 Section 25 of Yiddish Tales. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Yiddish Tales translated by Helena Frank and read by Adrian Pretzelis. Section 25. Izaya Beshadsky. Pen name of Izaya Domachiewitsky. Born 1871 near Derechyn, government of Grodno, Lithuania, White Russia. Died 1909 in Warsaw. Education Jewish and secular. Teacher of Hebrew in Ekaterinoslav, southern Russia. In business in Ekaterinoslav and Baikou. Editor in 1903 of Hazamen. First in St Petersburg, then in Vilna. After a short sojourn in Riga, removed to Warsaw. Writer of novels and short stories, almost exclusively in Hebrew. Contributor to Hamelits, Hashiloa and other periodicals. Pen names besides Beshadsky, Beshadi and Shimoni. Collected works in Hebrew, Tufusim Uzilalim, Warsaw, 1899 and Kutubim Haaronim, Warsaw, 1909. Forlorn and Forsaken by Izaya Beshadsky. Forlorn and Forsaken she was in her last years. Even when she lay on the bed of sickness where she died, not one of her relations or friends came to look after her. They did not even come to mourn for her or accompany her to the grave. There was not even one of her kin to say the first kaddish over her resting place. My wife and I were the only friends she had at the close of her life. No one but us cared for her while she was ill or walked behind her coffin. The only tears shed at the lonely old woman's grave were ours. I spoke the only kaddish for her soul, but we after all were complete strangers to her. Yes, we were strangers to her and she was a stranger to us. We made her acquaintance only a few years before her death, when she was living in two tiny rooms opposite the first house we settled in after our marriage. Nobody ever came to see her, and she herself visited nowhere except at the little store where she made her necessary purchases and at the house of study nearby, where she prayed twice every day. She was about sixty, rather undersized and very thin, but more lidsome in her movements than is common at that age. Her face was full of creases and wrinkles, and her light brown eyes were somewhat dulled, but her ready smile and quiet glance told of a good heart and a kindly temper. Her simple old gown was always neat, her chitle tastefully arranged, her lodging and its furniture clean and tidy, and all this attracted us to her from the first day onward. We were still more taken with her retiring manner, the quiet way in which she kept herself in the background, and the slight melancholy of her expression telling of a life that had held much sadness. We made advances. She was very willing to become acquainted with us, and it was not very long before she was like a mother to us or an old aunt. My wife was then the inexperienced house mistress, fresh to her duties, and found a great help in the old woman who smilingly taught her how to proceed with the housekeeping. When our first child was born she took it to her heart and busied herself with its upbringing almost more than the young mother. It was evident that dandling the child in her arms was a joy to her beyond words. At such moments her eyes would brighten, her wrinkles grew faint, a curiously satisfied smile played round her lips, and a new note of joy came into her voice. At first sight all this seemed quite simple, because the woman is naturally inclined to care for little children, and it may have been so with her to an exceptional degree. But closer examination convinced me that here lay yet another reason. Her attentions to the child, so it seemed, awakened pleasant memories of a long ago past, when she herself was a young mother caring for children of her own, and looking at this strange child had stirred a longing for those other children further from her eyes, but nearer to her heart, although perhaps quite unknown to her, who perhaps existed only in her imagination. And when we were made acquainted with the details of her life we knew our conjectures to be true. Her history was very simple and commonplace, but very tragic. Perhaps the tragedy of such biographies lies in their being so very ordinary and simple. She lived quietly and happily with her husband for twenty years after their marriage. They were not rich, but their little house was a kingdom of delight, when no good thing was wanting. Their business was farming land that belonged to a Polish nobleman, a business that knows of good times and of bad, of fat years and lean years, years of high prices and years of low. But on the whole it was a good business and profitable, and it afforded them a comfortable living. Besides they were used to the country, they could not fancy themselves anywhere else. The very thing that had never entered their head is just what happened. In the beginning of the eighties they were obliged to leave the estate they had found for ten years because the lease was up and the recently promulgated temporary laws forbade them to renew it. This was bad for them from a material point of view because it left them without regular income just when their children were growing up and expenses had increased. But their mental distress was so great that for the time the financial side of the misfortune was thrown into the shade. When we made her acquaintance many years had passed since then, many another trouble had come into her life, but one could hear tears in her voice when she told the story of that first misfortune. There was a bitter tissue for them when they left the house. The gardens, the barns and the stalls, their whole life, all those things concerning which they had forgotten and their children had hardly known that they were not of their own possession. Their town surroundings made them more conscious of their altered circumstances. She herself, the elder children often astill, had been used to drive into the town now and again, but that was on pleasure trips which had lasted a day or two at most. They had never tried staying there longer and it was no wonder if they felt cramped and depressed in town after their free life in the open. When they first settled there they had a capital of about ten thousand rubles, but by reason of inexperience in their new occupation they were worsted in competition with others, and a few turns of bad luck brought them almost to ruin. The capital grew less from year to year. Everything they took up was more of a struggle than the last venture. Poverty came nearer and nearer, and the father of the family began to show signs of illness brought on by town life and worry. This, of course, made their material position worse, and the knowledge of it reacted disastrously on his health. Three years after he came to town he died, and she was left with six children and no means of subsistence. Already during her husband's life they had exchanged their first lodging for a second, a poorer and cheaper one, and after his death they moved into a third, meaner and narrower still, and sold their precious furniture, for which indeed there was no place in the new existence. But even so the question of bread and meat was not answered. They still had about six hundred rubles, but as they were without a trade it was easy to foresee that the little stock of money would dwindle day by day till there was none of it left. And what then? The eldest son, Yosef, aged twenty-one, had gone from home a year before his father's death to seek his fortune elsewhere, but his first letters brought no very good news, and now the second, Avraham, a lad of eighteen, and the daughter, Rochele, who was sixteen, declared their intention to start for America. The mother was against it, begged them with tears not to go, but they did not listen to her. Parting with them, for ever most likely, was bad enough in itself, but worst of all was the thought that her children, for whose Jewish education their father had never grudged money, even when times were hardest, should go to America, and there, forgetting everything they had learned, become ganzer-goyem. She was quite sure that her husband would never have agreed to his children being thus scattered abroad, and this encouraged her to oppose their will with more determination. She urged them to wait at least until their elder brother had achieved some measure of success and could help them. She held out this hope to them because she believed in her son Yosef and his capacity, and was convinced that in a little time he would become their support. If only Avraham and Rochele had not been so impatient, she would lament to us, everything would have turned out differently. They would not have been hustled off to the end of creation, and she would not have been left so lonely in her last years, but it had apparently been so ordained. Avraham and Rochele agreed to defer the journey, but when some months had passed and Yosef was still wandering from town to town, finding no rest for the soul of his foot, she had to give in to her children and let them go. They took with them two hundred rubles and sailed for America, and with the remaining three hundred rubles she opened a tiny shop. Her expenses were not great now, as only the three younger children were left her, but the shop was not sufficient to support even these. The stock grew smaller month by month, there never being anything over wherewith to replenish it, and there was no escaping the fact that one day soon the shop would remain empty. And as if this were not enough, there came bad news from the children in America. They did not complain much, on the contrary, they wrote most hopefully about the future when their position would certainly, so they said, improve. But the mother's heart was not to be deceived, and she felt instinctively that meanwhile they were doing anything but well. While later who could foresee what would happen later? One day she got a letter from Yosef, who wrote that convinced of the impossibility of earning a livelihood within the pale, he was about to make use of an opportunity that offered itself and