CHAPTER V. 

 THE JEWISH POPULATION. 



THE black sheep, the bete noir, of the Lithuanian patriot, 

 and of the enthusiastic forest conservator in Lithuania, is 

 the Jew. I hold in high estimation the nation ' to whom 

 pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, 

 and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and 

 and the promises ; whose are the fathers, and of whom 

 as concerning the flesh, Christ came.' I have met with 

 noble men and women among them. Even amongst 

 those of them who do not consider that Jesus of Nazareth 

 was the anointed King, whose coming was, and is still, 

 expected by the people, there are men, arid at least one 

 large community, manifesting a spirit such as when seen 

 amongst Christians is held in high esteem by the more 

 devout : but all are not such ; and of them, equally with 

 the British and the Anglo-Americans, there are worship- 

 pers of the Mighty Dollar ; of them, as of the other 

 nations named, it may be said they are like the prophet's 

 figs the good are very good, but the bad are very bad.* 



* In the beginning of 1840, at St. Petersburg, I made the acquaintance of 

 Pastor Boerling, a clergyman of the Lutheran church, and himself a descendant of 

 Israel, who stated to me, amongst other things, that he was stationed as a missionary 

 for many years at Schloss, a town in Poland, which is inhabited chiefly by Jews. When 

 he first went there he saw no opening for usefulness ; and after a little time he began 

 to fear that he had run unsent. But the eholera s>oon broke out in the place, and al! 

 the medical men fled ; he then concluded that he had been sent thither of God for a 

 previous residence in several towns of Asia, while the cholera prevailed in these places, 

 had made him acquainted with the most approved methods of treating the sufferers, 

 and now the people implored his aid. He cheerfully attended the sick, and soon gained 

 their affcci.u>ns. From that time their houses were open to him, and he was invited to 

 all their entertainments and feasts. 



On one occasion he was present at a marriage feast, when, according to custom, all 

 the guests presented gifts to the newly married pair. He had just received from 

 London a few copies of a 12mo edition of the Hebrew Old and New Testament bound 

 together, and he presented them with one of these. It was gratefully received, and at 

 the close of the feast, when the bridegroom held up the different presents, and 

 announced the names of the giver of each, exhibiting the Bible last, he said, ' But see 

 what our friend the missionary has given us the Scriptures ! This I value more 

 highly than silver or gold ! 



