himself4 ,the direct cause of his disappearance1 explained ,keidansky1 was a railroad pass1 which he had secured from a friendly editor for whom he had done some work4 ,he went on explaining4 ,i wanted to break away for awhile from the sameness and solemnness1 the routine and respectability of this town1 from my weary idleness1 empty labors1 and uniformity of our ideas here1 so when the opportunity was available ,i took a little journey to the big metropolis4 ,one becomes rusty and falls into a rut in this suburb4 ,i was becoming so sedate1 stale and quiet that ,i was beginning to be afraid of myself4 ,the revolutionary spirit has somewhat subsided4 ,many of the comrades have gone back on their ideas1 have begun to practise what they preach1 to improve their conditions by going into business and into work1 and ,i often feel lonely4 ,anti-imperialism1 ,christian ,science and the ,new ,thought are amusing2 but there is not enough excitement here4 ,boston is not progressive2 there are not enough foreigners in this city4 ,people from many lands with all sorts of ideas and the friction that arises between them--that causes progress4 ,new ,york is the place1 and it is also the refuge of all radicals1 revolutionaries and good people whom the wicked old world has cast out4 ,america1 to retain its original character1 must constantly be replenished by hounded refugees and victims of persecution in despotic lands4 ,to remain lovers of freedom we must have sufferers from oppression with us4 ,sad commentary1 this1 upon our human nature2 but so are nearly all commentaries upon human nature4 ,commentaries upon the superhuman are tragic4 ,new ,york with its ,germans and ,russians and ,jews is a characteristic ,american city4 ,boston and other places are too much like ,europe--cold1 narrow and provincial4 ,i came to ,boston some time ago because ,i had relatives here--the last reason in the world why any one should go anywhere2 but ,i was ignorant and superstitious in those days4 ,i have since managed to emancipate myself1 more or less1 from the baneful influences of those near2 but meanwhile ,i have established myself1 have become interested in the movements and institutions of the community1 and here ,i am4 ,the symphony concerts1 the radical movement1 the library1 lectures on art1 the sunsets over the ,charles ,river1 the ,faneuil ,hall protest meetings against everything that continues to be1 the literary paper published1 the ,atlantic ,monthly1 ,gamelial ,bradford1 ,philip ,hale and so many other fixtures of ,boston have since endeared it to me and ,i stayed4 ,besides1 it would cost me too much to ship all my books to ,new ,york4 ,but wishing a change1 ,i wanted to go to the big metropolis4 ,no1 not to the country2 not for me those parasitic1 pestering and polished summer hotels1 where a pile of people get together to gossip and giggle and gormandize and bore each other for several weeks4 ,an accident once brought me to one of these places4 ,i went out to see some friends1 and ,i know what they are4 ,they spend most of their time dressing2 these vacationists dress three times a day2 the green waist1 and yellow waist1 the brown skirt and the blue suit1 the red jacket1 the white hat1 and the gray coat1 and then the same turn over again2 they fill themselves with all sorts of heavy and unwholesome foods brought from the cities2 they sit around the verandas and talk all day1 never daring to venture into the woods2 they do no good to themselves1 coming home tired and sick1 and they do unspeakable wrong by turning good1 honest farmers into parasitic1 sophisticated boarder-breeders1 and by turning them away from the tilling of the soil4 ,no more of these places for me4 ,of course1 if one could go into the woods and live as simply as a savage for awhile it would be fine2 but one needs a tent1 and ,i never did own any real estate4 ,but this time ,i wanted a complete change2 ,i wanted something to move and stir me out of the given groove1 the beaten path ,i was falling into1 some excitement that would shake the cobwebs out of my brain1 so ,i turned towards the ,east ,side4 ,they are all there1 the comrades1 the radicals1 the red ones1 and dreamers2 people who are free because they own nothing4 ,poets1 philosophers1 novelists1 dramatists1 artists1 editors1 agitators and other idle and useless beings1 they form a great galaxy in the ,new ,york ,ghetto4 ,for several years1 ever since ,i left ,new ,york1 ,i had been receiving instruction and inspiration from them through the medium of the ,yiddish and the ,socialist press1 where my own things often appeared beside their spirited outpourings1 and now ,i was overcome by an overpowering desire to meet them again1 talk matters over and fight it all out4 ,there is no sham about the ,east ,side branch of the ancient and most honorable order of ,bohemians--the little changing1 