settle in a distant town outside of it. This made her very sad, and she wept over her fate to have a son living in a gentile city where there were hardly any Jews at all. And the next letter from America added sorrow to sorrow. Avraham and Roche had parted company, and were living in different towns. She could not bear the thought of her young daughter fending for herself among strangers, a thought that tortured her all the more as she had a peculiar idea of America. She herself could not account for the terror that would seize her whenever she remembered that strange, distant life. But the worst was nearly over. The turn for the better came soon. She received a word from Yosef that he had found a good position in his new home, and in a few weeks he proved the letter true by sending her money. From America too the news that came was more cheerful, even joyous. Avraham had secured steady work with good pay, and before long he wrote for his younger brother to join him in America and provided him with all the funds he needed for travelling expenses. Roche had engaged herself to a young man whose praises she sounded in all her letters. Soon after her wedding she sent money to bring over another brother, and her husband added a few lines in which he spoke of his great love for his new relations, and how he looked forward with impatience to having one of them his dear brother-in-law come to live with him. This was good and cheering news, and it all came within a year's time, but the mother's heart grieved over it more than it rejoiced. Her delight at her daughter's marriage with a good man she loved was anything but unmixed. Melancholy thoughts blended with it whether she would or no. The occasion was one which a mother's fancy had painted in rainbow colours, on the preparations for which it had dwelt with untold pleasure, and now she had had no share in it at all, and her heart writhed under the disappointment. To make her still sadder she was obliged apart with two more children. She tried to prevent their going, but they had long ago set their hearts on following their brother and sister to America, and the recent letters had made them more anxious to be off. So they started, and there remained only the youngest daughter, Rivka, a girl of thirteen. Their position was materially not a bad one, for every now and then the old woman received help from her children in America and from her son Yosef, so that she was not even obliged to keep up the shop. But the mother in her was not satisfied, because she wanted to see her children's happiness with her own eyes. The good news that continued to arrive at intervals brought pain as well as pleasure by reminding her how much less fortunate she was than other mothers who were counted worthy to live together with their children and not at a distance from them like her. The idea that she should go out to those of them who were in America never occurred to her or to them either. But Yosef, who had taken a wife in his new town and who soon after had set up for himself and was doing very well, now sent for his mother and little sister to come and live with him. At first the mother was unwilling, fearing that she might be in the way of her daughter-in-law and thus disturbed the shallon bite, the household peace. Even later, when she had assured herself that the young wife was very kind and there was nothing to be afraid of, she could not make up her mind to go, even though she longed to be with Yosef, her oldest son, who had always been her favourite and however much she desired to see his wife and her little grandchildren. Why she would not fulfil his wish and her own, she herself was not clearly conscious, but she shrank from the strange fashion of the life they led and she never ceased to hope, deep down in her heart, that some day they would come back to her. And this especially with regard to Yosef, who sometimes complained in his letters that his situation was anything but secure, because the smallest circumstance might bring about an addictive expulsion. She quite understood that her son would consider this a very bad thing, but she herself looked at it with other eyes. Round about here too were people who made a comfortable living and Yosef was no worse than others that he should not do the same. Six or seven years passed in this way, the youngest daughter was twenty and it was time to think of a match for her. Her mother felt sure that Yosef would provide the dowry, but she thought best Rivka and her brother should go see each other and she consented readily to let Rivka go to him when Yosef invited her to spend several months as his guest. No sooner had she gone than the mother realised what it meant, this parting with her youngest and for the last years her only child. She was filled with regret at not having gone with her and waited impatiently for her return. Suddenly she heard that Rivka had found favour with a friend of Yosef's, the son of a well-to-do merchant, and that Rivka and her brother were equally pleased with him. The two were already engaged and the wedding was only deferred till she, the mother, should come up and take her abode with them for good. The longing to see her daughter overcame all her doubts. She resolved to go to her son and began the preparations for the start. These were just completed when there came a letter from Yosef to say that the situation had taken a sudden turn for the worst and he and his family might have to leave their town. This sudden news was distressing and welcome at one and the same time. She was anxious lest the addictive expulsion should harm her son's position and pleased on the other hand that he should at last be coming back, for God would not forsake him here either. What with the fortune he had and his aptitude for trade he would make a living right enough. She waited anxiously and in a few months had gone through all the mental suffering inherent in a state of uncertainty such as hers when fear and hope are twined in one. The waiting was the harder to bear that all this time no letter from Yosef or Rivka reached her promptly. And the end of it all was this. News came that the danger was over and Yosef would remain where he was but as far as she was concerned it was best that she should do likewise because trailing about at her age was a serious thing and it was not worth while her running into danger and so on. The old woman was full of grief at remaining thus forlorn in her old age and she longed more than ever for her children after having hoped so surely that she would be with them soon. She could not understand Yosef's reason for suddenly changing his mind with regard to her coming but it never occurred to her for one minute to doubt her children's affection and we when we had read the treasured bundle of letters from Yosef and Rivka could not doubt it either. There was love and longing for the distant mother in every line and several of the letters betrayed a spirit of bitterness a note of complaining resentment against the hard times that had brought about the separation from her and yet we could not help thinking out of sight, out of mind that which is far from the eyes weighs lighter at the heart. It was the only explanation we could invent for why otherwise should the mother have to remain alone among strangers. All these considerations moved me to interfere in the matter without the old woman's knowledge. She could read Yiddish but could not write it and before we made friends her letters to the children were written by a shopkeeper of her acquaintance but from the time we got to know her I became her constant secretary and one day when writing to Yosef for her I made use of the opportunity to enclose a letter from myself. I asked his forgiveness for mixing myself up in another's family affairs and tried to justify the interference by dwelling on our affectionate relations with his mother I then described in the most touching words at my command how hard it was for her to live forlorn how she pined for the presence of her children and grandchildren and ended by telling them that it was their duty to free their mother from all this mental suffering. There was no direct reply to this letter of mine but the next one from the son to his mother gave her to understand that there were certain things not to be explained while the impossibility of explaining them may lead to a misunderstanding. This hint made the position no clearer to us and the fact of Yosef's not answering me confirmed us in our previous suspicions. Meanwhile our old friend fell ill and quickly understood that she would soon die. Among the things she had begged me to do after her death and having reference to her burial there was one particular petition several times repeated to send a packet of Hebrew books which had been left by her husband to her son Yosef and to inform him of her death by telegram My American children, she explained with a sigh have certainly forgotten everything they once learned forgotten all their Jewishness but my son Yosef is a different sort I feel sure of him that he will say caddish after me and read a chapter in the Mishnah and the books will come in useful for his children grandmother's legacy to them When I fulfilled the old woman's last wish I learned how mistaken she had been the answer to my letter written during her lifetime came now that she was dead her children thanked us warmly for our care of her and they also explained why she and they had remained apart she had never known and it was far better so by what means her son had obtained the right to live outside the pale it was enough that she would have to live forlorn where would have been the good of her knowing that she was forsaken as well that the one of her children who had gone altogether over to them was Yosef end of forlorn and forsaken by Isaiah Boshatsky Section 26 of Yiddish Tales this LibriVox recording is in the public domain Yiddish Tales