Pages from My Life · Abraham Cahan · Volume Two (New York, 1926)
Title Page & Contents
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Front Matter

Title, Contents & List of Illustrations

Pages from My Life
by Abraham Cahan
VOLUME TWO
My First Eight Years in America
(With illustrations and with a glossary of the English-Yiddish expressions found in this work.)
Published by the “Forverts” Association · New York, 1926
Copyright, 1926, by Abraham Cahan

Illustrations in the Second Volume

page
37Eliezer Mashbir
43T. Shamrayevsky (Dr. Rayevsky)
71Shaul Badanes
75Solomon Menasker
95Bernard Weinstein
103Sergei Shevitch
111Ab. Cahan (in 1883)
117Michael Bakal
125William Frey
133Michael Halperin
141Ch. Spivakovsky (Dr. Spivak)
155Emanuel Kursheedt
159Mark Ash
163Edward King
167Nikolai Aleinikov
179Leo Hartmann
219John Swinton
225Colonel Richard Hinton
239Anna Cahan (in 1885)
245Ab. Cahan (in 1885)
289Alexander Jonas
293Wilhelm Liebknecht
297Eleanor Marx-Aveling
301Paul Kaplan
309Mrs. Leonard
313Laurence Gronlund
329Erasmus Darwin Beach
419Victor Yarros
425Lucien Sanial
439Michael Zametkin
443J. Finn

