Children of the Ghetto

'But when Moses, our teacher, struck the rock,' said Peleg Shmendrik, in the course of the discussion, 'he was right the first time but wrong the second, because as the Talmud points out, a child may be chastised when it is little, but as it grows up it should be reasoned with.'

'Yes,' said Sugarman the Shadchan, quickly; 'but if his rod had not been made of sapphire he would have split that instead of the rock.'

'Was it made of sapphire?' asked Meckisch, who was rather a Man-of-the-Earth.

'Of course it was-and a very fine thing, too,' answered Sugarman.

'Do you think so?' inquired Peleg Shmendrik eagerly.

'The sapphire is a magic stone,' answered Sugarman. 'It improves the vision and makes peace between foes. Issachar, the studious son of Jacob, was represented on the Breast-plate by the sapphire. Do you not know that the mist-like centre of the sapphire symbolizes the cloud that enveloped Sinai at the giving of the Law?'

'I did not know that,' answered Peleg Shmendrik, 'but I know that Moses's Rod was created in the twilight of the first Sabbath and God did everything after that with this sceptre.'

'Ah, but we are not all strong enough to wield Moses's Rod; it weighed forty seahs,' said Sugarman.

'How many seahs do you think one could safely carry?' said Meckisch.

'Five or six seahs-not more,' said Sugarman. 'You see one might drop them if he attempted more and even sapphire may break-the First Tables of the Law were made of sapphire, and yet from a great height they fell terribly, and were shattered to pieces.'

'Gideon, the M.P., may be said to desire a Rod of Moses, for his secretary told me he will take forty,' said Shmendrik.

'Hush! what are you saying!' said Sugarman, 'Gideon is a rich man, and then he is a director.'

'It seems a good lot of directors,' said Meckisch.

'Good to look at. But who can tell?' said Sugarman, shaking his head. 'The Queen of Sheba probably brought sapphires to Solomon, but she was not a virtuous woman.'

'Ah, Solomon!' sighed Mrs. Shmendrik, pricking up her ears and interrupting this talk of stocks and stones, 'If he'd had a thousand daughters instead of a thousand wives, even his treasury couldn't have held out. I had only two girls, praised be He, and yet it nearly ruined me to buy them husbands. A dirty Greener comes over, without a shirt to his skin, and nothing else but he must have two hundred pounds in the hand. And then you've got to stick to his back to see that he doesn't take his breeches in his hand and off to America. In Poland he would have been glad to get a maiden, and would have said thank you.'

'Well, but what about your own son?' said Sugarman; 'Why haven't you asked me to find Shosshi a wife? It's a sin against the maidens of Israel. He must be long past the Talmudical age.'

'He is twenty-four,' replied Peleg Shmendrik.

'Tu, tu, tu, tu, tu!' said Sugarman, clacking his tongue in horror, 'have you perhaps an objection to his marrying?'

'Save us and grant us peace!' said the father in deprecatory horror. 'Only Shosshi is so shy. You are aware, too, he is not handsome. Heaven alone knows whom he takes after.'

'Peleg, I blush for you,' said Mrs. Shmendrik. 'What is the matter with the boy? Is he deaf, dumb, blind, unprovided with legs? If Shosshi is backward with the women, it is because he 'learns' so hard when he's not at work. He earns a good living by his cabinet-making and it is quite time he set up a Jewish household for himself. How much will you want for finding him a Calloh?'

'Hush!' said Sugarman sternly, 'do you forget it is the Sabbath? Be assured I shall not charge more than last time, unless the bride has an extra good dowry.'

On Saturday night immediately after Havdalah, Sugarman went to Mr. Belcovitch, who was just about to resume work, and informed him he had the very Chosan for Becky. 'I know,' he said, 'Becky has a lot of young men after her, but what are they but a pack of bare-backs? How much will you give for a solid man?'

After much haggling Belcovitch consented to give twenty pounds immediately before the marriage ceremony and another twenty at the end of twelve months.

'But no pretending you haven't got it about you, when we're at the Shool, no asking us to wait till we get home,' said Sugarman, 'or else I withdraw my man, even from under the Chuppah itself. When shall I bring him for your inspection?'

'Oh, to-morrow afternoon, Sunday, when Becky will be out in the park with her young men. It's best I shall see him first!'

Sugarman now regarded Shosshi as a married man! He rubbed his hands and went to see him. He found him in a little shed in the back yard where he did extra work at home. Shosshi was busy completing little wooden articles-stools and wooden spoons and moneyboxes for sale in Petticoat Lane next day. He supplemented his wages that way.

'Good evening, Shosshi,' said Sugarman.

'Good evening,' murmured Shosshi, sawing away.

Shosshi was a gawky young man with a blotched sandy face ever ready to blush deeper with the suspicion that conversations going on at a distance were all about him. His eyes were shifty and catlike; one shoulder overbalanced the other, and when he walked, he swayed loosely to and fro. Sugarman was rarely remiss in the offices of piety and he was nigh murmuring the prayer at the sight of monstrosities. 'Blessed art Thou who variest the creatures.' But resisting the temptation he said aloud, 'I have something to tell you.'

Shosshi looked up suspiciously.

'Don't bother: I am busy,' he said, and applied his plane to the leg of a stool.

'But this is more important than stools. How would you like to get married?'

Shosshi's face became like a peony.

'Don't make laughter,' he said.

'But I mean it. You are twenty-four years old and ought to have a wife and four children by this time.'

'But I don't want a wife and four children,' said Shosshi.

'No, of course not. I don't mean a widow. It is a maiden I have in my eye.'

'Nonsense, what maiden would have me?' said Shosshi, a note of eagerness mingling with the diffidence of the words.

'What maiden? Gott in Himmel! A hundred. A fine, strong, healthy young man like you, who can make a good living!'

Shosshi put down his plane and straightened himself. There was a moment of silence. Then his frame collapsed again into a limp mass. His head drooped over his left shoulder. 'This is all foolishness you talk, the maidens make mock.'

'Be not a piece of clay! I know a maiden who has you quite in affection!'

The blush which had waned mantled in a full flood. Shosshi stood breathless, gazing half suspiciously, half credulously at his strictly honorable Mephistopheles.

It was about seven o'clock and the moon was a yellow crescent in the frosty heavens. The sky was punctured with clear-cut constellations. The back yard looked poetic with its blend of shadow and moonlight.

'A beautiful fine maid,' said Sugarman ecstatically, 'with pink cheeks and black eyes and forty pounds dowry.'

The moon sailed smilingly along. The water was running into the cistern with a soothing, peaceful sound. Shosshi consented to go and see Mr. Belcovitch.

Mr. Belcovitch made no parade. Everything was as usual. On the wooden table were two halves of squeezed lemons, a piece of chalk, two cracked cups and some squashed soap. He was not overwhelmed by Shosshi, but admitted he was solid. His father was known to be pious, and both his sisters had married reputable men. Above all, he was not a Dutchman. Shosshi left No. 1 Royal Street, Belcovitch's accepted son-in-law. Esther met him on the stairs and noted the radiance on his pimply countenance. He walked with his head almost erect. Shosshi was indeed very much in love and felt that all that was needed for his happiness was a sight of his future wife.

But he had no time to go and see her except on Sunday afternoons, and then she was always out. Mrs. Belcovitch, however, made amends by paying him considerable attention. The sickly-looking little woman chatted to him for hours at a time about her ailments and invited him to taste her medicine, which was a compliment Mrs. Belcovitch passed only to her most esteemed visitors. By and by she even wore her night-cap in his presence as a