UCSB L/BRARY 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ L^&-&*2~~: 
 
 7
 
 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 BY 
 
 EDWARD KING 
 
 AUTHOR OF "THE GENTLE SAVAGE" "THE GOLDEN SPIKE" "MY PARIS" 
 " A VENETIAN LOVER " ETC. 
 
 And the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage^ 
 and they cried, and their cry came up unto God." 
 
 BOSTON 
 LEE AND SHEPARD PUBLISHERS 
 
 10 MILK STREET 
 l8 94
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1893, BT LEE AD SHEFABD 
 
 Att Right* Reserved 
 
 JOSEPH /AI.M..NAII 
 
 Tmt-armwo AND EuprmoTTPtwo BT 
 C. J. PJKKBS ft SON, Boeroif 
 
 8. J. PAXKIIILL fc Co, PKIKTKBS. U. 8. A.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. ENTER JOSEPH 1 
 
 II. MALCHA IN THE LAND OF PROMISE ... 13 
 
 III. BAUMEISTER is REPELLED 25 
 
 IV. THE WORLD is A WEDDING . . . . . 36 
 
 V. "JUDITH AND HOLOFERNUS" .... 48 
 
 VI. THE NIGHT-MARCH 61 
 
 VII. THE PANORAMA OF SUFFERING .... 74 
 
 VIII. WHEN THE Ox is DOWN 87 
 
 IX. THE PIG MARKET 99 
 
 X. WITH THE POET OF THE PEOPLE . , . .110 
 
 XI. THE OBJECT-LESSON 124 
 
 XII. THE STORY OF SHIPHRAH 138 
 
 XIII. GOD COUNTS WOMAN'S TEARS . . . .151 
 
 XIV. THE HUNGER PROMENADE 164 
 
 XV. JOSEPH AND BATHSHEBA 177 
 
 XVI. THE TRIAL BY FIRE 192 
 
 XVII. THE SWEATER SWEATED 204 
 
 XVIII. THE MARSEILLAISE OF THE POOR . . . 217 
 
 XIX. LIGHTNING IN CLEAR SKY 233 
 
 XX. THE LIVING TOMB 246 
 
 XXI. THE WONDER-RABBI 260 
 
 XXII. THE SWEATERS' TRIUMPH 275 
 
 XXIII. THE WHITE FAST 288 
 
 XXIV. JOSEPH COMES FORTH 301 
 
 XXV. PURIM IN THE COLONY . . . . . .313 
 
 XXVI. THE GREAT TEMPTATION 327 
 
 XXVII. CARRYING THE CROSS 340 
 
 XXVIII. THE PASSOVER SUPPER '354 
 
 iii
 
 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 ENTER JOSEPH 
 
 MIKYAM stood on the high platform of the Bridge prom 
 enade, near the New York side, clapping her hands with 
 childish glee, as she looked at the vast and splendid pano 
 rama of town and bay, and the swaying and darting 
 throngs of ships and steamers. 
 
 A soft violet haze filled the air, and lavished its enchant 
 ment on the mighty ranks of tall buildings, on the taper 
 ing forests of masts, and on domes and spires which 
 marked the line of Broadway. 
 
 The dull red shaft of the Produce Exchange, seen under 
 the glamour of the hot summer afternoon, was as pictu 
 resque as the Golden Tower at Seville. A " tramp " steam 
 ship, rusty and wave-battered, came crawling along the 
 silver pathway of the waters, and, touched by the omni 
 present glory, was straightway as romantic as an ancient 
 caravel. 
 
 Snarling and fuming little tugs bounded over the waves, 
 their hoarse throttles barking not unlike the bulldogs 
 which the sturdy craft resemble. Past the Battery came 
 an "Annex" ark, wheezing majestically, and muttering 
 sharp warnings to the sailboats fluttering near its bow. 
 And in the tiny haven just above Fulton Ferry dozens of 
 
 1
 
 2 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 u/ster-boats, with their sails neatly knotted at the sum 
 mits of their slender inasts, were rocking gently, as if 
 cradling their owners to sleep after the day's toil. 
 
 "Oh! look!" cried Miry am suddenly, dancing up and 
 down, with her black curls floating in the breeze, "I 
 thought the great statue moved its arms ! It seemed to 
 beckon to us ! I believe that if I should spread out my 
 arms and jump over the railing, I could fly away to it as 
 easily ! " 
 
 And the child seemed ready to suit the action to the 
 word. 
 
 " Be still, Miryam ! " said David, tugging at the child's 
 dress, as if he feared that she might try to fly. "A nice- 
 looking angel you would make, with that patched petticoat 
 and those black stockings! No, you would simply get 
 smashed on the deck of a ferry-boat down below there; 
 and who would take your place in 'Holofernus' this 
 evening ? " 
 
 " I don't care about ' Holofernus,' " said the girl-child ; 
 " and as for the dull, ill-smelling old theatre, I wish I had 
 never seen it, even though it does give me a living. What 
 I want, David," and she turned a pair of yearning black 
 eyes full upon her companion, " is light air perfume 
 space ! Oh, if I could only fly out across that grand 
 scene below there ! " 
 
 " You frighten me, child," said David, with a percepti 
 ble quaver in his voice. " That is all the gratitude one 
 can expect of children. I rescue you from a den in which 
 you had bad air, little food, and long hours of cruel waiting 
 daily ; I bring you to my theatre, and teach you to act in 
 my plays ; I make you an artist, and give you an inde 
 pendent existence, and what is my reward ? You want to 
 fly away ! And I suppose you will do it just when I need 
 you most ; but not through the air. You will be taking
 
 ENTER JOSEPH 3 
 
 the Chicago express some day with the dark-faced fiddler 
 from Moscow ! " 
 
 Miryam's girlish face clouded : she looked curiously at 
 David, as if doubting that he could be in earnest ; then she 
 began to cry. David drew down the corners of his mouth, 
 and tried to look sad ; but suddenly a roguish smile crept 
 over his cunning face, and he held out both hands to the 
 child. 
 
 " How can we quarrel ? " he said. " And on this day of 
 all days ! Forgive me, Miryam, and dry your tears ; for 
 Joseph will be here in a minute, and if he thought that 
 I had made you cry, he might take you away from 
 me." 
 
 And, coming closer to the slight girlish figure clinging to 
 the railing, he placed his arm about it, and Miryam looked 
 up in his face, smiling through her tears. 
 
 " Sunshine sparkling in the morning dew ! " said David 
 gently, gazing admiringly at the pretty child. " You have 
 furnished me with an inspiration for that new song which 
 I must write for ' The Beautiful Shulamite.' " 
 
 " When shall I be old enough to play the ' Shulamite/ 
 David ? " inquired the girl eagerly. 
 
 "Never, I hope, my child. Leave that to the actresses 
 who no longer tell how old they are. Remain a child, and 
 beautiful forever." 
 
 Miryam said nothing more, but gazed steadfastly at the 
 sun-burnished water below, and David himself gradually 
 fell into a kind of day-dream, from which nothing came to 
 awaken him for some minutes. 
 
 From the immense height at which they stood each 
 detail of the colossal picture before them gained fresh 
 charms. The exquisitely luminous and ethereal dome of 
 the sky seemed to Miryam, when she looked up, but a little 
 way above her head, and she could fancy herself poised in
 
 4 JOSEPH ZALMONAII 
 
 mid air, like some bird of tireless wing. Directly benoath 
 them the water was of a deep, dark blue, veiued with small 
 white threads of foam ; farther down the bay it was like 
 the silver in repousse work, catching and reflecting every 
 light thrown upon it. Near the base of the gigantic statue 
 a few white sails were fluttering, like swallows around a 
 house wall ; and beyond it two or three gaunt black steam 
 ers lay at anchor, making an ugly shadow against the 
 faint blue of the Jersey shore. Those flitting sails ! they 
 awoke in Miryam's innocent heart a delicious pain a 
 vague longing for the romantic and unknown, which 
 wrested from her little bosom a deep sigh. The home 
 sickness which she had first felt when, a tiny slip of a girl, 
 she had landed in New York, was revived for a moment ; 
 then it died swiftly away, as if the keen American air had 
 banished it. 
 
 David and Miryam were members of the vast colony 
 of Russian and Polish Jews which has taken possession of 
 whole quarters of the metropolis since the " persecution " 
 began anew in Russia. David was the son of a Roumanian 
 father and a Russian mother, and had grown np to boyhood 
 in a little town not far from Odessa. He was of a studious 
 turn, and his family was anxious that he should become a 
 rabbi ; but he manifested an unconquerable disposition for 
 the stage, and had just joined a strolling company when 
 the persecution smote him. He was banished without even 
 time to see his old father and mother in the muddy little 
 town of his nativity ; and he and his companions, half 
 starved, and thoroughly downcast, migrated to Hamburg. 
 There two of them died of hunger, one of the cholera, and 
 a fourth hanged himself in despair. 
 
 But David was destined to survive. By singing comic 
 jargon songs to the German officials he managed to earn a 
 few pennies for food. One day a tall, lean man, with dense
 
 ENTER JOSEPH 5 
 
 black beard and hair, made his way through the throng of 
 refugees to David, and said, 
 
 " I am going to America to open a theatre for our people. 
 I have heard of you : will you go with me ? We may 
 starve ; we may make a fortune : will you sail to-morrow ? 
 Come! don't linger here! You know our proverb: 'Be 
 fore the sun rises, the dew may eat your eyes out.' " 
 
 " Yes," said David, who yielded to no one in his knowl 
 edge of proverbs ; " and I know another one. Rabbi Gam- 
 liel said, 'He who hath a trade in his hand is like a 
 vineyard that is fenced about.' I am not afraid ; I will go 
 with you to America." 
 
 The black-bearded man's eyes twinkled. Before night 
 fall he and David were on their way to the land of the free, 
 and David had been engaged to write, i.e., to rearrange the 
 old Hebrew tragedies, pastorals, and farces, which form 
 the stock in trade of the modern theatre as known to the 
 Russian and Roumanian Jews. " We shall get a living," 
 said David. " God will help us. As the wise saying hath 
 it, ( He sits and feeds the whole world, from the horns of 
 the unicorn to the eggs of the vermin ; ' and why should 
 he not feed us ? " 
 
 David's confident prediction proved well-founded ; he 
 prospered in New York, so that he was able soon to buy out 
 the black-bearded man and manage the theatre himself. 
 But he found abundant misery everywhere around him ; and 
 one day, when visiting a woman from his native town who 
 had been struck down by disease while toiling at the sew 
 ing-machine in a pestilential den in Hester Street, he had 
 acceded to her dying request that he should take care of 
 her little daughter, Miryam, until she could care for her 
 self. David closed the poor woman's eyes, was mourner 
 at her funeral, and took her desolate child to share his 
 humble lodgings in a cock-loft of the dingy barracks which 
 served as theatre.
 
 G JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 Miryam slept on a pile of well-worn costumes, behind a 
 little curtain, and her food was bread and cheese ; but she 
 grew strong, and, when her grief was somewhat assuaged, 
 the maid of twelve proved as pretty as a meadow violet. 
 So David at once made her a member of the theatrical 
 company, and she already had a dozen Israelitish heroines 
 in her repertory. 
 
 David, as chief writer for his own theatre, brought out a 
 new play every few nights ; and sometimes his company, 
 recruited from the more intelligent artisans in the colony, 
 and their wives and daughters, with a little sprinkling of 
 " professionals " like himself, would grumble at the hard 
 work imposed upon them. 
 
 On such occasions David would quaintly say, "Those 
 who eat must work ! And how shall we get food except by 
 exertion ? We are not like Rabbi Chanine and Rabbi 
 Oshain, who used to sit every Sabbath evening and study 
 the book of Jetzirah, and then created for themselves a 
 three-year-old calf and ate it ! " 
 
 And the company, weary of this sempiternal repetition 
 of the fable of the wise men who evolved the calf out of 
 their inner consciousness, would go on earning its daily 
 veal with renewed and stimulated industry. 
 
 Meantime, David's old father and mother died in Russia, 
 just as he was preparing to bring them out of bondage. He 
 was now alone in the world; so was Miryam. David was 
 thirty ; Miryam was twelve. She called him father ; and 
 he called her daughter. 
 
 David was a lean, lank son of Israel, dark-haired, dark- 
 eyed, with regular features, and a melancholy mien which 
 seemed to indicate meekness, but which concealed a will of 
 iron and nerves of steel. Despite the theatrical smartness 
 of Ins cheap, but well-fitting, clothes, there was a quaint 
 and Oriental air about him, which perhaps came from his
 
 ENTER JOSEPH 7 
 
 long association with the mystery plays and farces of the 
 Hebrew stage. He looked like a shepherd from the Syrian 
 slopes, masquerading in a Bowery sixteen-dollar suit. He 
 was temperate, honest, pure, and stocked with stage lore 
 and a knowledge of the archaic rnusic so common in the 
 Jewish theatre. 
 
 Miryam was a superb example of girlish beauty of the 
 Southern Eussian type, and the brilliant complexion and 
 full lips of rose-like redness testified to her Semitic origin. 
 Not even the slow starvation of her babyhood, in the bla.ck 
 desolation of the village in the " Pale " in Russia, and the 
 misery and want which she had known in Hester Street, 
 had been able to dim the passionate glow of her dark eyes, 
 or to destroy the delicious curves of her symmetrical 
 though immature form. 
 
 From the tender age of eight until she was eleven Mir 
 yam had known all the tortures of the sweaters' dens, in 
 which her poor mother had lived and slaved sixteen hours 
 daily. All day long the little Miryam, whose mother 
 would not trust her to play in the street, sat in an atmos 
 phere of such foulness that when fresh air was admitted 
 into the room by the opening of a door, or that very infre 
 quent event, the raising of a window, it influenced her as a 
 draught of strong wine would have done. Hour after hour 
 the'poor woman toiled, sewing on buttons, until the shadows 
 of night came, and hunger came with them to young Mir 
 yam. Then the mother produced from her pocket a crust 
 of bread, moistened it in bitter coffee made in a crockery 
 pot on the stove, and with this frugal meal Miryam retired 
 to a pile of unfinished garments. Upon this rude couch, 
 with fluff and dust choking her poor lungs, the child fell 
 asleep, to be roughly awakened two or three hours later 
 when her mother, broken and bent, was preparing to creep 
 home to their comfortless couch. At home they slept,
 
 8 JOSEPH ZALMONAII 
 
 often without removing their garments, so worn out were 
 they both with fatigue, and long before dawn they were 
 afoot again, crawling through the dark and chilly streets 
 back to their toil, for which the mother received but three 
 dollars and fifty cents weekly. 
 
 Once only had the mother been persuaded to allow Mir- 
 yam to attend a Jewish school, kept by a hump-backed 
 little man in an attic which was too hot in summer and too 
 cold in winter. One day Miryarn came home with some 
 strange notions which she had learned while talking with 
 other children in the street, and the frightened mother at 
 once withdrew the child from school. 
 
 And so Miryam would have continued to live on bread 
 and coffee, and to sleep on the dusty and fuzzy piles of 
 ready-made clothing, until she had contracted some dread 
 disease, and been carried off by it, had not the mother one 
 morning fainted at her work. The weary hands could no 
 longer pull the needle ; the worn bosom no longer rose and 
 fell to the labored breathing. " Keep me my place if you 
 can," said the poor woman piteously, in the intervals of 
 her struggle for breath, " and I will try and get well soon ! " 
 
 " We keep no places here," said the contractor, with an evil 
 grin. ""When a horse falls down, the driver gets another, 
 and puts it in the same place, and that is all there is of it." 
 
 So the poor woman was borne away and died. Then 
 came Miryam's liberation from the foul air and dust; and 
 ever since that time she had displayed unbounded pleasure 
 in being under the open sky, or on heights, or on the river 
 when cool breezes were blowing. Even the thought of 
 Hester Street made her shudder. 
 
 The image of her mother, lying peaceful, and with a 
 smile on her worn face, came back to the child as she stood 
 watching the great moving plain of water beyond Govern 
 or's Island. She thought how bitter that smile had been
 
 ENTER JOSEPH 9 
 
 in life, because the poor mother had been sorely disap 
 pointed at the hard lot which had fallen to her in Amer 
 ica; and how triumphantly sweet and tender the smile 
 was after death had touched the mother's face. It was a 
 mystery; she could not fathom it, and she was turning to 
 David with some childish question concerning it upon her 
 lips, when she saw a thin figure wearily approaching, and 
 gave a cry of delight. 
 
 " Here is Joseph ! " she said ; and jumping down she ran 
 to him and kissed his hand with a pretty and caressing 
 movement which had something of reverence in it. David 
 also turned hastily, and held out his hand joyously, say 
 ing, 
 
 "Yes, it is Joseph, and ?vith a smile upon his face. I 
 like that better than the frown I last saw there." 
 
 Joseph looked sharply at David. "Do you want me 
 to smile," he said, " when I am crazy with desire for things 
 which I can never reach ? " 
 
 " I don't like the frown," said David, " and ' to desire too 
 much is remorse.' 'The camel desired horns, and his ears 
 were taken from him. ' ' 
 
 " But my desires are not selfish ones, David. They are 
 for the good of our poor people, and I was taught to 
 believe that here they would be realized here! in the 
 land of liberty and plenty ! And what have we found 
 here ? A slavery more dreadful than that which we left at 
 home ! " 
 
 The speaker struck the railing fiercely with his right 
 hand, as he said these words, and his eyes sparkled. In a 
 few moments he would have burst forth anew, but Miryam 
 hastened to his side, and, laying her pretty head against his 
 arm, looked up into his eyes with a gentle smile, saying, 
 
 " Ah, Joseph, not to-day ! Don't think upon wrong and 
 suffering and weariness to-day ! Think of your wife and
 
 10 JOSEPH ZALMONAII 
 
 the little one who will soon be with you who are hasten 
 ing to you over the shining water down there." 
 
 A smile stole over Joseph's sombre features, as the sun 
 sometimes sends a vagrant ray into the edge of a forest. 
 " How she says that, the little actress ! " he cried. " David 
 has already given her the trick of the trade ! " Then his 
 manner altered suddenly. He approached the railing, and, 
 gazing out over the water, the islands, and the faint line of 
 blue shore behind them, he murmured brokenly, 
 
 "Yes, they are coming they are almost here ! My wife 
 and my child ! And to what are they coming ? To the 
 graves of all their hopes ! " 
 
 David glanced at Miryam, who was alarmed at this un 
 usual sternness of manner; and he made a slight gesture 
 to indicate that she should leave the duty of comforting 
 Joseph in his hands. 
 
 "See, Joseph!" he said briskly. "It is already half 
 past two. As they came into the bay early, they have fin 
 ished with the health officers long ago. The ship is moving 
 up the harbor. At any minute you may see her. Cheer 
 up ; drive away those dreadful fancies ! Be ready to wel 
 come your wife, your child." 
 
 " David ! " said Joseph, facing him suddenly, " do you 
 mean to say that our misery is not real ? " 
 
 "No, no," answered the ingenious David, seeing that 
 Joseph would drive him to a discussion, and then corner 
 him, unless he fenced himself off with a proverb; "but 
 remember that 'to be patient is sometimes better than to 
 have much wealth ! ' ' 
 
 Joseph did not reply, but extended his arm, and pointed 
 to a black mass now coming into full view beyond the 
 lines of green and gray on Governor's Island, and moving 
 slowly past the great statue. This was an ocean steam 
 ship, a huge Glasgow liner, bound in and working up
 
 ENTER JOSEPH 11 
 
 across the shining water with cumbrous and ungraceful 
 action. 
 
 " The ship ! the ship ! " cried David. " There they are ! 
 I know the old ark by her bow. Shall I ever forget the 
 days I spent in that craft ! Come, Joseph ! they will be 
 able to land to-night. Come, man, and welcome your 
 family ! " 
 
 " A bitter welcome ! " said Joseph, as two tears rolled 
 down his face. " A welcome to slavery and sorrow ! A 
 welcome to the living death." 
 
 He spoke with such terrible earnestness that David and 
 Miryam fell back aghast. Volcanic forces were at work in 
 the man's soul. 
 
 Joseph was tall and gaunt, with delicate features marked 
 with a certain shrewdness, which had been refined and 
 spiritualized by melancholy and suffering. His hair was 
 coal black, and fell down upon his shoulders ; a black 
 mustache shaded his sensitive and nervous lips ; his cheeks 
 were beardless. His eyes were the singular and compen 
 sating features in his physiognomy. They were azure blue, 
 profound, pellucid, frank, and fearless. There was the 
 calm of greatness in them. 
 
 The chin was not strong ; the brow was low, but marked 
 with power. Joseph's limbs were thin; his frame was 
 bowed forward, and there was a faint flush in his cheeks. 
 His hands were marked and scarred with toil. He was 
 neatly, but plainly dressed, and would have passed un 
 noticed in the streets had it not been for his wonderfully 
 luminous eyes and the deep sadness of his expression. 
 
 Joseph took off his hat, and turning his back to the ship 
 leaned wearily against the railing, with his arms spread out 
 upon it, and his head bent forward. 
 
