The Jewish Monitor (Fort Worth-Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 10, No. 5, Ed. 1 Friday, October 22, 1920 Page: 1 of 16
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VOL. X NO. 6.
FORT WORTH-DALLAS FRIDAY OCTOBER 22 1920
Price F1t Cnti
"The Gospel Cart" as some of us
had come to call the big white wagon
drawn by a lumbering cad-eyed horse
passed down the street. The driver
smug of face and portly of body rein-
ed in his languid steed. A young
woman strictly tailored alert smil-
ing magnetic leaped from the seat
besde htm and spoke to some of the
youngsters playing in the gutter. Most
of them were of what the careless
novelist loves to designate as the pure
Ghetto type whatever that means.
While there were a few Italian chil-
dren scattered among the little son
and daughters of Israel just as bored
by the sultry monotony of an East
Side summer.
Gazing from the window of our
struggling little Hebrew settlement
buildng I thought of Rudolph Hirsch.
Like so many New Yorkers he be-
y longed to no synagogue. A retired
business man he was able to escape
almost entirely the importunities of
collectors for War Drives or home "
charities. Yet because his pretty
daughter and I had been schoolmates
he had once written himself down at
my pleading as an annual contributor
to our United Charities for pleaso
don't laugh twenty-five dollars. I
was satisfied to let it go at that for
in the year 1910 twenty-five dollar
wasn't to be sneezed at In that year
I remember Miss Beatrice Hirsch
thought she was rather extravagant
when she paid fifty dollars for her
r best broad-cloth tailored suit. The
last time I saw her she was wearing a
very simple afternoon affair that sold
for one hundred and twenty-five.
This spring when I was luncheon-
Ing with the Hirsch family in their
very luxurious family-apartment ho-
tel I reminded my host that we
hadn't seen his annual check. And ho
told me he hadn't sent it and didn't
intend to. Expenses were terrific and
there were always little demands here
and there and funds and private char
ity collections which he couldn't re-
fuse. A man had to have his hand in
his pocketbook all the time. He hoped
I would drop the matter.
I did although I longed to throw my
coffee cup at him and leave his table.
For I knew as he knew too of tho
heavy demands on our charities this
year. Imagine to take just one exam-
ple feeding the youngsters in an or-
phan asylum or the helpless inmates
of an Old People's Home for less than
double of what their food cost several
years ago. Imagine keeping up our
Religious and Cultural Classes when
vy our teachers all demand and rightly
higher wages. And the cost of build-
- Ing
"We need a swimming tank in the
settlement so badly" I ventured
over my praline parfait. "The children
haven't a place to play but in th
streets. And now since the Hebrew
Mission has started in our neighbor
THE GOSPEL CART
By Elma Ehrlich Levinger.
(Copyright 19
Levinger r f:
.'
hood we're afraid their summer activ-
ities will get a lot of our children. You
see we're the only Jewish institution
in that section.
"Shall we go out for a spin or take
in a show tonight?" interrupted my
host bored into rudeness. "The fellow
down at the desk thinks he can get
us good seats at 'Naughty! Naughty!'
Ihe papers say it is a scream."
I went with them to see "Naughty!
Naughty!" which consisted of mostly
of legs and shoulders and very stupid
jokes. After the show my host picked
up several friends and we had a little
supper at one of the most exclusive
places. Not a heavy meal you under-
stand just sweet trifles and a salad
and a rarebit and some very mild but
expensive beverages. It was rude of
me but still smarting at my host's
refusal earlier in the e'vening I glan-
ced at the change the waiter brought
back from the two tens Hirsch had
thrown upon his silver plate. There
wasn't much just enough for the side
tip a self-respecting coul likes to give
after demanding excellent service. Our
seats had been at least two dollars
apiece without war tax. On one even-
ing's doubtful pleasure (Hirsch was
yawning most of the time) my host
had spent more than he refused to
give as his donation to organized
charity for a whole year. And we did
need better summer work at the Set-
tlement If we had had it perhaps
there would have been no tragedy of
Mollie and the Gospel Cart
The workers of the Hebrew Mis-
sion sent out their cart every day
The magnetic young woman who had
conceived the idea beautiful in its
simplicity took charge of the interest-
ing experiment The empty cart would
drive up to a group of children Hat-
less from the heat and bored from
their unsupervised play in the gut-
ters; Miss Florence the mission work-
er would gather the circle around
her favor the unregenerate little
Jews and Italian Catholics with her
most friendly smile and suggest:
"Wouldn't it be pleasant to have a
little singing children?"
Some would eye her with the preco-
cious self-assurance of the skim-child
but others would pipe a cherry res-
ponse: "Yes Lady." Singing may
sometimes be a bore during achool
hours but in the long creeping dayi
of the empty vacation any diversion
is welcome.