moving world that is flowing with the milk of human kindness and the honey of fraternal affections1 where those who live may die and those who die may live4 ,here among the ,east ,side ,bohemians people feel freely1 act independently1 speak as they think and are not at all ashamed of their feelings4 ,they have courage4 ,they wear their convictions in public4 ,they do as they please1 whether that pleases everybody else or not4 ,they talk with the purpose of saying something4 ,they write with the object of expressing their ideas4 ,they tell the truth and shame those who do not4 ,hearts are warm because they own their souls4 ,those who really own their souls will never lose them4 ,as ,joseph ,bovshover1 the fine poet of the ,east ,side has sung3 ',beauty hideth1 ,nature chideth1 ,when the heart is cold2 ,fame is galling1 ,gold's enthralling1 ,when the mind is sold4' ,they all assemble in the cafs1 those universities of the ,east ,side1 and in these places of judgment all things are determined4 ,is there a great world problem that puzzles and vexes all mankind8 ,the debaters at one of these tea-houses take it up at their earliest discussion and soon the problem is solved and the way of human progress is clear again4 ,is there a question that has troubled the ages8 ,come and spend fifteen minutes on the ,east ,side1 and the salvation of humanity will be assured to you4 ,there is so much squalor and suffering and sorrow here that nothing can overcome the optimism of these chosen people4 ,their incurable faith cannot be shaken even by their religious leaders1 and when they become atheists they are the most pious atheists in all the world4 ,but in the cafs the great issues given up in despair by famous statesmen are met and decided upon4 ,the trusts8 ,are they not paving the way for the realization of ,socialism8 ,not until all the industries have been concentrated by the trusts will the people through the government be able to take possession of them4 ,otherwise1 how in the world will the new rgime1 for instance1 ever organize and take hold of all the peanut stands of the land8 ,you do not understand the question thoroughly if you have not read the articles of ,i4 ,a4 ,hurwitz in the ',vorwarts4' ,the future of war8 ,there will be no war in the future4 ,the workingmen of all countries are uniting and so are the capitalists4 ,the international movement is not laboring in vain4 ,socialism is spreading in the ,european armies4 ,every government will have enough trouble in its own land4 ,others come here and say that every government will have to fight for its own life and will not be able to do anything else4 ,people will take ,tolstoy's advice and cease to pay taxes and withdraw their support from the powers that rule4 ,tolstoy1 say some1 is a masterful artist1 but puerile as a philosopher1 a curious mixture of genius and narrow-mindedness1 a man1 who once having erred1 now sins against mankind by denying it the right of erring4 ,the red-haired ragged orator with blue eye-glasses and the face of a ,hebrew ,beethoven quotes ,ingersoll4 ',tolstoy1' said the agnostic1 'stands with his back to the rising sun4' ,and did not ,edward ,carpenter say of ,tolstoy's book1 'that strange jumble of real acumen and bad logic1 large-heartedness and fanaticism--,what is art8' ,ibsen is somber because he is almost alone in seeing the most tragic phases of life1 because he feels compelled to treat what all other artists have neglected4 ,many of his plays are too much like life to be acted1 and we go to the theatre only to see plays4 ,one of the listeners speaks of the appreciation of ,ibsen in ',the ,new ,spirit1' by ,havellock ,ellis1 and of the analogy that he finds between ,ibsen and ,whitman4 ,zangwill places ,ibsen above ,shakespeare1 and more recently he has bestowed great praise upon ,hauptmann4 ,rather strange of ,zangwill1 who is himself not a realist and has gone in for ,zionism1 to like ,ibsen so much4 ,and who is greater than ,ibsen8 some one asks4 ',perhaps it is ,i4 ,zangwill1' says the cynical1 frowzy and frowning little journalist4 ,g4 ,bernard ,shaw is mentioned as a candidate1 and his great little book on ,ibsenism comes in for a heated discussion4 ,brandes is quoted1 and several of his admirers present go into ecstasies over his works and almost forget the writers whom he has treated4 ,the pale-faced1 wistful-eyed poet with the ,christlike face rises high on the wings of his eloquence in praise of the ,danish critic's appreciation of ,heine1 and ,brandes is declared to be one of the greatest ,jews in the world4 ,what was it ,brandes said about ,zionism8 ,zionism1 ,socialism and ,anarchism come up in turn1 and so many trenchant and vital things are said on these subjects4 ,will the novel pass away8 ,the dramatist--bulky and bearded1 impressive and strong-looking1 with wonderful piercing eyes--the dramatist is