translated by Helen Frank and read by Adrian Pretzelis Section 26 Tashrak pen name of Israel Joseph Zevin born 1872 in Gorigorki government of Moalev Lithuania white Russia came to New York in 1889 first Yiddish sketch published in Yiddish's Targblatt 1893 first English story in the American Hebrew 1906 associate editor of Yiddish's Targblatt writer of sketches short stories and biographies in Hebrew Yiddish and English contributor to Ha'ibri Jewish comment and numerous Yiddish periodicals collected works one volume New York 1910 and Tashrak's Besta Ertzelangen four volumes New York 1910 The Hole in the Bagel by Tashrak when I was a little Haider boy my Rebbe Boon in Brighton Gitter's a learned man who was always tormenting me with Talmudic questions and with riddles once asked me what becomes of the hole in a bagel when one has eaten the bagel this riddle which seemed to me then very hard to solve stuck in my head and I puzzled over it day and night I often bought a bagel took a bite out of it and immediately replaced the bitten-out piece with my hand so that the hole should not escape but when I'd eaten up the bagel the hole had somehow always disappeared which used to annoy me very much I went about preoccupied and thought it over at prayers and lessons till the Rebbe noticed that something was wrong with me at home too they remarked that I'd lost my appetite that I ate nothing but bagel bagel for breakfast, bagel for dinner, bagel for supper, bagel all day long they also observed that I ate it to the accompaniment of strange gestures and contortions of both my mouth and my hands one day I summoned all my courage and asked the Rebbe in the middle of a lesson on the Pentateuch Rebbe, when one has eaten a bagel what becomes of the hole? why you little silly answered the Rebbe what is a hole in a bagel just nothing at all a bit of emptiness it's nothing with the bagel and nothing without the bagel many years have passed since then and I have not yet been able to satisfy myself as to what is the subject of the hole in the bagel I've considered whether one could not have bagels without holes one lives and learns and America has taught me this one can have bagels without holes for I saw them in a dairy shop in East Broadway I had once recited the appropriate blessing and then I asked the shop men about these bagels and heard a most interesting history which shows how difficult it is to get people to accept anything new and what sacrifices it costs to introduce the smallest reform a baker in an Illinois city took it into his head to make straight bagels in the shape of candles but this reform cost him dear the United Owners of the bakeries in that city immediately made a set at him and boycotted him they argued our fathers fathers baked bagels with holes the whole world eats bagels with holes and here comes a bold coxcomb of a fellow upsets the order of the universe and bakes bagels without holes have you ever heard of such impertinence it's just revolution if a person like this is allowed to go on he will make an end of everything today it's bagels without holes tomorrow it will be holes without bagels such a thing has never been known before and because of the hole in a bagel a storm broke out in that city that grew presently into a civil war the bosses fought on and dragged the baker's hands union after them into the conflict now the union contained two parties of which one declared that a hole and a bagel constituted together a private affair like religion and that everyone had a right to bake bagels as he thought best and according to his conscience the other party maintained that to sell bagels without holes was against the constitution to which the first party replied that the constitution should be altered as being too ancient and contrary to the spirit of the times at this the second party raised a clamour crying that the rules could not be altered because they were torus loxian and every letter, every stroke, every dot was a law in itself the city papers were obliged to publish daily accounts of the meetings that were held to discuss the hole in a bagel and the papers also took sides and wrote fiery polemical articles on the subject the quarrel spread through the city until all the inhabitants were divided into two parties the bagel with a hole party and the bagel without a hole party children rose against their parents wives against their husbands engaged couples severed their ties families were broken up and still the battle raged and all on account of the hole in a bagel end of the hole in a bagel by Tashrak section 27 of Yiddish Tales this LibriVox recording is in the public domain Yiddish Tales translated by Helen Frank and read by Adrian Pretzelis section 27 as the years roll on by Tashrak Rosalie laid down the cloth with which she had been dusting the furniture in her front parlour and began tapping the velvet covering of the sofa with her fingers the velvet had worn thread-bear in places and there was a great rent in the middle had the rent been at one of the ends it would have been covered with a cushion but there it was by bad luck in the very centre and making a shameless display of itself look here I am see what a rent yesterday she and her husband had invited company the company had brought children and you never have children in the house without having them leave some mischief behind them today the sun was shining more brightly than ever and lighting up the whole room Rosalie took the opportunity to inspect her entire set of furniture eight years ago when she was given the set at her marriage how happy she had been everything was so fresh and new she had noticed before that the velvet was getting worn and the polish of the chairs disappearing and the seats losing their spring but today all this struck her more than formally the holes, the rents, the damaged places stared before them with such malicious mockery like a poor man laughing at his own evil plight Rosalie felt a painful melancholy steel over her now she could not but see her furniture was old that she would soon be ashamed to invite people into her parlour and her husband will be in no hurry to present her with a new one he has grown so parsimonious of late she replaced the Holland coverings of the sofa and chairs and went out to do her bedroom there on a chair lay her best dress the one she had put on yesterday for her guests she considered the dress and two was frayed in places here and there even drawn together and sewn over the bodice was beyond ironing out again and this was her best dress she opened the wardrobe for she wanted to make a general survey of her belongings it was such a light day one could see even in the back rooms she took down one dress after another and laid them out on the maid beds observing each with a critical eye her sense of depression increased the while and she felt as though stone on stone were being piled upon her heart she began to put the clothes back into the wardrobe and she hung up every one of them with a sigh when she'd finished with the bedroom she went into the dining room and stood by the sideboard in which was set out her best china service and coloured plates she looked them over one little gold rim cup had lost its handle a bowl had a piece glued in at the side on the top shelf stood the statuette of a little god with a broken bow and arrow in his hand and here there was one little goblet missing out of a whole service as soon as everything was in order Rosalie washed her hands and face combed up her hair and began to look at herself in a little hand glass but the bathroom to which she had retired was dark and she betook herself into the front parlor towel in hand where she could see herself in the big looking glass on the wall time which had left traces on the furniture on the contents of the wardrobe and on the china had not spared the woman though she had been married only eight years she looked at the crow's feet by her eyes and the lines in her forehead which the worrying thoughts of this day had imprinted there even more sharply than usual she tried to smile but the smile in the glass looked no more attractive than if she had given her mouth a twist she remembered that the only way to remain young is to keep free from care but how is one to set about it? she threw on a scarlet Japanese kimono stark an artificial flower into her hair after which she lightly powdered her face and neck the scarlet kimono lent a little color to her cheeks and another critical glance at the mirror convinced her that she was still a comely woman only no more a young one the bloom of youth had fled never to return the Fallon and the desire to live was stronger than ever even to live her life over again from the beginning sorrows and all she began to reflect what she should cook for supper there was time enough but she must think of something new her husband was tired of her usual dishes he said her cooking was old fashioned that it was always the same thing day in and day out his taste was evidently getting worn out too and she wondered what she could repair so as to win back her husband's former good temper and affectionate appreciation at one time he was an ardent young man with a fiery tongue he had great ideals and he strove high he talked of making mankind happy more refined, more noble and free he had dreamt of a world without tears and troubles of a time when men should live as brothers and jealousy and hatred should be unknown in those days he loved with all the warmth of his youth and when he talked of love it was a delight to listen the world grew to have another face for her then life another significance paradise was situated on the earth gradually his ideals lost their freshness their shine wore off and he became a businessman racking his brain with speculations trying to grow rich without the necessary qualities and capabilities and he was left at last with prematurely grey hair as the