ed to
leave the Ghetto. The House of the Red Shield was his birthplace--here
his parents had lived and died, here would he live and die. He was still
a Jew, earnest and zealous in keeping the Law, the "President" or head
of the synagogue.

He was happily married to Letizia--she had no other name--and babies
were coming along with astonishing regularity.

To him and his good wife were born five sons and five daughters. The Red
Shield was now his own property, he having purchased the freehold--a
thing he could not do until he had attained "the freedom of the city."

Then we get the rather curious condition of Mayer Anselm supervising the
municipal affairs of the whole city; and his sons, grown to manhood,
still wearing the yellow badge and obliged to keep within the Ghetto at
certain hours, on serious penalty.

And it is worth while noting that Mayer Anselm kept the laws of the
Ghetto, and asked no favor for himself beyond that granted to other
Jews, save that he did not wear the badge. Beyond this he was a Jew, and
his pride refused to allow him to be anything else. And yet he served
the Christian public with a purity of purpose and an unselfishness that
won for him the reputation of honesty that was his all his life.

By his influence the Ghetto was enlarged, several of the streets
widened, and all houses were placed under sanitary inspection. He
established a compulsory free-school system and maintained an
art-gallery in the Ghetto that was a center of education for the entire
district.

When this gallery was dedicated, Goethe came, and made a speech of
congratulation. He was the guest of the Red Shield. Afterward,
Rothschild returned the visit and spent several days at Weimar with the
great poet, and always they were on very friendly terms.

* * * * *

The son of the Landgrave became, himself, the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel,
and afterward Elector. He is also known as William the Ninth. He was a
booklover, a numismatist, and a man of many gentle virtues. I know of
only one blot on his official 'scutcheon, but this was so serious that,
for a time, it blocked his political fortune. In this affair, Rothschild
was co-respondent. Rothschild was Court Jew, and beyond a doubt attended
to all details.

During the American Revolutionary War, William the Ninth loaned twelve
thousand soldiers, a goodly portion of his army, to one George the Third
of England, to go and fight the American Co