inclined to think that it will4 ,the short story is the story of the future4 ,long novels give one a glimpse of eternity4 ,by the time you come to the last chapter1 conditions have so changed in the world that you do not know whether the story is true to life or not4 ,it is the necessarily historical1 the long novel is4 ,old ,jules ,verne has won the ,east ,side over with the fine words he has said on ,guy ,de ,maupassant4 ,some admirers of ,z4 ,libin say that the ,frenchman is too romantic1 but on the whole he is the favorite story-writer4 ',yes1' says the ,jewish actor1 ',de ,maupassant writes for all the ,yiddish papers'2 and in fact all the ,east ,side dailies have for years been treating their readers to his charming tales4 ,he may be imagined to be a constant contributor4 ,did not an old ,israelite walk into the office of the ',jewish ,cry' and ask to see ,friedrich ,nietzsche8 ,and then the problem of ,nietzsche comes up2 whether he was1 or was not a reaction against1 or the opposite extreme from1 the meekness of ,christianity1 the weakness of his time4 ,wagner's music1 ,stephen ,phillips's poetry1 ,zola's essay on realism1 ,maeterlinck's transcendentalism1 ,gorky's rise in letters1 the ,anglo-,saxon isolation in literature1 ,ludwig ,fuldas's latest play1 all these things are decided upon by people who understand them1 more or less4 ,i cannot tell you more1 but these meetings and these talks at various times and in various places made my vacation on the ,east ,side delightful4 ,then there were lectures and meetings and social gatherings of the comrades4 ,the sun of new ideas rises on the ,east ,side4 ,everywhere you meet people who are ready to fight for what they believe in and who do not believe in fighting4 ,for a complete change and for pure air you must go among the people who think about something1 have faith in something4 ,katz1 ,cahan1 ,gordin1 ,yanofsky1 ,zolotaroff1 ,harkavy1 ,frumkin1 ,krantz1 ,zametkin1 ,zeifert1 ,lessin1 ,elisovitz1 ,winchevsky1 ,jeff1 ,leontief1 ,lipsky1 ,freidus1 ,frominson1 ,selikowitch1 ,palay1 ,barondess1 and many other intellectual leaders1 come into the cafs to pour out wisdom and drink tea1 and here comes also ,hutchins ,hapgood to get his education4 ,each man bears his own particular lantern1 it is true1 but each one carries a light and every one brings a man with him4 ,there was that memorial mass-meeting in honor of ,hirsh ,leckert1 the ,jewish shoemaker1 who shot at the governor of ,wilna1 who took his life in hand to avenge a hideous outrage perpetrated upon his fellow-workers by a despicable despot4 ,the ,jewish working-people of ,wilna organized a peaceful procession1 and at the behest of the governor hundreds of them were mercilessly flogged--flogged until they fainted1 and when revived1 flogged again4 ,then came this lowly hero1 ,leckert1 and made a glorious ascent on the scaffold4 ,in the afternoon news reached the ,east ,side that ,leckert was hanged4 ,the same evening the working-people1 just out of their factories and sweat-shops1 in overwhelming numbers assembled in ,new ,irving ,hall1 and the fervor and enthusiasm1 the sobbing and the sighing1 the tear-stained faces and love-lit eyes--the soul-stirring eulogies delivered--,i shall never forget it4 ,i tell you no man ever saw anything greater or more inspiring on his vacation4 ,mr4 ,jacob ,gordin gave me a memorable treat1 took me to see his latest and one of his best plays1 ',gott1 ,mensch1 und der ,teufel4' ,i have seen many of his works and it is hard to decide which is the best because they are nearly all so good4 ,but this strange story of a ,jewish ,faust1 the pious1 saintly ,jew who1 tempted by ,satan's gold1 step by step loses his soul and cannot live without it2 this wonderful blending of modern realism and supernatural symbolism1 this superb summary of man and the new problem of life1 the beauty and the strength of the work1 is remarkable1 to say the least4 ',as in times of yore1' says ,satan1 'the sons of ,adam are divided into ,abels and ,cains4 ,the former are constantly murdered and the latter are the constant murderers4 ,gracious ,lord1 in the new man there dwells the old savage ,adam4' ,sorry ,i cannot tell you more about it now1 but the last words of the play have been ringing through my mind ever since ,i saw it4 ',all must die1 all that is and lives2 ,life alone is immortal4 ,that only is mortal that desires and strives1 ,the striving and the desire immortal4' ,why1 added ,keidansky1 as a final thunderbolt1 ,i have gained enough ideas on the ,east ,side to last me here in ,boston for ten years4 ,,xxiii ,our ,rivals in ,fiction ,after all1 what is man when compared to the hero of romance8 asked ,keidansky4 ,beside the dashing1 dauntless1 duelling cavalier that now moves through the popular novel and struts our stage1 he said1 the ordinary1 mortal man of mere flesh and blood