only result of his efforts eight years after their marriage he was as worn as their furniture in the front parlor Rosalie looked out of the window it was even much brighter outside than indoors she saw people going up and down the street with different anxieties reflected in their faces with wrinkles telling different histories of the cares of life she saw old faces and the young faces of those who seem to have tasted of age ere they reached it everything is old and worn and shabby whispered a voice in her ear a burst of childish laughter broke upon her meditations round the corner with a rush a lot of little boys with books under their arms their faces full of the zest of life and dancing and jumping till the whole street seemed to be jumping and dancing too elder people turned smilingly aside to make way for them among the children Rosalie aspired two little girls also with books under their arms her little girls and the mother's heart suddenly brimmed with joy a delicious warmth stole into her limbs and filled her being Rosalie went to the door to meet her two children on their return from school and when she had given each little face a motherly kiss she felt a breath of freshness and new life blowing round her she took off their cloaks and listened to their childish prattle about their teachers and the day's lessons the clear voices rang through the rooms awakening sympathetic echoes in every corner the home wore a new aspect and the sun shone even more brightly than before and in a more friendly, kindly fashion the mother spread a little cloth at the edge of the table gave them milk and sandwiches and looked at them as they ate each child the picture of the mother her eyes, her hair, her nose, her looks, her gestures they ate just as she would do and Rosalie feels much better and happier she doesn't care so much now about the furniture being old the dresses worn, the china service not being whole about the wrinkles round her eyes and in her forehead she only minds about her husband being so worn out so absent minded that he cannot take pleasure in the children as she can end off as the years roll on by Tashrack section 28 of Yiddish Tales this LibriVox recording is in the public domain Yiddish Tales translated by Helena Frank and read by Adrian Pretzelis section 28 David Pinsky born 1872 in Moilove Lithuania, White Russia refused admission to gymnasium in Moscow under percentage restrictions 1889 to 1891 secretary to Benzion in Vitibesk 1891 to 1893 student in Vienna 1893 co-editor of Spectres Hausfront and Peres Jomtov Bledalech 1893 first sketch published in New York, Arbiterzeitung 1896 studied philosophy in Berlin 1899 came to New York and edited Das Arbenblatt A Daily and Der Arbiter A Weekly 1912 founder and co-editor of The Yiddish of Wockenschrift author of short stories sketches essay on the Yiddish drama and ten dramas among them Jeseron, Isaac Scheftel, Die Mutter, Die Familie zwei Die Oetze, Der Eibige Judd first part of a series of messiah dramas Der Stumme Moschiach etc one volume of collected dramas Dramen Warsaw 1909 Reb Schleume by David Pinsky The 70 year old red Schleume's son whose home was in the country sent his two boys to live with their grandfather and to acquire town that is Gentile Learning Times have changed considered Reb Schleume it can't be helped and he engaged a good teacher for the children after making inquiries here and there give me a teacher who can tell the whole of their law as the saying goes standing on one leg he would say to his friends with a smile at 71 years of age Reb Schleume lived more indoors than out and he used to listen to the teacher instructing his grandchildren I shall become a doctor in my old age he would say laughing the teacher was one day telling his pupils about mathematical geography Reb Schleume sat with a smile on his lips and laughing in his heart at the little teacher who told such huge lies with so much earnestness the earth revolves said the teacher to his pupils and Reb Schleume smiles and thinks he must have seen it but the teacher shows it to be so by the light of reason and Reb Schleume becomes graver and ceases smiling he is endeavouring to grasp the proofs he wants to ask questions but can find none that will do and he sits there as if he has lost his tongue the teacher has noticed his grave look and understands that the old man is interested in the lesson and he begins to tell he tells how far the sun is from the earth how big it is how many earths could be made out of it and Reb Schleume begins to smile again and at last can bear it no longer look here he exclaimed that I cannot and will not listen to you may tell me the earth revolves well may it be so very well I'll allow you that perhaps according to reason even the size of the earth the appearance of the earth do you see all that sort of thing but the sun who has measured the sun who I ask you have you been on it a pretty thing to say upon my word Reb Schleume grew very excited the teacher took hold of Reb Schleume's hand and began to quiet him by what means the astronomers had discovered all this that it was no matter of speculation he explained the telescope to him and talked of mathematical calculations which he, Reb Schleume, was not able to understand Reb Schleume had nothing to answer but he frowned and remained obstinate he said and made a contemptuous motion with his hands to think to me not knowing that or being able to understand it science indeed fiddle sticks he relapsed into silence and went on listening to the teacher's stories we even know the teacher continued what metals are to be found in the sun and suppose I won't believe you and Reb Schleume smiled maliciously I will explain directly answered the teacher and tell us there's a fair in the sky interrupted Reb Schleume impatiently he was very angry but the teacher took no notice of his anger two hundred years ago began the teacher they lived in England a celebrated naturalist and mathematician Isaac Newton it was told of him that when God said let there be light Newton was born I should think very likely broken Reb Schleume why not the teacher pursued his way and gave an explanation of spectral analysis he spoke at some length and Reb Schleume sat and listened with close attention now do you understand asked the teacher coming to an end Reb Schleume made no reply he only looked up from under his brows the teacher went on the earth has stood for many years their exact number is not known but calculation brings it to several million burst in the old man I should like to know what next I thought everyone knew that that even they wait a bit Reb Schleume interrupted the teacher I will explain directly it makes me sick to hear you was the irate reply and Reb Schleume got up and left the room all that day Reb Schleume was in a bad temper and went about with knitted brows he was angry with science with the teacher with himself because he must need to have listened to it all chatter and foolishness and there I sit and listen to it he said to himself with chagran but he remembered the chatter something begins to weigh on his heart and brain he would like to find a something to catch hold of a proof of the vanity and emptiness of their teaching to invent some hard question and stick out a long red tongue at them all those nowadays barbarians those nowadays newtons after all it's mere child's play he reflects it's ridiculous to take their nonsense to heart only their proofs their proofs and the feeling of helplessness comes over him it's more he pulls himself together is it all over with us is it all up all up the oath revolves as to their explanations very wonderful to be sure of course it's all the greatest importance dear me yes he is very angry tears the buttons off his coat puts his hat straight on his head and spits postates nothing but apostates nowadays he concludes then he remembers the teacher with what enthusiasm he spoke his explanations ring in red shlomi's head and prove things and once more the old gentleman is perplexed preoccupied cross with groans and sighs he went to bed but he was restless all night turning from one side to the other and groaning his old wife tried to cheer him such weather as it is today she said and coughed I have a pain in the side too next morning when the teacher came Reb shlomi inquired with a displeased expression well are you going to tell stories again today we shall not take geography today answered the teacher have your astronomers found out by calculation on which days we may learn geography asked Reb shlomi with malicious irony no that's a discovery of mine said the teacher and the teacher smiled and when have your astronomers decreed the study of geography persisted Reb shlomi tomorrow tomorrow he repeated crossly and left the room missing a lesson for the first time next day the teacher explained the eclipses of the sun and moon to his pupils Reb shlomi sat with his chair drawn up to the table and listened without a movement it is all so exact the teacher wound up his explanation that the astronomers are able to calculate to a minute that there will be an eclipse and never have yet made a mistake at these last words Reb shlomi nodded in a knowing way and looked at the pupils as much as to say you ask me about that the teacher went on to tell of comets planets and other suns Reb shlomi snorted and was continually interrupting the teacher with exclamations if you don't believe me go and measure for yourself if it is not so call me a liar just so within one yard of it Reb shlomi repaid his Jewish education with interest there were not many learned men in the town like Reb shlomi the rabbis without flattery called him a full basket and Reb shlomi could not picture to himself the existence of sciences other than Jewish and when at last he did picture it he would not allow that they were right un-falsified and right he was so far intelligent he had received a so far