K. E. FRANZOS’ “JEWS OF BARNOW” 276 HERZBERG’S “FAMILY PAPERS” 283 LONGFELLOW’S “JUDAS MACCABÆUS” 290 ARTOM’S SERMONS 297 SALKINSON’S “OTHELLO” 303 “LIFE THOUGHTS” OF MICHAEL HENRY 311 THE POEMS OF EMMA LAZARUS 319 CONDER’S “TENT WORK IN PALESTINE” 325 KALISCH’S “PATH AND GOAL” 333 FRANZ DELITZSCH’S “IRIS” 340 “THE PRONAOS” OF I. M. WISE 347 A BAEDEKER LITANY 353 IMBER’S SONG 359 INDEX 365 ILLUSTRATIONS FACING PAGE MENASSEH BEN ISRAEL 148 TITLE-PAGE OF THE FIRST EDITION OF BYRON’S “HEBREW MELODIES” 208 GRACE AGUILAR 248 ISAAC LEESER 254 EMMA LAZARUS 320 ISAAC MAYER WISE 348 NAPHTALI HERZ IMBER 360 PART I PART I THE STORY OF AHIKAR We are happily passing out of the critical obsession, under which it was a sign of ignorance to attribute a venerable age to the records of the past. All the old books were written yesterday, or at earliest the day before! Facts, however, are stubborn; and facts, as they come to light, justify and re-affirm our fathers’ faith in the antiquity of the world’s literature. The story of Ahikar is a good illustration. In the course of the Book of Tobit more than once _Achiachar_ or _Ahikar_ is mentioned. These allusions are verbal only, but in one scene the reference is more precise. The pious Tobit on his death-bed bids his son “consider what Nadab (Nadan) did to Achiachar, who brought him up” (14. 10).