ry, recurring with disgusting frequency in chronicle and legend, that
the Jews stole the consecrated wafer, and pierced it with knives till
blood ran from it; and to this it was added that at the feast of the
Passover the Jews slew Christian children to use their blood in the
night sacrifice.

[Illustration: BACHARACH ON THE RHINE]

Consequently on the day of this festival the Jews, hated for their
wealth, their religion, and the debts due to them, were entirely in the
hands of their enemies, who could easily bring about their destruction
by spreading the report of such a child-murder, and perhaps even
secretly putting a bloody infant's corpse in the house of a Jew thus
accused. Then at night they would attack the Jews at their prayers, and
murder, plunder, and baptize them; and great miracles would be wrought
by the dead child aforesaid, whom the Church would eventually canonize.
Saint Werner is one of these holy beings, and in his honor the
magnificent abbey of Oberwesel was founded. The latter is now one of the
most beautiful ruins on the Rhine, and with the Gothic grandeur of its
long ogival windows, proud and lofty pillars, and marvelous
stone-carving, it strangely enchants us when we wander by it on some
bright, green summer's day, and do not know the story of its origin. In
honor of this saint there were also three great churches built on the
Rhine, and innumerable Jews murdered and maltreated. All this happened
in the year 1287; and in Bacharach, where one of these Saint Werner's
churches stood, the Jews suffered much misery and persecution. However,
they remained there for two centuries after, protected from such
outbreaks of popular rage, though they were continually subject to spite
and threats.

Yet the more they were oppressed by hate from without, the more
earnestly and tenderly did the Jews of Bacharach cherish their domestic
life within, and the deeper was the growth among them of piety and the
fear of God. An ideal example of a life given to God was seen in their
Rabbi Abraham, who, though still a young man, was famed far and wide for
his learning. He was born in Bacharach, and his father, who had been the
rabbi there before him, had charged him in his last will to devote his
life to that office and never to leave the place unless for fear of
life. This command, except for a cabinet full of rare books, was all
that his parent, who had lived in poverty and learning, left him.
Rabbi Abraham, however,