The pedlar sits down at the table, opposite Nochum, and scratches his head as though to put his thinking apparatus into action. "Nu, let me see first," he says, determined not to be led into a rash compact.
In another moment Freude reappears with a broad smile, carrying two steaming dishes--the one of a deep brown, and the other of a deep red hue—which she sets down before the traveling vendor, with the air of one who is performing a meritorious feat. The man immediately falls to with great zest and swallows two or three spoonsfuls of the brown pottage. “Good, good—excellent!” he cries, smacking his lips and shaking his head.
"Let it be for half the price!" exclaims Nochum Kugelmacher.
"No, a third!" responds the enraptured feeder.
"Done!" chirps Freude. And the bargain is settled.
It will thus be seen that the proprietor of the Berditcheo Kosher Restaurant exercises a strict economy, and is diligently seconded in this practice by his devoted wife. The waiters, however, find that the quick perfunctory way in which they perform their duties does not sort with the principles of their master; and many and frequent are the rebukes addressed to them by that portly gentleman, and loud the clamors of the virtuous Freude. “Monnes, you are giving too much meat for sixpence!” thunders Nochum. “Shlaimke, you put too much coffee into the pot!” wails Freude. And so there resounds an incessant duet of sorrow in the busy kitchen that floats through the open doorway into the dining-hall and evokes among the company there assembled peals of laughter, tittering convulsions and occasional attempts at mimicry.
Still Nochum Kugelmacher gets on pretty well with his customers; and if he gives them no more than their due in respect of fare, he is exceedingly lavish with his anecdotal chestnuts. Of these Nochum has a large though limited stock, and he runs through them regularly twice a week, considerately indicating to his auditors the points deserving of especial appreciation. But should his expectations in this matter be thwarted he is by no means put out, displaying as he does an attitude of comprehensive tolerance. Having left behind him the days when he was rigidly froom, he has little scruple about taking money on the Sabbath; though, indeed, conscientious objection by a diner to pay is allowed by him as valid only when accompanied by a knowledge of the solvency and the address of the pious protesant. In fine, Nochum Kugelmacher bears solid witness himself to the wholesomeness of the nutriment provided at his establishment: and, in the words of the Hagadah, he exclaims: “Every one that is hungry, let him come and eat!”
Russia as She Is.*
Superficially, nothing bespeaks the oddity of existence so well—what the old writers termed “fortuitous circumstance”—as this writing of the true story of anti-Semitic persecutions in Russia by the most rebellious representative of that Irish Celtic element, which has fought and has now seemingly overcome the natural discipline of British political life. Ireland—and Mr. Davitt makes mention of it—has never maltreated the Jews. The historian will, however, reflect that there were no Jews in Ireland until the beginning of the last century.
But such trifles apart, one touch of nature makes the whole world akin, and there is
* Within the Pale,'' by Michael Davitt. A.S. Barnes & Co., New York.
something like an instinctive attitude that should make men of the type of Davitt advocates of Zionism. An ex-political prisoner, whatever the shade of his politics, is not likely to be easily fooled by Russian bureaucracy, which, when it meets an investigator, knows how to extend the velvet glove and guard him from a too inquisitive acquaintanceship with things that are.
Mr. Davitt is not even Philo-Semitic; on the other hand, he is not anti-Russian. His Celtic blood runs fairly placid throughout the whole of his book, and his detached attitude, welcome because of its detachment and non-partisan bias, may be summed up in