6 SEPTEMBER 1902, Page 24

In the Gates of Israel. By Herman Bernstein. (J. F.

Taylor and Co., New York.)—These "Stories of the Jews" are mostly slight in texture,—the first really occupies some twenty pages with telling us how an old woman tried to keep herself awake. It was on the occasion of a great day, but this is scarcely jus- tification enough. That they are all melancholy, if not tragical, is only what we have to expect. This people, so commonly hated for its supposed success, is really very unhappy, if we are to con- sider the rule and not the exceptions. The one story that has something playful about it, "A Jealousy Cure," is certainly not distinctly Jewish.