Letter from Isaac Leeser;February 22, 1864
- Title
- Letter from Isaac Leeser;February 22, 1864
- Author
- Isaac Leeser
- Date Created
- 22 February 1864
- Location(s)
- Philadelphia
- Format
- Letter. 3 page(s) on 3 sheet(s).
- Letter
- Type
- Letter
- Language(s)
- English
- Physical Characteristics
- Typescript
- content
-
Philadelphia, Feb 22, 5624
(In hebrew) Washington's birthday.
My dear Doctor
I commence my note of acknowledgment with writing a name which is not according to hebrew grammar quite correct; for silent she in the middle of a word being an impossible syllable according to our idiom, but so much is vague in the barbarous tongue called English. It is rather laughable for you to peak of old age, as preventing you from reading my beautiful clear handwriting. Is it not rather a hint that my power of tracing letters is by reason of lapse of years on my part? “Sin we wore first acquaint,” near forty years have elapsed, and the headless stranger whom you welcomed on the second of may 24 has now almost filled up the measure of his troubles(?) and behold the dark shadows of the picture interposing themselves on his sunlight; and if you feel that time has flown past you not without leaving his mark, for good or ill, can it be otherwise with me? I can indeed make my figures a little mor palinly if I choose to draw my pen more carefully over the paper; but every moment so devoted is so much taken form the rapidity of time8s flight, and then 1 and then ? scratch so much for the men of the press who are all readers of heiroglyphics, that i have come to fancy al the world printers, if not players in the Shakespearian sense.
“the hand of every man seals his deeds in the book of the divine record” is a beautiful opinion of the ages of Israel, and in this regard we all make our mark; hence you can readilly imagine that I have some good reasons for carefully writing, and especially to you who are a ? Now I have given you quotations enough, and I trust ample apolo for the trouble that I cause you have to get to the depth of my last ? mysterious contents.
Well good doctor, I know not that i have written for years as much light correspondence as above. I have a few to whom I write more than mere business, except H. N Nathan of St Thomas now, though late of Jamaica. It is with me the constant roll of the wheel of labor, writing for the public, speaking to the people, and reading to qualify myself for these tasks.
I must still fall back on my idea of ? in lending the book, money should not have been mentioned. Though nearly the whole of the plan may be useless, still the idea of the ventilating chimney, I think is worth adapting. I know not whether your architect will have the ght? of it. At the same time the work may be fitly placed in the library of the hospital, when erected as a mention of what had been done elsewhere. When it is ready for opening I shall, if living, give you a few useful books of my own manufacture! Only think how I speak of literature, as an article of ordinary production, ?; but it is true nonetheless.
I had the pleasure of a visit yesterday of Miss R E Cohen and Miss Laura Mordecai. They were both well and I was truly glad to see them.
Let me hear how you progress with the hospital, which I trust may soon stand forth as a monument of Jewish liberality. I wont say Israelitish to please your brother Col M. but it is rather long as I experienced in translating the transactions.
verbal of the Alliance Israelite Universelle. By the by, the complete rendue des Seances received the day before yesterday of that institution shows it is weekly increasing in members, friends and influence all over the world, leaving England in the rear. What a folly it was in Americans n
not to work with the Board of Delegaten, for then we should have been something else, and able to aid effectually in advancing our cause. But folly rules the hour.
I find again that I scratch, slowness is running into rapidity once more; so farewell and forget not
Your
I Leeser
Respect to bill
Rcd the $4 - Identifier
- LSDCBx2FF11_8
- Date
- 1864-02-22
Part of Letter from Isaac Leeser;February 22, 1864
Isaac Leeser, “Letter from Isaac Leeser;February 22, 1864”, 1864-02-22, Isaac Leeser Digital Repository, accessed September 7, 2024, https://judaicadhpenn.org/legacyprojects/s/leeser/item/66998