pales into insignificance4 ,beside the extraordinary exploits of the storied hero1 the doings of the every-day man are like the foolish games of little children1 only not half so graceful4 ,beside the strange adventures of the leading character1 the simple efforts of earthly man are accounted as naught4 ,it would not be so bad if no one ever made comparisons1 but women do1 and so men are always found wanting1 and have a harrowing time of it4 ,in the epic1 the drama1 the novel1 the hero has nothing else to do but to make love1 to deliver pretty speeches1 perform remarkable feats and look graceful1 and so he is ever so attractive4 ,he plays upon the hearts1 takes hold of the minds1 fastens himself upon the imaginations of the gentle fair and fanciful4 ,he knows just what to say1 just what to do1 and just where to go1 just when to return1 and is always so punctual--appears just in the nick of time to save as many lives as are in danger4 ,he becomes a model1 a type1 that the lady fair goes in quest of1 when the play is over1 or the novel is ended4 ,she turns to life for the realization4 ,in real life the young man has other things to do than making love1 posing prettily1 whispering sweet somethings1 framing compliments and acting the gallant and defender of the fair and perfectly safe4 ,he has other things to do than wearing fine clothes and winning smiles4 ,in real life he has a real battle to fight4 ,in real life he cannot always look neat1 act aptly1 prate loudly1 and say the improper thing at the proper time4 ,the improper thing at the proper time--that is the secret of genius4 ,things are not so smooth in life4 ,the guidance of ,providence is not so clear as are the directions of the playwright and novelist4 ,hard to tell just what to do1 just what to say1 just where to go1 and just when to swear with impunity4 ,human beings are clumsy1 awkward1 uncouth4 ,life is an embarrassing affair4 ,to observe all the niceties is madness1 not to observe them is to be sent to a madhouse4 ,what can a man do against his all-powerful rival in fiction and the drama4 ,his course is clear1 but we walk in darkness4 ,the ways of ,god are mysterious1 the ways of men are crooked1 and then--we are told to find the way4 ,no matter how much you stand on ceremony you are likely to slip and fall anyway4 ,life is a labyrinth for which there is no specific geography4 ,to state the matter more definitely1 the problem is this3 ,a young man spends a half of his week's wages1 takes the lady of his heart's desire to the theatre--and she falls in love with the hero of the play--the omnipresent1 omnipotent hero4 ,his every look1 every word1 every gesture1 every step1 every venture--it is just too lovely for anything4 ,oh1 it is adorable1 entrancing6 ,and the young man who took her to the theatre1 the young man who really exists1 what does he amount to8 ,what a puny dwarf he becomes beside the great giant of the drama4 ,who can say things so sweetly1 so smoothly1 so sonorously1 as the leading character or characters in a play8 ,who can do things so neatly1 so masterfully1 and surmount such overwhelming difficulties in the twinkling of an eye8 ,such magnetic1 magnanimous1 majestic figures6 ,it was after a pretty love scene on the stage that ,i once heard a lady sitting near me say to her companion1 ',oh1 if some one would say my dear to me in that manner6' ,and perhaps the young lady will go all through life without finding the man1 who will know enough to imitate that actor4 ,a young man buys the latest and most loudly advertised historical novel and sends it to the lady of his dreams4 ,on the next evening when he calls she is so absorbed1 so immersed in the book that she hardly has anytime to speak to him4 ,when she does look up from the tome she tells him all about the hair-raising hero1 ,count de ,mar4 ',he is a man1' she says1 and so goes on to relate about his mighty exploits4 ,there is nothing worth while in all the world except a man like ,count de ,mar4 ,imagine1 if you can1 how the young man feels4 ,and the lady chases the phantom of ,count de ,mar in real life until she becomes a shadow of her former self1 and the young man goes through existence cursing the historical novel in general and ,count de ,mar in particular4 ,what else but misery should there be for mere man of mere reality8 ,what is he beside such lords of creation as ,count de ,mar1 ,richard ,carvel1 ,ralph ,percy1 ,ralph ,marlow1 ,stephen ,brice1 ,clayton ,halowell1 ,charley ,steele1 ,jean ,hugon1 ,marmaduke ,howard1 ,count ,karobke1 ,boris ,godofsky1 ,louis ,de ,lamoy1 ,general ,kapzen1 ,prince ,meturof--what is he beside these8 ,everything is so small in life1 in books things are so big4 ,the world is already created1 but fiction is still being written4 ,if ,adam were created by a novelist he would have fared much better4 ,the story would never have ended