 Standing thus, in bold relief between sea and sky, it 
 seemed to David's active perceptions, always acutely open
 
 12 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 to the picturesque and theatrical, that Joseph bore a re 
 semblance to an old print which he had once seen of the 
 crucified Nazarene the Jew who willingly suffered for 
 the sins of his fellows twenty centuries ago, and who was 
 denied by his countrymen even when his agony was most 
 bitter. But the reddish glow which had lingered around 
 Joseph's dark head for a moment vanished, and with it the 
 fancy went from David's mind. 
 
 " Come ! " said Miryara. " We have seen the ship ; that 
 was what we came up here to see, and now let us go and 
 welcome the greenhorns ! Come, Joseph ! are you dream 
 ing?" 
 
 " I wish it all were only a dream," said Joseph sadly.
 
 MALCHA IN THE LAND OF PKOMISE 13 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 MALCHA IN THE LAND OF PROMISE 
 
 WHEN the three friends, after a fatiguing walk of an 
 hour through crowded streets, losing their way and finding 
 it again with infinite difficulty, at last came out upon the 
 fresh green expanse of the Battery Park, and felt the cool 
 breeze of the harhor upon their heated faces, the steamer 
 had already sent off the greater portion of its immigrants. 
 
 The gloomy interior of Castle Garden was crowded with 
 them ; and men, women, and children were straggling about, 
 vainly trying to obey the orders shouted at them in half a 
 dozen languages. In one dark corner a dozen long-bearded 
 old men had thrown themselves down in the dirt together, 
 and were gazing up at the whitewashed walls of the time- 
 worn fortress with as melancholy air as if they were pris 
 oners. Black-hued and tawny-skinned women, with quaintly 
 dressed little children clinging to their skirts, sat on their 
 bundles of household gear, and looked around with fright 
 ened eyes. The portal to the Land of Promise was so 
 different from the image which they had formed of it ! 
 During the long days of steaming across the summer ocean 
 they had beguiled the way by picturing to themselves an 
 exquisite garden park, with some old and picturesque castle 
 frowning upon it from a commanding eminence. Into this 
 pleasure-ground they would be doubtless ushered up long 
 flights of marble stairs, leading from the sea; and, after
 
 14 JOSKI'II XALMONAII 
 
 pleasant partings there with tlieir fellow-voyagers, and 
 joyous meeting with their friends awaiting them, they 
 would go merrily forward in pursuit of fortune, and per 
 haps of fame. But this gloomy place into which they were 
 almost driven, as if they were sheep or cattle ! this circular 
 tower, which seemed like the anteroom to some penal insti 
 tution ! how sadly did it differ from their vision ! Was 
 it possible that it was the gateway to Liberty ? 
 
 These thoughts were in Malcha's mind, and brought a 
 mortal sadness to her pretty face, as she stood near one of 
 the unpainted wooden railings, with little Zipporah wailing 
 at her knee. The poor wan girl child was hungry and 
 afraid, and Malcha was in much the same condition. Every 
 thing around her seemed black and unlovely ; and now for 
 the first time a fear that Joseph might not coine to meet 
 her stole into her heart. Perhaps he was ill, or had mis 
 taken the day ! And what could she do alone in a great 
 city, -with Zipporah clinging to her skirts? The formali 
 ties of landing had already alarmed her ; and now the 
 absence of the beloved face increased her apprehension so 
 that it was almost intolerable. She stooped and raised 
 little Zipporah, and mingled her tears with those of the 
 child. 
 
 How long she stood so she never knew. It might have 
 been half an hour, for she lost all sense of what was going 
 on around her, as before her arose a scene she had lately 
 witnessed. It was the gathering of the immigrants on the 
 lower deck of the huge black steamer, to see the mammoth 
 statue of Liberty, serene and imposing on its little island 
 amid the tranquil waters, as they came into port. How the 
 poor souls huddled together and cheered ! How they held 
 out glad and welcoming hands to the vast bronze imperson 
 ation of the supreme blessing of human life the liberty 
 so sighed for, prayed for, fought for, in the countries which
 
 MALCHA IN THE LAND OF PROMISE 15 
 
 they were now forever leaving behind them! What ineffa 
 ble and mysterious inspiration seemed to pass into the 
 hearts of these worn victims of oppression, as the steamship 
 came abreast of the statue ! How old men took off their 
 hats, and all unconsciously stood erect, as if for the first 
 time in their lives they felt free to assert their indepen 
 dence ! How the eyes of wan mothers glistened as they 
 held up their offspring to greet the mighty symbol of free 
 dom and refuge from tyranny ! Verily Malcha had, for 
 one moment, felt such a pang of ecstasy then, that it repaid 
 her for all the sorrows and persecutions past. But now ! 
 
 Now she was hungry and tired and afraid. A huge Ital 
 ian woman, her arms filled with screaming olive-colored brats, 
 jostled her rudely ; Norwegians and Danes and Arabs paused 
 to ask her questions, which of course she did not under 
 stand ; and when finally an official charged down upon her 
 with a volley of inquiries, each of which to her unpi-acticed 
 ear sounded like accusations, her tears flowed more freely, 
 and she could only murmur "Joseph." 
 
 At that instant a hand touched her lightly on the shoul 
 der. Her heart leaped with joy, and she turned eagerly, 
 certain that she was to look upon the longed-for face. No, 
 it was David ; whom she did not at first recognize in the 
 transformation due to American garb. But in a minute 
 she was certain of the features of her dear old friend, lie 
 who had known her as a girl in her father's house, and 
 she bowed her head on his shoulder and sobbed out her re 
 lief, and asked for Joseph, while little Zipporah joined in 
 the refrain. 
 
 David did not at once answer the poor wife's inquiry for 
 her husband. He smoothed the small Zipporah's tangled 
 hair, and remarked in his soft, tranquil tones, " Rabbi Akiba 
 said, ' It is well that man should be afflicted, for his dis 
 tresses atone for his sins.' But the rabbi did not say that
 
 16 JOSEPH ZALMONAIT 
 
 affliction was necessary for woman. Cheer up, Malcha f 
 you are in your new home at last ! " 
 
 " And where is Joseph ? " 
 
 " We will go to him at once. Give me the child. The 
 bundles may stay here for the moment. Joseph is seated 
 on a bench outside, in the park. The sun gave him a little 
 knock on the head as we were coming here. And my 
 friend Miry am is attending him. There now, Malcha ! " 
 
 And David gave a cry of surprise and expostulation, for 
 Malcha had seized the child, and was running like a deer 
 toward the exit, wild with fear lest the beloved Joseph were 
 in danger. He managed to stop her, and save her from 
 crushing herself and Zipporah in the struggling throng ; 
 and, after much persuasion and many proverbs, he succeeded 
 in piloting her safely into the park, and to the bench where 
 Miryam sat, rather dejectedly supporting the forlorn 
 Joseph's head upon her shoulder. 
 
 A little pang of jealousy shot through Malcha's heart 
 at this spectacle, but it was speedily dispelled by David's 
 many explanations. "Joseph has been overworked; you 
 see all our poor people have to overwork ; and his strength 
 gave out. Then the excitement and the sun wearied him, 
 and he is so glad to see you." 
 
 " Yes," said Miryam ; " the work and the worry about 
 our poor people are killing him." 
 
 Malcha did not quite understand this, nor did she hear 
 all of it, for now Joseph had revived; his arms were around 
 her,- his kiss was on her brow, and the child was clinging to 
 him. David and Miryam said nothing while the reunited 
 pair babbled their joy, and David was just about to return 
 to Castle Garden to secure the few bundles which composed 
 Malcha's baggage, when he was accosted in jargon by a 
 small red-haired man, with a cracked voice, who assumed 
 a mysterious air, and beckoned him aside.
 
 MALCIIA IN THE LAND OF PROMISE IT 
 
 "Ah ! Ben Zion !" said David, "what brings you so far 
 out of your beat ? Have you made your fortune, and are 
 you already going back to fight against the Czar ? I see 
 you have brought your carriage. Perhaps you have come 
 to ask us to take a drive with you ? " 
 
 " Always laughing, David ! " answered the cracked voice 
 querulously, emerging timidly from the recesses of the 
 red beard and mustaches, and provoking a smile by its 
 quaint cadences. " Heigh ho ! I see that you play-actors 
 have no idea of the hardships of real life. I understand 
 that you had a caricature of me ou your stage the other 
 day, in that play you wrote about the Polish Jews in the 
 Bowery. Ah ! David, David ! I might get heavy damages 
 against you ! " and he threw back his opened palms above 
 his head, and shook them playfully at David. 
 
 " What ! you old miser ! " cried David, a little disturbed 
 by this accusation, to which he was bound to plead guilty. 
 " I give you an advertisement worth thousands of dollars, 
 and you want to sue me for damages. Ah ! Ben Zion ! you 
 do not belie the race of pedlers to which you belong ! " 
 
 " Pedlers are their own best advertisements, I have 
 heard my grandfather say," replied Ben Zion, whose eyes 
 twinkled merrily, and who did not seem very angry. "And 
 now to business ! " he continued, lowering his voice. " I 
 have heard that Joseph's wife was coming out on this 
 steamer, and so I brought my wagon to take her baggage 
 to the house for her. Do you think, David/' he said, " that 
 Joseph would accept that little service ? I know that he 
 has none too much money for he gives away much. And 
 the strikes and lock-outs ! Ah ! happy am I that I have 
 no wife nor daughter obliged to pull a needle ! " 
 
 " Why, yes, Ben Zion ! " cried David heartily. " Joseph 
 and Malcha here will thank you for your offer, which I will 
 accept for them." And Ben Zion tiptoed forward, holding
 
 18 JOSEPH ZALMOXAH 
 
 his greasy hat in one hand, and saluted Joseph as if 
 that forlorn and fatigued personage were an emperor. 
 
 Ben Zion was a pedler, and dwelt in a cellar in Hester 
 Street. By dint of seventeen hours of unremitting toil 
 daily, he managed to keep the wolf from entering his damp 
 and gloomy abode, although the creature often enough 
 showed his fangs at the door. The little man had a wiry 
 frame, on which there was not a superfluous ounce of flesh. 
 His features, of pronounced Hebraic type, were framed so 
 grotesquely in the bright red hair and untrimmed red beard 
 that every one's first impulse on beholding Ben Zion was 
 to laugh. A pair of full and red lips, slightly open, dis 
 played even white teeth; and two black eyes twinkled with 
 a shrewdness which showed that their owner rarely got the 
 worst of a bargain. He had been in America five years, 
 and had learned the rudiments of English. His " declara 
 tion of intention " to become .a citizen was long ago made ; 
 and now and then, when standing behind his push cart in 
 the " Pig Market," he ventured to express himself on polit 
 ical matters as if he were already an independent voter. 
 
 At two in the morning Ben Zion arose, ate a lump of 
 bread and a pickle, and pulling into shape the garments in 
 which he had slept, he propelled his little cart to the Grand 
 Street Ferry. While waiting for the boat, on fine nights, he 
 lay on his back in the cart and studied the stars. Once 
 across the river, he trundled away to Wallabout Market, 
 where he bought carrots and onions ; and with his savory 
 load he hastened back to Hester Street, to meet the current 
 of frugal Jewish housewives seeking provisions for the mid 
 day repast. Ben Zion was an artist in peddling ; he knew 
 exactly how often to move his cart, so tjiat the admonishing 
 club of the policeman should not gall his shoulders ; and it 
 was indeed a mouldy carrot or deteriorated onion which he 
 could not force the sale of. In the afternoon he reappeared
 
 MALCHA IN THE LAND OF PROMISE 19 
 
 with the cart gayly decked with cheap stationery and trin 
 kets, in which he did a tidy trade until four ; after which he 
 locked \\p his cart in the cellar, and betook himself with a 
 little pack to Fulton Street. Here he sat on a broad step, 
 with a stock of useful articles spread out beside him. He 
 folded his hands, and assuming the dignity of a Hebrew 
 prophet in lamentation, he softly murmured from time to 
 time, " Shoe-strings ! Shoe-lace-us ! Col' buttons ! " The 
 grand air and the assumption of indifference were profitable 
 strokes of acting. Ben Zion did a good business with the 
 hungry throng of home-hurrying Brooklynites. In warm 
 evenings he sold " hokey-pokey " in East Broadway, and 
 went early to bed in a stone recess in the cellar, where 
 friendly rats scampered over him at intervals, without dis 
 turbing his slumbers a particle. 
 
 Such was the daily life of Ben Zion, poor waif from a 
 muddy town within the Jewish " Pale " in Russia, landed 
 upon American shores with scarcely a dollar in his pocket, 
 started in his humble business by the charity of his fellow 
 refugees, but esteeming himself the happiest of men. Ben 
 Zion looked with genuine pity upon the toiling thousands 
 of cloak and clothing makers ; perhaps in his secret heart 
 he cherished a contempt for them, because they seemed to 
 fall with such readiness into the snare of the sweaters. 
 " But there ! poor things ! " he would say, " they were not 
 born with figures in their head, as I was ! We cannot all 
 be in commerce !" 
 
 For Joseph, because of what he had done to ameliorate the 
 sad lot of the sweated toilers, Ben Zion had an intense re 
 spect, which would have reached veneration, had it not been 
 kept in check by the so-called " socialists." These somewhat 
 incoherent enemies of the established order of things were 
 also Joseph's enemies, because he brought peace rather than 
 a sword into the treatment of disputes between capital and
 
 20 JOSEPH ZALMOXAH 
 
 labor ; and they never tired of speaking ill of him. Ben 
 Zion listened to them, but his heart yearned to Joseph, and 
 he would not believe the inventions of his enemies. 
 
 It was to manifest his affection for the unselfish and 
 courageous leader that Ben Zion had jogged down to the 
 Battery Park, to save Joseph and Malcha any expense for 
 transportation of baggage. At the same time he intended 
 to do a stroke of business ; for, as he informed David, " the 
 American boys stone our people when they appear in the 
 streets with their Russian flat caps on ; so I have brought 
 down a few nice second-hand straw hats, very cheap ! " 
 And his assistant, who kept watch over his cart while 
 he talked with Joseph, was at that moment reaping 
 a rich harvest by selling these hats to refugees, old and 
 young, as one by one they straggled away from Castle 
 Garden. 
 
 When David and Miryam had gone with Ben Zion to 
 secure the baggage, and Joseph and his wife and child had 
 no witnesses save an occasional indifferent passer-by, 
 Joseph's energy returned, but a mortal sadness settled 
 upon his face. How could he tell his wife of the horrible 
 slough of despair into which he and the greater part of his 
 brother and sister refugees had fallen ? He had not dared 
 to tell her the truth in the letters sent to her in Russia; 
 nor, indeed, had he ventured to write often to her, lest some 
 chance sentence in one of his letters should be made the 
 pretext for persecution of the dear patient wife and her 
 friends and relatives. And when he learned that her father 
 had at last consented that she might join him in America, 
 much apprehension for the future was mingled with the 
 rapture awakened by the thought of reunion. And now 
 she must know the truth : she must be told that the misery 
 into which they had fallen in New York was almost as deep 
 as that which they had left behind them.
 
 MALCHA IN THE LAND OF PROMISE 21 
 
 " Except," thought Joseph, " that here we have nearly 
 absolute personal liberty and that is a great deal." 
 
 While Joseph, with little Zipporah's olive cheek laid 
 lovingly against his pale face, talked to his wife of every* 
 thing except the one topic which lay so heavily upon his 
 heart, Malcha's eyes were busy with the strange new land 
 scape, the tall buildings, and the people who seemed hast, 
 ening to some rendezvous upon which their very lives 
 depended, so serious and preoccupied was their air. The 
 sinuous trains crawling to and fro on the high skeleton 
 platforms ; the mottled row of houses beyond them ; the 
 pretty sweep of lawn in the park, with its fringe of trees, 
 behind which arose the reddish walls and dome of the 
 Washington building ; the Battery terrace, with the water 
 lapping against it lazily, save when some huge craft passed, 
 and sent a procession of scurrying wavelets to the shore ; 
 the ferry houses, with the endless processions of people and 
 of huge rumbling drays and clanking beer wagons to and 
 from them all these things were new and strange to her ; 
 and in spite of the brilliant sunshine, and the cloudless 
 blue of the heavenly vault, she felt a strong depression, 
 against which she tried in vain to rebel. Everything was 
 so full of light and life and action ! She longed for a 
 comfortable shadow into which she might creep for a time, 
 until she had gathered a little more courage for her entry 
 into the " promised land." 
 
 One glimpse of the sweaters' hell was caught by Malcha, 
 despite Joseph's unwillingness to unveil its horrors so 
 early. That was when he told his wife the story of 
 Miryam and her mother, and how David had taken pity on 
 the poor, deserted girl. But Malcha did not ask him to 
 tell her more, and Joseph's heart sank within him when 
 he reflected how soon she would find out everything for 
 herself.
 
 22 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 When Ben Zion and the others came back with the 
 bundles, Malcha was trying to place in her husband's 
 hands the small store of roubles which her worthy father 
 had sent him, but Joseph made her keep it. This tiny sum, 
 and the price of Malcha's journey with little Zipporah to 
 America, represented the good man's contribution to their 
 future prosperity. " I can do no more," he had said ; " the 
 Russian government will soon take from me all that your 
 mother and I have managed to save." And so, indeed, it 
 proved ere long. 
 
 "The little girl has fallen asleep," said Ben Zion. "If 
 I might suggest, let us put her in the push cart, and cover 
 her with this bit of cloth. She will ride nicely so." This 
 was done, and the party made its way to the East side, 
 through streets which to Malcha seemed endless, and in 
 which they encountered rough people, who jostled them and 
 called them " Sheenies," affixing to this descriptive epithet 
 a bewildering collection of variegated profanity which was 
 not without a touch of the grotesque. Here and there a 
 half-grown youth threw a stone, or a hulking bully made 
 a derisive gesture ; but these things, which made Malcha's 
 heart beat faster, and her face turn white with apprehen 
 sion, seemed to have no effect on Ben Zion or Joseph. 
 
 At last they came into East Broadway, where David and 
 Miryam left them ; and, just as Malcha's force was failing, 
 the little cart stopped in front of a tall, grim, old mansion 
 which had seen better days, and which still had about it a 
 curious air of faded gentility. Hebrew signs covered the 
 front of this building, and the jargon which was Malcha's 
 native tongue was heard on every side. Multitudes of 
 children were screaming, dancing, and jostling each other; 
 but the men and women whom they met were pale, bent, 
 and silent. The men seemed half-asleep, as they staggered 
 along beneath the weight of huge piles of clothing, from
 
 MALCHA IN THE LAND OF PROMISE 23 
 
 which arose the faint, nauseating odor of dyes and hot 
 pressed cloth ; the women's faces were drawn and worn, 
 and some of them had a wild look, as of persons half crazed 
 with long vigils. Young Polish and Russian girls, with 
 heads bent and eyes half closed, were toiling at sewing- 
 machines in a basement into which the afternoon sun was 
 sending some scorching rays. 
 
 " Well, well," said Malcha, who was beginning to feel a 
 bit more cheerful at the sound of her own language in the 
 street, and the sight of it upon signs, "at least there is 
 work for everybody here ! And that is better than in 
 Podolia, is it not, Joseph ? " she said, thinking of the 
 throngs of half-starved, unemployed, and persecuted He 
 brews in the town whence she had come, in the far-away 
 Russian province. 
 
 " No, Malcha, no," answered Joseph in a low, fierce voice, 
 taking his wife's arm, arid aiding her to climb the steep 
 steps to the old-fashioned door. "No, it is not better here 
 not at present. But don't ask me how or why to-day, 
 my love ! " 
 
 As Malcha went up the steps, she caught sight, to her 
 astonishment and delight, of a familiar face. It was that 
 of a young girl who had been her neighbor at home a 
 beautiful, voluptuous face, with exquisite features set in a 
 picturesque frame of coal-black hair. Malcha nodded and 
 waved her hand impulsively in recognition, and would have 
 paused to speak with her, but the girl hastily turned her 
 face and glided away. 
 
 "See, Joseph, see!" cried Malcha, "there is Shiphrah, 
 the pretty Shiphrah from our own town ! our old neighbor ! 
 Joseph, do run after her, and tell her that I am here ! " 
 
 "Hush, Malcha!" said Joseph, hurrying his wife into 
 the house, and taking the sleeping Zipporah from Ben 
 Zion's arms, " do not speak of that creature ! Do not
 
 24 JOSEPH ZALMONAII 
 
 say that you have seen her ! She is lost forever ! I 
 do not blame her: she is but one of many victims ; but 
 to you she is lost lost!" 
 
 " Oh, dear ! " cried Malcha, bursting into a passionate fit 
 of weeping ; " how terrible ! And what is the meaning of 
 all this mystery, Joseph ? And why are you so sad ? " 
 
 "Not to-day, love, not to-day," said Joseph, trying to 
 smile. "Let me welcome yon to our poor little home. 
 See ! you have already brought the sunshine into it." 
 
 And at that instant a vagrant ray streamed in at the 
 open window of the room which they were just entering, 
 and enveloped in golden glory the young parents and the 
 sleeping child between them.
 
 BAUMEISTER IS REPELLED 25 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 BAUMEISTER IS KEPELLED 
 
 WHEX Malcha awoke next morning, she might almost 
 have persuaded herself that she was still in her humble 
 village in the Jewish " Pale," in the Russia from which 
 she had been compelled to flee. For in the plainly fur 
 nished room many simple memorials of her old home, un 
 packed from her bundles by Joseph's loving care, were 
 placed where she could see them as soon as she awoke. 
 