enlightened education that he could understand how among non-Jews also there are great men he would even have laughed at anyone who maintained the contrary but that among non-Jews there should be men as great as any Jewish ones that he did not believe let alone of course still greater ones and now little by little Reb shlomi began to believe that their learning was not altogether insignificant for he the full basket was not finding it any too easy to master and what he had to deal with were not empty speculations unfounded opinions no here were mathematical computations demonstrations which almost anyone can test for himself which impressed themselves on the mind and Reb shlomi is vexed in his soul he endeavored to cling to his old thoughts his old conceptions he so wished to cry out upon the clear reasoning the simple explanations with the phrases that are on the lips of every ignorant obstructionist and yet he felt that he was unjust and he gave up disputing with the teacher as he paid close attention to the latter's demonstrations and the teacher would say quite simply one can measure he would say why not only it takes a lot of learning when the teacher was at the door Reb shlomi stayed him with a question then he asked angrily the whole of your learning is nothing but astronomy and geography oh no said the teacher there's a lot besides a lot for instance do you want me to tell you standing on one leg? well yes on one leg he answered impatiently as though in anger well one can't tell you on one leg said the teacher if you like I shall come on Sabbath and we can have a chat Sabbath repeated Reb shlomi in a dissatisfied tone Sabbath because I can't come at any other time said the teacher then let it be Sabbath said Reb shlomi reflectively but soon after dinner he called after the teacher who was already outside the door and everything else is right as your astronomy he shouted when the teacher had already gone a little way you will see and the teacher smiled never in his whole life had Reb shlomi waited for a Sabbath as he waited for this one and the two days that came before it seemed very long to him he never relaxed his frown or showed a cheerful face the whole time he was often seen during those two days to lift his hands to his forehead he went about as though there lay upon him a heavy weight which he wanted to throw off or as if he had a very disagreeable bit of business before him and wished he could get it over on Sabbath he could hardly wait for the teacher's appearance you wanted a lot of asking he said to him reproachfully the old lady went to take her nap the grandchildren to their play and Reb shlomi took the snuff box between his fingers lent against the back of the grandfather's chair in which he was sitting and listened with close attention to the teacher's words the teacher talked a long time mentioned the names of sciences and explained their meaning and Reb shlomi repeated each explanation in brief physics then is the science of that means then that we have that physiology explains the teacher would help him and immediately began to talk of another branch of science by the time the old lady woke up the teacher had given examples of anatomy physiology physics chemistry zoology and sociology it was quite late people were coming back from Minha the afternoon service and those who do not smoke on Sabbath raised their eyes to the sky but Reb shlomi had forgotten in what sort of world he was living he sat with a wrinkled forehead and drawn brows listening attentively seeing nothing before him but the teacher's face only catching up his every word ah you are still talking asked the old lady in astonishment rubbing her eyes Reb shlomi turned his head toward his wife with a dazed look as though wondering what she meant by her question oh oh said the old lady you only laugh at us women Reb shlomi drew his brows closer wrinkled his forehead still more and once more fastened his eyes on the teacher's lips it will soon be time to light the fire muttered the old lady the teacher glanced at the clock it's late he said I should think it was broken the old lady why I was allowed to sleep so long I'm sure I don't know people get to talking and even forget about tea Reb shlomi gave a look out of the window oh wow he exclaimed somewhat vexed they are already coming out of shul the service is over what the thing it is to sit talking oh wow he sprang from his seat gave the pain a rub with his hand and began to recite the afternoon prayer the teacher put on his things but wait Reb shlomi signed to him with his hand Reb shlomi finished reciting incense when shall you teach the children all that he asked then looking into the prayer book with a scowl not for a long time not so quickly answered the teacher the children cannot understand everything I should think not anything so wonderful replied Reb shlomi ironically gazing at the prayer book and beginning ashray happy are we he swallowed the prayers as he said them half of every word no matter how he wrinkled his forehead he could not expel the strangers thoughts from his brain and fix his attention on the prayers after the service he tried taking up a book but it was no good his head was a jumble of all the new sciences by means of the little he had just learned he wanted to understand to know everything to fashion a whole body out of a single hair and he thought and thought Sunday when the teacher came Reb shlomi told him that he wished to have a little talk with him meantime he sat down to listen the hour during which the teacher taught the children was too long for him and he scarcely took his eyes off the clock do you want another pupil he asked the teacher stepping with him into his own room he felt as though he were getting red and he made an angry face why not answered the teacher looking hard into red shlomi's face Reb shlomi looked at the floor his brows as was usual with him in those days drawn together you understand me pupil he stammered you understand not a little boy a pupil an elderly man well well we shall see answer the teacher smiling I mean myself he snapped out with great displeasure as if he had been forced to confess some very evil deed well I've sinned what do you want of me oh but I should be delighted and the teacher smiled I always said I meant to be a doctor said Reb shlomi trying to joke but his features contracted again directly and he began to talk about the terms and it was arranged that every day for an hour and a half the teacher should read to him and explain the sciences to begin with Reb shlomi chose physiology sociology and mathematical geography days, weeks and months have gone by and Reb shlomi has become depressed very depressed he does not sleep at night he has lost his appetite doesn't care to talk to people bad bitter thoughts oppress him for seventy years he had not only known nothing but on the contrary had known everything wrong understood head downwards and it seemed to him that if he had known in his youth what he knew now he would have lived differently that his years would have been useful to others he could find no stain on his life it was one long record of deeds of tsidaka but they appeared to him now so insignificant so useless and some of them even mischievous looking round him he saw no traces of them left the rich man of whom he used to beg donations is no poorer for them and the pauper for whom he begged them is the same pauper as before it's true he had always thought of the paupers as sacks full of holes and had only stuffed things into them because he had a soft heart and could not bear to see a look of disappointment or a tear rolling down the pale cheek of a hungry pauper his own little world around it and as it was now seemed to him much worse than before in spite of all the good things he had done in it not one good rich man not one genuine pauper they're all just as hungry and their palms itch there is no easing them times get harder the world gets poorer now he understands the reason of it all now it all lies before him as clear as on a map he would be able to make everyone understand only now now it was getting late he has no strength left his spent life grieves him if he had not been so active such a father of the community it would not have grieved him so much but he had had a great influence in the town and this influence had been badly blindly used and Reb Shloymi grew sadder day by day he began to feel a pain at his heart a stitch in the side a burning in his brain and he was wrapped in his thoughts Reb Shloymi was philosophizing to be of use to somebody he reflected means to leave an impressive good in their life one ought to help once and for all so that the other need never come for help again that can be accomplished by awakening and developing a man's intelligence so that he may always know for himself wherein his help lies and in such work he would have spent his life if he had only understood long ago how useful he would have been and a shudder runs through him tears of vexation come more than once into his eyes it was no secret in the town that old Reb Shloymi spent two or three hours daily sitting with the teacher only what they did together that nobody knew they tried to worming something out of the maid but what was there to be got out of a glomp with two eyes whose one reply was I don't know they scolded her for it how could you not know glomp they exclaimed aren't you sometimes in the room with them look here good people what's the use of coming to me the maid would cry how can I know sitting in the kitchen what they are about when I bring in the tea I see them talking and I go dull beast they would reply then they left her and betook themselves to the grandchildren who knew nothing either they have tea was their answer to the question but what do they talk about sillies we haven't heard the children answered gravely they tried the old lady is it my business she answered they tried