happily4 ,these wonderful heroes1 what fine means they have1 what splendid opportunities1 what glorious achievements1 what great accomplishments are theirs4 ,they can do just as they please1 have fortunes to squander1 and riot in luxuries4 ,they are all born rich1 or their rich relatives die early1 and in good will4 ,in reality it is so different4 ,we have to work for a living and poverty is our reward4 ,in real life we have to write historical novels for a living4 ,we have to write popular plays and pretty poems and sugarcoated stories4 ,yes1 such is life1 and there is poverty and the misery of the masses1 and there are social problems and political evils--things unknown in the average novel1 and in popular art generally4 ,we must do so much that is irksome in order to have a pleasurable moment4 ,when ,richard ,mansfield was delivering those sumptuous stump speeches in ,shakespeare's spectacular melodrama of ',henry ,v4' and the soldiers were stirred up to the highest pitch of enthusiasm1 the fair fraulein in front of me constantly kept saying1 ',who wouldn't fight for ,harry8' ,who wouldn't fight for ,harry8 ,a tremendous artist with superb words put into his mouth by ,shakespeare1 with a beautiful scenic background behind him1 with gorgeous costumes and gleaming armor1 with glowing electric lights1 with an army of well-drilled1 well-paid supers1 with all the pomp and power of a king on the stage--who wouldn't fight for ,harry8 ,but the poor1 obscure1 unknown ,harry of real life1 who faithfully fights against poverty1 disease1 despair1 who battles for the right1 for his honor and salvation1 without scenic effects1 without any art1 or author's directions1 without any light or armor1 without any aid or guides1 without any one to show the way--this ,harry1 who will fight for him8 ,who does not fight against him8 ,what fair damosel will deign to smile on him and shed some sunshine into his life8 ,this was on a street car1 and ,i overheard a young woman say to her escort1 ',ah1 if you would only put your gloves on as ,mansfield does in ,beaucaire6' ,so this was the great thing in the play--the manner in which ',beaucaire' donned his gloves4 ,and yet--fool that ,i was--,i had wondered why an actor of ,mansfield's surpassing talent should put on the stage such a trivial1 trashy affair4 ,and ,i had gone without gloves all winter in order that ,i might be able to see ,mansfield4 ,heavens6 ,but see1 how the little niceties1 the small delicacies and the petty graces on the stage and in books eclipse all our drudging and trudging1 moiling and toiling in real life4 ,we are expected to observe them whatever else we do4 ,failing in these we fail to win affections and are voted dead failures4 ,beside these we are expected to do things that can only be done in books and on the stage1 under the auspices of ,alexandre ,dumas the elder and ,victor ,sardou1 for instance4 ,we are expected to equal those magic creatures of the imagination1 the heroes with their opulent supplies of good looks1 words and wealth1 and their strange power to do aught on earth4 ,james--we will call him that--is red-headed1 freckled1 plain1 and generally not at all dudish4 ,he is1 however1 true1 loyal1 devoted and determined to do some good in the world4 ,he tries to meet her every day after work4 ,he often brings a flower with him1 tucked up in his sleeve4 ,once we saw him press it to his lips1 for soon the bloom will be hers4 ,but she is reading an historical novel1 and even the flower fails to deliver his message and fades without fulfilling its mission4 ,of course1 ,james has this advantage over the ideal hero in the novel3 that he really exists2 but what is reality to the glowing fancy of a youthful maiden8 ,and in spite of his existence1 where does ,james come in8 ,these are local and popular incidents ,i have mentioned1 but in a measure all literature1 all art has created impossible dreams1 unattainable ideals4 ,this is probably the reason why so many aspirations have failed4 ,they were not founded on reality4 ,there are in life considerations 'without which the noblest dreams are a form of opium eating4' ,who knows how many have gone grieving through life because they have followed the phantoms conjured up by the false standards of art8 ,with all that is great and grand1 heroic and epic in real life there is still such a thing as ',the high that proved too high1 the heroic for earth too hard1 ,the passion that left the ground to lose itself in the sky4' ,anyway1 it is about time to protest against the false heroes of paper and ink1 who cut us out of our earthly paradise1 to give our rivals in fiction the death stab2 about time to remember that that which is not cannot be great1 and that all the beauty of this universe is in real life4 ,it is about time to deny the existence of that which does not exist4 ,this demand for the superhuman