 Little Zipporah was nestling at her side, and smiling at 
 the long rays of sunshine which slanted into the room 
 through dusty blinds ; and outside Malcha could hear two 
 highly pitched female voices talking in her native jargon. 
 
 " I tell you," said one voice, " he is as thin as a spring 
 snow-drift, and he will kill himself running after those 
 poor fools of cloakmakers." 
 
 "Yes; but, my good woman, doesn't he make his living 
 that way ? and shouldn't we all work for our livings ? " 
 
 "A pretty living you would make," cried the first voice, 
 rising to the sharpness of a piccolo in its intense earnest 
 ness, "if you did missionary work fifteen hours a day, 
 and then gave to the poor whatever it brought you in. I 
 tell you he goes hungry, and I know it. And now that his 
 good wife is here, I have a mind to tell her, so that she 
 can put order in the head of this dreamer." 
 
 Malcha sat bolt upright in bed, and put out both hands,
 
 26 JOSEPH ZALMONAU 
 
 as if she would ward off the words she had just heard. 
 They were talking of Joseph her Joseph, from whom 
 she had been separated for two weary years. And he was 
 in trouble, in poverty, and what did she hear ? doing 
 missionary work for the poor ! 
 
 A proud and satisfied look came into her face. So now 
 she understood many things. Now she could comprehend 
 why Joseph could not send her the money to bring her to 
 America, and why her relatives had been compelled to ad 
 vance it. Now she saw why Joseph was so preoccupied ; 
 why he had been so sad and quiet at their meeting after so 
 long a separation ; and why he had arisen long before 
 dawn, saying that he had some business among the work 
 ing people. 
 
 She had noted the hectic flush in his cheek, the intense 
 fire in his eyes, his poor and scanty clothing, and his hands 
 calloused and stained and scarred with toil. And now, as 
 she lay back upon her pillow and thought anew upon those 
 poor hands, her eyes filled with tears. She had dreamed 
 of another lot than this in America for her Joseph. 
 
 "Must we forever be driven on and on, without rest, 
 without help, without consolation ? " she sighed ; and clos 
 ing her eyes she seemed still to feel the rocking and 
 swaying of the great steamship, and to hear through its 
 rigging the hissing and screaming of the gale which they 
 had encountered just off the Banks. 
 
 Hut as the hours passed, and Joseph did not return, Mal- 
 cha arose and dressed the child and herself, and began 
 preparations for breakfast. The small and ill-lighted 
 kitchen, with its range and utensils, which, to Malcha's 
 Russian eyes, were decidedly novel and complicated, was 
 soon fragrant with the aroma of tea. 
 
 Malcha had brought with her a little parcel of the delec 
 table herb, sent as a peace-offering by her mother, who had
 
 BAUMEISTER IS HEPELLED 27 
 
 long disliked Joseph because lie was not a very careful ob 
 server of Hebrew religious customs, but who hud finally 
 yielded to her daughter's point of view. After a little 
 searching, Malcha found a loaf of bread, somewhat nibbled 
 by adventurous rats, on a little shelf; and to this simple 
 repast she invited the small Zipporah, the two contentedly 
 munching and drinking as if they were nobles at a feast. 
 
 Presently Joseph came in, and the tears sprang to Mal- 
 cha's eyes as she noted how thin and wan he was. His 
 eyes were strained and weary; his back was bent, as. if be 
 neath a load of care, and there was an unquiet look on his 
 face which Malcha had never seen there before. 
 
 She threw her arms about her husband's neck, and drew 
 him down beside her at the little table in the kitchen, 
 where she and the child were eating. Joseph placed his 
 hand caressingly on his wife's head, and gazed at her ten 
 derly for a moment ; then he said, 
 
 "I have been saving a poor woman from being put into 
 the street by a pig of a landlord who would not listen to 
 reason. But I made him behave more decently. If I had 
 not had this to do, I would not have left you." 
 
 " Don't talk now, Joseph," said Malcha, " but eat." 
 
 " Eat ? " he said with a quaint smile. " What is that ? I 
 don't eat any more. But perhaps I shall change my habits, 
 now that you have come." 
 
 Malcha secretly vowed that he should, so far as neglect 
 ing his health was concerned, and she rejoiced to see him 
 presently eating the bread and drinking the tea, and with 
 the ravenous appetite of one who had not broken his fast 
 for a long time. 
 
 " There is no sugar for the tea," said Malcha ; " perhaps 
 there is still a little in my valise. It was better to carry 
 our own tea and sugar in that dreadful steerage." 
 
 "No, no, Malcha," said Joseph, rising hastily, with a
 
 28 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 faint blush on his cheeks; "I was very thoughtless ; I have 
 not provided the necessary things : let me go at once and 
 get them." 
 
 " Nothing of the sort ; and you up at four to keep 
 Mother Levitsky from being put on the sidewalk without, 
 God knows, even a three-legged chair to sit on. No, no ; 
 not while Ben Zion has two legs ! Let me do the errand for 
 you." 
 
 And the surprised family turned to see their unpreten 
 tious friend of the red beard and the cavernous voice stamp 
 ing across the room, bearing in one hand an immense bunch 
 of savory new vegetables, and in the other a little packet 
 of fish, which gave forth a curious and somewhat unpleas 
 ant aroma each time that the lively Ben Zion gesticulated 
 with the hand containing it. 
 
 " I said to myself," continued Ben Zion, " ' A small fish 
 stew,' says I, 'is just the thing to comfort the heart and keep 
 the courage up ; and Joseph's wife may not have time, with 
 all her unpacking ' so if I can turn to and cook it for you, 
 or if Joseph's wife would condescend, now and what can 
 1 bring you from out there ?" he concluded, pointing with 
 the fish to the street. 
 
 " My dear friend," said Joseph, " you are kindness itself ; 
 but you are poor like ourselves, and we cannot allow you 
 to pillage your push cart for our benefit." 
 
 " Dirt cheap ! I tell you that was a bargain ! " cried Ben 
 Zion, holding the fish flat in the palm of his hand, and shak 
 ing the palm violently. " I bought 'em in Fulton Market, 
 where they were going to throw them away, those fish; and 
 they are still as good as gold ! And I says, ' A nice little 
 lisli stew just the thing' " 
 
 Joseph's eyes twinkled ; and, as he accepted and laid Ben 
 Zion's gifts away, a smile stole over his weary features. 
 The fish were carefully placed at some distance from the
 
 BAUMEISTER IS REPELLED 29 
 
 vegetables, and when Ben Zion had been despatched for the 
 sugar, Joseph said, 
 
 " I think he has come to bring me some news. The 
 savory presents were only a pretext. Perhaps if you hear 
 what he has to say you will understand a little better " 
 
 " I understand already, my husband, that you are sacri 
 ficing yourself for the poor of our people. But why do 
 they remain poor after they get here ? I thought that this 
 was the land of plenty." 
 
 At this Joseph drew so long and dolorous a sigh, that 
 Malcha forebore to question him further ; and presently 
 Ben Zion burst in again with, " Here's the sugar ! And 
 what's this I hear ! Another lock-out at Freier and Monach's ! 
 Well, well ! what will the poor needle shifters do now ? 
 They can't eat dust, and what else can they get ? Well, 
 God be with us, as the fox said to his wife when the hounds 
 were after them ! And, Joseph, I thought you might like 
 to know " he glanced at the wife and child, and paused. 
 
 " You may speak before Malcha. I have no secrets from 
 my wife," said Joseph rather sharply. 
 
 " Of course. It was only to say, Joseph, that I saw one 
 of those fools of Socialists last night, and he said " 
 
 " Well, out with it, man ! What did he say ? " 
 
 "He said that you must come over to them, or they 
 would fill your road so full of rocks that you would find it 
 hard walking. They say that you are too mild, Joseph, 
 and that it is better to use force." 
 
 " And what is your own opinion, friend ? " said Joseph. 
 
 " Ah ! " said Ben Zion, scratching his red head reflect 
 ively, " that is a grave question. I don't say that if I had 
 a capitalist in a corner, I wouldn't squeeze him. But to try 
 driving a good many hundred capitalists into a corner is quite 
 another thing. They say in this country that every man 
 ran get his rights under the law, if he works hard enough 
 for them. I don't know how it is "
 
 30 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 "But you would not advise me to incite my poor op 
 pressed countrymen to riot, even if the Socialists were will 
 ing to lead them ? " 
 
 " What ! Those cattle ! They would run away when the 
 fighting began, and leave you and your followers to be 
 locked up. That is what I think. But they are going to 
 send Baumeister to argue with you on the subject. They 
 say that he imposes his will on everybody who listens to 
 him. But I must be off ! Good-by, Joseph ; I thought I 
 would post you." And bowing to Malcha and the child, he 
 withdrew, but a moment afterward thrust his head in at 
 the door with the cry : 
 
 " Don't forget to sample them fish. They was a great 
 bargain." 
 
 Joseph went on munching his bread and drinking tea, 
 and looking thoughtfully at the ceiling; and Malcha, a 
 little reassured now that she was once more sharing her 
 husband's confidence, busied herself with household duties. 
 An hour after Ben Zion's departure Joseph was still 
 in the same attitude, with an empty teacup in one hand, 
 and a crust in the other, when there came a loud knock at 
 the door. Joseph arose and opened it, and ushered in a 
 tall, ungainly stranger, who bowed politely, and said with 
 a self-conscious air : 
 
 "I am Rudolf Baumeister. Am I speaking to Joseph 
 Zalmonah ?" 
 
 "That is my name," said Joseph, politely motioning the 
 visitor to a chair; "and there is my wife, and that is my 
 child Zipporah. They arrived yesterday from Russia, and 
 they think that they have come to a land of promise. I 
 trust that Mr. Rudolf Baumeister, the eminent Socialist 
 leader, has not come to say anything which will undeceive 
 them." 
 
 The visitor winced at Joseph's remark, and muttered
 
 BAUMEISTER IS REPELLED 31 
 
 that he should be sorry to see any one else undeceived as 
 he himself had been. " Perhaps I am disturbing you?" 
 he added ; and while Joseph assured him that he was not, 
 his gaze wandered over the small and ill-furnished room, 
 with Malcha's poor valises still scattered about it ; with the 
 humble bed, the two or three rickety chairs, the little 
 shelves of white pine, with Karl Marx's " Kapital," and an 
 odd volume of Turguenieff, and one or two Hebrew books 
 standing dejectedly together, as if discouraged because their 
 owner did not find more time to commune with them. His 
 thin lips curled slightly as he observed the blackened en 
 trance to the small kitchen, and as he scented the heavy 
 and rancid odors which came in from the street. 
 
 Malcha felt an invincible repugnance to this man. It 
 seemed to her that if she remained in his presence a minute 
 longer she might quarrel with him. She caught Zipporah 
 up in her arms, and, with a faint murmur of apology, opened 
 the door and went out ; nor did Joseph make any effort to 
 detain her. 
 
 Baumeister was well, but plainly dressed, and his long 
 nervous hands bore few marks of toil. He laid these hands 
 flat down upon his knees, and seemed consulting them 
 while he was waiting for Joseph to reopen the conversation. 
 
 But Joseph said nothing, and continued to munch frag 
 ments of the bread crust. At the same time he was care 
 fully studying his visitor with a cool and patient analysis 
 which was slightly disconcerting. 
 
 He was not pleased with his examination. Baumeister 
 belonged to that class of men which is profoundly egotisti 
 cal, without knowing it the class which is always serving 
 itself alone, while professing to serve others. The forehead 
 was high, and crowned with blond hair thrown carelessly 
 back. The gaze was shifting, and at certain moments the 
 eyes had a wild look, like that of an animal about to attack.
 
 32 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 There was an ominous wrinkle between the brows of this 
 young man of thirty, which seemed to indicate a perplexed 
 condition. It also gave a sinister look to the face. People 
 who found Bauineister gazing intently at them felt a little 
 shudder, and turned away hastily. He was uncanny. 
 
 And yet he was gracious, and almost charming, when he 
 began to talk to Joseph of the business which had dictated 
 his visit. " You speak of me as a Socialist," he said caress 
 ingly, " but, my dear overworked enthusiast, you are one 
 yourself, without knowing it. The only difference between 
 us is that 3'ou have not taken the Hannibal oath of eternal 
 hatred to Rome. In other words, you do not regard Society 
 as the enemy against which one must always tight : you are 
 trying the persuasive processes; but they will not work ! 
 When they have all failed you will enroll yourself with us. 
 And perhaps you will pardon me for suggesting that, in 
 view of your recent and complete failure to get higher 
 wages for the men whom you have banded together, the 
 time to join us is now ! " 
 
 He arose as he said this, and held out one hand with such 
 a magnetic gesture of friendliness and fellowship that Jo 
 seph was strongly moved. But he kept his place opposite 
 Baumeister, and took another bite of the crust. 
 
 " Who tells you that we have failed in our struggle for 
 fair wages ? " he said, a moment later. " It is too early to 
 form any conclusions about that matter." 
 
 " Indeed ! " said Baumeister with a sneer, " I should have 
 thought that the insolence of Freier and Monach in decree 
 ing a lock-out as the only response to your starving stri 
 kers was a pretty conclusive proof of failure. You ask for 
 better wages, and the brutes offer you starvation. That is 
 the response of Society and yet you persist in clinging 
 to Society's skirts ! But the day will come when you will 
 be undeceived."
 
 BAUMEISTER IS REPELLED 33 
 
 " Perhaps so," said Joseph ; " but I do not agree with 
 yon that the greed and brutality of a few hard taskmasters 
 are to be attributed to Society. They are able to tyrannize 
 over us because Society is not vigilant enough. Now, I 
 mean to wake up Society to a knowledge of the truth. Then 
 we shall see if the wrongs will not be righted. If not" 
 
 " What then ? " said Baumeister. 
 
 " Then you may renew your invitation. For the present 
 I do not see my way clear to accept it." 
 
 " Poor youth ! " murmured Baumeister in his softest 
 tones. " How cruelly you will be undeceived ! Society 
 will turn upon you and rend you ; will not redeem its lying 
 promises ; will put you in prison, and forget you there, if 
 you are too bold. Did you ever hear of persuading a tiger ? 
 or coaxing a boa-constrictor to let go its cruel hold ? Bali ! 
 your bones will be cracked, and Society will suck the mar 
 row. Come, man ! throw persuasion and such idle expedi 
 ents to the wind, and rally to the ' party of force ' ! With 
 us alone victory rests ! " 
 
 Joseph arose and laid his crust of bread upon the table. 
 His face was pale, and his eyes glowed Avith a strange light, 
 which seemed to envelop and to awe Baumeister. 
 
 "No," he said with a sweeping gesture which put away 
 the tempter from him, " I will not believe in your doctrine 
 until the other means have been given a fair trial ! I will 
 appeal to the press, to the Legislature, to the country ! I 
 have been hearing and learning ; I believe there are hands 
 ready to help us we shall beat the sweaters, and destroy 
 their slavery ! But not by the means which you propose. 
 How do we know that you are sincere ? No ! Let us try 
 the proper means first ! " 
 
 Baumeister arose now, and the wrinkle between his 
 brows grew deeper, and his face clouded ominously. " I 
 was told," he said, " that you are an obstinate man, and
 
 84 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 now I am quite sure of it. Listen to me ! Our associa 
 tions in this city are numerous and powerful. We will 
 have nothing to do with appeals to the capitalistic legisla 
 tors, or the bloated officials enriched by coining the blood 
 and sweat of the people ! Do you understand ? We will 
 have nothing to do with them. The concessions which we 
 gain from Society must be wrung from it by force ! And 
 you will have to come to our way of thinking. Perhaps 
 we can find means to show you that we have power 
 enough even to restrain youjrom coquetting with Society. 
 Good-day ! I will see you again when your mind has been 
 changed by cruel experience," and he took up his hat and 
 turned to go. 
 
 "Stop a minute !" cried Joseph in a clear, ringing voice, 
 which caused Baumeister to turn in astonishment. 
 
 Joseph stood erect before him, white and tremulous, but 
 with resolution in his gaze. " Listen to me ! and, when you 
 have heard, go and tell those who sent you what my mes 
 sage is. I came here five years ago, with a gold watch and 
 twenty-five roubles in my pocket as my whole fortune. 
 Like so many others of our poor refugees, I fell into this 
 hell of misery in the sweaters' dens ! Do you know what 
 I have suffered ? Look here ! " he cried, pulling up his 
 coat-sleeve, and showing his emaciated arm. "Look at 
 that ! look at my face and chest ! All this in the short 
 space of five years ! Do you know that I have worked at 
 making knee-pants for sixteen hours daily, under a hot 
 roof, with the thermometer at ninety degrees ? Do you 
 know that I have fainted at the sewing-machine time after 
 time from hunger and exhaustion ? Do you know that the 
 man next to me in a sweater's den in Hester Street, a good 
 young fellow from Wilnau, he had red cheeks when he 
 went into that hell, worked without rest or dinner or 
 supper for day after day, until lie fell down at the machine,
 
 BAUMEISTER IS REPELLED 35 
 
 and I took him to the hospital, and he died there, talking 
 of green fields and fairy tales ? Do you know that the 
 girls who worked in the room with me slaved seventeen 
 hours every day, for a dollar and a half a week ? and that 
 the slave-driver abused and insulted them besides ? Do 
 you know that I have been so starved and enslaved that I 
 was ashamed and afraid to have my wife come here, to see 
 iriy dreadful condition ? Do you know that this meal of 
 bread and tea is the most substantial one that I have tasted 
 for days ? If you know all these things, you can under 
 stand that I have been tempted to violence quite as much 
 as you, Mr. Rudolf Baumeister, with your half-dozen steins 
 of beer and your comfortable supper every evening. And 
 now I tell you once for all our paths separate here ! If I 
 had to go through again all that I have suffered in these last 
 five terrible years, I would not yield to the temptation that 
 you lay before me, and I would scorn and spit upon your 
 conspiracy. Go your way, and let me and mine go ours ! " 
 
 "Poor deluded Joseph," said Baumeister, with an evil 
 smile. " I wish I could remember all this fine tirade. 
 I should make a sensation by repeating it. I think we 
 understand each other." 
 
 Joseph closed his eyes, and did not open them until he 
 heard the door creak softly. Baumeister was gone. 
 
 Presently Malcha came in with the child, and little 
 Zipporah clung to Joseph's legs, and asked him why he had 
 been shouting. 
 
 "At a silly man, my dear," he answered. And when 
 Malcha said she had watched Baumeister's exit, and that 
 he had looked as black as the Devil deprived of his prey, 
 Joseph smiled and said, 
 
 " Either he is a fool, or I am one. Time will decide." 
 And he asked for some more tea, and began munching his 
 crusts of bread again.
 
 36 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE WORLD IS A WEDDING 
 
 MALCHA opened her eyes widely, and hesitated, as, cling 
 ing to her husband's arm, she turned a corner whence she 
 could see the glow and glitter of Grand Street in its 
 Saturday night gala dress. She had never seen a really 
 large city before : the momentary glimpses which she had 
 had of Hamburg and Glasgow could scarcely rank as 
 views ; and the hurrying throngs, the floods of electric 
 light, the incessant yelling and bawling of the children, 
 the squeaking and clattering of the elevated trains, as well 
 as the uncouth language and straggling gait of some 
 drunken ruffians who passed near her, alarmed her more 
 than she cared to say. A look at the diminutive Zipporah, 
 who had blotted herself almost out of sight in her mother's 
 voluminous skirts, convinced Malcha that her fright was 
 shared by her offspring. 
 
 Br-r-r ! Clang ! Clang ! Clang ! There was a rush of 
 wheels rebounding from the irregular pavement, and send 
 ing forth showers of sparks; there was a vivid accom 
 paniment of horses' hoofs ; then a fiery dragon seemed to 
 hurtle forward, followed by a motley throng. Malcha 
 turned to flee. It seemed to her that if she remained 
 longer in that spot she might suffocate. 
 
 Suddenly she felt a gentle pull at her arm. 
 
 "Come along, Malcha," said Joseph, "unless you prefer
 
 THE WORLD IS A WEDDING 37 
 
 be late at the wedding. What ! Are you afraid ? The 
 fire-engines will not eat you. They are very useful. We 
 may need them at any time." 
 
 And he told her how great conflagrations from time to 
 time ate out the hearts of populous districts, leaving 
 dozens of families homeless, suffocating poor people in 
 their beds, ruining the precious stocks of starveling me 
 chanics, who could never get up in the world again. He 
 told her how the firemen came bounding to the houses in 
 flames, and how they smashed windows and hacked away 
 doors, and bravely risked their lives to save men and 
 women stupefied by the smoke ; but how the city never by 
 any chance seemed to do anything to protect its inhabit 
 ants against the dread contingency of fire. "A few more 
 solidly built houses," said Joseph, " and a few less fire- 
 engines, and we should get along just as well." 
 