Contents

Chapter One — The Beginning of the Great Jewish Emigration 9
NoneIn Ragatshav. — Little-Russian peasants. — Jews put me to an examination.
11The ship comes to Kiev. — At the harbor. — Echoes of the Kiev pogrom. — I miss a train. — They give me to understand that I am a “Litvak.”
15A Saturday night that is not forgotten. — Emigration — before, and in 1882. — A historic train.
20Through Berditshev. — We “steal” across the border.
Chapter Two — In the Gathering-Point of the Emigration 25
NoneA town as if dug out of the earth. — A house as in a tale of robbers.
28I take on a civilized look again. — An encounter. — The emigrants feel good in Austria.
33Waiting for a ticket to travel on. — Intellectuals. — At the soup-kitchen folk. — Mashbir and the Balta “Am Olam.” — Disappointment.
39Aleinikov, Spivakovsky, Shamrayevsky. — What Dr. Rayevsky remembered about me.
43My convictions.
45Weddings.
Chapter Three — From Brod to New York 48
NoneThe train departs. — Lemberg and Krakow.
51Breslau, Berlin, Hamburg. — The sea.
53In Hull. — In Liverpool. — First experiences with the English language.
58A joyful piece of news.
59On the ship. — “Mister.” — Shavuoth.
64America!
Chapter Four — Like a Newborn 66
NoneWe set foot on American soil. — Philadelphia. — A ferry. — "Castle Garden."
68The immigrants' committee.
70My comrades from Vilna. — Badanes; Menasker.
72The Jewish quarter in New York in general.
77German, Lithuanian, and Polish Jews. — The character of the Jewish quarter. — The Rubinstein case.
82Russian in the Jewish quarter. — A collision of two worlds.
84Do communist colonies have a mamoshes (substance/reality)? — William Frey. — Debates. — An am olam-nik.
87The "Volks-Zeitung." — Shevitch. — German. — Socialism.
89Freedom and capitalist slavery. — "Forbidden fruit."
91"Making a living." — In a cigar factory. — A bourgeois. — Bernard Weinstein. — The foreman. — Samuel Gompers. — In a tin factory. — "What olam?" — Sacked.
97First lodging. — First place of my own. — The Zosem family. — English.
100A sad piece of news from Vilna. — Innocent scabs. — A socialist meeting in Russian and in German.
104My first speech. — A second and a third.
109Strangeness. — Homesickness. — Letters home. — Everything different. — A new world, a great world. — A new "I."
Chapter Five — Groups and Personalities 115
NoneThe Vilna commune. — Bakal.
118In a grammar school, together with American boys. — Farrell, my American teacher.
122William Frey. — Felix Adler. — My first article in English.
131Michael Halperin. — His son Louis.
138Was I then an anarchist? — Mirowitz. — Social-revolutionaries, anarchists, and the struggle in Russia. — Justus Schwab.
Chapter Six — In a Garret Room on Clinton Street 148
NoneA few of my pupils.
153An evening school for Jews. — Emanuel Kursheedt. — The Gross family.
157Paul Kaplan. — My room. — My way of life.
159Edward King.
162Nikolai Aleinikov. — Yakov Peysakhovitch.
164Our First New Year's Affair.
165Papov. — A Treasure from Switzerland.
169Other Treasures. — My Second Library.
174A gift from Vilna. — Hespedim (memorial eulogies).
177Moshkovitch. — Leo Hartmann.
182The first Yiddish theater companies. — English theater.
187Patti.
189Jewish evenings. — A Hebrew bookstore. — Russian groups. — Russian.
Chapter Seven — First Lessons in American Political Life 195
NoneGrover Cleveland. — The Blaine–Cleveland campaign. — Evarts. — Benjamin F. Butler. — A speech of mine.
208Election scenes. — Charlie Smith. — Political swamps. — A foolish sermon.
213My Russian correspondences.
217John Swinton.
219Boodle aldermen. — Jacob Sharp.
221Socialist meetings in English. — Colonel Hinton. — My sad first attempt.
Chapter Eight — First Attempts in the Jewish Labor Movement 226
NoneThe beginnings of the tailors' union. — The largest assembly of the early years. — The first Jewish labor leaders.
233The "Labor Lyceum." — Dr. Merkin.
236The Gretsch brothers. — The Jewish Workers' Association. — The first cloak-makers' union.
238Marriage. — A government school. — "Di Naye Tsayt."
Chapter Nine — Two Stormy Years 245
NoneThe Chicago Bomb
249A Novelty in the History of New York Election Campaigns. — The Henry George Campaign. — The Henry George Theory.
253The Central Labor Union. — German Socialists and Their Influence.
256The beginning of the Henry George campaign. — "The Leader." — Hewitt. — A debate by letter. — Theodore Roosevelt.
264Daniel De Leon. — Father McGlynn.
266Election Day, 1886.
269A Debate Between Henry George and Shevitch
273The "Leader" and the "Argus."
275Revolutionary Speeches. — A Call to Arms. — Johann Most Convicted.
278The Eleventh of November.
Chapter Ten — I Come to a Shore 281
NoneI begin to raise questions. — Can a free society manage without voting?
286Bachman. — A walk that made me stop being an anarchist. — A conversation with Alexander Jonas. — Two books.
292Wilhelm Liebknecht. — Eleanor, the daughter of Karl Marx, and her husband Aveling.
296The New Odessa commune fails. — How the members lived among themselves. — My debates with Kaplan about the fallen commune.
305An American socialist club. — Miss Johnson. — Mrs. Leonard. — Edgar Saltus. — Yuga Pacht. — Walter Vrooman.
310Laurence Gronlund and his two books.
312The socialist movement and the Germans.
Chapter Eleven — Other American Acquaintances and Experiences 316
NoneA club of young American teachers. — Students in Russia and students in America.
323Antisemitism in those times.
326In the editorial office of the "New York Sun." — American journalism. — Dana and Pulitzer.
335Need. — Bourgeois and paupers. — I begin to study law.
344An unpleasant experience. — Edward Sering. — Judge Goldfogle. — A second unpleasant experience. — I cease to be a lawyer.
353Carefree birds. — Spencer's works.
Chapter Twelve — In the Jewish Quarter 357
NoneEnglish classes at "Yeshivat Etz Chaim" (a religious school). — The gabbaim (trustees), the melamdim (religious teachers), the children. — Why I lost the job.
362The Blizzard.
365A few types from the evening school.
370The principal and the superintendent. — An unpleasant scene.
374Feigenson, Katzenelenbogen and their holy-books store. — Morris Rosenfeld.
377Sigmund Mogulesko and my interest in the Yiddish theater. — Shomer's "Kokete Damen."
382"Tisza-Eszlár." — "Professor" Horowitz. — Feinman, David Kessler. — "Historical Operas." — A Twin from Odessa.
385Horowitzism. — Theater competition. — Abraham Goldfaden.
391A Saloon-Keeper. — "David's Harp." — Thomashefsky, Adler, Shengold. — Rudolph Marks.
398The kehillot grow. — Famous cantors are imported from the old home. — Cooper of Vilna. — Pinye Minkowski of Odessa.
401The Rav Hakolel. — Eliakum Zunser.
407About the Jewish quarter of those years in general.
Chapter Thirteen — The “Workmen's Advocate” and the Socialist Labor Party 416
NoneBushe. — Victor Yarros. — A written debate. — Professor Gunton. — A spoken debate.
420Lectures and articles. — Realism. — A pamphlet. — Lucien Sanial.
424Vereshchagin and his exhibition.
427Garside and a Tale About a Razor.
431The First International Socialist Congress (Second Series). — A Meeting About a "Split" in the Party.
437Louis Miller, Michael Zametkin, Leon Bandes, Morris Hillquit. — The United Hebrew Trades. — Magidov.
440The Jewish anarchists. — Their newspaper "Varhayt" [Truth].
441My first speeches outside New York.