is inhuman4 ,we are not what we are not4 ,we cannot do what we cannot do1 and these platitudes are as profound as they are obvious4 ,the weakness of the world is pointed out by its heromania4 ,that we look for our heroes not in life but in artificial creations shows how blind we are4 ,the most striking sign of our imperfection is our longing for impossible perfection4 ,life has a great grudge against art4 ,it has been slighted1 disregarded1 abused4 ,with its misleading models it has set up an unjust competition against life4 ,the hope is that the artists to come will give life a hearing and adjust matters4 ,as for the novelists1 every time the good ,mr4 ,howells horsewhips the swashbucklers ,i heartily applaud him4 ,but ,i am not going to lay down any principles4 ,i don't feel like it to-day4 ,perhaps things as they were were for the best4 ,perhaps it is for the dreams of women that there are real men in the world to-day4 ,perhaps it is their longing for the impossible that made the best that is possible to-day4 ,i sometimes think that a woman's reason is the very acme of all wisdom4 ,but ,i am going to treat this thing more fully in my volume of essays--if ,i ever get around to writing them4 ,,xxiv ,on ,enjoying ,one's ,own ,writings ,i was alone1 ensconced in a corner of the noisy1 smoky caf1 perusing the pages of a valued volume4 ,keidansky walked in hastily1 took up my book and looked at it4 ,how can you read anything that you have not written yourself8 he asked1 with surprising solemnity4 ,why1 ,i don't mind it any longer2 ,i am used to it now1 ,i mumbled in astonishment4 ,but conversations with ,keidansky are one-sided4 ,before ,i had formed half a thought he was all ready with speech4 ,you are coming down1 dear fellow1 he said2 you are compromising and becoming reconciled to everything4 ,you cannot supply your own demand1 so you are going elsewhere for your literature--spending on others your days and your nights that you may devote to the excavations of the things that lie deep and dormant within thyself4 ,i wager that before long you will even be reading the classics4 ,you will abdicate from the sovereignty of your own genius1 and measure life by the enjoyment that you derive from the things that other people do4 ,aliens1 foreigners1 strangers as far away from you as different individuals are1 millions of miles of impassable icebergs impeding any possible approach4 ,they were not born as you were born1 they have not lived as you have lived1 they have not loved as you have loved1 they have not hated as you have hated1 they have not grappled with the agonies as you have1 they have not died as you have over and over again1 and yet--you read their books and pretend to enjoy them4 ,i asked my friend to be seated1 but he preferred to stand up1 and with a characteristic wave of the hand1 showed his annoyance at being interrupted4 ,if you have not felt what ,i have felt1 he said1 it is useless for me to speak to you1 and for you to enjoy what ,i write is hard and tedious labor4 ,you cannot get behind the things others say1 and all that remains for you to do is to read the meaning in so many words2 and no meaning is ever absolutely uttered in so many words4 ,there is almost always something unsaid behind the thing that is said4 ,there is as much in as there is out4 ,thought is an endless chain of which we only see separate rings4 ,we are fortunate to see that in the case of other persons4 ,most often you only hear and read their talk4 ,but when you read your own thought1 you read so vastly more than you have written1 and you read the history of your thoughts1 their far-away causes1 their prehistoric origins1 and their subterranean sources--and you enjoy it4 ,you enjoy it1 if you are intimately concerned in one near and dear personality1 in the greatest study in all mankind--yourself4 ,also1 if you are interested in the evolution of human thought1 and can see it through the operations of your own mind4 ,we say in ,yiddish about this or that person3 ',er kumt mit sich fun ein stedtel4' ,well1 ,i1 too1 come from the same town with myself4 ,i have gone through the dark labyrinth of life with myself in my hand4 ,i have felt1 experienced and known the same things that ,keidansky has gone through1 and--frankly--,i enjoy my own writings4 ,sometimes my favorite works are my own4 ,they move me1 they stir me and they stimulate me to higher things4 ,there is a quality about them1 more human1 more intimate1 more personal1 that brings them nearer to me than any other writings4 ,the pathos is so touching1 the humor so rollicking1 the satire so pungent4 ,it is all so effective1 significant and strong4 ,words1 lines1 sentences1 pages that fall flat on the ears of another1 they are pregnant with meaning1 choked full of suggestion1 and often so thrilling4 ,that one has felt1 thought1 said1 given birth to these things1 