 It was Saturday, the evening of the day after Baumeister's 
 visit to Joseph, and the Jewish Sabbath. Neither Joseph 
 nor his wife paid much attention to the ordinary obser 
 vances of the Hebrew church calendar, although Malcha 
 still had a yearning toward them. Joseph's " emancipa 
 tion," as he called it, dated from the beginning of his 
 earliest readings in general literature ; but he now and then 
 was seen in a synagogue, and was a close attendant on the 
 wedding festivals in the humble class whose cause he had 
 espoused. " I never see them laugh anywhere else," he 
 once said to David. " At your theatre they sit as solemn 
 as moujiks in a row, waiting to be whipped. But then 
 you always play such terribly doleful pieces, that your 
 theatre is like the valley of Lamentations ! " 
 
 Malcha was glad to go to the wedding if for no other 
 reason, that she might see lifted from her husband's 
 brow the cloud which had been there since Baumeister's 
 visit. But had she been alone she would certainly have
 
 38 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 fled in terror before the accumulated obstacles of Grand 
 Street. 
 
 Beneath the glow of double lines of electric light two 
 steadily moving columns of people on either side of the 
 street presented themselves to Malcha's vision. There was 
 nothing in the types of humanity seen in them to surprise 
 Malcha; for most of them were German or Austrian, or 
 Polish or Russian, Jewish or Italian. Here Demos from 
 beyond the sea holds complete control. The American of 
 the Eastern States, the suave Middle-States man, the ner- 
 'vous trader of the West, are rarely seen in Grand Street. 
 An American name upon a sign looks as odd as the Hebrew 
 lettering would seem to the inhabitants of a quiet village 
 in Western New York. Malcha saw with astonishment 
 the hundreds of young men and women of her own race, 
 stepping briskly along, some of them making a brave 
 display of finery. They spoke the jargon of her native 
 province ; they were unchanged, save in a nameless some 
 thing in the demeanor, which seemed to be communicated 
 by the air of the New World. No trace of their old 
 servile attitude was to be found. " They walk," said 
 Malcha to Joseph, " as if they already owned the country." 
 
 "Everybody walks that way here," answered Joseph. 
 " But it does not have much to do with owning the country 
 in fact, I can tell you. Especially in the case of our 
 people." And he sighed. 
 
 After a long walk, at the end of which little Zipporah 
 insisted upon going to sleep, still clinging to her mother's 
 skirts, and had to be committed, an inert mass, to Joseph's 
 sheltering arms, they reached a narrow door in a rickety 
 looking block, and climbed a steep staircase, at the head of 
 which a small doorkeeper, armed with a police club, sud 
 denly loomed up like a Jack-in-the-Box, and extended his 
 hand, as if to take the guests' invitations, and scan them.
 
 THE WORLD IS A WEDDING 39 
 
 But his stern features relaxed into a broad grin as he saw 1 
 Joseph, and, patting him in a friendly manner on the 
 shoulder with the club, he escorted the little family to a 
 rickety settee just under the lee of a platform on Avhich 
 stood a small piano, at the upper entrance to a long dan 
 cing hall with waxed and polished floor. Here he begged 
 them to remain until the arrival of the wedding party. 
 
 The cushioned benches on either side of this hall were 
 occupied by various dark-haired mammas and their brown 
 daughters, some of whom were dowered with lustrous 
 Jewish beauty ; with groups of children who talked in soft 
 voices and made profuse gestures, and who now and then 
 slid into the middle of the room, and gradually warmed up 
 to a boisterous game, which provoked peals of laughter. 
 
 When the confusion was at its height, the small police 
 man came rushing in, and, pounding violently on the floor 
 with his club, cried, " Set down!" an injunction which 
 the children instantly obeyed, only to disobey it again the 
 moment the policeman's back was turned, so that they 
 seemed to be playing at hide-and-seek with him. 
 
 Presently the piano and the violin on the platform be 
 hind Joseph and his family ventured to hold sweet and 
 rhythmical discourse, and the young girls began waltzing 
 together, their willowy bodies turning and swaying grace 
 fully to quaint measures which had a gypsy twang. The 
 girls were nearly all Russians, although here and there the 
 sparkling eyes and handsome forehead of a Polish damsel 
 were to be seen. Most of the faces would have been pretty 
 had it not been for the shadow of hunger upon them 
 hunger for the decent food which they never succeeded in 
 getting; hunger for a richer and a better life than the 
 horrible sweaters' hell of eighteen hours of daily toil. 
 
 There was a baleful glitter in the pretty eyes of some of 
 these girls. It augured bad things if they were ever to be
 
 40 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 allowed the chance to avenge themselves on the Society 
 which had kept them so cruelly down. There were lines 
 in their faces which seemed furrows left by tears. 
 
 Half an hour passed thus, Joseph sitting musingly 
 silent, with little Zipporah clinging to his knee, and 
 Malcha attentively examining every living object which 
 came within her scope. The dark-faced violinist, a di 
 minutive man with a handsome, sensual face and soft, 
 caressing manners, attracted her attention, and he looked 
 at her curiously, as if he would claim an acquaintance. 
 But she could not remember that she had ever seen him 
 before. She was about to ask Joseph if he remembered 
 such a man, when the masculine members of the bridal 
 party came hurrying in, and at once grouped about Joseph 
 with apologies. Already eight o'clock, was it ? And the 
 wedding appointed for seven ! But at the last minute Wolf 
 Zablinski, the bride's father, could not be found, and they 
 could not proceed without him ! Some one had finally 
 located him at his carpenter's shop, where he had gone to 
 give directions about the business of the morrow, entirely 
 forgetting his daughter's nuptials. Now all should proceed 
 in good order. 
 
 The ushers were neatly dressed in black, with white vests 
 and ties, and the lapels of their coats were decorated with 
 enormous badges. They carried tall hats in their hands, 
 and were fond of grouping themselves at the side, near the 
 damsels on the benches, and discussing gravely together, or 
 striking attitudes, in all of which the badge figured for its 
 full value. 
 
 And now came the rabbi, plainly dressed in a frock coat, 
 a pair of striped trousers, and a hat which could certainly 
 have furnished abundant reminiscences of 1830, if hats 
 could speak or write. The rabbi bestowed his box of mar 
 riage paraphernalia in a corner, carefully hung the wonder-
 
 THE WOULD IS A WEDDING 41 
 
 fill liat on a nail inaccessible even to the tallest of the 
 children, and clothed his cranium MI a small skull-cap. 
 
 He then received the greetings of the members of the 
 bridal party, extending to each his hand with frosty dignity, 
 and seeming quite relieved each time he got his hand back 
 again, as though he suspected some one of the party of a 
 design to purloin it. Meantime the piano and the violin 
 were getting quite religious, and played so slowly and 
 mournfully that they disorganized the dancers, who re 
 sumed their seats. 
 
 In a small carpeted room, separated from the main hall 
 by a little antechamber, sat the bride, supported on right 
 and left by her mother, her aunts and cousins, and with 
 her brothers and sisters near her. A dozen great candles 
 shed a steady light upon this little company of white-robed 
 women and children, and brought out in strong relief the 
 anxious look in the bride's plain, wholesome Jewish face. 
 The women talked in an undertone, and were doubtless 
 criticising the dress and demeanor of the male members of 
 the party, while the children hitched restlessly on the little 
 stools, and longed for the procession to begin. 
 
 At last it was coming ! Joseph and his family came to 
 offer their congratulations to Liza, the bride, and then to 
 follow in her train. And now came the " chuppah," the 
 four-cornered canopy, supported by rods held in the hands 
 of the ushers, with the rabbi leading the way, the bride 
 groom, a slender young man in evening dress, following in 
 the wake of Wolf Zablinski, the carpenter who had forgot 
 ten that it was his daughter's wedding day. 
 
 And when this goodly company of men, their faces aglow 
 ,vith the excitement of th" occasion, and their costumes 
 glittering in the candlelight, came opposite to the women, 
 and halted for them to join the procession, poor Liza, the 
 bride, felt ready to faint with pride and delight.
 
 42 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 She arose, and, guided by the bridegroom, took her place 
 beneath the chuppah, whereupon the whole company set 
 forth, and returned, with the gleam of its candles reflected 
 in the polished flooring, to the lower end of the hall. 
 
 The rabbi took off his skull-cap, folded his left hand over 
 his right, as if still apprehensive that some one might get 
 it, and emitted from his lips a long ululation, followed by 
 a gush of sibilant phrases, the whole in a high key and a 
 strained, unnatural voice. 
 
 Holding his head thrown back, and keeping his eyes closed, 
 he continued the weird chanting for some time, and the 
 little company whispered to each other that " tins was 
 ancient Hebrew." The bride stood up, quite radiant, in 
 the centre of the company, and the glare of the candles 
 gave a blue-black lustre to the massive dark braids of her 
 hair, crowned with orange blossoms. 
 
 At last the rabbi came out of ancient Hebrew and down 
 to earth and to modern times again, and performed the sim 
 ple ceremony with the wonted accessories of the goblet of 
 wine, from which both bride and bridegroom drank, the 
 rabbi crushing the glass afterwards under his heel, that no 
 man might say thereafter, " I have drunk from their wed 
 ding glass." And at the close he handed the bride her 
 marriage contract, duly signed and attested, with the re 
 mark, " Take care of it. It is good for one hundred and 
 twenty -five years ! " at which time-worn joke even the 
 wearied features of Joseph shaped themselves into a smile, 
 and he remarked, 
 
 " The bride is evidently not employed by the sweaters, 
 or she would not expect to live one hundred and twenty- 
 five years ! " 
 
 Then there were kissings and hand-shakings ; and just as 
 the bride and bridegroom were returning together to the 
 inner chamber, beneath the august canopy of the chuppah,
 
 THE WORLD IS A WEDDING 43 
 
 David appeared in their path, accompanied by little Miryam. 
 Joseph and Malcha beckoned to them, but at that moment 
 there was a loud crash of cymbals on the musicians' plat 
 form. This was the signal that the wedding was over and 
 that dancing might begin, and in another minute the 
 fat mammas and the lean daughters, the bearded papas and 
 the sallow sons, and even the olive-cheeked children with 
 the preternaturally aged faces were off in the voluptuous 
 whirl, floating, circling, and returning upon their airy steps 
 like veritable sprites of air. When at last the elders 
 sank panting and palpitating upon the benches, the chil- 
 tlren, more especially little Simon, aged four, a strapping 
 baby boy with a voice like a young tornado, and tiny Sarah, 
 an ethereal child with dark ringlets and the blackest of 
 eyes, seemed determined to keep it up ; and young Baruch 
 a carpenter's apprentice, who had been in the country for 
 five years, and had already learned to " talk Bowery," and 
 a fat girl in a red gown, seconded the children in their 
 noisy sport. Baruch and his partner thumped against 
 the rabbi so ponderously that the good man fled precipi 
 tately. Simon and Sarah waltzed in and out through the 
 bridal party with such fantastic steps and such merry peals 
 of laughter that the short policeman once more rushed 
 upon the scene with dramatic flourishes of his club, and 
 loud cries of "Set down ! " This ruffled the temper of 
 Baruch, who had already acquired the American impa 
 tience of restraint ; and depositing his partner on a bench 
 he sprang for the policeman, and, disarming him of his 
 baton, cried, 
 
 " Set down yourself, you big chump ! You ain't goin' 
 to do no settin' down here, see ? Now go and lose your 
 self ! " 
 
 And blows would have followed words, had not Joseph 
 at this juncture interposed, and reminded the pugnacious
 
 44 JOSEPH ZALMONAII 
 
 Barueh that he would lose his share in the excellent 
 supper soon to follow, if he indulged in fisticuffs. Upon 
 this order was restored, and Joseph and Malcha managed 
 to reach David and the little Miryam. 
 
 " ' The world is a wedding,' says our Jewish proverb," 
 remarked David, when they were near enough to hear. 
 " And indeed it seems true, when I think of the number 
 of matings I have seen in this very hall. Ah ! the rabbi's 
 business is never dull ! And the untyings are rather brisk 
 too, I am told. Well ! well ! ' all the blessings of a house 
 hold come through a wife.' " 
 
 David was in the best of spirits, and joked and laughed 
 so freely that all eyes were turned upon him. But Miryam 
 was sombre and disturbed by some sorrow, and from time 
 to time she looked upon Joseph with a strange, far-away 
 gaze, as if she were dreaming. And when Malcha drew 
 her aside, and sat down in a corner to chat, the girl leaned 
 her head upon the friendly shoulder and began to weep. 
 
 " What is it, Miryam ? " queried Malcha. " What ails 
 the poor heart ? " 
 
 But nothing would Miryam answer until, half an hour 
 later, she confided to Malcha that she had overheard a 
 member of the theatrical company making threats against 
 Joseph, and saying that he would be " done up " yet, 
 because he interfered with the plans of the " force party." 
 Malcha listened with a new fear growing in her heart, but 
 with a robust confidence that Joseph would be able to 
 triumph over all his enemies doing battle with that fear. 
 
 While the women were endeavoring to console each 
 other, Joseph and David climbed a second flight of rickety 
 stairs, in search of a man whom David wished to see. " We 
 shall find him in his lodge-room," he said. They paused 
 iu a shabby antechamber, and knocked at a rude door in 
 the rough brick wall. A little wicket in the upper half of
 
 THE WORLD IS A WEDDING 45 
 
 the door opened, and disclosed so comely a face and such 
 a magnificent pair of black eyes that for an instant Joseph 
 was as dazzled as if he had been looking at the sun. 
 
 The wicket was instantly closed. 
 
 " Whew ! " said David with a whimsical grimace. " That 
 is Bathsheba. What is she doing there ? " 
 
 The door now swung open, and David and Joseph en 
 tered a long room almost the counterpart of the dancing- 
 hall below. It was roughly- furnished with an old desk 
 and a few chairs which had once been ornamental, but 
 which would then have fetched in the auction-room hardly 
 a dollar for the lot of two or three dozen. In these chairs 
 were seated a score of dark-haired, pale-faced young men, 
 all of whom seemed overcome with fatigue. They were 
 neatly dressed, but their thin features, their scarred fingers 
 blackened with toil told the story. These were the un 
 happy " sweated " workers whose lot Joseph was striving 
 to ameliorate ; and they had come from their day of crush 
 ing work direct to the lodge-room to hold their weekly 
 meeting. There were some among them who could fight 
 off sleep no longer, having been up and at work since four 
 in the morning ; and, lying motionless in their chairs, they 
 looked not unlike the victims of some enchantment which 
 had condemned them suddenly to immobility. Their sleep 
 was so dense, it was the expression of such utter fatigue, 
 that it was almost frightful. It hurt Joseph to contem 
 plate it. 
 
 The " lodge " was one of the innumerable Hebrew co 
 operative institutions which do so much credit to the heads 
 and hearts of the Jewish population ; and each of the poor 
 waifs from Russia who owned membership in it felt that it 
 gave him a better grip on the future, and a partial guar 
 anty against want. The meeting was just over, and David 
 found his man, and had a brief interview with him.
 
 46 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 Meantime Joseph was contemplating the face which 
 had so dazzled him when he caught a fleeting glimpse of it 
 through the wicket. He could not have taken his eyes 
 from the face if he had wished to do so. A subtle and 
 mysterious enchantment seemed to flow from the woman's 
 gaze, and to envelop him like a garment, as she turned her 
 great dark eyes to him, and appeared to take a mis 
 chievous pleasure in compelling him to look at her. 
 
 The woman was standing near the door, and talking in 
 an undertone with a tall youth, mostly legs and shoulders, 
 who listened reverently to her. She was of medium height, 
 exquisitely proportioned, and with the full and rounded 
 outlines so common to Jewish beauty. Her face was fault 
 lessly perfect, save for the note of sensualism in it, which 
 jarred on one's sense of propriety. It took away the 
 ethereal grace which should have been seated on such a 
 divinely beautiful low brow, in such star-like eyes, and on 
 the dainty lips and voluptuous chin. The black hair was 
 combed smoothly down in the sweet old fashion universal 
 before a perverted generation knew the folly of " bangs." 
 The noble form was draped in a long silk coat lined with 
 gray fur, which, thrown back from the shapely shoulders, 
 disclosed a plain and inexpensive robe, from the hem of 
 which coarse shoes peeped out. The hat which crowned 
 the Juno-like head was neither new nor in the fashion, 
 and in both cloak and hat there lay the confession of pinch 
 ing poverty ; for it was in the early summer, when furs 
 were no longer tolerable, and when a fresh spring hat was 
 an imperative need for every woman. Despite the dingi- 
 ness of her attire, the splendid creature held herself as 
 erect as if she were a queen, and Joseph were a courtier 
 offering homage. 
 
 Joseph felt a sense of relief when David was ready to 
 go, and when the enveloping gaze was lifted from him.
 
 THE WORLD IS A WEDDING 47 
 
 " What glorious eyes, eh? " said David as they went 
 down-stairs. 
 
 " Who is that woman ? " asked Joseph slowly. 
 
 " Bathsheba. I thought I told you. I forget her other 
 name. She is the wife of the dark-faced fiddler whom 
 you saw on the platform down-stairs. Yes, she is one of 
 our own people. Her father is very rich, but has cut her 
 off altogether because she insisted on marrying the fiddler. 
 She married him at a loss, so the gossips say, of a hun 
 dred thousand roubles, and they came here. At first he 
 made a good living ; now it is not so good. A nice misery 
 ahead, eh ? Well ! well ! ' the world is a wedding,' as I 
 said before, and 'a myrtle in the desert remains a myrtle 
 still.' Bathsheba is a proof of it. And is she not a fine- 
 looking witch? I am sure that with those eyes she can see 
 into our souls, and can read the secrets of fate. She is 
 ambitious. They say that she is a Socialist. I'll venture 
 to say that she was talking Socialism to that tall youth 
 when we came in. What do you think of her ? " 
 
 "I think that if she talks it with her eyes, it will 
 be more effective than if she preaches it with her lips." 
 
 Then they went back into the dancing-hall, and rejoined 
 the wedding party.
 
 48 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 
 "JUDITH AND HOLOFERNUS" 
 
 SOFT, brooding music of flutes and violins, now murmur 
 ing as in prayer, now long drawn out as in lamentation, 
 filled the air, and seemed to the wearied Joseph and Malcha 
 like some strange incantation to charm them to repose. 
 
 They were seated, with little Zipporah between them, in 
 one corner of a huge, rambling box iu that old-fashioned 
 theatre in the Bowery in which David was chief artificer 
 of the plays. David had invited them on the evening of 
 the wedding, and had won Joseph from his melancholy, 
 and from his determination to engage in no amusement, by 
 telling him that his presence would aid the cause of the 
 Benevolent Union, which had purchased the house on that 
 particular evening, and was giving a "benefit." 
 
 " For benevolence, you know," added David, falling back, 
 from unconscious habit, upon an ancient proverb, " is one 
 of the pillars upon which the world rests." 
 
 Joseph did not need to be told what benevolence was, 
 for he had been exercising it all day, even to the minute 
 before going to the theatre ; and it was because he gave his 
 last half-dollar to a needy pedler, who professed to be 
 starving, that he and his were obliged to walk to the 
 theatre. "Never mind," said Joseph, "to-morrow I shall 
 have some money returned to me." And he would not let 
 Malcha use any of the tiny store of cash which she had
 
 "JUDITH AND HOLOFERNUS" 49 
 
 brought from Russia. " We will keep that for emergency 
 day," he said. 
 
 Malcha smiled faintly, and it seemed to her as if that 
 day were not far off. 
 
 The house was in shadow. From the sole gallery came 
 rustling and murmurs, interspersed with occasional laughter 
 and guttural remarks in jargon, which proclaimed the 
 presence of a strong contingent of juvenile cloakmakers. 
 Those pallid, sharp-eyed, thick-lipped, lean and scrawny 
 slaves of the needle managed to scrape from their miserable 
 pittances money enough to see most of David's new plays. 
 
 But now and then, when the piece was unusually long 
 and exhausting, this juvenile contingent, having been out 
 of bed since four in the morning, fell asleep, and then the 
 snoring of the lines of sleepers interrupted the tirades of 
 Hebrew heroines and the songs and recitatives of Jewish 
 generals of olden time. 
 
 A faint odor, too, as of new cloth which is stirred and 
 handled, characterized the throng in this gallery. This 
 was not wonderful, inasmuch as the overworked band 
 certainly passed seventeen hours out of every twenty-four 
 in the " sweaters' " shops, where the huge piles of freshly 
 made garments sent up a rank smell, poisonous to the lungs, 
 yet carefully confined to the room, in which windows 
 were rarely thrown open save in the excessive heats of 
 July and August. 
 
 In the parquette there were thoughtful faces of men and 
 women making their first experience of poverty ; men and 
 women who found in the newly created theatre in which 
 the panorama of ancient Jewish life was slowly unrolled 
 before them much consolation for their woes in exile. 
 Some of these faces were delicate, almost aristocratic, and 
 accorded strangely with the poor and shabby garments 
 which their owners wore.
 
 50 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 Others were sordid, cunning, malicious, Oriental in 
 feature, and almost wolfish in their manner of looking about, 
 as if in search of prey. There were jolly families which 
 had known how to remain jolly after being brutally ex 
 pelled from their homes in Russia, marched in manacles 
 across the frozen wastes, or herded in fourth-class cars 
 like cattle until they reached the frontier, when they began 
 an era of wandering in misery and affliction which might 
 well have broken the courage of a stouter folk. Landed 
 in America, and hurled upon a labor market ten times 
 overstocked by oppressed beings like themselves, they yet 
 managed to get a living, and, on rare occasions, to patronize 
 David's establishment. 
 
