looks like an itinerant village peddler, laments with the subdued, monotonous, melancholy tones of a Ghetto-Jew whose last spark of life has been crushed out by century-old persecution, or to present to us the soldiers of Bar Kochba's army as quaking and shivering and almost dropping dead with fright at the distant sound of a shot or an approaching footstep? Are these the Jews of that time and were these —these miserable, enervated creatures—the dauntless patriots, the flower of the Jewish youth which ventured to dispute, on the field of battle, the possession of their land with the universally-feared Romans —the wasters of the universe? And what of his Turnus Rufus, Pappus and others? And are the heroes of his modern plays any better; are they possessed of more life, more psychology; are they drawn with more circumspection and more regard to the possible and probable? But why go into more details and cite superfluous examples when these few will be more than ample for illustrating the truthfulness of the assertion? I stand by my assertion as regards his poetry and the honorable niche that it deserves to occupy, but I must qualify my statement as to his dramatical powers. In my previous article, I have compared him to the "inventor of the printing press which we no longer make any ust of or the primitive inventor of some crude tool which was a benefit in its time," and I believe that this statement should be modified a bit, for whereas these early inventors really did invent something, have originated something hitherto unknown, and have honestly contributed to humanity's comfort as well as they best knew how, he was in no sense an originator, but rather an imitator, a transplantor of an already robust and well-founded institution—for the drama had attained its full maturity centuries before his birth—into a new virgin soil, and that instead of transplanting the good healthy shoots and vigorous saplings he merely replanted the decayed, worm-eaten trunks. He sank to the level, low drivel and coarse and vulgar burlesque, to the level of the "common obscenity and vulgarity," to the world of "compromises," concessions to falsehood, ignorance and folly.
HAROLD BERMAN.
CORRESPONDENCE.
Experience is gradually teaching the Zionist movement that in order to spread the nationalist idea, it must show some practical work done. The first question that a would-be Zionist asks is what have you done, what can you show for all your work. In truth he is justified in asking such a question.
Good speeches and arguments may do something towards awakening interest for Zionism, but we could do far more for the movement if we had fewer of these speeches and spent more of our time and energy in real practical work.
It would seem that a great many organizations throughout the country have lost sight of the fact that the success of Zionism depends greatly upon an activity in behalf of the national fund. Boston has an organization, which I am glad to say is an exception to this fact.
Last year the Tifereth Zion of Boston resolved to do active work in behalf of the National Fund. First of all they decided to print a little pamphlet explaining the fund and its methods, and to distribute these pamphlets at one cent each. It meant the outlay of a great deal of money. Many thousands of these were distributed. Though the cost of printing them and the low price of its sale were the cause of loss to the organization, still the benefit to the National Fund was great. Through the admirable efforts of Mr. Moses Singer, of the Tifereth Zion, the Jews of Boston were given to understand something about Zionist instistutions. As a result of tbis work Zionism has become stronger in Boston than it has ever been before. Every Jew who has read one of these pamphlets has been asking Mr. Sineer for a National Fund box. \Vhen Shekel time comes around we can be sure that these same Jews can be counted upon to help it. Every Zionist society ought to do some practical work of this sort. Much of the success of the Tifereth Zion undertaking is adirect result of the enthusiasm and hard work of Mr. Singer. The movement owes a debt of thanks to him for his good work. ’ ke