VOICE IN THE CROWD.—Because of the self-defence movement.
P. M.—But this is awful!
OMNES.—So is the Jewish lot.
P. M.—Then, what am I to do?
OMNES.—(With great acclaim) Go home.
P. M.—(Turns nervously to M. de W.)I am very sorry, sir, the people object.
P. M.—Well, sir, excuse me putting it
bluntly, they have no faith in the Russian Government.
M. DE W.—(Lights a cigarette, and resigns himself.) It is really remarkable. No one seems to trust the word of Russia, and that after I played kiss-in-thering with all the old maids taking their vacation here. I must really tell Nicholas that if matters continue in this way we shall not be able to deprive Japan of the fruits of her victory. Waiter, bring me a glass of tea.
The Wilna Gaon’s Life.
II. The Gaon in Legend
THE legends told about the Gaon are ınnumerable. The uneducated Jew—-for there is not a single Jew in Russia, be he ever so ignorant, who does not know something of the “Wilnaer Gaon”—pietures him as an old man, bending in his talith and Ephilin over a large scroll, in which he studies Mishna, Talmud, Poskim, and all other branches of knowledge, for, having mastered the entire literature, he could do nothing but go back to the original source of knowledge, “The Scroll.” The educated have a more correct idea of the man, but they too are influenced to some extent by the popular conception, as is shown in the writings on the Gaon. We shall cite only a few of the many widely-circulated anecdotes related of him:
After the years of his wanderings had expired, and Elijah was about to return to Wilna, the people of Lissa sent him with great pomp to Berlin, where a prominent man awaited him and took him to his house. In the neighborhood lived a professor of astronomy, who was considered the greatest astronomer in the country. Having heard of the vast learning of the Gaon, he came to him and propounded a
problem which the professors of the Academy had for years been vainly trying to solve. When the Gaon was shown the problem, he took a piece of paper and drew upon it some figures which, to the great astonishment of the professor, solved the entire difficulty.
On his way to Wilna he asked his coachman to stop and let him offer the “minchah” prayer, agreeing to pay for the time lost in waiting. The Gaon descended from his place and commenced to pray. When he got to the “sh'monah-essre”, the coachman drove off with his baggage. It was only with great difficulty that he finally arrived at Wilna, and there again he had to suffer through his piety and kind-heartedness.
The community of Wilna apportioned him a certain weekly sum for his support. The messenger by whom the money was sent embezzled it week after week for several years, and though Elijah was aware of this, he would not disclose the man's dishonesty. When his wife complained about their poverty and want, he told her to go with the children to some neighbor's house at meal-times so that they might be offered