 Scattered through the audience were lean, bilious men 
 with dark flowing beards, and eyes which had a fierce 
 glow. These were the Socialist scribes and agitators who 
 keep up a constant crusade against capital, and who print 
 in their tiny Hebrew papers, issued from the recesses of 
 some East Side street, strange prophecies as to what the 
 " party of force " will do when the time shall come. In 
 the best corner seats sat "contractors," magnificent in new 
 and comfortable raiment, and wearing an air of complete 
 innocence, as if the blood of the oppressed did not cry to 
 Heaven against them. 
 
 Nothing pleased David better than from time to time 
 to put upon his stage a local play, in which real life was 
 copied with as scrupulous fidelity as was consistent with 
 freedom from criminal libel. In these plays he pilloried 
 " sweaters" and "contractors," and pictured the horrors of 
 the dens with such force that on one occasion a contractor 
 left the house precipitately, fearing that if he stayed a few 
 moments longer the audience would rise against him. 
 
 In the less expensive seats were lines of young girls, deli 
 cate of form, and with bowed frames and pale cheeks which
 
 "JUDITH AND HOLOFERNUS" 51 
 
 told of prolonged toil. Their intensely black hair and eyes, 
 their red lips, and a certain indefinable Orientalism in their 
 features, proclaimed them as Hebrews from Southern Russia. 
 These pretty creatures were, like the youth in the gallery, 
 almost worn out with labor. But they managed to bestow 
 feverish attention on every detail of the play the moment 
 that the curtain was raised. 
 
 All these types were recognized by Joseph's practised eye 
 as soon as the lights were turned up, and the baker's dozen 
 of musicians in the orchestra began a curious prelude, full of 
 quavers, to the romantic historical opera of " Judith and 
 Holofernus," in four acts and ten scenes, with musical 
 interludes and dances. 
 
 The old musicians bent lovingly to their work. There was 
 one violinist with silvered hair who especially interested 
 Joseph, for he worked with as great solemnity and pious 
 fervor as if " Judith and Holofernus " were a holy mystery 
 play. 
 
 And now the curtain rose, and Malcha uttered a little cry 
 of delight, for she had never seen anything like this in 
 Russia ; the Jewish jargon theatre is not yet twenty years 
 old ; nor was she prepared for anything so poetical and 
 charming. 
 
 In the centre of the stage stood an old man with long 
 white hair and beard, and clad in robes of dark hue. 
 He was addressing, in impassioned strain, reproaches to a 
 comely woman robed in white and seated on a rustic bench, 
 with her eyes raised to heaven with an expression of pro 
 found melancholy. The old man was Zachariah, a veteran 
 general, and the comely woman was Judith, or " Yee-hu- 
 diss, " as the actors called her his only daughter. Judith 
 was, it seemed, constantly in prayer and trance, and the woful 
 sadness which weighed her down had excited her father's 
 apprehension. When questioned, Judith's only answer was
 
 52 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 that she must go forth into the camp of the besieging 
 enemy, the haughty Assyrians, and that her mission could 
 not be explained. In a wild rhapsody Judith then sang of 
 her faith in Jehovah, and her belief that he would rid the 
 beleaguered city of its enemies. Zachariah believed this 
 to be madness, and shook his palms in the air, and shrugged 
 his shoulders, as in his quaint jargon he informed his 
 daughter that he must bring her case before the Sanhedrim. 
 Judith continued her rhapsody, and her father went away 
 wringing his hands, while the violins and flutes furnished a 
 wailing accompaniment to his foreboding cries. 
 
 The curtain fell upon Yee-hu-diss and her melancholy, 
 to rise again in a few moments disclosing the arrival of the 
 Assyrian general-staff in a little nook overlooking the 
 besieged town. Priests of Baal, fearfully and wonderfully 
 attired in multicolored garments, and with yellow flax for 
 hair and beards, brought in a monster image of their deity, 
 and danced around it, chanting barbaric prayers, until they 
 fell down from exhaustion. Then a tremolo of violins, 
 accompanied by the grr-grr of the bass-viol, announced tho 
 entree of " Holofernus," as he is called in the jargon. 
 On he came, with his guard of bloodthirsty spearsmen, and 
 his generals in matted beards, rolling their eyes in ferocious 
 fashion. 
 
 " Holofernus " was a mighty figure of a man. Pie looked 
 like the copy by a Hebrew artist of the form of an Assyrian 
 king on some old sarcophagus. His shapely head was orna 
 mented with a long and rippling black beard, which came 
 to his waist. His brazen helmet was adorned with a fiery 
 plume. His scarlet mantle was thrown back to disclose 
 a corselet supposed to be proof against Jewish javelins. 
 His long sword, upon the hilt of which one brown hand 
 rested, was richly ornamented. His generals were less 
 expensively, but properly costumed. The black-bearded
 
 "JUDITH AND HOLOFERNUS" 53 
 
 projector of the theatre had at the outset invested a little 
 fortune in costumes, and many a long-established theatre 
 " up-town " could boast of no better wardrobe than this in 
 fant Hebrew histrionic institution. 
 
 Holof emus held a council of war, and had brought before 
 him the child Jochanan, a Jewish captive, whom he threat 
 ened with all sorts of indignities because he would not wor 
 ship Baal. But the child stood firm for the true God ; and 
 his simple eloquence, naively expressed in the jargon, 
 brought down thunders of applause from the youthful knee- 
 pants makers in the galleries. 
 
 The curtain fell once more ; and when it arose again, the 
 audience saw before it the " Sanhedrim," with the High 
 Priest seated upon the upper seat, and the attendant priests 
 ranged on lower benches. This venerable assemblage was 
 composed with the greatest effect, for David had a Titian- 
 like eye for grouping. The holy tribunal was personated 
 by rude and ignorant men, many of whom worked at their 
 trades by day, and added to their slender incomes by figur 
 ing at the theatre in the evenings. But the magic of artis 
 tic discipline had fashioned them into a better ensemble 
 than one often sees in grand opera, where the supernume 
 raries get nothing like the training which David bestowed 
 upon his. 
 
 Solemnly, in ancient Hebrew, the Sanhedrim sang a hymn, 
 all the priests folding their hands and raising their eyes. 
 As the last words were on their lips, Zachariah appeared, 
 leading his trembling daughter Judith, who was to be 
 judged by the Sanhedrim. What wicked motive lay hid 
 den beneath her resolve to go forth among the besieging 
 heathen ? Judith in a dramatic recitative explained that she 
 was called of God, and that she would do valiant deeds for 
 Israel. Then the High Priest declared his faith that 
 Judith would not betray her people. Coining down
 
 54 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 from his lofty seat, he placed his hands upon the hands 
 of Zachariah, held above his daughter's head, and invoked 
 the divine blessing. Then the Sanhedrim dispersed, inton 
 ing its chant in ancient Hebrew. And the whole audience 
 remained silent, as if reverential in presence of the heroic 
 memory of the woman of Bethulia, of whom all had heard, 
 and whose name was in the calendar of national heroines. 
 
 The next act dealt with life in the camp of the besiegers. 
 To the sound of the merriest music Mufti, the eunuch, and 
 body-slave of Holofernus, arrived, marshalling four yellow- 
 haired soldiers, to whom, in his quality of court jester, he 
 administered a sportive drill, which consisted in counter 
 manding one moment the order he had given the instant 
 before, a proceeding eminently pleasing to the cloth-per 
 fumed youth in the gallery. 
 
 Mufti was a triumph of David's imagination. There 
 was something suggestive of the earliest illustrations of the 
 Bible in his grotesque accoutrements, and in the bulbous 
 head, the parchment face sown with comical wrinkles, the 
 puffy lips, from which depended little braided fragments 
 of mustache and beard. Only an artist tinctured with the 
 mediaeval spirit could have produced Mufti, the bibulous 
 slave, whose amusing capers relieved the attention of the 
 spectators, when the drama was getting too serious. And 
 Mufti's laugh ! It had a goblin-like character, an eerie 
 quality which made one shiver while he smiled at the buf 
 foon's antics. When Mufti came forward to the footlights, 
 and, stepping out of the historical play, sang, now in guttural 
 tones, now in highly pitched key, a " topical song " which 
 discussed every-day occurrences in East Broadway and in 
 Hester Street, the roar of applause was loud and prolonged. 
 
 Suddenly Mufti paused in his song; the words seemed 
 to stick in his throat; his knees knocked together. He 
 heard Holofernus calling him, and a moment later that
 
 "JUDITH AND HOLOFERNUS" 55 
 
 valiant general made his appearance, slightly the worse in 
 equilibrium, and the better in valor, for numerous potations 
 of strong wine. Holofernus, surrounded by his concubines, 
 dancing-girls, and soldiers, was in a terrible temper, and 
 was determined to cut off a few heads before relapsing into 
 a drunken slumber. Advancing to the footlights, he sang, 
 in a tremendous bass voice which seemed fairly to shake 
 the little old men in the orchestra at his feet, a song, the 
 refrain of which was "Blood! Blood !" Kolling his eyes 
 and tearing his beard, he rushed to and fro, brandishing his 
 sword, and making terrific passes at Mufti and the girls. 
 And every minute or two it was Mufti's dangerous mission 
 to fetch him a fresh skin of wine, the contents of which the 
 giant consumed with the ease of a company of politicians 
 doing a few " cold quarts " when work is dull and money 
 is easy. 
 
 Who should calm the furious savage ? Who could do it 
 who save the beautiful Bethulian woman captured that 
 day just outside the lines the woman to whom Holofer 
 nus had taken such a mighty fancy, that all the concubines, 
 feeling their Assyrian noses out of joint, were already plot 
 ting to destroy ? Who but Judith, the lovely creature who 
 seemed to humor all Holofernus's fancies, and to respond 
 to his drunken advances ? The terrified camp followers 
 whom Holofernus was on the point of immolating implored 
 Judith to save them. She persuaded Holofernus to lean, 
 leering like a wine-maddened satyr, on her shoulder, and 
 to be led to a couch, where he sank in a few moments into 
 dreamless slumber. The captive boy Jochanan recognized 
 Judith, and, believing that she had sold herself to the 
 enemy, spurned her from him with contempt, all of which 
 Judith endured for the cause's sacred sake. 
 
 Joseph thought that he recognized a familiar voice when 
 Jochanan spoke, and, looking more closely, he discovered
 
 56 JOSEPH ZALMONAII 
 
 his little friend Miryain in tho boyish habiliments of the 
 captive. He marvelled at the training which had in a few 
 months transformed Miryam from a gawky and frowsy girl, 
 turning half somersaults on piles of new clothing in the 
 sweating den, into this winsome actress, who was daintily 
 pretty in Jochanan's robe and cap. The child felt that he 
 was watching her, and a great throb of joy stole through 
 her being, for she looked upon Joseph with reverence. 
 
 While Joseph was contemplating Miryam he felt a curi 
 ous sense of being himself contemplated, and, raising his 
 eyes suddenly to the upper box on the other side of the 
 theatre, his heart gave a sudden and unfamiliar leap which 
 surprised him, and brought a faint color to his pale cheeks. 
 For there sat the strange woman, Bathsheba, the handsome 
 wife of the dark-faced fiddler, and she was gazing at him 
 as she had looked when he entered the " lodge-room " 
 where he first saw her, with a gaze that seemed to envelop 
 him and take possession of his being. Instinctively he 
 turned to Malcha, to see if she had observed the disturbing 
 influence. But Malcha as yet gave no sign of a knowledge 
 of Bathsheba's existence, and Joseph remembered, with a 
 slight feeling of guilt, that he had told his wife nothing 
 about her. 
 
 Bathsheba was not alone. She was escorted by an elderly 
 man with a hair-dye complexion and a fringe of whiskers 
 which seemed a misfit for his features. In this singular 
 being Joseph recognized the owner of several houses in 
 which the victims of the sweaters were herded together 
 like animals a mean landlord, who treated his victims 
 with the utmost cruelty ; and his gorge rose at him. What 
 was Bathsheba doing in his company? Joseph found him 
 self strangely curious to know this. 
 
 He tried to concentrate his attention upon Miryam as 
 Jochanan, the captive boy, but the eyes of Bathsheba
 
 "JUDITH AND HOLOFERNUS" 57 
 
 seemed imperiously to claim him. He looked up at her 
 again, and in her gaze he could see a sudden gleam of 
 triumph, which gave him a small heart-pang. 
 
 Hugging to his breast little Zipporah, who had fallen 
 asleep, he retired into the shadows in the box, and from 
 his sheltering obscurity watched the drama as it slowly 
 progressed to the grand culminating scene. 
 
 Judith was still in the camp, despised by Jochanan, 
 hated by the Assyrian brood, contemned and spat upon by 
 the concubines and dancing-girls, who envied her the 
 strange power which she had obtained over their master. 
 Her aged father, who had wandered out incautiously 
 in search of her, was brought in, bound with ropes, and 
 mocked and insulted by the pagan soldiery, who called him 
 a spy, and demanded his life. 
 
 In his extremity the old man fell on his knees in prayer ; 
 and while busy with his supplications, the Assyrians danced 
 round about him, calling him rude names, and buffeting 
 him with the palms of their hands. Suddenly his eyes 
 beheld his daughter his precious Judith, and he arose 
 and tottered toward her, falling at her feet, and calling her 
 his beloved daughter. 
 
 But Judith, with harsh looks and angry gestures, ordered 
 him away. She knew, him not, and recommended that such 
 an impostor be bound with strong cords, and kept securely 
 until his fate could be determined. Poor Zachariah ! He 
 could not understand his daughter's hidden motive in thus 
 denying him to his face ; and so he solemnly gave her a 
 father's curse. 
 
 All this was played with a quaint earnestness, a deliberate 
 emphasis, and an unction not at all modern in spirit, and 
 seeming to have been borrowed from the mystery plays of 
 the Middle Age. 
 
 There were naive touches of humor, of grotesque clown-
 
 58 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 ing on the part of the Assyrians, which seemed to have 
 been taken bodily from those rude plays which the Russian 
 serfs were wont to produce before their masters at certain 
 festivities. Tradition, indeed, tells us that as late as the 
 seventeenth century a Russian Czar allowed a version 
 of " Judith and Holofernus " to be represented before him 
 by some newly arrived Germans, and laughed so heartily 
 at some of the jokes that the players were emboldened to 
 ask his favor. " Ask what you wish, and you shall have 
 it ! " cried the delighted Czar. " Well, then, Majesty," 
 said the head player, " we are Lutherans, and we would 
 like permission to open a Lutheran chapel in Moscow." 
 The Czar frowned, but kept his word. " You shall have 
 your chapel," he cried, " but on condition that you keep on 
 playing these plays to amuse me." And so it came to pass 
 that the pious Lutherans were unmolested in the practice 
 of their religion in Russia, and that they gave these 
 religious comedies on an extemporized stage behind the 
 altar rails of his chapel, for the delectation of the Czar. 
 Rescued from oblivion by some Jew with a taste for ferret 
 ing among the provincial archives, and carried into Rou- 
 mania, where the Jews were relatively free, this play of 
 "Judith and Holofernus" had fallen into the hands of 
 David's master ; and after many shrewd touches by David 
 himself, who possessed the same talent for furbishing up 
 an old play that clever restorers shown in rejuvenating an 
 ancient painting, it was brought forth before the exiles, 
 thousands of miles from their native land. 
 
 And how heartily the exiles received the ensuing scenes 
 of the romantic story ! How they roared over the humor 
 of Mufti, who suddenly transformed himself into an able 
 ally of Judith ; who enabled her to visit her father's prison 
 in secret, to receive his forgiveness, and to free him from 
 his bonds ! How they cheered when Mufti found time to
 
 "JUDITH AND HOLOFERNUS" 59 
 
 step out of the past into the present, and to sing them a 
 topical song in which there were ironical allusions to the 
 " sweaters " ! And how eagerly, and with what awestruck 
 mien, they gazed at the grand closing scene in the tent of 
 " Holofernus." 
 
 The tyrant was prone on his luxurious couch, with his 
 head upon Judith's knees. His long hair and beard were 
 in disorder, and his gestures showed that he was inflamed 
 with wine. Judith lulled him to sleep with song. Then, 
 drawing the invader's sword from his belt, she burst into a 
 furious invective against him, and smote him with realistic 
 downward sweeping blow, while the light of the lamp went 
 out, and gusts of wind shook the draperies of the tent. 
 
 Prom the gallery of the cloakmakers came sighs and 
 groans and sonorous blowing of noses expressions of 
 intense emotion in theatres the world over. 
 
 Another moment, and Judith's white face peered out 
 from the curtains, as Salvini peers after Desdemona is done 
 to death. Then forth she stole, with a ghastly head in 
 her hands, and sped away through the darkness without 
 uttering a word. Here the highest theatrical effect was 
 reached by the simplest process, and by unerring artistic 
 intuition. 
 
 Malcha's cheeks were aflame now. In her obscure and 
 muddy village in Russia she had seen nothing like this. 
 The lights, the music, the costumes, all were intoxicating 
 for her. 
 
 " Was not Miryara sweet as the little boy ? " she cried to 
 her husband. 
 
 "Sweet enough to eat," answered Joseph, awakening 
 from a kind of dream, which, to his surprise, was filled with 
 the magnetic presence of Bathsheba. 
 
 And after the concluding scenes, in which dozens of 
 Hebrews in flowing robes chased scores of armor-clad
 
 GO JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 Assyrians, and smote them hip and thigh, and in which 
 Judith was seen enthroned near the High Priest, and 
 acclaimed as the deliverer of her people ; when the lights 
 were turned down, and the quavering music died away, 
 Joseph went out from the theatre in a dread lest he should 
 meet Bathsheba in the passage-way. Curiously enough, 
 his heart rebelled against the woman ; yet she seemed to 
 have established a certain influence over him. But he did 
 not meet her. 
 
 He was so silent on the way home, that Malcha feared 
 some new trouble, and questioned him, but in vain. 
 
 As they neared their humble lodgings in East Broadway 
 they heard a murmur of many voices, and although it was 
 very late they saw a throng gathered at the house's steps. 
 
 When Joseph was among them, and they had recognized 
 him, the murmur grew louder and louder, and swelled into 
 a shout, then into a series of plaints and supplications. 
 
 An old woman, bareheaded, her thin, scrawny arms bare, 
 threw herself at Joseph's feet, and grasped his knees. 
 
 " Help us now, to-night ! " she cried. " We are 
 starving." 
 
 " Yes, now, to-night," came the doleful refrain from the 
 crowd. " We are starving ! " 
 
 Joseph gave little Zipporah to her mother, and bade her 
 go in at once. Then disengaging the old woman's grasp, 
 lie leaned against the railing of the stone steps, and held 
 up a hand. 
 
 " Friends, neighbors," he said faintly. " Let me think a 
 moment ! " 
 
 " No, no ! " cried the old woman, clutching his knees 
 again ; " don't think ! Act ! act ! We are starving ! " 
 
 And again the refrain came hoarsely this time almost 
 menacingly from the crowd : " We are starving ! "
 
 THE NIGHT-MARCH 61 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE NIGHT-MARCH 
 
 MALCHA hastened in, and placed little Zipporah in bed. 
 Then she came out again, and, locking the door, went into 
 the passage-way's entrance, from which she could watch 
 the movements of Joseph and of the mob. 
 
 It was indeed a mob, and it seemed to her that it was 
 hostile to her husband. An old hag with blackened teeth 
 and bleared eyes stood near her on the steps, and from time 
 to time stretched out her skinny arms, as if hurling a male 
 diction upon the pale but impassive Joseph. 
 
 Although it was now almost midnight, the quarter was 
 as animated as at mid-day. A splendid summer moonlight 
 threw an enchantment over the scene, which by day might 
 have seemed sordid and repulsive. 
 
 The throng extended across the street, parting now and 
 then, with menaces and clamor, to let the horse-cars through. 
 It was increased every moment by delegations from the 
 side streets. Men and women and children came scream 
 ing, imploring, cursing, and quarrelling all moved by the 
 mainspring of hunger ; all concentrated on one aim, on 
 Joseph the helper, the rescuer. 
 
 Pale toilers, who had not been under the open sky for 
 weeks before, rushed forward, brandishing their shears, and 
 crying for bread. Stalwart men, who shuffled along as if 
 crushed by the burden of work heaped upon them, came
 
 62 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 leading their children, and listening anxiously for Joseph's 
 words. Old women, half-nude, with thin gray hair stream 
 ing in disorder, and their withered cheeks aflame with 
 anger, ran hither and yon, making wild gestures and utter 
 ing strange cries. And hundreds of half-starved girls, with 
 their thin frames prematurely bowed and broken by sixteen 
 hours of daily toil, were walking to and fro, also listening, 
 as if awaiting the word of command to dart forth on a 
 mission of vengeance and fury and spoliation. 
 
 The victims of hunger were ripe for any mischief. 
 
 A word, and they would light the torch of the incendiary. 
 
 A gesture, and they would sack the shops of the sweaters, 
 and tear the contractors in pieces. 
 
 A cry, and they would fill the palaces of the great city 
 with desolation ! 
 
 Joseph noted all this, as his keen gaze wandered over 
 the throng. He also observed that, on the outer edges of 
 the gathering, Socialist emissaries, the adroit representa 
 tives of the compact little party which had given him much 
 trouble, were freely scattered ; and that they were actively 
 engaged in stirring up the people agaiiiot him. The old 
 woman at his knees was right. He must act, not think. 
 
