About this section: the title page, table of contents, and list of illustrations of Volume Four, reconstructed from the printed front matter. Each entry links to the place in the text where that page begins.
Pages from My Life
by Abraham Cahan
VOLUME FOUR
In the Middle Years
(with illustrations)
Published by the “Forverts” Association · New York, 1928
Steven Spielberg Digital Yiddish Library · No. 00129
Illustrations in Volume Four
425Yekaterina Breshkovskaya ("Babushka")
456Yitskhok Ayzik Horwitz
Contents
Chapter One — The Beginning of My Literary Career
13Literature as a sideline interest.
16"Motke Arbel." — First acquaintance with Chekhov's work.
21I become personally acquainted with Howells.
25Howells's "A Traveler from Altruria."
28"A Providential Match." — "Two Matches."
29Howells becomes interested.
Chapter Two — "Yekl"
32The theme and the manuscript.
34An evening at Howells's.
37Editors send the manuscript back to me.
56Howells writes about my novel. — Reporters come.
59"Yekl" and the internal struggle in the socialist movement.
61An evening in a literary club.
Chapter Three — I Become Acquainted with New Little Worlds
70I lose my position at the evening school.
72The "Evening Post" and Lincoln Steffens.
74"Commercial Advertiser."
75Elections for the first mayor of Greater New York.
80Reporters in America and in Europe
82At police headquarters. — Jacob Riis.
84I have to telephone and cannot.
87I Become a "Master" on the Telephone.
92The Eyes of Jimmy McAllister.
95The Truth Is More Interesting Than Lies.
97I Meet with the Highest and with the Lowest.
Chapter Four — New Friends
103A few of the reporters. — Neckties.
107A few of the department editors. — The "chief."
110Around the long black table. — Carl Hovey. — Edwin Lefevre.
115A Jew. — A great-grandson of a Jew.
123The Howes. — The Lefevres. — Duncan. — Well-known names.
Chapter Five — Literature and Newspaper Work
132From a mountain of clippings.
137The war with Spain. — Wartime in the city. — War patriotism in 1898. — In a camp. — Aboard a school ship.
142Crowds of reporters in wartime. — A scene after the war.
151In the criminal courts. — A vanished little girl. — A "badger game." — A murder.
Chapter Seven — Literature
189A "Wedding in the Jewish Quarter."
192"The Imported Bridegroom."
197"The Apostate of Chego-Chegg." — "Rabbi Eliezer's Christmas."
203A "Wedding Without the Bridegroom." — "Rabbi Avrom Leib's Daughter." — "The Chego-Jewess of the Catskills." — "Dmitri and Sigrid."
207Literary Lectures and Readings.
208Tan Bagerow and Vladimir Yavelson.
209A noteworthy conversation.
213My stories in Russian translations. — An echo from Velyusha.
219William Archer. — Sonnenthal.
220Tolstoy's 70th birthday. — My acquaintance with Zangwill.
Chapter Eight — Changes
226Steffens leaves the "Commercial."
227"Muckraking" — "The Shame of the Cities."
230In the Catskills. — Pogler. — The shame upon President McKinley.
232A dear guest. — A growing suspicion.
235I leave the "Commercial Advertiser."
236The Second Avenue of those days and its cafés. — A few types.
240Strolling through the immigrant quarters. — A Jewish family. — An Italian book-peddler. — "Faces' Bridegrooms."
244"Pot-boiler literature." — Edwin Lefèvre.
Chapter Nine — Back in the "Forverts"
246The first year after my departure. — I begin to visit the editorial office. — Reznik. — M. Katz. — Max Pine. — L. Miller. — A. Liessin.
249I begin to write for the "Forverts." — A eulogy for Dabzevitch. — Herrick's café.
251B. Holtzman. — "The Neshome Yeseyre" (the additional Sabbath soul).
254The economic situation of the "Forverts."
256A "split" in the "Abend Blatt." — A scene in the Astor Library. — Morris Hillquit. — The founding of the Socialist Party.
259How I came back. — Lief and Feller. — L. Miller. — A. Liessin and other comrades. — Three conditions.
265What Lief remembers. — The meeting at which I was elected.
Chapter Ten — A Completely Different "Forverts"
271A new enchantment. — Leon Gottlieb. — A. Frumkin.
272An excerpt from Hillel Rogoff's history of the "Forverts." — In 1897 and in 1902.
275Three kinds of news features. — "Light articles."
279"Freethinkers, do not be fanatics!"
281May one say Kaddish for a father in order to satisfy the mother?
283"Jewish Yiddish." — Popularization.
286"Everyday" leading articles.
288More articles. — "What is mazl (luck)?"
293Answers to "What is mazl?" — A second theme.
294"Handkerchiefs." — "Plate."
2961895 and 1902. — "Arbeiter Zeitung" and "Forverts."
Chapter Eleven — Light and Shadow of a Success
298Debates about my system. — What Edward King heard. — Letters about the changes that I made.
299The European press and the American. — To lower oneself to the masses, or to raise them up to oneself?
301A parable with little birds. — A library for the blind. — A letter from Larens. — At a banquet.