to go to red shlomi's house on the pretext of some business or other but that didn't succeed either at last a few near and dear friends asked red shlomi himself how people do gossip he answered well what is it we just sit and talk there it remained the matter was discussed all over town of course nobody was satisfied but he pacified them little by little the apostate teacher must turn hot and cold with him they imagined that they were occupied with research and that red shlomi was opening the teacher's eyes for him and they were pacified when red shlomi suddenly fell on melancholy it never came to anybody's head that there might be a connection between this and the conversations the old lady settled that it was a question of the stomach which had always troubled him and then perhaps he had taken a chill at his age such things were frequent but how is one to know when he won't speak she lamented and wondered which would be best cod liver oil or dried raspberries everyone else said that he was already in fear of death and they pitted him greatly that is a sickness which no doctor can cure people said and shook their heads with sorrow for compassion they talked to him by the hour and tried to prevent him from being alone with his thoughts but it was all no good and the only grew more depressed and would often not speak at all such a man too what a pity they said and sighed he's pining away given up to the contemplation of death and if you come to think why should he fear death they wondered if he fears it what about us have we so much to show in the next world and Reb Shloymi had a lot to show Jews would have been glad of a tenth part of his world to come and Christians declared that he was a true Christian with his love of his fellow men and promised him a place in paradise Reb Shloymi is goodness itself of the town was want to say his one lifelong occupation had been the affairs of the community they are my life and my delight he would repeat to his intimate friends as indispensable to me as water to a fish he was a member of all the charitable societies the Talmud Torah was established under his own roof and pretty nearly maintained at his expense the town called him the father of the community and all unfortunate poor hearts blessed him unceasingly Reb Shloymi was the one person in town almost without an enemy perhaps the one in the whole province rich men grumbled at him he was always after their money always squeezing them for charities they called him the old fool the old donkey but without meaning what they said they used to laugh at him and make jokes upon him of course among themselves but they had no enmity against him they all with a full heart wished him joy of his tranquil life Reb Shloymi was born and had spent years in wealth after making an excellent marriage he set up a business his wife was the leading spirit within doors the head of the household and his whole life had been apparently a success when he had married his last child and found himself a grandfather he retired from business and lived his last years on the interest of his fortune free from the hate and jealousy of neighbours pleasant and satisfactory in every respect such was Reb Shloymi's life and for all that he suddenly became melancholy it can be nothing but the fear of death but very soon Reb Shloymi as if it were with a wave of the hand dismissed the past altogether he said to himself with a groan that what had been was over and done he would never grow young again and once more a shudder went through him at the thought and they came again the pain in his side and caught his breath but Reb Shloymi took no notice and went on thinking something must be done he said to himself in the tone of one who has suddenly lost his whole fortune the fortune he has spent his life in getting together and there is nothing for him but to start work again with his five fingers and Reb Shloymi started he began with the Talmud Torah and had already long provided for the children's bodily needs food and clothing now he would supply them with spiritual things instruction and education he dismissed the old teachers and engaged young ones in their stead even for Jewish subjects out of the Talmud Torah he wanted to make a little university he already fancied it a success he closed his eyes laid his forehead on his hands and a sweet happy smile parted his lips he pictured to himself the useful people who would go forth out of the Talmud Torah now he can die happy he thinks but no he does not want to die he wants to live to live and to work work work he will not and cannot see an end to his life Reb Shloymi feels more and more cheerful lively and fresh to work till the whole town was in commotion there was a perfect din in the shawls in the streets in the houses hypocrites and crooked men who had never been seen or heard of led the dance to make Gentiles out of the children's force to turn the Talmud Torah into a school that we won't allow no matter if we have to turn the world upside down no matter what happens Reb Shloymi heard the cries and made as though he heard nothing he thought it would end there that no one would venture to oppose him further what do you say to that he asked the teachers fanaticism has broken out already it won't give trouble replied the teachers eh, nonsense replied Reb Shloymi with conviction but on Sabbath at the reading of the law he saw that he had been mistaken the opposition had collected and they got onto the beamer and all were speaking at once it was impossible to make out what they were saying beyond the word here and there or the fragment of a sentence none of it, we won't allow made into Gentiles Reb Shloymi sat in his place by the east wall his hands on the desk were lay his Pentateuch he had taken off his spectacles and glanced at the platform put them on again and was once more reading the Pentateuch they saw this from the platform and began to shout louder than ever Reb Shloymi stood up took off his talus and was moving toward the door when he heard someone call out with a bang of his fist on the platform with the consent of the rabbis and the heads of the community and in the name of the holy Torah it is resolved to take the children away from the Talmud Torah seeing that in place of the Torah there is uncleanliness Reb Shloymi grew pale and felt a rent in his heart he stared at the platform with round eyes and open mouth the children are to be made into Gentiles shouted the person on the platform meantime and we have plenty of Gentiles thank God already thus may they perish with their name and their remembrance we are not short of Gentiles there are more every day and hatred increases and God knows what the Jews are coming to whoso has God in his heart and is jealous for the honor of the law led him see to it that the children cease going to the place of peril Reb Shloymi wanted to call out silence you scoundrel the words all but rolled off his tongue but he contained himself and moved on the one who obeys will be blessed proclaimed the individual on the platform and do so over despises the decree his end shall be Gehenna with that of Jeroboam the son of Nebat who sinned and made Israel to sin with these last words the speaker threw a fiery glance at Reb Shloymi a quiver ran through the shawl and all eyes were turned on Reb Shloymi expecting him to begin abusing the speaker a lively scene was anticipated but Reb Shloymi smiled he quietly handed his talus to the shamas wished the bystanders good shabbos and walked out of shawl leaving them all disconcerted that Sabbath Reb Shloymi was the quietest man in the whole town he was convinced that the interdict would have no effect on anyone people are not so foolish as all that he thought and they wouldn't treat him in that way he sapped and laid plans for carrying on the education in the Talmud Tyre and he felt so light of heart that he sang to himself for very pleasure the old wife meanwhile was muttering and moaning she had all her life been quite content with her husband and everything he did and had always done her best to help him hoping that in the world to come she would certainly share his portion of immortality and now she saw with horror that he was like to throw away his future ever could it be she wondered and was bathed in tears what has come over you what has happened to make you like that they are not just to you are they when they say that about taking children and making gentiles of them Reb Shloymi smiled do you think he said to her the die have gone mad in my old age don't be afraid I'm in my right mind and you shall not lose your place in paradise but the wife was not satisfied with the reply and continued to mutter and to weep there were goings on in town too the place was a boil with excitement of course they talked about Reb Shloymi nobody could make out what had come to him all of a sudden that is the teacher's work explained one of a knot of talkers and we thought Reb Shloymi such a sage such a clever man so book-learned how can the teacher may his name perish have talked him over it's a pity on the children's account one would exclaim here and there in the Talmud Torah under his direction they wanted for nothing and wants to become of them now they'll be running wild in the streets what then do you mean it would be better to make gentiles of them well there of course I understand he would hasten to say penitentially and a resolution was passed to the effect that the children should not be allowed to attend the Talmud Torah Reb Shloymi stood at his window and watched the excited groups in the street saw how the men threw themselves about rocked themselves bit their beards described half circles with their thumbs and he smiled in the evening the teachers came and told him what had been said in the town and how all hell that the children were not to be allowed to go to the Talmud Torah Reb Shloymi was a little disturbed but he composed himself