 He raised his hand to enjoin silence. As he did so, a 
 carrot whizzed past it, and at the same time one of the 
 Socialists darted back into the crowd. Joseph flushed with 
 anger, but he knew the folly of losing his temper just 
 then. 
 
 "Friends," he said in his clear, resonant voice, which 
 always imposed attention, " you tell me that you are starv 
 ing ; anil yet you can afford to throw away food J How is 
 this ? " 
 
 And stooping, he picked up the offending carrot, and held 
 it high above his head, and close to the lamp, where all 
 could see it.
 
 THE NIGHT-MARCH 63 
 
 " Shame ! Shame ! " cried a loud voice, which Joseph 
 instantly recognized as Ben Zion's. " They are throwing 
 things at Joseph, at our Joseph without whom the sweat 
 ers would have drunk our blood long ago ! Shame ! " 
 
 A responsive roar from the crowd showed that Ben Zion 
 had struck the popular chord. " Yes, yes, down with the 
 Socialists ! " cried hundreds of voices. " They can give us 
 nothing but advice ; Joseph, our Joseph, will give us 
 bread ! " 
 
 "Let the dogs of Socialists throw anything else, and we 
 will fry them in their own grease ! " shouted Ben Zion. 
 
 " Yes, yes ; in their own grease ! " answered the mob. 
 
 Tears coursed slowly down Joseph's pale cheeks, as he 
 gazed at the rows of upturned faces in front of him faces 
 filled with serene confidence that he could conjure the demon 
 of starvation. Getting free with no little difficulty from the 
 suppliants who hung about him, he mounted the steps and 
 prepared to address the throng. 
 
 A hand touched him lightly on the shoulder. Without 
 looking he knew that it was Malcha's hand. 
 
 His courage grew. 
 
 o o 
 
 "My dear friends," he said, "you tell me that you are 
 hungry. So am I. You are poor and wretched. So am I. 
 Each one of you is a victim of the miserable sweaters. So 
 am I. You have only bread to eat, and not much of that. 
 Come and look in my cupboard, and you will find nothing 
 but bread there, and precious little of that." 
 
 " Yes, yes, we know, Joseph," cried the plaintive voice 
 of a woman ; " we are not blaming you : we know you are 
 poor. But something must be done about the lock-out, or 
 we shall all perish like cats in a deserted town. And you 
 are the one to do it." 
 
 " That's right ; stir him to action ! " cried a mellow voice 
 which sent the blood leaping through Joseph's veins, and
 
 64 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 made him clench his teeth. "Joseph is too soft: he 
 needs stirring up ; then he will be a great leader. Tell him 
 the truth! Force against force! That is the only doc 
 trine!" 
 
 It was the voice of Baumeister. 
 
 " It would he an imbecile doctrine for us ! " cried Jo 
 seph. "And only an imbecile can utter such sentiments 
 now and here." 
 
 A mocking laugh, which had a Mephistophelian ring to 
 it, came back from the crowd. Baumeister had played his 
 card, and he hastened to get out of the throng and into a 
 comfortable shadow. 
 
 " Yes, Joseph, you are too soft, too yielding ! " cried the 
 old hag who had fallen at his knees. " If you would lead 
 this company in front of Freier and Monach's place to-mor 
 row morning, the damnable sweaters would sing a different 
 song about their lock-out. Why did they take our work 
 away from us ? To make us more humble afterwards ? 
 God ! were we not slaves already ? Must we crawl ? I 
 say, demand that they give our men their work back again, 
 and threaten to knock them on the head if they don't ! " 
 
 " That's right, Mother Petwosky ! You Poles understand 
 how to make the dogs yield. ' Joseph is too soft ! ' " shouted 
 half a dozen voices. 
 
 " We formed the Union to get our rights, but not to fight 
 manufacturers ! " said Joseph in a firm voice. " It is you 
 who are too soft ! You are soft-headed to talk such non 
 sense ! " 
 
 A little ripple of laughter came and went ; then the 
 angry roar rose again. 
 
 " Bah ! what do they care for the Union ? " cried the old 
 hag, wagging her grizzled head, and waving her skinny 
 arms. " Much they are afraid of your Union ! Come and 
 see for yourself, Joseph, how much the landlords and con-
 
 THE NIGHT-MARCH t 
 
 tractors are afraid of you ! Come and take a look at 
 Mother Levitsky the woman whom you tried to help ! 
 Poor soul ! you made her landlord promise that he would 
 not turn her out until you could raise the money to pay her 
 rent, didn't you ? " 
 
 " Well," said Joseph, feeling a sudden wave of anger 
 mounting to his brain, "and did he dare ? " 
 
 " Did he dare ? Oh, no ! Very good ! Did he dare ? 
 Did he dread your mighty Union? Come and see! You 
 will find that he has put Mother Levitsky and all her brood 
 out into the street ! That's what you will find ! " And the 
 beldame, raising her voice to a shriek, executed a kind of 
 furious war-dance, snapping her fingers and brandishing 
 her arms; and finally screaming, " Yes, Joseph! you are 
 too soft ! " she fell down exhausted, and was dragged away 
 by two compassionate girls. 
 
 Joseph could not stem the wave of anger. It was resist 
 less now. It seemed to fill his eyes with blood. For a 
 minute or two he saw everything red. At last he managed 
 to stammer, 
 
 " Is this true ? " 
 
 " Ha, ha ! " said a dozen shrill voices, " he asks if it is 
 true ! Let him come with us, and see the old woman most 
 likely lying in the dirt of the street. Much they care for 
 his Union ! Ho, ho ! " 
 
 Joseph turned suddenly to Malcha, and urged her to go 
 to the child. " Do not fear for me ! " he said ; " these peo 
 ple will do as I say. I shall come back presently." Then 
 he stepped briskly down to the head of the throng. 
 
 " Come on ! " he said, " let us get at the rights of this ! " 
 And the hungry leader, with fifteen hundred hungry and 
 enraged men and women behind him, set out for Ludlow 
 Street, where the rumored eviction of Mother Levitsky, 
 for whom Joseph had so recently interceded with her land 
 lord, was to be proved true or false.
 
 66 JOSEPH ZALMOXAH 
 
 Now that the throng had Joseph at its head, it became 
 silent. Its movements were no longer disorderly, but in 
 concert, as in obedience to one will. The Socialists fol 
 lowed at a distance. They knew that Joseph's sharp eyes 
 would detect them, and order them out of his ranks. 
 
 Baumeister, in his cosily shadowed corner, chuckled ::s 
 lie saw the departure of the angry and resolute company. 
 
 At the angle of every street h'fty or a hundred pale, 
 gaunt men and women joined the procession. When they 
 arrived in front of the tenement house in Ludlow Street 
 where Mother Levitsky had made her home, there were 
 at least twenty-five hundred men and women starving 
 cloakmakers and their wives and sons and daughters in 
 this company. 
 
 They went quick/y. Hunger and anger are swift movers 
 of human feet. 
 
 At last they stood before the double tenement house 
 where the dilapidated Lares and Penates of the Levitskys 
 had been set up. The landlord himself a Russian Jew, 
 and a dealer in strong waters and cheap politics, as well 
 as patron of one or two of the worst sweating-shops in 
 the quarter lived on the premises. 
 
 Many windows were still alight, and in the upper stories 
 the click-clack of sewing-machines was heard. From the 
 narrow and darkened hallway came the nauseous odor of 
 stale fish and fried onions and cabbage. Two little chil 
 dren were asleep on the doorstep, one mite leaning its 
 curly head upon the shoulder of the other. A slight push 
 would have sent the diminutive twain into the gutter. 
 
 \Vliere is the old fox ? " said Joseph in a voice vibrat 
 ing with passion. "Let us know why he does not keep 
 his promises to me!" 
 
 "Yes, let us know, and let us knock him on the head !" 
 said hoarse voices in the crowd.
 
 THE NIGHT-MARCH 67 
 
 "Silence there!" commanded Joseph. "No threats. 
 We are going to try a case, not to execute anybody. Let 
 me hear no more talk about violence.'-' 
 
 " You hear what Joseph says, you ferocious demons ! " 
 said the mellow voice of Ben Zion. The pedler had crept 
 to the front, and now fancied himself one of Joseph's 
 lieutenants. 
 
 "Let a dozen of you come with me up to the third floor, 
 where the Levitskys lived," said Joseph. " If they are not 
 there we shall then know what to do." 
 
 Ben Zion, whose newly acquired authority none seemed 
 to dispute, selected six men and six women, and they fol 
 lowed Joseph into the hallway, carefully stepping over the 
 sleeping children. 
 
 The stairs were of the rudest description ; they were un- 
 lighted, save by one wan gas-jet, shedding a mournful 
 flicker upon the cheap ungarnished walls, which exhaled 
 unhealthy odors. 
 
 The noise made by the hundreds of shuffling feet out 
 side, and the clamor of tongues, had awakened the land 
 lord, who was badly frightened, but who had summoned 
 all his cunning for an event which he knew must be disa 
 greeable. 
 
 His flat was on the second floor in front, and he stum 
 bled out of his door into the passage just as Joseph and 
 his escort appeared on the landing. The landlord was but 
 half dressed, but he carried a thick stick in his right hand. 
 He was a small man, of powerful build, with a capacious 
 head, well set on stalwart shoulders. He would have 
 shown fight to ten or twenty of the underfed and over 
 worked cloakmakers, but he knew how dangerous it was to 
 trifle with a mob. 
 
 "Be careful, Simon," whispered his wife over his shoul 
 der ; " there are hundreds of them in the street, and they 
 mean mischief."
 
 68 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 "Who are you, and what do you want at this time of the 
 night ? " said the landlord, as Joseph stepped forward and 
 faced him under the gas-jet. 
 
 " Simon," said Joseph, " what have you done with 
 Mother Levitsky ? I hear strange stories about you 
 that you have broken your promise to me. Say that it 
 is not true, and I will believe you and go home at once, 
 and take all these good people with me." 
 
 Simon retreated a step or two, and gripped his stick 
 hard. "What business is it of yours?" he said with a 
 sneer. " A pretty fool I was to listen to you one beggar 
 giving a guaranty for another beggar." He retreated 
 another pace or two. "Go and find out for yourself what 
 has become of -the old woman. And no more meddling 
 with my affairs, do you understand ? I have a telephone. 
 In ten minutes I can have a dozen policemen here. Then 
 you would all run for your lives. You, Joseph, would get 
 into prison perhaps. Now go home, or I will use the 
 telephone." 
 
 He was backing into the door when the strong arm of 
 Ben Zion caught him and hauled him forth as if he had 
 been a man of straw. 
 
 "In, ten minutes, hey ?" said Ben Zion, grimly contem 
 plating the trembling Simon. "Yes, and in ten minutes, 
 if I were to throw you into the crowd down there, where 
 would you be ? " 
 
 " You would not dare to murder me ! " said Simon, whose 
 teeth chattered. " You would be hanged." 
 
 "Nonsense ! what is one sweater more or less ? 'When 
 a horse falls down, they take another in his place.' " 
 
 This cruel application to Simon's case of the brutal say 
 ing of the sweaters, when an exhausted workman begged for 
 mercy, used the landlord's courage up. He became limp 
 and pale. "What do you want me to do ?" he stammered.
 
 THE NIGHT-MARCH 69 
 
 "Must I lose all my money because old women and girls 
 come here to live without paying rent ? " 
 
 Ben Zion took a fresh hold of Simon, and drew him after 
 him up the staircase to the third floor. " You have as good 
 as confessed," he said, "that you have thrown the old 
 woman out to die ! Come with us ; and woe to you if you 
 have done wrong ! " 
 
 Joseph had already sprung up the stairs, and knocked at 
 the door of the Levitsky flat. He heard the whir of a 
 sewing-machine in an inner room, although it was now 
 nearly one o'clock. There was delay in opening ; and for 
 several minutes nothing was heard but the feverish breath 
 ing of the little company, and the whine of Simon as Ben 
 Zion shook him. 
 
 Presently the door was opened by a pale, fluffy -faced man 
 with a black beard, and the company rushed in without 
 apology. A gawky girl of ten, much frightened, came for 
 ward with a kerosene lamp. 
 
 Joseph gazed about him in astonishment. Every vestige 
 of occupation by the Levitskys had vanished. These were 
 new lodgers ; this was different furniture, if two old boxes, 
 one broken chair, and some very unsavory-looking mat 
 tresses could be called furniture. 
 
 He strode into the inner room. It was faintly lighted. 
 Three pallid girls were sewing with sleepy gestures, near 
 an old stove not yet set up. A pile of finished knee-pants, 
 and of cloth for making others, stood in the centre of the 
 apartment. A sickening odor, as from a hospital ward, 
 arose, and seemed to flee in affright before the fresh air 
 which had entered when the door was opened. 
 
 On the pile of cloth lay a girl six or seven years old, 
 breathing heavily. Her face was flushed. As Joseph ap 
 proached her an old woman stepped in front of him, as if to 
 hide the child.
 
 70 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 Joseph pushed the woman aside, and took a keen look at 
 the girl. Then he drew back in fright. " That child has 
 either scarlet-fever or small-pox," he said. " Can't you 
 see it for yourselves ? Get her out of here at once, or the 
 Health Board will be here in the morning." 
 
 He rubbed his eyes. The Levitskys, infirm old mother 
 and two grandchildren, weak and unable to support them 
 selves, had been banished, and in their place a typical 
 "sweater's shop" had been established. And here, en 
 throned on the piles of cloth to be made into garments, 
 which would soon be scattered through the country, was 
 the foul contagion which might be the means of slaying 
 scores of innocent people. 
 
 Joseph shuddered. The woman, reassured by the sound of 
 her native jargon, and thinking him some kind of inspector, 
 caught up the child, hid its face with her apron, and re 
 treated to a dark corner. 
 
 " Mother Levitsky has been put out, with her grandchil 
 dren, and Simon has got another sweat-shop established 
 here, with greenhorns to work for him for nothing and 
 board themselves," cried Ben Zion. 
 
 At this juncture Simon with a desperate effort wrenched 
 himself free, and sprang out of the room and down the 
 stairs. "He is going to call the police," said one. "He 
 dares not," said Joseph. 
 
 The new tenants knew nothing of Mother Levitsky. 
 Never had heard of her. They had come to the house that 
 day ; had been in the country but ten days. With a fresh 
 warning about the child, Joseph and his band withdrew. 
 
 On the stairs a feeble hand plucked at Joseph's coat. He 
 looked down, and in the dimness discerned the hunger- 
 pinched face of one of the Levitsky grandchildren a thin 
 slip of a girl. 
 
 "I did not dare to come sooner," she whispered. "But
 
 THE NIGHT-MARCH 71 
 
 Simon has gone in now, and shut his door. Grandmother 
 lies out in the yard at the back of the houses and " here 
 the little voice quivered " you must come quick, for 
 she's been taken very bad." 
 
 " Yes, yes, we are coming ! Run ahead and show us the 
 way ! " cried Joseph, feeling ashamed that he had not 
 believed the cloakmakers at once. They had shrewdly 
 allowed him to make the search, hoping that it would 
 arouse him to rage. " It is true, then ! " he said to Ben 
 Zion ; " the dog has thrown her into the street." 
 
 " Then let us do the same to him ! " said Ben Zion ; but 
 Joseph held him back, and they all went silently down to 
 the ground-floor, and through the narrow passage to the 
 little courtyard at the back, overlooked by a forbidding 
 rear tenement, filled with sweaters' dens. Here, with 110 
 light but that of the moon to shine on the thin and 
 wretched pallet which could not keep her wasted form 
 from the dampness of the foul yard, lay Mother Levitsky 
 dying. At -the head of the miserable couch were piled 
 the few articles left this starving family, a forlorn bureau 
 with but one sound leg, a broken chair, and a shabby trunk 
 filled with rags. 
 
 "Bring lights! " cried Joseph, " lights here on Simon's 
 work ! See how Simon the sweater treats his victims ! " 
 
 The throng began to surge in. Lights were produced, 
 and Joseph, bending tenderly over the dying woman, tried 
 to comfort her. " You shall be moved at once, to my own 
 house ! " he said. Then he thought of his own terrible 
 situation, nearly penniless, without proper food, and with 
 two or three thousand people clamoring at his back. It 
 almost crushed him. 
 
 " Armes kind! " sighed the poor creature ; "you cannot 
 help me. I am gone ; but do something for the girls, if 
 you can ! "
 
 72 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 The last words were exhaled like a long sigh. Joseph 
 was holding the woman's head on his arm. Suddenly he 
 uttered a cry and drew back. 
 
 Mother Levitsky was dead. She was already in her last 
 agony when the small grandchild had sought for Joseph, 
 and he had arrived only in time to receive her final sigh. 
 
 >4 It was the shock that killed her," said one of the wail 
 ing girls. "This morning, when he put us out, he would 
 not wait for you to help us, Joseph. He said that we were 
 beggars and that you were a beggar too." 
 
 And then arose through the night the weird Jewish vail 
 for the dead, while pious hands covered the dead woman's 
 face. 
 
 " Here ! " cried Joseph in a furious voice. "Bring Simon 
 here ! Burning would be too good for such a wretch, but 
 we must use no violence ! " 
 
 There was a crash as the landlord's door was burst open ; 
 and in a minute or two Simon, still only half dressed, and 
 followed by his screaming wife, was dragged down to the 
 courtyard, and placed before his victim. Ben Zion stood 
 guard over him with his own stick, which he had wrested 
 from him. 
 
 " Simon, this is your work ! " said Joseph solemnly. 
 " The woman is dead. You killed her. Now listen to me. 
 No bodily harm shall be done you." Here a roar of dissent 
 from the mob made Simon wince. " But look me in the 
 face, and listen. Here am I, a starving man, with two 
 thousand starving people at my back. We have formed a 
 Union to combat such creatures as you, and we will fight 
 yon to the death ! We swear eternal enmity to you, and 
 all such as you ! " 
 
 And from the throng in the courtyard, the passage, and 
 the street outside, came the echo, hoarse and terrible, 
 " Eternal enmity to you, and all such as you ! "
 
 THE NIGHT-MARCH 73 
 
 "I can't help it," said Simon sullenly. "What have I 
 to lo with your bread and meat ? Am I to blame because 
 tliis old soul couldn't pay her rent ? Must I keep hos 
 pital ? " 
 
 " Liar ! " said Joseph. " You steal the bread out of the 
 mouths of old and young alike. Now go ! Ben Ziou, see 
 him safely to his door ! " 
 
 The people shrank away from him as he passed, white 
 and shaking. Joseph's solemn manner awed them all. 
 
 " Take up the body ! " said Joseph, " and let us bear it 
 away with us ! We will find a decent asylum for it, and 
 for these poor waifs." 
 
 The body was borne tenderly into the street, and the 
 bearers took their position at the head of the column. 
 
 " And now ! " said Joseph, " here is my plan. In the 
 treasury of your Union there is still forty dollars. You 
 may come with me there at once, take that money, and buy 
 bread for all. With bread we can live, and we will begin 
 the active fight against the sweaters, and fight them to 
 the death ! " 
 
 " To the death ! " responded the crowd hoarsely. 
 
 Joseph omitted to tell them that these forty dollars 
 were his own, the salary which he had declined to draw as 
 officer of the Union, when its poor treasury was so nearly 
 impoverished. His heart was light at the thought of the 
 temporary relief which he could offer. 
 
 The throng took up its march again, with the dead woman 
 borne at its head. 
 
 A faint light in Simon's window indicated that he was 
 watching them.
 
 71 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE PANORAMA OP SUFFERING 
 
 No officer crossed the path of the angry cloakmakers 
 that night. The soft May moonlight shed a mysterious 
 splendor over the hungry throng, as it went silently, with 
 Joseph and the bearers of the dead woman at its head, 
 through highways and byways, now disappearing in the 
 shadows cast from the old-fashioned brick houses with 
 their Doric columns and ornamental entrances, now show 
 ing, a black and winding ribbon, against the silver of the 
 moon's rays. 
 
 Joseph hardly knew whether he were really leading this 
 throng of melancholy refugees to the office of the Union, 
 to give them the promised money, or marshalling them 
 to a grand attack upon their enemies the sweaters. His 
 veins seemed filled with fire; his hands were clinched; all 
 the world about him swam in a red mist. 
 
 Had a luckless contractor, manufacturer, or landlord of 
 the type of Simon, appeared in the path at that time, 
 Joseph would no longer have tried to keep his followers 
 from violence. 
 
 As lie trudged along he felt a hand on his arm. The 
 old woman who had tried, earlier in the night, to excite 
 him to violence, was beside him. 
 
 "Let me take her home," she said in a weird whisper. 
 " I live near by. I will give her all the shelter she wants
 
 THE PANORAMA OF SUFFERING TO 
 
 until the last one. We will see to the burial. My man 
 don't object. And he will go and pick up the grand 
 children's things to-morrow. We have the little ones with 
 us now." 
 
 Joseph rubbed his eyes. " True," he said ; " I had for 
 gotten the small folk. And neither you nor they have a 
 cent, I suppose. Well, we will send you some money from 
 the Union. And as for this poor woman," he said, point 
 ing to the rude bier, " do as you think best." 
 