is so fine2 so splendid to watch a grand procession of the children of your brain--particularly when you are intuitively convinced that they are1 well1 a goodly and well-formed brood1 and worthy of you4 ,they have to be quite robust to withstand that uncomfortable critical sense4 ,you see1 ,i want a personality1 a man1 a certain mental attitude1 a sense of reserve force1 deep-rooted sincerity and determined intentions behind what ,i read1 and ,i am sure of all that1 in the case of my own writings4 ,this gives one a feeling of gladness and joy4 ,in the productions of others one must grope in darkness1 painfully explore1 and so often search in vain for these qualities through their mental manoeuvres and spiritual contortions4 ,in our own work we can easily forgive the flaws1 faults and shortcomings4 ,we know why they exist1 and to what to attribute them2 we realize that they are not due to lack of talent or any cause like that4 ,our characteristic carelessness1 our hasty manner1 impatience at the slow accommodations of mere mechanical words1 a desire to say too many things at the same time--if it is not the one1 it is the other4 ,but we know that we could do better if we wanted to2 if we cared less about the matter than about the form4 ,we know that the quality is there4 ,there is nothing the matter with that4 ,but somehow we cannot account so well for the crudities1 defects and deformities in the performances of others1 which jar upon us terribly and mar so much of our pleasure4 ,their failings are so flagrant1 their meanings so nebulous1 their ideas so hazy4 ,it is all so far off and so unsatisfying4 ,why do people write things we do not like8 ,oh1 the rogues1 we answer ourselves1 as the thought comes to us1 they must be doing it for their own enjoyment4 ,they can fill in the gaps1 read in everything that is lacking2 they can make masterpieces while they read their commonplace utterances--but we8 ,we ought to read our own immortal works4 ,we ought to1 if we have any appreciation of great literature4 ,one great source of the enjoyment of our own writings is that as we read we remember when each thought came to us1 whence each idea sprang into birth1 how each flying fancy originated1 and every vaporous whimsy took shape4 ,we go over the old ground1 tread the paths of the past again1 the paths overgrown with grass1 or covered with the moss of the years1 and we live our life over again4 ,words1 lines1 paragraphs1 pages2 each turn of a phrase brings one back to some turning-point of life2 each flash of thought is the reflection of some vital incident4 ,behind every revolution of mind was a distinct period of evolution4 ,every old cry conjures up a crisis4 ,that epigram sums up an entire epoch4 ,this page is a condensed history of your heart4 ,yonder little etching1 who knows of what stuff you have woven it8 ,it all comes back to you so vividly1 so graphically1 so impressively4 ,you read the things that you have written1 no matter how long ago1 and you live your life over again4 ,the past reaches out its arms and hugs you to its tender breast again4 ,one night1 far away from the city1 nigh by the sea1 a painful silence was broken by agonizing speech4 ,one word1 and the world that ,god had created in seven days was annihilated for you in a second4 ,when you came back in the silence of a sleepless night you wrote in your note-book4 ',our dreams are crimes for which we are punished by the harsh realities of the world4' ,see how ideas evolve6 ,one day you were chided on the shortness of your stature4 ,you said that you have not had any time to grow4 ,later you said to some one else that the shape of one's destiny depends on the management of his time4 ,the origin of a thought is greater than the thought4 ,it is often an entire drama2 and you see it performed as you read4 ,the crowding multitudes of memories that your literary productions bring up6 ,this was suggested at a social gathering1 where you felt distressingly lonely1 and it was such a soothing consolation4 ,it was while witnessing a play that that idea came into your mind4 ,the play was a popular success1 so you were thinking your own thoughts4 ,one night at a symphony concert you wrote on the edge of a programme3 ',music makes mute poets of us all4' ,you read it years after1 and oh1 the cherished recollections that it brings up6 ,but no one else can ever know how great that line is4 ,here is an idea that illumined your mind while in conversation with ----4 ,there were so many delightful conversations1 stirring discussions1 endearing episodes2 there were scenes that you witnessed1 events transpired of which you were part2 there were little dramas of which you were both the villain and the hero4 ,they have all passed away1 and yet you have saved them from oblivion because you have written1 and they cannot die4 ,all things are immortal so long as you