again and thought they will quiet down never mind they won't do it to me entering the Talmud Torah on Sunday he was greeted by four empty walls even two orphans who had no relations or protectors in the town had not come they had been frightened and talked at and not allowed to attend and free meals had been secured for all of them so that they should not starve for the moment Reb Shloymi lost his head he glanced at the teachers as though ashamed in their presence and his glance said what is to be done now suddenly he pulled himself together no he exclaimed they shall not get the better of me and he ran out of the Talmud Torah and was gone he ran from house to house to the parents and relations of the children but they all looked to scans at him and he accomplished nothing they all kept to it no calm don't be silly send the children to the Talmud Torah you will see you will not regret it and he drew a picture for them of the sort of people the children would become but it was no use we haven't got to manage the world we have lived without all that and our children will live as we are living now we have no call to make Gentiles out of them we know we know people needn't come to us with stories they would say in another house we don't intend to sell our souls was the cry in the third and who says I have sold mine Reb Shloymi would ask sharply how should we know besides who was talking of you they answered with a sweet smile Reb Shloymi reached home tired and depressed the old wife had a shock on seeing him Dear Lord she exclaimed ringing her hands what is the matter with you what makes you look like that the teachers who were waiting for him asked no questions they had only to look at his ghastly appearance to know what had happened Reb Shloymi sank into his armchair nothing he said looking sideways but meaning it for the teachers nothing is nothing and they betook themselves to consoling him we will find something else to do and get hold of some other children or else wait a little they'll ask to be taken back presently Reb Shloymi did not hear them he had let his head sink on his breast turned his look sideways and thoughts he could not piece together fragments of thoughts went round and round in the drooping head why why he asked himself over and over to do such a thing to me well there you are there you have it you've lived your life like a man his heart felt heavy and hurt him and his brain grew warm warm in one minute there ran through his head the impression which his so nearly finished life had made on him of late and immediately after it all the plans he had thought out for settling to write his whole past life by means of the little bit left him and now it was all over and done why why he asked himself without ceasing and could not understand it he felt his old heart bursting with love for all men it beat more and more strongly and would not cease from loving and he would feign have seen everyone so happy so happy he would have worked with his last bit of strength he would have drawn his last breath for the cause to which he had devoted himself he is no longer conscious of the whereabouts of his limbs he feels his head growing heavier his feet cold and it is dark before his eyes when he came to himself again he was in bed on his head was a bandage with ice the old wife was lamenting the teachers stood not far from the bed and talked among themselves he wanted to lift his hand and draw it across his forehead but somehow he does not feel his hand at all he looks at it it lies stretched out beside him and Reb Shlomi understood what has happened to him a stroke he thought I'm finished he tried to give a whistle and make a gesture with his hand the Fallon but the lips would not meet properly and the hand never moved there you are done for the lips whispered he glanced round and fixed his eyes on the teachers and then on his wife wishing to read in their faces whether there was danger whether he was dying or whether there was still hope he looked and could not make out anything then whispering he called one of the teachers whose looks had met his to his side the teacher came running done for asked Reb Shlomi no Reb Shlomi the doctors give hope the teacher replied so earnestly that Reb Shlomi's spirit revived no Reb Shlomi as though he meant it so may it be out of your mouth into God's ears the other teachers all came nearer good whispered Reb Shlomi good there's a hero for you he smiled never mind they said cheeringly you will get well again and work yet well well please God he answered and looked away and Reb Shlomi really got better every day the having lived wisely and the will to live longer saved him the first time that he was able to move a hand or lift a foot a broad sweet smile spread itself over his face and a fire kindled in his all but extinguished eyes good luck to you he cried out to those around he was very cheerful in himself and began to think once more about doing something or other people must be taught they must be taught even if the world turns upside down he thought and rubbed his hands together with impatience if it's not to be in the Talmud Torah it must be somewhere else and he said to work thinking where it should be he recalled all the neighbours to his memory and suddenly grew cheerful not far away they lived a book binder who employed as many as ten workmen they work sometimes from fifteen to sixteen hours and have no strength left for study one must teach them he thinks the master is not likely to object Reb Shloimey was the making of him he it was who protected him introduced him into all the best families and finally set him on his feet Reb Shloimey grows more and more lively and is continually trying to rise from his couch once out of bed he could hardly endure to stay in the room and how happy he felt when leaning on a stick he stepped out into the street he hurried in the direction of the book binders he was convinced that people's feelings toward him had changed for the better that they would rejoice on seeing him how he looked forward to seeing a friendly smile on every face he would have counted himself the happiest of men if he had been able to hope that now everything was different and would come right but he did not see the smile the town looked upon the apoplectic stroke as God's punishment it was obvious ah ha they had cried on hearing it and everyone saw in it another proof and it also was obvious of the fact that there is a God in the world and that people cannot do just what they like the great fanatics overflowed with eloquence and saw in it an act of heavenly vengeance serves him right serves him right they thought who's fault is it people replied when some reminded them that it was very sad such a man as he had been who told him to do it he has himself to thank for his misfortunes the town had never ceased talking of him the whole time everyone was interested in knowing how he was and what was the matter with him and when they heard that he was better that he was getting well they really were pleased they were sure that he would give up all his foolish plans and understand that God had punished him and that he would be again as before but it soon became known that he clung to his wickedness and the people ceased to rejoice the rabbi and his fanatical friends came to see him one day by way of visiting the sick Reb Shloymy felt inclined to ask them if they had come to stare at him as one visited by a miracle but he refrained and surveyed them with indifference well, how are you Reb Shloymy? they asked Gentiles answered Reb Shloymy almost in spite of himself and smiled the rabbi and the others became confused they sat a little while couldn't think of anything to say and got up from their seats then they stood a bit wished him a speedy return to health and went away without hearing any answer from Reb Shloymy to their good night it was not long before the whole town knew of the visit and it began to boil like a kettle to commit such a sin is to play with destiny once you are in there is no getting out give the devil a hair and he'll snatch at the whole beard so when Reb Shloymy showed himself in the street they stared at him and shook their heads as though as to say such a man and gone to ruin Reb Shloymy saw it and it cut him to the heart indeed it brought the tears to his eyes and he began to walk quicker in the direction of the bookbinders at the bookbinders they received him in friendly fashion with a hearty welcome but he fancied that here also they looked at him as scants and therefore he gave a reason for his coming a walking is hard work he said one must have stopping places with this same excuse he went there every day he would sit for an hour or two talking telling stories and at last he began to tell these stories which the teacher had told he sat in the centre of the room and talked away merrily with a pun here and a laugh there and interested the workmen deeply sometimes they would all of one accord stop working open their mouths fix their eyes and hang on his lips with an intelligent smile or else they stood for a few minutes tense, motionless as statues till Reb Shloymy finished before the master should interpose work, work you will hear it all in time he would say in a cross dissatisfied tone and the workmen would unwillingly bend their backs once more over their task but Reb Shloymy remained a little thrown out he lost the thread of what he was telling began buttoning and unbuttoning his coat and glanced guiltily at the binder but he went his own way nevertheless as to his hearers he was overjoyed with them when he saw that the workmen began to take an interest in every book that was brought to them to be bound he smiled happily and his eyes sparkled with delight and if it happened to be a book treating of the subjects on which they had heard something from Reb Shloymy they threw themselves upon it nearly tore it to pieces and all but came to