The New Land

The New Land, by Elma Ehrlich Levinger

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Title: The New Land Stories of Jews Who Had a Part in the Making of Our Country
Author: Elma Ehrlich Levinger

Release Date: October 8, 2007 [eBook #22915]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NEW LAND***
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+-----------------------------------------------------------+ | Transcriber's Note: | | | | Inconsistent hyphenation in the original document has | | been preserved. | | | | Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. For | | a complete list, please see the end of this document. | | | +-----------------------------------------------------------+

THE NEW LAND
Stories of Jews Who Had a Part in the Making of Our Country
by
ELMA EHRLICH LEVINGER
"A new world, with great portals far outflung, Holding a hope more sweet than time had sung, To which the Jew, of life's high quest a part, A pilgrim came, the Torah in his heart. A land of promise, and fulfillment too; Where on a sudden olden dreams came true.... Here grew we part of an ennobled state, Gave and won honor, sat among the great, And saw unfolding to our 'raptured view The day long prayed for by the patient Jew."
From "The Jew in America," by Felix N. Gerson

New York Bloch Publishing Company "The Jewish Book Concern" 1920
Copyright, 1920, by Bloch Publishing Company

TO Grandmother and Grandfather Levinger THESE "STORIES THAT REALLY HAPPENED" ARE AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED

A LETTER TO MY READERS.
Dear Boys and Girls:
When your grandfather tells you a story, do you ever interrupt him to ask: "But is it all true?" And doesn't he often answer: "I don't know," or "I don't know when it's really true, and when it begins to be like a story book." And so, when you read through my little book--if you do read right through it to the very last page--you may wonder whether all my history stories really happened.
Yes--and no! I do know that cross old Peter Stuyvesant of New Amsterdam hated our people, but I never found any record of the Jewish boy who wanted to play with the governor's niece, pretty Katrina. The histories tell us how gallant young Franks became the friend of George Washington, but none of them mention that the Jewish soldier saved a Tory from the angry mob.
You understand now, don't you? So I'm going to turn the page right away that you may read for yourselves of the three Jews who whispered together on the deck of the "Santa Maria," as Columbus and his crew crossed the Sea of Darkness in search of a New Land.
E.E.L.
NOTE: The author expresses her thanks to the editors of The Hebrew Standard and The Jewish Child in which the stories, "In the Night Watches" and "A Place of Refuge," originally appeared.

CONTENTS.
PAGE
IN THE NIGHT WATCHES 9 The Three who came with Columbus.
WHEN KATRINA LOST HER WAY 14 A tale of the First Jewish Settlers of New Amsterdam.
A PLACE OF REFUGE 33 How the Wanderer came to Rhode Island.
"DOWN WITH KING GEORGE" 39 How Isaac Franks, of the American army, first heard the Declaration of Independence.
THE LAST SERVICE 52 The story of a Rabbi who lived in New York when it was captured by the British in 1776.
THE GENEROUS GIVER 68 The story of a Jewish money-lender of the Revolution.
ACROSS THE WATERS 88 A story of the City of Refuge planned by Mordecai Noah.
THREE AT GRACE 105 The story of the first Jewish settler in Alabama.
THE LUCKY STONE 122 The adventures of Uriah P. Levy, the first naval officer of his day.
THE PRINCESS OF PHILADELPHIA 140 The story of Rebecca Gratz and Washington Irving.
A PRESENT FOR MR. LINCOLN 160 How President Lincoln set out for Washington and how he returned.
THE LAND COLUMBUS FOUND 173 The story of the tablet placed upon the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor.

THE NEW LAND
IN THE NIGHT WATCHES
The Three Who Came With Columbus.
For a while there was no sound save the soft swish-swish of the waves as the "Santa Maria," the flagship of Columbus, ploughed its way through the darkness. The moon had long since disappeared and one by one the stars had left the sky until only the morning star remained to guide Alonzo de la Calle, crouching above his pilot wheel. The man's eyes ached for sleep, his fingers were numb from dampness and fatigue, his heart heavy with despair. "Dawn," he muttered at last, "almost the last of the night watches; Gonzalo will take my place at the wheel and