live4 ,you read1 and the old talks and the old walks1 the things that you have seen and done1 the joys you have felt and the sorrows you have endured come back and you enjoy them over again4 ,you find this in your writings and so much more4 ,the net results of your own ruminations are so large that there is no wonder all other writers suffer from the comparison4 ,your writings are the plants1 the weeds and the flowers that have grown out of your life1 and their aroma and fragrance of earliest bloom follow you to the end of your days4 ,there is that in your inner consciousness which you cannot find anywhere else4 ,the whole universe is within yourself2 in others there is only a queer notion of it4 ,your crudest expression has more feeling and thought behind it than the most beautiful expression of others4 ,we all cherish and relish our own screeds4 ,are we not all convinced of their merits and superior qualities8 ,are we not all anxious to secure editors and publishers8 ,and who rejects them8 ,these editors and the publishers1 the people who had nothing to do with the production of these undoubted works of genius4 ,i have piles of scraps of old bits of paper and note-books up in my place1 extending over a number of years4 ,they contain stray fragments of thought that ,i have jotted down at all places and seasons and under all sorts of circumstances4 ,as ,i come across them now and then1 ,i not only re-experience what has long vanished1 but ,i am again exalted unto all heights of human aspiration and inspiration4 ,the foolishness and the follies1 the faith and the fervor1 and the blind hopes of my youth are mine again4 ,once ,i was with some ,jewish actors1 friends of mine1 when a long-bearded1 old-fashioned ,israelite came in to offer them a play that he had written for production4 ,it was such a touching1 thrilling story1 the old man said1 that it made him weep every time he read it--weep like a child over the sad complications of the characters in his play4 ,oh1 if he could only see it performed1 it would melt1 it would break his heart4 ,oh1 if the actors would only take it6 ,and as he began to read parts of the first act we actually saw tears in his eyes4 ,there you have it4 ,what ,dickens1 what ,tolstoy1 what ,perez1 what ,gordin could probably not do for this man1 he had done for himself4 ,his own writings made him weep4 ,honestly1 now1 ,keidansky broke out violently1 don't you enjoy your own effusions8 ,i admitted that they often gave me pleasure1 and that at other times ,i felt strongly disappointed over them4 ,sometimes1 ,i said1 ,i am puzzled and cannot account how ,i have done certain things4 ,i say to myself that ,i must have been drunk to have been so witty2 or ,i imagine that ,i must have been in the company of bright people to have been so dull4 ,often as ,i read ,i think that my stomach was out of order to make me so thoughtful4 ,and again ,i am sure that ,i was awfully hungry to have been so ingenious4 ,i confessed that ,i found it quite possible to overlook and forgive the faults of my own compositions1 and that on the whole they were not infrequently a source of pleasure to me4 ,i ventured to say that ,i also enjoyed a few things that other people have written4 ,well1 said ,keidansky1 and then he became silent for awhile4 ,immortal works are good enough to kill time1 he said after a pause2 but my own writings for real1 downright enjoyment1 every time4 ,at the occasion of a big convention or political gathering in a certain city the newspaper correspondents1 ,i am told1 present a striking scene as they assemble in the lobby of their hotel when the newspapers arrive4 ,each man rushes to the news-stand and buys 'his paper1' and loses not a minute before reading his own report4 ,there they sit all together1 oblivious even of a good piece of news1 should it happen to be near them1 each one buried in his newspaper1 intently reading his complete account of the stormy proceedings1 and many of them cursing and swearing at the stupid editors1 'who left out the best things4' ,editors are always stupid and always leave out the best things2 but if they didn't they would be idiots4 ,my point1 however1 is that this scene shows how much people enjoy their own writings4 ,each author has at least one great admirer4 ,and this is saying nothing of the gratification of writing1 of the thrills of pleasure one feels1 when a burst of inspiration breaks upon him1 of the great1 unutterable moments of exultation when a new heaven of thoughts opens before one's mind1 of the joys of perpetuating the evanescent and the fleeting4 ,my friend was about to enumerate some more examples1 but it was growing late into the night1 so ,i said3 ,but you do read some things that eminent authors have written1 do you not8 ,yes1 said ,keidansky1 but merely for purposes of comparison4 ,i want to see how total is their eclipse6