A Struggle for Existence.
(Translated from the Yiddish by M. S. Mandell)
CHAPTER IV.
R'Elyetze was a Melamed and a prominent, devoted Chassid. He was not very intelligent, but that is not expected of a Melamed. The proverb that "to die and to teach is never too late," proves that he who undertakes to educate Jewish children may not know how to teach any more than a sick man knows how to die. And so R'Elyetze was considered a good Melamed and a great Chassid, which some people consider a great title and others regard with contempt. In addition to this, during holidays, he used to try match-making. It is understood that, like others of his kind, he simply persuaded two people to marry each other. He himself was consumptive and spit blood, and like most sick people he was peevish and stubborn.
His wife, Malkeh, a short woman with a thick nose, was a poultry seller. All day long she was either freezing with cold, or burning in the sun, or being soaked to the skin in the rain. When
she reached home at night, she was too exhausted to curse or even to scold. But she had to relieve her feelings in some way.
Moshe was R’Elyetze’s fourth son, and there were eight other children. He was slender and dark-complexioned, and his little nose was like a pen stuck on the wall. His eyes were dull and expressive of timidity, but, after all, when one knew him well, he was not so bad looking. Moshe was instructed by his father, who was very severe with him. In order that people should not think that he beat stranger’s children and indulged his own, he lashed his son more than any of his other pupils. Upon his he used to'vent all his ill-temper, caused by a violent cough that did not allow him to draw a long breath for hours. Moshe used to endure the beating, cringing and looking stupidly at his father. His mother added to his cup of woe. The mocking of his father’s pupils, who did not fear to chase him like a rabbit, because they