The Jewish quarter in Prague is the same as the
rag-fair in Vienna and the Temple in Paris. In these places deals
amounting to thousands are transacted daily.
"If you take a few steps along this dirty, foul market-place, you
will suddenly come upon an old, high, decayed wall which surrounds
a space of from two to three acres. Elder-trees and other wild
shrubbery wind around this wall. Old Jewish houses are crowded all
along near this wall, threatened with destruction at any moment.
The strange circle formed by this wall has an unwelcome, puzzling
appearance.
"This is the city of the dead--the renowned Prague cemetery.
"In this abode of rest may be seen the spirit of the nation, whose
bones found shelter here after long wandering,--here is stamped all
its history, full of sufferings, struggles and resistance.
"It seems as though at any moment these tombs, overgrown with
shrubbery, are ready to open, these stones growing for thousands of
years are ready to raise themselves, and to let out into the world
the restless wanderer with a pack upon his shoulder, with a staff
in his hand, in order to go again to strange peoples,--to cheat and
combat them and to seek a new Canaan--his dominion! The Jewish
cemetery in Prague is the very oldest cemetery known. It was closed
by order of the government a hundred years ago. For foreigners it
is a historical landmark; for the Jews it is a sacred place.
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