 The old hag stooped and kissed his hand. 
 
 Presently they came to the tenement in which she lived. 
 The whole rattle-trap, from top to bottom, was tenanted by 
 Russian-Jewish cloakmakers, so there was none to object 
 to the repose of Mother Levitsky under the roof, on the 
 way to her final resting-place. 
 
 The procession halted ; the body was carried in ; and 
 then the great company set off at a quicker pace for the 
 Union, where they were to receive the money which meant 
 bread bread, and momentary relief from the gnawing 
 torture of hunger. 
 
 " Suppose that he should be deceiving us, and that he 
 has no money?" suggested one. "Joseph always was such 
 a dreamer ! " 
 
 " There's a bakery over there," sighed another. " See ! 
 the beast is just taking down his shutters ! Yutt ! how fat 
 and comfortable he looks ! Suppose we took his whole 
 stock ? He would not dare, to say anything. And we could 
 pay him afterwards if Joseph really has any " 
 
 " Yes, that would be better than waiting," snarled an old 
 man in a greasy hat, with corkscrew curls dangling in 
 front of his ears. " Come on ; let's rush the baker ! I've 
 seen it done in Poland. And there was only a few of us 
 who got three months. I don't mind leading ! " 
 
 There was a shout and a rush, from which the more in-
 
 76 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 telligeiit men and women held back. But suddenly the 
 would-be rioters found themselves confronted by Ben Zion 
 and Joseph. 
 
 The former was armed with the stick which he had 
 wrested from Simon, and he laid it over the heads of the 
 mob without mercy. This energetic action, seconded by 
 Joseph's entreaties, brought the sacking expedition to an 
 ignoble close, and Joseph succeeded in getting the whole 
 company to the door of the Union's office without any 
 breach of the law. 
 
 The Union's headquarters was a small basement in Cherry 
 Street, equipped with a desk, an ancient safe, and a few 
 broken stools. 
 
 Dawn was just flushing the east with daintiest pink as 
 Joseph unlocked the door and let the leaders in. The 
 women seated themselves on the steps and sidewalks, and 
 the half-grown boys pressed in and began to jump and 
 gambol about the broken stools. 
 
 Here two policemen were drowsily killing time, and they 
 strolled up, swinging their clubs, and listening to the babble 
 of the women. " What's going on here ? " said one. 
 
 The women clamored for Joseph, and he came out, 
 bareheaded, with his hands full of small money. " What 
 is that you want ? " he asked, turning his plaintive gaze on 
 the officers. 
 
 "Nothing. Thought it was a fire," said one, eying 
 Joseph curiously. 
 
 " It's worse than that," said Joseph, in his best English. 
 " These people are starving. Their employers lock them 
 out because they will not accept the very meanest wages 
 and the very longest hours. So they are starving, and I 
 am giving them what is left of the funds of their Union 
 to keep up the fight a little longer. When that is gone " 
 His voice faltered. He was not speaking to the policemen. 
 He was communincr with himself.
 
 THE PANORAMA OF SUFFERING 77 
 
 And still the red mist swam before his eyes. 
 
 " Well, it's pretty hard anny way," said the policeman. 
 " Get your money and go home, and don't be blockin' up 
 the way, you people. And maybe," he added, turning to 
 Joseph, " if ye'd get a note in the papers, ye might get 
 some kind people to help ye for a while." 
 
 "Help!" repeated Joseph despairingly, "who would 
 help three thousand people like us ? How can we 
 ask ? " 
 
 " Well, maybe there's manny a one would help ye now. 
 How do ye know till ye thry ? Sure, the rich people never 
 know you're alive unless ye make yourselves heard. If 
 they was fifty thousand av ye here, now, instead of two or 
 three thousand, how much would they know about it in 
 Fifth Avenyer ? I'm thinkin' that if ye'd ask help for 
 your Union, ye might get it." 
 
 " I will try," said Joseph simply. He caught at this 
 faint hope as the drowning man grasps at the straw, or the 
 bubbles made by his own sti-uggles. 
 
 Half an hour later the throng had vanished, after re 
 newing its oath to fight the sweaters to the death. Money 
 enough had been distributed to buy sixteen or seventeen 
 hundred loaves of the poor bread which is sold so cheaply 
 in the cloakmakers' district. 
 
 Ben Zion and the officers of the Union had departed, 
 leaving Joseph seated before the old desk, with the sun 
 shine stealing through a hole in the ragged curtain to light 
 up his pale, tired face. 
 
 It was only after much entreaty that they had prevailed 
 upon him to keep two dollars of the money (his own) for 
 pressing personal needs. If they had not insisted, he 
 would have gone home to Malcha without a penny in his 
 pocket. 
 
 When Joseph was quite alone, he fell to reviewing his
 
 78 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 recent past, and it arose before him in a series of dramatic 
 tableaux, as if he had been witnessing it on the stage of a 
 theatre. He saw himself crossing the bridge between 
 Germany and Russia, on that cold, dark night in 1887, 
 when he had turned his back forever upon the petty and 
 provoking tyranny of Russian officialism. 
 
 In the distance a sonorous bell was striking the midnight 
 hour. The sentry, whom Joseph had bribed, stared straight 
 at him when he passed, but made no effort to stop him. 
 He hurried on over the bridge, stumbling against a 
 loosened plank, holding his breath and looking back in 
 fear, while his heart-beats sounded like trip-hammer blows 
 in his frightened ears. 
 
 No one came ; he was free free from the hell of the 
 " Pale ! " And he took off his fur cap and waved it above 
 his head, and shouted as he ran swiftly toward Germany. 
 Once well out of gun-shot of Russia he shook his fist at 
 the Czar and all his people, and went forward, dreaming of 
 the America of which he had read in the works of Zim 
 merman the land of no passports, no police spies, no 
 dungeons for political offences ; a land where liberty and 
 work for all was to be found. 
 
 How many incoherent ideas went spinning through his 
 head in that midnight hour ! He would achieve fame and 
 fortune in America ! He had a good voice ; he could write 
 for Hebrew papers ; he could teach ; and soon good little 
 Malcha, who had connived at his flight, could rejoin him. 
 
 And why had he fled ? Then arose before him the 
 mental picture of the friend coming to warn him that he 
 had been "badly noted" by the authorities for reading 
 Karl Marx's Kapital." 
 
 P>adly noted ! that meant that unless he were circum 
 spect in the highest degree in word and deed, lie would 
 one day be seized and sent hundreds of miles away from
 
 THE PANORAMA OF SUFFERING 79 
 
 home, and thrown into prison at the caprice of some quar 
 relsome official. 
 
 It meant that he must become the slave of the police spy 
 if he remained at home ; that his liberty would depend on 
 the bribes which he was able to pay. 
 
 Xo, he would go away ; he would drift with the current 
 of exiles crowding all the channels of exit from the "Pale." 
 But if he disclosed his projects of departure to any save 
 his wife he might be detained. And then came before him 
 the picture of his departure from his father's door, the 
 lingering looks which he cast behind him, and the dark 
 ness which seemed to settle over the winter landscape 
 when his old home was left behind. 
 
 Now the scene changed to America, whither he had 
 come by Hamburg and Liverpool. He saw himself wan 
 dering in Brooklyn in search of work, and finally toiling 
 day after day at unloading sugar from steamships, under 
 the lee of a vast refinery . He saw the boss of the gang 
 one morning approaching him, and saying, with a thinly 
 disguised sneer, "You ain't a laboring man. You can't 
 stand dis work. Say, why don't you go and write for de 
 papers ? " Joseph dimly understood, and left. 
 
 Then followed fleeting pictures of days and nights of 
 misery, on which Joseph little cared to look. His knowl 
 edge of English was increasing ; his stock of money was 
 daily slipping away. And now he was himself in " Misery 
 Market," with only a small sum and his gold watch in 
 his pocket. He must have work, and he went to a fel 
 low-exile, who had settled in Eldridge Street, to see how he 
 was getting on, and to ask his advice. Ah ! how clearly 
 and with what deadly sharpness now arose before him the 
 pictures of the next few months of his life, the sicken 
 ing search for work, the wretched lodgings, the repulsive 
 food, the failure to find anything to do.
 
 80 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 At last, when he had sold his two fur coats, his fur cap, 
 and was beginning to despair, he was told " to become an 
 operator." What was that ? Ah ! he must be introduced 
 to a boss ! Quick ! Into Ludlow Street, to the top floor of 
 a wretched house, and there he was presented to a " bos>s." 
 
 The face was familiar. Joseph looked at the man ; the 
 man inspected him. The " boss " used to be a servant of 
 Joseph's uncle in Russia. Now he was in the noble indus 
 try of manufacturing knee-pants for the million. Joseph 
 should have the privilege of learning this inestimable trade. 
 It would cost him fifteen dollars to learn, and in four weeks 
 he would be an accomplished operator. And he must have 
 a machine, on which he must pay three dollars. 
 
 Joseph accepted, and sold his few remaining treasures 
 for money to instal himself in what he dimly began to per 
 ceive was nothing more nor less than a " sweater's hell." 
 
 The boss obligingly set Joseph at work stitching pockets. 
 At the end of four weeks Joseph knew nothing of this 
 great, this [magnificent industry which the generosity of 
 the boss had permitted him to learn, except stitching of 
 pockets and bands. 
 
 Then the boss grandiloquently remarked, " I will pay 
 you a dollar and a half a week, until you learn a little 
 better ; " and Joseph, crushed in spirit, accepted. 
 
 Ah ! how terrible were the remembrances which now 
 arose before him the remembrances of that sweater's 
 den,' with the sweater, his wife, his three children, and 
 four boarders, living there day and night, in an inexpress 
 ible and abominable atmosphere, and crowding in there by 
 day, from long before dawn until ten at night, eight oper 
 ators on machines, and seven finishers and a presser ! 
 
 How the spectacle of this horrible life of rending and 
 grinding toil, in which he and all the others were treated 
 like machines, made him groan in spirit ! He asked a
 
 THE PANORAMA OP SUFFERING 81 
 
 question of the sweater, and learned by the response that 
 he was no longer a man, with an identity, a name, but that 
 he had a number, like a prisoner ; that he was " number 
 six." And as he contemplated this picture, it seemed to 
 him that he could feel his fingers tightening around the 
 boss's throat. 
 
 It was " dull season " for three weeks after Joseph 
 entered the sweater's hell. The sweater did not volunteer 
 to raise his wages. That never happened in sweaterdom ! 
 Oh, no ! A kick, a scuffle, and a lowering of wages 
 that was the rule. 
 
 By and by the busy season came. Joseph watered the 
 cloth over which he bent with his tears every day. The 
 tyrannies which he saw all around him froze his blood. 
 They alarmed him for his own safety. He felt that he 
 was losing his manliness. 
 
 There he sat, in his corner, near the dirt-begrimed win 
 dow, toiling to make a dozen knee-pants for thirty-five 
 cents. He was on piece-work now, and he lived on bread 
 and apples. 
 
 Joseph was a slow operator, and the first day of his piece 
 work he made seventeen cents. Hour after hour he toiled 
 without rest, until the humming of his machine seemed to 
 eat into his brain. 
 
 One day he cried out, " This is not a life for men ; we are 
 animals here ! " 
 
 The boss grew angry, and said that he allowed no speech- 
 making on his premises. He told Joseph to " get out." 
 
 " Give me my pay," said Joseph. 
 
 " A man who is discharged must wait a week for his 
 money," answered the boss with his evil smile. And Joseph 
 had to starve for a while as penance for his independence. 
 
 When he came for the money at the end of seven days 
 he was so weak with hunger that he could scarcely stand.
 
 82 JOSEPH ZALMONAII 
 
 The boss threw his miserable pittance in his face, and told 
 him to begone. 
 
 Joseph had had a touch of starvation, and he did not like 
 it. So in a day or two he was in the den of another 
 " sweater," still in Ludlow Street. And this was the pic 
 ture of the life in that second hell which now arose before 
 him. 
 
 Four grimy and unventilated rooms, in which lived, ate, 
 and slept the sweater, his wife, and four children, his 
 brother-in-law, his wife, and two children, and three board 
 ers. These boarders were poor wretches who were kept in 
 practical slavery. The sweater would not let them out of 
 his sight, lest they should learn of better things and desert 
 him. Once a week they took the air, walking, pale phan 
 toms, in some of the side streets in the quarter, but never 
 getting beyond the sweater's tether. 
 
 They slept in dusty recesses in the kitchen, and arose 
 long before dawn, and went into the hall while the women 
 and children washed and dressed, and prepared the abject 
 apology for breakfast which was set before them on 
 the edges of their machines. How the passage of all 
 these scenes before Joseph's inner vision tormented his 
 soul ! 
 
 It was like the reopening of an old wound. 
 
 Here Joseph was told that he would receive "forty cents 
 a dozen for knee-pants." He went courageously to work, 
 with a partner; Joseph preparing, the partner stitching. 
 
 His associate was a pale young Hebrew from Wilnau in 
 Russia a youth of nineteen, with high brow and hand 
 some eyes. 
 
 But the cruel toil had, in less than a year, so bent and 
 broken him that he looked like an old man. He spoke but 
 little ; now and then he sighed deeply. He would never 
 stop for dinner, which was usually brought in from a neigh-
 
 THE PANOHAMA OF SUFFERING 83 
 
 boring restaurant a miserable mess of poorly cooked 
 food. 
 
 "I am not hungry," he would say, and he would go on 
 stitching, stitching, and guiding with trembling hands the 
 stuffs on which his tears often fell. It was in his behalf 
 that Joseph cried out one day against the long hours from 
 live in the morning until ten at night exacted by the 
 sweaters. But the boss laughed in his face. 
 
 " I can get five hundred to take your place by shaking 
 my shears out of the front window." And Joseph knew 
 that it was true. 
 
 One day, when the heat was stifling in the den, Joseph 
 was startled to see his "partner" lying with his head on 
 his work, and his poor toil-scarred hands resting help 
 lessly on the cloth. 
 
 He ran to him and raised him up, and the eyes opened 
 for a moment, and the lips babbled of Wilnau, and of green 
 fields, and of the good mother, and the quaint little village 
 far away ; then they closed again. 
 
 " He's done for," said the boss. " Take him to a hos 
 pital." 
 
 And it was in a hospital that the wretched youth died the 
 next day. In his dream Joseph saw the vision of this death 
 bed, beside which he had knelt, and he shuddered in his 
 sleep. The man had fallen under the lash, as slaves fell, 
 and he had not had the strength to rally. 
 
 " Driven to death," was the epitaph which Joseph would 
 have liked to place upon his humble headstone. 
 
 The dead youth's cousin came and claimed his wages 
 eight dollars and forty cents. That was his estate. 
 
 When Joseph arose from his long revery beside the bed 
 of this martyr to the tyranny of brutal employers, his 
 brain boiled with indignation. He wanted vengeance 
 for the dead, for himself, for his insulted manhood, for
 
 84 'JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 the women and children perishing in the cesspools of 
 civilization. 
 
 He went back to work. But he now began boldly to agi 
 tate for reform among the sweaters. A Hebrew " labor 
 paper " had been started, and at its office meetings were 
 held at which the victims of the Russian persecution met 
 to compare notes. There Joseph found others, galled like 
 himself by the sweater's yoke, and he began to talk of 
 organizing for mutual protection. 
 
 The others looked at him. Then they began to talk of 
 the "social revolution." 
 
 It did not take Joseph long to discover that they were 
 not ripe for unions and the legal methods of strikes, but 
 that they had been seduced by glittering descriptions of 
 some mysterious social cataclysm, at the close of which 
 they would be called upon the scene to divide up the vast 
 riches of the millionaires of America. 
 
 Their imaginations were inflamed, and their ignorance of 
 the new conditions of life in America, and of any language 
 save their own, as well as the unnatural nervous state in 
 which their excessive toil constantly kept them, rendered 
 them peculiarly susceptible to belief even in the most 
 absurd theories. 
 
 Joseph turned from these unhappy creatures in sorrow, 
 and for a long time sought in vain for a way to check the 
 tyranny from which he suffered. One day he strayed 
 into a meeting held by the Hebrew branch of the Socialis 
 tic Labor Union in East Broadway. 
 
 The first speaker whom he heard was a well-educated 
 man, who advocated the principles of trades' unionism. 
 He said, "The only hope for labor lies in organization." 
 
 These were Joseph's sentiments exactly. He took the 
 floor and said, " Are there any knee-pants makers here ? " 
 
 A few men came forward timidly. But Joseph inspired
 
 THE PANORAMA OF SUFFERING 85 
 
 them with his own courage. They formed a C-iion then 
 and there. Their first meeting was held on the following 
 Saturday, with fifteen members, and Joseph was iU secre 
 tary and treasurer. 
 
 The initiation fee was seventy-five cents ; weekly dues 
 were five cents. The men liked these conditions, and the 
 Union kept growing. 
 
 Victims of sweaters in other branches of tha trade 
 started Unions. So Joseph welded all these together, 
 forming the United Hebrew Trades. Now he began to 
 feel strong, for he had a compact body at his back. 
 
 Meantime he worked steadily at his trade. One day the 
 boss bestowed an evil smile on him, and said, " You'd 
 better go to the United Hebrew Trades, and ask for em 
 ployment there." 
 
 Joseph said, "I will take your advice." He left the 
 sweater's hell, and devoted himself for a time exclusively 
 to the union, working without salary. When he could 
 starve no longer, he would go back to work now as opera 
 tor at cloakmaking, now as maker of jerseys, suffering petty 
 vexations and tyrannies, and sometimes earning eight dol 
 lars per week by toiling from dawn until ten P.M. 
 
 Presently the bosses knew him as an agitator, and then 
 they insulted and imposed upon him. One day, at a fac 
 tory in Ludlow Street, his soul revolted against the boss, 
 who was always drunk, and whose favorite pastime was 
 kicking men out of the line on Saturdays, and then refus 
 ing to pay them until the following week because they had 
 not kept in line. 
 
 Joseph thrashed this monster within an inch of his life, 
 and left without claiming his own wages. 
 
 And so he went on for weeks, rebelling against the 
 abominable tyrants, and receiving his discharge from 
 places as soon as he was known as an agitator. Once,
 
 8G JOSEPH ZALMOXAII 
 
 after seeing an old man deprived of his work under circum 
 stances of great cruelty, lie went around to the Monday 
 evening labor meeting, and there found a delegation of 
 cloakmakers asking to be admitted to the United Hebrew 
 Trades. 
 
 Joseph interested himself in the lot of these poor people, 
 much more grievously oppressed than any of the others. 
 He organized them, aud hurled them against their em 
 ployers in strike after strike. He received no money for 
 these services to the starving workers ; he had no time to 
 ask for it. 
 
 And now arose before him in dream the picture of the 
 old office iii Hester Street, where he lived alone for eleven 
 weeks, organizing these strikes. He slept on a little broken- 
 legged sofa ; he rarely ate more than once a day. From 
 dawn till midnight he fought the battles of the poor, and 
 more than one rich manufacturer had to avo.w that at last 
 the refugees were learning the worth of their services. 
 
 The cloakmakers started with thirty men in their Union, 
 but Joseph soon brought two or three thousand men into 
 the ranks. To do this he had so completely effaced his 
 own interest that he had few clothes, no money, and no 
 home, when, in sinister interference with the emancipation 
 toward which he seemed leading the starving thousands, 
 the great lock-out came. 
 
 The lock-out ! The vision of the wan men standing 
 about, unemployed and starving, was so dolorous to Joseph 
 that he awoke from the uneasy slumber into which he had 
 fallen. 
 
 He looked quickly around. The door of the office was 
 open, and Miry am was standing near him, her charming 
 face radiant with smiles.
 
 WHEN THE OX IS DOWN 87 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 WHEN THE OX IS DOWN 
 
 " I MUST have been asleep," said Joseph, who felt a 
 sharp pain in his side, and around whose forehead an iron 
 circlet seemed slowly tightening. 
 
 "And dreaming," said the little maid. "And, Joseph, 
 you talked in your sleep ! Oh ! you said such dreadful 
 things against the sweaters ! Well, it is lucky that no one 
 but little Miryam heard you ! How imprudent of you to 
 go to sleep with the door wide open ! Isn't it strange that 
 no one has been here to wake you ? And the clerk ? " 
 
 Joseph explained that the clerk had been mercifully 
 sent away some days ago, because there was no longer any 
 money to pay him. " And as for speaking ill of the 
 sweaters," he added briskly, " why, who speaks well of 
 them ? " 
 
 " But the door, Joseph, the door ! Promise me that you 
 will never go to sleep with the place wide open to robbers, 
 and " 
 
 " And Socialists," said Joseph, smiling. 
 
 "Yes, and Socialists. And, by the way, Joseph," said 
 the pretty maiden, speaking lower, and glancing hastily 
 around, " that is exactly what I have come to speak with 
 you about. You know that some of the Socialists have 
 terribly hot heads, and they are very angry with you. 
 The}- say that you stand in their way."
 
 88 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 " So I do," said Joseph grimly, and the fire flashed from 
 his tired eyes. 
 
 " Yes, but they might kill you, Joseph. They do not 
 care what they do. They are men without hearts." 
 
 " "We can die but once," remarked Joseph in philosophic 
 tone. "But if you have heard any threats, Miryam, it 
 is your duty to tell me what they are. Forewarned is 
 forearmed." 
 
