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The Jewish South. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1893-1899, November 18, 1898, Image 3

Image and text provided by Library of Virginia; Richmond, VA

Persistent link: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn94051168/1898-11-18/ed-1/seq-3/

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THE JEWISH SOUTH.
a pier to the craft of Captain Jacobs, the party con
sisting of two men and two women. The company
was invited to the cabin by Captain Jacobs.
"Captain," said the head of the party, "do you
object to making a good sum of money as a pilot? "
"Oh, no," responded Captain Jacobs, "not if it is
made a sufficient object."
"Captain, I understand that you are not an
American born. If you will act as pilot of the Span
ish fleet which will shortly sail for these parts you
will get $35,000. We wish to elude any ships that
may pursue us in evading pursuit after ravaging the
New England coast."
Captain Jacobs shook his head.
"We will make the offer $50,000 then," persisted
the agent, but still Captain Jacobs declined.
" What do you say to $75,000 ? "
"Not at any price," he said gently but firmly.
Observing that it was useless to continue, the
party rose to go. "I am stopping at the hotel, cap
tain," said the agent with a certain significance.
" Should you desire to call upon me we should be
pleased to see you before you sail."
Captain Jacobs slept upon the proposition, but
never called at the hotel to accept. The plan was
that the captain should meet the Spanish fleet and
proceed to the New England coast and work down.
The most precious relic in all England is an old
Gothic chair which stands in the chapel of Saint Ed
ward, in Westminster Abbey. It is made of black
oak in the Gothic style, says the Chicago Record, and
the back is covered with carved inscriptions, includ
ing the initials of many famous men. The feet are
four lions. The seat is a large stone, about thirty
inches long by eigheeen wide and twelve inches thick,
and all the sovereigns of England for the last eight
hundred years have sat upon it when they were
crowned. The chair is known as the Coronation
Chair, and the stone is claimed to be the same which
Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, used as
a pillow when he lay down to sleep on the starlit
plains of judah.
The kings of Israel* were crowned upon this stone
from the time that they ruled a nation-David. Saul,
Solomon, and the rest.
The story goes that 580 years before the Christian
era, at the time of the Babylonian captivity, Circa
daughter of Zedekiah/the last king of Judah, arrived
in Ireland, and was married at fara to Heremon, a
prince of the Tuatha de Danan—which is said to be
. the Celtic name of the tribe of Dan. The traditions
relate that this ptrincess went origfinally to Egypt in
charge of the prophet Jeremiah, her guardimi, and
the pal ,cc of Taphenes, in which they resided there
was discovered in 1886 by Dr. Petrie, the archaelogist.
They went hence to Ireland, and from Circa an I
Heremon, Queen Victoria traces her descent, through
James I, who placed the lion of the tribe of Judah
upon the British standard.
Jeremiah is said to have concealed this sacred
stone at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem and
the captivity of the Jews, and to have brought it,
"the stone of the testimony," Bethel, the only wit
ness of the compact between Jehovah and Israel, to
Ireland, whence it was known as the Ha phail (stone
wonderful). It was carried to Scotland by Fergus
I, and thence to London in the year 1200, and has
been used at the coronation of every king and queen
of England from Edward I down to the time of
Victoria.
This tale is, of course, purely legendary, but very
interesting nevertheless. A large number of English
men and women believe they are descendants of the
Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, and support several soci
eties and periodicals whose special aim it is to prove
the truth of this assumption.
Marriages by order were so common, says Prince
Kropotkin in the October Atlantic, that amongst
our servants, each time a young couple saw that
they might be ordered to marry, although they had
no mutual inclination for each other, they took the
precaution of standing together as godfather and
godmother at the christening of a child in one of the
peasant families. This rendered marriage impossible,
according to the Russian church law. The stratagem
was usually successful, but once it ended in a drama.
Andrei, the tailor, fell in love with a girl belonging to
one of our neighbors. He hoped that my father
would let him go free, as a tailor, in exchange for a
certain yearly payment, and that by working hard
at his trade he could manage to lay some money
aside and to puy freedom for the girl. Otherwise, in
marrying one of my father's serfs she would have be
come the serf of her husband's master. However, as
Andrei and one of the maids of our household foresaw
that they might be ordered to marry, they agreed to
unite as godparents in the christening of a child.
What they hid feared happened: one day they were
called to the master, and the dreaded order was
given.
"We are always obedient to your will," they re
plied, "but a few weeks ago we acted as godfather
and godmother at ft christening." Andrei also ex
plained his wishes and intentions.
The result was that he was sent to the recruiting
board to become a soldier.
Military service in those times was terrible. It
required a man to serve twenty-five years under the
colors, and the life of a soldier was hard in the ex
treme. Blows from the sergeant and the officers,
flogging with birch rods and with sticks, for the
slightest fault, were the normal state of affairs. The
cruelty that was displayed surpassed all imagination.
Thus Andrei had now to face for twenty-five years

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