blows as to who should have the binding of it Reb Shloymy began to feel that he was doing something that he was being really useful and he was supremely happy the town of course was aware of Reb Shloymy's constant visits to the bookbinders and quickly found out what he did there he's off his head they laughed and shrugged their shoulders they even laughed in Reb Shloymy's face but he took no notice of it his pleasure however came to a speedy end one day the binder spoke out Reb Shloymy he said shortly you prevent us from working with your stories what do you mean by it to come and interfere with the work but do I disturb he asked they go on working all the time and a pretty way of working answered the bookbinder the boys are ready enough at finding an excuse for idling as it is and why do you choose me there are plenty of other workshops it was an honest neck and crop business and there was nothing left for Reb Shloymy but to take up his stick and go nothing again he whispered there was a sting in his heart a beating in his temples and his head burned nothing again this time it's all over I must die die a story with an end had he been young he would have known what to do he would never have begun to think about death but now where was the use of living on what was there to wait for all over all over there was as much as he could do to get home he sat down in the armchair laid his head back and thought he pictured to himself the last weeks at the bookbinders and the change that had taken place in the workmen how they had appeared better-mannered more human, more intelligent it seemed to him that he had implanted in them the love of knowledge and the inclination to study had put them in the way of viewing more rightly what went on around them he had been of some account with them and all of a sudden no he said to himself they will come to me they must come he thought and fixed his eyes on the door he even forgot that they worked till nine o'clock at night and the whole evening he never took his eyes off the door the time flew and the bookbinders did not come at last he could bear it no longer and went out into the street perhaps he would see them and then he would call them in it was dark in the street the gas lamps few and far between scarcely gave any light a chilly autumn night the air was saturated with moisture and there was dreadful mud underfoot there were very few passers by and Reb Shlomi remained standing at his door when he heard a sound of footsteps or voices his heart began to beat quicker his old wife came out three times to call him into the house again but he did not hear her and remained standing outside the street grew still there was nothing more to be heard but the rattles of the night watchman Reb Shlomi gave a last look into the darkness as though trying to see someone and then with a groan he went indoors next morning he felt very weak and stayed in bed he began to feel that his end was near that he was but a guest tarrying for a day it's all the same all the same he said to himself thinking quietly about death all sorts of ideas went through his head he thought as it were unconsciously without giving himself a clear account of what he was thinking of a variety of images passed through his mind scenes out of his long life certain people faces he had seen here and there comrades of his childhood but they all had no interest for him he kept his eyes fixed on the door of his room waiting for death as though it would come in by the door he lay like that the whole day his wife came in continually and asked him questions and he was silent not taking his eyes off the door or interrupting the train of his thoughts it seemed as if he had ceased either to see or to hear in the evening the teachers began coming finished said Reb Shlomi looking at the door suddenly he heard a voice he knew and raised his head we have come to visit the sick said the voice the door opened and there came in four workmen at once at first Reb Shlomi could not believe his eyes but sooner smile appeared on his lips and he tried to sit up come, come joyfully and his heart beat rapidly with pleasure the workmen remained standing some way from the bed not venturing to approach the sick man but Reb Shlomi called them to him nearer, nearer children he said they came a little nearer come here to me and he pointed to the bed they came up to the bed well he asked with a smile the workmen were silent why did you not come last night he asked and looked at them smiling the workmen were silent and shuffled with their feet how are you Reb Shlomi asked one of them very well, very well answered Reb Shlomi still smiling thank you children sit down children, sit down said after a pause I will tell you some more stories it will tire you Reb Shlomi said a workman when you are better sit down, sit down said Reb Shlomi impatiently that's my business the workmen exchanged glances with the teachers and the teachers signed them not to sit down not today Reb Shlomi another time down, sit down interrupted Reb Shlomi do me the pleasure once more the workmen exchanged looks with the teachers and at a sign from them they sat down Reb Shlomi began telling them the long story of the human race he spoke with ardour and it was long since his voice had sounded as it sounded then he spoke for a long, long time they interrupted him two or three times and reminded him that it was bad for him to talk so much but he only signified with a gesture that they were to let him alone I'm getting better he said and went on at length the workmen rose from their seats let us go Reb Shlomi it is getting late for us they begged true, true true he replied but tomorrow do you hear look here children tomorrow he said giving them his hand the workmen promised to come they moved away a few steps and then Reb Shlomi called them back the others he inquired feebly as though he were ashamed of asking they were lazy they wouldn't come and reply well well he said in a tone that meant well well you know you needn't say any more but look here tomorrow now I am well again he whispered as the workmen went out he could scarcely move a limb but he was very cheerful looked at everyone with a happy smile and his eyes shone now I am well he whispered he advised to put him into bed and cover him up now I am well he repeated feeling the while that his head was strangely heavy his heart fainted that he was very poorly before many minutes he had fallen into a state of unconsciousness a dreadful heart-breaking cry recalled him to himself he opened his eyes the room was full of people in many eyes were tears soon then he thought and began to remember something what a clock is it he asked of the person who stood beside him five they stopped work at nine he whispered to himself and called one of the teachers to him when the workmen come they are to let them in do you hear he said the teacher promised they will come at nine added Reb Shlomi in a little while he asked to write his will after writing the will he undressed and closed his eyes they thought he had fallen asleep but Reb Shlomi was not asleep he lay and thought not about his past life but about the future the future in which men would live he thought of what man would come to be he pictured to himself a bright, glad world in which all men would be equal in happiness knowledge and education and his dying heart beat a little quicker while his face expressed joy and contentment he opened his eyes and saw beside him a couple of teachers and will it really be he asked and smiled yes, Reb Shlomi they answered without knowing to what his question referred for his face told them it was something good the smile accentuated itself on his lips once again he lost himself in thought and wanted to imagine that happy world to see with his mind's eye nothing but happy people educated people and he succeeded the picture was not very distinct he was imagining a great heap of happiness happiness with a body and soul and he felt himself so happy a sound of lamentation disturbed him why do they weep? he wondered everyone will have a good time everyone he opened his eyes there were already lights burning the room was packed with people beside him stood all of his children come together to take leave of their father he fixed his gaze on the little grandchildren a gaze of love and gladness they will see the happy time he thought he was just going to ask the people to stop lamenting but at that moment his eye caught the workman of the evening before come here, come here children and he raised his voice a little and made a sign with his head people did not know what he meant he begged them to send the workman to him the workman was done he tried to sit up those around helped him thank you children for coming thank you he said stop weeping he implored of the bystanders I want to die quietly I want everyone to to be as happy as I am live all of you in the hope of a good time as I die in that hope dear children and he turned to the workman I told you last night how man has lived so far how he lives now you know for yourselves but the coming time will be a very happy one all will be happy all only work honestly and learn learn children everything will be all right all will be happy a sweet smile appeared on his lips and Rebschleimi died in the town they said but what else could they say of a man who had died without repeating the vedui the confession without a tremor at his heart without any sign of repentance what else could they say of a man who spent his last minutes in telling people to learn to educate themselves what else could they say of a man who left his whole capital to be devoted to educational purposes and schools what was to be expected of them when his own family declared in court that their father was not responsible when he made his last will forgive them Rebschleimi for they mean well they know not what they say and do end of Rebschleimi by David Pinsky