All of the songs were what the mis.
sion worker undoubtedly called
by
Elma Ehrlich
i reserved.)
. ff cctanan. That is they
m'Kt?J)fr'd4ti .ung with impunity
by commutifach;? I any of the Pro-
cctarian. That is they
testont churched To be sure there
were frequent allusions to a certain
mild young Jew of long ago who dis-
tinctly declared that he came to save
the lost of his own people and did not
go abroad seeking converts. But fre-
quent Christmas celebrations in our
.non-sectarian public schools made it
possible for the children from Ortho-
dox Jewish homes to mention his
name without shuddering. And they
all liked the lady of the Gospel Cart
so much that they knew she would't
teach them anything wrong.
After three or four songs Miss
Florence would pass out little red
tickets among the children. She told
tam that the bits of pasteboard
would admit them to her summer-
school "where you'll have more beau-
tiful songs and bead work and picnics.
Be here tomorrow at nine all cleaned
up and you'll get a ride there in my
nice wagon. And there's be picnic
and everything for you if you're
good!" After which invitation she
would give them one of her dazzling
smiles and climb back into the Gospel
Cart.
The next morning at least half the
children were able to produce their
ranis and climbed bliththly after Miss
Florence as she mounted her chariot
They were starved for excitement and
he promised them a good time. Inci-
dentally she kept her word. The He-
brew Mission had a fine playground
and roof garden a well-equipped gym-
r.asium for wet days and it's hard to
write this calmly immense swimming
pool. Picture a draggled East Side
youngster in July who longs for a dip
and can't afford a ride to Coney.
Would you blame him for accepting
everything conventional Including bap-
tism if hs conversion meant admis-
sion to such a paradise!
Mollie was one of the little girls
who joined the sewing class. She had
enjoyed her needle work lessons so
much during the public school year
that in the spring she had applied for
admission to her little sister's class
at our Jewish settlement But we
didn't have room for her or teachers.
We could afford only one paid teach
er last summer and our two volunteer
teacher were spending the Bummer
in the mountains. And everyone know
you can't allow a sewing class to get
too large. If we could have afforded
several other helper
Mollje's 'brother Jake also went
regularly to the Mission but just for
the swimming. The things he didn't
hear in the Story Hour every morning
didn't hurt Jake a bit He mer?ly
shook the Christian doctrines out of
his ears as he did water' after a dive
and went home grinning. But Mollie
was a sensitive little soul and she
brooded long and deeply over the stor-
ies Miss Florence told of the Jewish
teacher who was really the world's
Saviour and wanted little Jewish chil-
dren to love him. Mollie didn't under-
stand 'he religion of her foreign fath-
er and mother; in her neighborhood
there were no religious schools to give
her the faith of her fathers in a more
intelligible form. But she learned 'o
loo kforward to the tales in the Story
Hour to treasure up the teachings the
sewing instructor sandwiched in be-
tween directions for hems and tuck-
ings. She eagerly read the little New
Testament Miss Florence gave her
with the gentle suggestion that she
shouldn't show it to anyone at home
"they might not understand dear."
Mollie promised. She wanted to pleas'!
Miss Florence whom she had grown
to love almost as much as the gen'lo
Saviour who loved little Jewish chil-
dren. There were picnics and boat trip
too for the Hebrew Mission spent
money lavishly and wanted the chil-
dren to have a good time. While th
Wo i Kirs were untiring. I have heaid
that their salaries arc small but they
love their work and when a field is at
all fertile never expect vacations in
the mountains. Their zeal to convert
these Jewish youngsters may hav
been absurd but it is always refresh-
ing to find workers thoroughly in
i a-nest.
In the fall Mollie's little sister to.d
our sewing teacher that Mollie wai
"carrying on awful at home. My pa
Inked her for going to hear them
goyim over at the Mission but she
goes on the sly. And she reads all the
books they gave her. She says tha:
when she grows up she' going to be
a teacher to Jewish kids just like her
Mis Florence."
That evening I was again dining
with Rudolph Hirsch and his family.
My mind was so full of Mollie's con-
version that I bored all of them by
talking about it all through the salad
course. "And if we had only had
enough money to take care of girl
like Mollie those Hebrew Mission
devils wouldn't have caught her" I
mourned.
"They ought to be stopped by law"
stormed my host "Yes ir. Trying to
convert innocent young children lik
that It't a shame!"
"I don't know" I argued malicious-
ly. "We couldnt do it with our fund.
At least those devil kept the poor
young one off the treet. Wasnt it
(Continued on Page 16)
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Fox, George. The Jewish Monitor (Fort Worth-Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 10, No. 5, Ed. 1 Friday, October 22, 1920, newspaper, October 22, 1920; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth296783/m1/1/?rotate=270: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .