Tales of the Chesapeake | Page 6

for a Jew, like his protector.
Only once the superior comfort and clothing of Issachar's protégé
provoked the remark from one of a group of men that Abraham was
"only a stuck-up nigger, anyway;" and then, like a maniac, Old Issachar
dashed from his store with a boat-hook and struck down the offender
like a dead man.
But the boy was of such docile and beautiful nature that he excited no

general antagonism. He was four removals from pure African blood,
and as his mother had been a freed girl, he was a citizen, or might be if
he pleased. The certain heir of Issachar's possessions, the only thing
except gold that Issachar loved, and of a parentage which linked
misfortune with piety, his mysterious nativity gave him with the
negroes a sacred character. They believed that he would become their
king and priest and lead them out of bondage to a promised land; and
this involuntary homage so pleased old Issachar that his heart inclined
toward the black race above the Christian whites around him. If an aged
negro fell sick, the Jew sent, by his ward, medicine and food. If a very
poor negro was buried, the Jew contributed to the expenses. He gave
the first counsel of worldly wisdom to the negro freedmen, and gave
them faithful interest on their savings. One slave that he possessed he
set free, saying:
"By Jacob's staff! I will not hold as cattle the blood people of my son!"
His enlarged benevolence made no difference in his business. It grew to
the widest limits of that humble society, and by the accident of a
younger life coming forward to bear his honor up, Issachar grew into
sympathy with the social life of all the lower peninsula. If they wanted
money for public enterprise on the mainland, the Jew of Chincoteague
was first to be thought of. His credit, Masonic in its reach, extended to
his compatriots in distant cities, and the politicians crossed the Sound
to bring him into alliance with their parties. To personal flattery he was
obtuse, except when it reached his ward, and then a melting mood came
over him. At every Christmas he led himself the eloquent Oriental
prayer, young Abraham responding with even a richer imagery, for his
mind was alert, his schooling had been private and unintermittent, and
his father's enthusiasm and his mother's docility made him a poet and a
son together.
"My son," said the Jew, as Abraham's fifteenth Christmas approached,
"the time is at hand when we must part for years. I am growing old, and
the loss of thee, O my love! is harder than thou canst know. The sands
of life are running out with me, as from an hour-glass. With thee the
heavens are rosy and the world is new. Thou beautiful Samuel,

Jehovah's selected one! Wilt thou remember me when far away?"
"Father," answered Abraham, "what besides thee can I love? Every
morning, and at noon, and again at night, I will face from the East to
pray toward thee; for God will not listen unless I am grateful to my
father."
"Thou art going to Amsterdam," said Issachar. "There, amongst the
noblest Jews of Europe, the descendants of the Jewish Portuguese, the
Hebrew tongue in its purity, the law of Moses in its majesty, our lore in
its plenitude, thou wilt learn. I look to thee, adopted child of Israel! to
give the promise of thy youth to the study of our grand old religion, and,
like the infant Moses, discovered amongst these bulrushes of
Chincoteague, to be the reviver of our faith, the statesman of our sect.
Yea! the rebuilder of our Zion. It has been ordained that these things
will be done, and, by the stars of Abraham; it shall be so!"
"My father," said young Abraham, "God will keep all His promises."
The Jew took from a chest of massive cedar wood, empty of all besides,
the precious crucifix.
"Look on that," he exclaimed. "Dost thou know what it represents?"
"No," answered Abraham.
"It is the symbol of the faith in which thy father died. A Hebrew
impostor, one Jesus, was nailed by the Roman conquerors of Jerusalem
to a cross-piece of wood. He affected to be the son of David and the
Saviour of men. My son, in the name of his punishment the children of
Israel have been burned at the stake, dispersed abroad among the
nations, and hated of mankind. Preaching his imposture thy father and
thy mother were suffered to die for their consistency. See what I have
done with the bauble! The years I have expended on thy mind and
comfort have cost me money. From that crucifix, one by one, I have
plucked the precious stones for thy education. Here,