306New times, new moods. — A new enthusiasm. — Debates. — Vintshevsky. — Zametkin. — Miller. — Liessin.
308New serial features (sedres). — "From one word, a quart."
311I go among the public to study how to write for it. — A sunset among the tenement houses.
313Unwanted neighbors. — A grocery store on Christie Street.
317The growth of Jewish literature. — The "Forverts" makes it popular among the Jewish masses in America.
321What Abraham Reisen tells.
324The "Forverts" grows too fast for its capital. — A quiet clash with Louis Miller.
327The "Kangaroos" issue a newspaper. — The "Abend-Blatt" goes under. — The "Kangaroos" are ready to come to our aid. — But they set impossible conditions.
329In Woodbine, New Jersey. — A Jew with rare abilities. — Dr. Barim Bagin. — A little wood. — Chickens.
332A committee from the "Forverts Association."
333In New Milford, Connecticut. — "A bird-man." — A passion. — An American freethinker (apikoyres).
Chapter Twelve — Jacob Gordin and His Role in the Jewish Quarter
344Jacob Gordin and the Yiddish theater. — Theater roles and literature. — Gordin's influence and power.
349Kessler. — Adler. — Liptzin. — Bertha Kalish. — Sara Adler. — Mashkovitch. — Michael Mintz.
354Gordin and our intelligentsia. — The "Educational League." — Gordin and the "Forverts." — The radical character of his plays.
358A review in the "Tageblatt." — A scene in the theater. — An attack in the "Tageblatt." — A stormy struggle through the "Forverts."
365I am asked to take part in the struggle. — Gordin and criticism.
370Gordin's merits. — His stature. — A leading article.
377A sorrowful postal card from Vilna.
Chapter Thirteen — The "Forverts" in Its Own Home
379175 East Broadway. — We celebrate the growth of the "Forverts." — A "journal number."
383"Tohoras Hamishpokhe" (The Purity of the Family). — A criticism.
387"A Criticism of a Criticism." — "Milkhome" (War). — "The Dramatic World."
393Elections for editor. — Attacks in the "Dramatic World."
Chapter Fourteen — New Echoes from the Old Home
398The "Bund." — Bundists and their friends in America.
401Hirsch Lekert. — His widow comes to America.
407Bloody pogroms. — The Jewish self-defense. — We collect support for the victims. — Scenes.
411Socialist-Revolutionaries. — Zionists.
414Guests from the old home. — Arkady Kremer. — His wife. — "Ezra" ("Berg").
417At the Minsk Society. — Oratorical talent and secret meetings.
420The groups and their teachers. — Sanctity and scientific character. — A "golden uncle."
424The "Babushka" and Dr. Zhitlowsky. — My interviews with her. — At the Peniel Hakehel, Boston.
427Dr. Zhitlowsky's lectures and his circle. — The anarchists.
429Ibrahams. — Mendel Rosenbaum. — Gurevitch.
431The Japanese war. — The year 1905. — The first Russian revolution. — New rivers of blood. — How the historic events echoed among us in New York.
438Mark Liber. — R. Abramovitsh.
440Gershuni. — His coming to America. — The scene on the ferry. — His appearance. — How he escaped.
447I question Gershuni about the strongest moments of his life. — How he prepared himself for death. — In Schlüsselburg.
Chapter Sixteen — External and Internal Opponents
499Louis Miller. — "Di Vorhayt" (The Truth).
504An Opposition Against Me.
508The "Tsayt-Gayst" (Spirit of the Times).
512The "Morgen Zeitung" (Morning Newspaper).
515A Meeting on Sunday, the 4th of March, 1906.
518A Critique of Gordin's "Without a Home." — Gordin's "Compliments." — Doctors.
521A Series of Articles About Gordin's Works.
525"What They Think in Russia About Gordin."
Chapter Seventeen — The Further Growth of the "Forverts" and of the Movement
530The financial situation in 1906 and 1907. — Marcus Yaffe. — Adolph Held.
537Better times. — B. Schlesinger.
538Two volumes about the discovery of America.
541American magazines and newspapers about the "Forverts"
542Our unions. — The "Arbeiter Ring" (Workmen's Circle).
544Meyer London. — Jacob Panken.
545Our movement. — Milwaukee and New York. — Eugene Debs. — Victor Berger. — Among the Jews in New York. — De Leon.
548Lively election campaigns in the Jewish quarters. — Morris Hillquit. — Meyer London.
551A group of American socialists: English Walling, Charles Russell, Stokes, Rose Pastor Stokes. — LeRoy Scott. — The Simonses.
553Socialism and class consciousness in Europe and in America.
Chapter Eighteen — Various Happenings
556Leafing through old issues.
563"He and 15 others fled underground."
566An echo of my first summer in America.
569Komissarzhevskaya. — Brovich. — Mischa Elman.
570A sorrowful letter from Dr. Spivak.
571The death of Jacob Gordin.
574Rachel Kaminska in America. — The Yiddish theater in Russia and in America.
578The name of a Russian Jew on the American cent.
581The Yevalenka affair. — Vladimir Burtsev. — A committee. — The verdict.
588The London campaign in 1910.
591The Bronx and reservoirs.
593"Prosperity" and a "new morality."
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