Basle it would not have marvelled; for his own death there would have been no thought. He would have the Congress in assembly; and tapping the gavel that always brought silence, would have quietly said: "The Seventh Congress is at an end." And he would have gone to
his room and prepared instantly for the next task, while the crowd would shout its hope; and it will shout still, with a dimmed eye; but shout it ever will, till the fulfilment; for this is the message of Herzl, the order and purpose of his life—"Leshona Haba Berushaloyim."
What One Man Can Do
A TALK WITH KEIDANSKY
WE were speaking of the influence of the single individual upon society, and Keidansky, the Philosopher of the Ghetto, listened in utter silence to a number of opinions.
"One man cannot do much in the world," he said at last, "but he can make it. At least he can shape the opinions that others have of the world and thus, also, shape its destiny, and incidentally his own.
"Let me tell you a story," he continued. "Once upon a time, not so many years ago, a man came to New York from Boston. He was a bit seasick, his stateroom was cold and he did not sleep well on the boat the night before the morning of his arrival. It was a sultry, wet day, raining and snowing at the same time, and the mean-looking streets that greeted his eyes when he landed did not at all tend to raise his spirits. People were running up and down in breathless haste with utter disregard of each other. A driver waved his whip at him because he did not cross the street fast enough. It was cold and wet and muddy and he walked up to to take an elevated train and the cars were so
congested. Thus his opinion of New York was being formed under the most inclement, disagreeable circumstances. But one man in a corner of the car who was reading a paper, stopped reading, moved up a bit, made a special effort to find some room, tugged him by the sleeve, smiled ever so friendly and asked him to sit down. And somehow,—let the psychologists explain just how—that moment the stranger's opinion of New York was made, and it was good.
"It was made by one man, and you see, such is human nature, that one man, one kindly smile, eclipses all the pessimists and other evils that the world has ever suffered from. One human being makes us forget all the savages that have ever lived. The man who came to New York might have been myself, or you, or someone else, but the point is, that one man can shape the opinion of the city, can make New York. Every moment of your life there comes a stranger and every moment you may, without knowing it, make his opinion. And as you will treat him, so will he think, and as he will think so will he ultimately do and as he will do so will the