 " David heard," said Miryam, almost in a whisper. " He 
 heard two Socialists saying something awful about you. 
 It was, he said, enough to make the blood run cold." 
 
 " And yet he told it to little Miryam ? " 
 
 " N-o," answered the child- woman, flushing faintly. 
 
 " Then who did he tell ? " 
 
 "Bathsheba. You know, the wife of the dark-faced 
 fiddler. Yes. He told her. And he said she must not 
 tell me, because I am a little gossip. But she thought it 
 was her duty to tell me at once." 
 
 " Bathsheba ! " Joseph's heart gave a great jump, and 
 the color leaped into his face. He could have struck him 
 self for this. " Why I thought her sympathies were 
 with Socialists, and all such cattle." 
 
 " Perhaps they -are. But she said you ought to know. 
 She said that you were too earnest a leader to be lost in a 
 street row. She said " 
 
 Miryam paused suddenly, and cast down her eyes. Then, 
 as if moved by an irresistible impulse, she raised them 
 again, and as she looked Joseph in the face, he saw that 
 they were swimming in tears. She held out both hands to 
 the young leader. " Oh, do be careful, Joseph ! " she said. 
 " Think of Malcha and the little one ! " 
 
 " I do ! I will ! " cried Joseph, seizing the small hands, 
 and giving them a brotherly caress. " But Bathsheba I 
 do not see how "
 
 WHEN THE OX IS DOWN 89 
 
 " It is this way, Joseph," said Miryam. " Her husband 
 sees a great many of these people, and gets into their way 
 of talking. And sometimes she repeats what she hears 
 him say. Then they say she is a revolutionist. But I 
 know better. She hates them only she is afraid of them. 
 She says so." The girl seemed confused. But Joseph 
 listened with an interest he could scarcely conceal. 
 
 " Listen," said Miryam. " They will not tell me all. 
 They say I am too young. Even Bathsheba would not give 
 me any details. But she will tell you she says it is her 
 duty to do so." 
 
 " She will tell me ? How when where ? " 
 
 " Do you know Mordecai Menzer ? " said Miryam. 
 
 ''The people's poet? No. I have heard of him, but 
 I have never seen him. What should he have in common 
 with a poor knee-pants maker like me ? " 
 
 " Joseph ! " cried Miryam, with a sparkle of indigna 
 tion in her eyes at the young leader's self-depreciation. 
 " Mordecai worships the very ground that you walk on ! 
 You do not know how famous you are !" 
 
 " This is indeed news ! " said Joseph, laughing in spite of 
 his fatigue, and of the strange melancholy and languor tak 
 ing possession of his heart. 
 
 " It is true. At this moment he is composing a poem 
 about the sweaters and the poor work-people. And he 
 asked me if I could not bring you to his house to-morrow, 
 lie wants to talk with you about the movement. And if 
 you could come," continued the girl, very glibly, as if she 
 were reciting a lesson, " Bathsheba could be there, and 
 then she could tell you all. To-morrow, in the afternoon. 
 If you could come for me at the theatre after rehearsal, I 
 could take you there." 
 
 Joseph reflected. Waves of light came and went over 
 his face, as if two spirits were battling above him, and
 
 90 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 the sheen of their wings fell upon him. Presently he 
 said, 
 
 " I will go with you to see Mordecai to-morrow. I will 
 meet you as you wish." 
 
 " And Bathsheba ? " asked Miry am timidly. 
 
 " If Bathsheba is there, and has anything to tell which I 
 ought to know, I shall be glad to hear it, and grateful to 
 her," he said in a dry, cold tone. "And now let us go 
 to poor Malcha." 
 
 And as they went rapidly along the street, he told her 
 the story of the previous night. Miry am opened her great 
 eyes widely, but said little, until they were approaching 
 the house, when she remarked that perhaps he would like 
 to have Malcha accompany them on the morrow. 
 
 " No not to-morrow," said Joseph. " And it would be 
 best not to say anything to her at present about the visit 
 or the threats." 
 
 " It would only frighten her. And she could do no good 
 even if she knew," said Miryam. 
 
 The streets were quiet in the cloakmakers' quarter. 
 Joseph and Miryam found Malcha and the child sitting on 
 the front steps. The little wife looked wan and worried, 
 but at sight of Joseph she rose up joyously, and ran to 
 embrace him. 
 
 She had heard the whole story of the night's work from 
 a dozen sympathizing souls, and was ready to adore Joseph 
 as a hero. 
 
 There was a touch of jealousy in the way in which she 
 drew him away from Miryam, placed little Zipporah in his 
 arms, and told him of the breakfast awaiting him ''just 
 like those he used to have in Russia." But she kept the 
 small actress to share their meal, and complimented her 
 on her personation of Jochanau in "Judith and Holo- 
 feruus."
 
 WHEN THE OX IS DOWN 91 
 
 " Breakfast ! " said the bewildered Joseph. " And I have 
 been sleeping like a pig, and forgot to bring you this 
 money," and he held out the two dollars which remained 
 from the morning's distribution. 
 
 " Never mind," said Malcha with a twinkle in her eyes. 
 " I still have ten roubles left, and that is riches in this 
 quarter, I think." 
 
 " Yes ; if a sweater knows you have got it, he will soon 
 get it away from you," said Joseph, watching Malcha with 
 admiration as she poured the tea from the homely little 
 samovar, which recalled the old days at home. 
 
 Yet, in the burnished samovar he seemed to see Bathshe- 
 ba's beautiful face dancing, as the will-o'-the-wisp danced 
 over the green pools in the far Russian land when he was a 
 boy wandering on the edge of the forest. 
 
 He put his hands to his eyes to shut out the sight. 
 
 " Poor Joseph," said Malcha, stealing an arm about his 
 neck. " He is worn out with these doings. One thing I 
 have sworn, and that is that no one shall disturb us until 
 this tired man is refreshed, and has had a good nap." 
 
 " Yes, Joseph," said Miry am, " you look as if you had 
 seen a spirit." 
 
 Joseph stared again at the samovar, but he took the cup 
 of tea which his wife handed him, and drank it eagerly. 
 
 Just as they were laughing at some quaint remark by 
 ittle Zipporah, and as Joseph was beginning to feel reposed 
 and tranquil, there came a tremendous clatter at the door, 
 and in rushed Ben Zion, his naming hair and beard in dis 
 order, and behind him Avere half a dozen cloakmakers, ges 
 ticulating wildly, and shouting in jargon. 
 
 At sight of this embassy, the fourth or fifth she had seen 
 that morning from the perturbed laborers, Malcha's ire 
 rose, and she sprang to her feet. 
 
 " Get outside of that door, every one of you ! " she cried,
 
 92 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 brandishing her knife and fork as if she meant to assault 
 the intruders, " and don't let me hear a word from you 
 until Joseph has finished his breakfast. Do you want to 
 worry him to death ? " 
 
 " My faith, missus ! " said one of the men, an ill-natured 
 fellow, "if he had no. more breakfast to eat than we have 
 at our house he would have finished it long ago." 
 
 "Now, Malcha," said Joseph, rising and preparing to 
 attend to the men. 
 
 " Now nothing ! " cried the resolute wife, forcing him 
 down into his seat. " Are we slaves ? Isn't your breath 
 your own ? What are these folks to us ? Let them air 
 their troubles on the doorstep,' and wait until you have had 
 a cup of tea." 
 
 Then catching up some dried fish and bits of bread from 
 the table, she distributed them among the men, saying, - 
 
 " Munch that outside, and wait ! Do you think we are 
 your servants ? " 
 
 " I'll attend to 'em, Malcha ! I'll keep them in order," 
 cried Ben Zion ; and he hurried the men out. 
 
 " I see you don't understand, small wife," said Joseph, 
 " that a labor leader is the servant of his people. But you 
 will come to realize it after a while." 
 
 " Stuff and nonsense ! If another of those whining 
 needle-pushers sets his foot in here without permission, I'll 
 pour the tea down his back ! " she said. And she would 
 have done it. 
 
 But in a quarter of an hour Joseph summoned the dele 
 gation, and his heart leaped up with hope when he heard 
 the news that they had brought. 
 
 Freier and Monach, who were the originators of the 
 look-out, and who had always been the most obstinate 
 and rebellious of the manufacturers, had at last consented 
 to receive a committee from the starving cloakmakers.
 
 WHEN THE OX IS DOWN 93 
 
 The truth was that they had heard of the doings of the 
 previous night, and were alarmed. They had been told that 
 some of the Socialists had proposed to sack their stores, but 
 that Joseph had restrained them. 
 
 So they felt curious to hear what Joseph might have to 
 say. 
 
 It was a recent action of Freier and Monach' s which had 
 brought the agony of the famished refugees to a crisis. 
 The firm had suddenly and brutally ordered thirty of its 
 men, one morning, to go home. The poor men, to whom 
 going home in the dull season meant starvation, protested 
 that they had an agreement with the firm to employ them 
 until the busy season came round again. 
 
 Freier and Monach snapped their fingers at the agree 
 ment, and said, " You can do what you like. We are not 
 afraid of you. Go and loaf with the thirty thousand others 
 who are locked out." 
 
 "We must have a 'shop meeting,'" said the men, who 
 hoped to tide over the difficulty. As a result of this meet 
 ing, which was promptly held, Freier and Monach made a 
 price-list, which priced every garment by number. " Every 
 thing is now set down in black and white," they said. 
 " There can be no dispute, and you can come back to work 
 if you wish to do so." 
 
 The men fell into the trap, and it was not until Freier 
 and Monach began to juggle with these new prices, that 
 they saw through the trick, and understood why they had 
 been dismissed and recalled. 
 
 They remonstrated against the new tyrannies which the 
 firm now imposed, but in vain. Their wages were cut and 
 pared, and all the conditions as to prices for " piece-work " 
 Avere violated. 
 
 Then the men stopped work of their own accord, leaving 
 Freier and Monach with a very large number of unfinished
 
 94 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 contracts upon their hands. The employers roared, but in 
 vain. No one would come to work for them. 
 
 The toilers in many sweating-shops in relation with 
 Freier and Monach stopped work also, out of sympathy for 
 their oppressed brethren. 
 
 Freier and Monach roared again, and determined to strike 
 back. They started an organization of manufacturers 
 and all the cutters were locked out. Then thirty manufac 
 turers of cloaks simultaneously discharged their men. 
 
 Thus the industry was paralyzed, the necessary prepara 
 tions for the brisk season were checked. The employers 
 were anxious, and the locked-out workmen were starving. 
 
 And now, alarmed at the wild manifestations of the hun 
 gry men and women, Freier and Monach asked for a 
 committee. 
 
 " Let us form it at once," said the men who were await 
 ing Joseph on the doorsteps, " and you shall head it." 
 
 "Very well," said Joseph. He picked out two or three 
 resolute men, who represented the different departments of 
 the cloakmaking industry, and placed himself at their 
 head. Ben Zion remained to comfort Malcha and Miryam 
 with his quaint sayings, and Joseph set out on his mission 
 at once. 
 
 " You will let me deal with these people," he said to his 
 fellow committee-men. "Forget that you are hungry! 
 Remember that we are at war for our rights ! " 
 
 They strode into Canal Street, to the stuffy office where 
 it was understood that Freier and Monach awaited them. 
 
 When they reached the place they found a greasy look 
 ing personage dressed in black, with a huge diamond in his 
 shirt front, sitting on a pile of unfinished cloaks. 
 
 Joseph went in and faced this individual, who said 
 gruffly, 
 
 " What is it you want ? "
 
 WHEN THE OX IS DOWN 95 
 
 "We don't want anything," said Joseph. "It is you 
 who want." 
 
 The personage with the diamond looked at Joseph as if 
 he were some curious beast, or a bird of extraordinary 
 plumage. Then he cried at him again, in a harsh, domi 
 neering voice, 
 
 " Well, what is it that you want ? " 
 
 As Joseph felt that the question was already answered, 
 he made no response, but stood to his guns. 
 
 " Oh, I suppose you are the committee from the Union," 
 sneered the personage, talking in English, and appearing to 
 look down on Joseph. 
 
 " We are," said Joseph ; " and AVC have no time to 
 waste." 
 
 " Well, you can wait until we are ready, I suppose." 
 
 " We will wait one minute no longer," said Joseph. 
 " And if we go away now you may find it more difficult to 
 fetch us a second time." 
 
 At this there was a roar, like that of a wild bull, behind 
 a thin partition at one end of the room, and Freier, the re 
 doubtable sweater and oppressor, bounced out from his 
 concealment, and came rapidly towards them. 
 
 Freier was a huge, brawny man, elaborately dressed, with 
 a rolling shirt-collar and a profusion of jewellery, which 
 gave him the air of a travelling theatrical manager. 
 
 He was renowned as a knocker-down and dragger-out of 
 workmen who rebelled against his tyrannies. Tradition 
 said, too, that he did not scruple to raise his hand against 
 the hapless women whom he employed. 
 
 He knew Joseph, who had once been into his factory to 
 claim justice for an old man whom he had abused. But it 
 did not suit his present purpose to recognize him. He 
 puffed up his cheeks, took out a cigar, lighted it, smoked 
 in Joseph's face, and finally said,
 
 96 JOSEPH ZALMONAII 
 
 " Where do you come from ? " 
 
 Joseph smiled. "From Russia," he said; "and you?" 
 
 Freier scowled. " What is your purpose here ? " he 
 said menacingly. 
 
 " To confer with you as member of a committee on the 
 subject of the lock-out." 
 
 *' Yes, yes," said Freier. " All the men on the pave 
 ment, with empty bellies and all because of your cursed 
 interference." 
 
 Joseph's eyes flashed. " I will always interfere to see 
 that my fellow-workmen are not oppressed," he said. 
 " This is a free country. It might be well for you to re 
 member that." 
 
 "All the manufacturers are acting with us," snarled 
 Freier. " We know what we are about." 
 
 " ' When the ox is down, many are the butchers,' " said 
 Joseph, quoting the cynical Hebrew proverb. 
 
 " You will come to be hanged yet for stirring up the peo 
 ple," said Freier, coming close to Joseph and puffing clouds 
 of smoke in his face. 
 
 " I have nothing to lose but my neck. You, too, have 
 one that would fit a rope." 
 
 Freier raised his hand, but he saw. Joseph's resolute, pale 
 face, and he observed that Joseph's companions were clos 
 ing around him. He dashed his cigar to the floor, 
 
 " I will give you as much money as you want to go back 
 to Russia and to stay there," he said. He disdained even 
 to lower his voice. He fancied he could buy the whole 
 committee. 
 
 "I would advise you not to say anything of that kind to 
 me again," said Joseph, clenching his fist. The conversa 
 tion had been in English, but he spoke the familiar jargon 
 now. 
 
 "Well," said Freier, a little abashed, "if you wish to
 
 WHEN THE OX IS DOWN 97 
 
 be saucy, you can go home again as fast as you came. First 
 of all, we are not going to pay any different prices, and we 
 will make no different arrangements." 
 
 " If you will coine to the office of our Union, you will 
 talk in a different tone," said Joseph. 
 
 " I don't want to see a lot of pasty-faced Russian refu 
 gees," said Freier scornfully. 
 
 " They are not to be married to you, and they don't care 
 for your opinion." 
 
 " I didn't lock them out," said Freier. 
 
 As this was a lie, Joseph did not think it worth while to 
 contradict it. 
 
 " Then all our trouble in coming here is for nothing ! " 
 said one of Joseph's companions. " Leave the old fox in 
 his den. He will get smoked out some day." 
 
 " If you talk that way," said Freier, " I will have you 
 thrown out." 
 
 " And if you do," said the cloakmaker, " I will bring ten 
 thousand women here to pull you to pieces. It wouldn't 
 take long." 
 
 Freier stooped and picked up his cigar. 
 
 " Well," he said, " if I did make the lock-out, what do 
 you suppose I did it for ? " 
 
 His face was quite white now, and he showed his teeth 
 like a wolf. 
 
 " It was because of men like him," he snarled, pointing 
 at Joseph. " It was because I am tired of the meddling 
 and interfering of such men, with their Unions and their 
 committees ! Do you think I am afraid of him, or anybody 
 like him?" 
 
 He lighted a match slowly with his thick white ringers, 
 applied it to the cigar, and blew great rings of smoke slowly 
 into the air. 
 
 " You have come here, and you have threatened me," he
 
 98 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 said. "You," shaking his hand at Joseph, "you who 
 ought to be in prison. You threaten me. But I will show 
 you that we are not to be bullied. If your men want to 
 come back to work without any concessions, let them come. 
 If not, right about face, and get out of here ! The police 
 of New York know how to put down labor riots. Get one 
 up, and see ! " 
 
 And once more he puffed the smoke of his cigar insolently 
 in Joseph's face.
 
 THE PIG MARKET 99 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE PIG MARKET 
 
 IT was a hot and airless afternoon. The sun beat down 
 with terrific force on the push-carts piled high with unripe 
 or half-decayed fruit with strawberries which had lin 
 gered too long in transit, and melons which had not seen 
 enough of the sun. Sickening exhalations arose. The 
 voices of the men chanting the attractions of their wares 
 sank to a sickly wail. The old women squatted on the 
 pavement, drooped their scrawny necks, and seemed ready 
 to faint. 
 
 Round the corner, into the most crowded section of the 
 " Pig Market," probably so called because everything but 
 pig is sold there, came Ben Zion, languidly pushing his 
 cart, which was heaped high with mottled strawberries. 
 Behind him was a bevy of young girls, dark-haired and 
 graceful, but with the fatal pallor of the sweaters' dens 
 upon their faces. 
 
 " If you go a step farther, Ben Zion," cried the tallest of 
 the girls, "you lose our patronage. Do you think we want 
 to walk all the way to Jerusalem just to accommodate you ? " 
 
 Ben Zion halted and backed his cart against the curb. 
 The girls crowded around him. But he did not seem in 
 clined to begin trading at once. He held up one hand, 
 and bent his head in the attitude of listening. 
 
 " This is the place," he said. " Now hark, and you will
 
 100 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 hear something curious. Open your ears, you silly girls, 
 and tell me what you hear." 
 
 The girls listened, and presently perceived, above the 
 clatter and hum of the street, the clicking of thousands of 
 sewing-machines, over which, in front and back garrets, 
 men and women were bending and working furiously, with 
 out thought or hope of rest. 
 
 Click-click-click-click-click ! went the machines, xintil 
 the brain was possessed with the burden of their chorus, 
 and seemed to dance to the rude and lilting rhythm into 
 which they gradually swung. 
 
 There was something almost sinister in the energy and 
 tirelessness with which the click-click went on, as if behind 
 it were a tireless and unbending will, disdaining fatigue, 
 scorning unhappiness, and toiling forward to some obscure 
 vengeance in the future. 
 
 " You hear it ! " said Ben Zion, shaking his hand impres 
 sively. "Well, if the Czar who kicked us out of the Pale 
 could hear it, he would tremble and feel faint. Why ? 
 because every one of those clicks means that one of his 
 enemies you know one of those enemies that never 
 pardon, is moving on to independence, and to a position 
 where he or she can strike back ! I like to listen to the 
 merry chant ! It does my heart good." 
 
 " It sounds more to me," said one of the girls, across 
 whose pallid face a heavy shadow swept, "like infernal 
 music, to which the sweaters love to dance on our graves, 
 when we are used up, and can work no more, and they throw 
 us out ! " 
 
 " What a horrid fancy ! " said a little brunette. " And 
 what do you think such cattle as we are could ever do to 
 the Czar, Ben Zion ? One wag of his beard, and you would 
 run all the way to Siberia ! " 
 
 " Do you think that I would run ? " said the little ped-
 
 THE PIG MARKET 101 
 
 ler angrily. "If you had seen me and Joseph when we 
 took landlord Simon by the beard " 
 
 " What did you do, Ben Zion ? " said one of the girls 
 breathlessly. 
 
 " I marshalled the army," said the pedler, brandishing 
 the three-cornered horn of coarse paper into which he was 
 presently to pour three cents' worth of damaged strawber 
 ries. " I was the grand marshal ! If you had seen me 
 then, you would not dare to accuse Ben Zion of running 
 away ! " 
 
 At this moment there was a hubbub at the street corner 
 a short distance above them. The shuffling and the patter 
 of hundreds of feet were heard. Then there were angry 
 discussions, oaths, plaintive protests, shrieks, and maledic 
 tions. 
 
 A huge lumber wagon, drawn by smart horses, stood in 
 the middle of the street. Several resolute men were ad 
 vancing beside it, peering at the contents of each push-cart, 
 and if the inspection disappointed them, they ordered the 
 suspected articles to be thrown into the wagon. Policemen 
 at front and back were ready to enforce the order. 
 
 Ben Zion understood the situation at a glance. He 
 whirled his little cart around, and was off, at the top of bis 
 speed, down the street, and away from the Health Board's 
 Inspectors, without stopping to consider the total contra 
 diction afforded by his act to the brave words which had 
 just left his lips. 
 
 As he sped along, his decaying merchandise strewing the 
 pavement on either side of the cart, the inspectors bawled 
 after him, but no one ventured to stop him, for Ben Zion 
 had a ready hand and a still more ready tongue. 
 
 The three girls laughed the hoarse, ghastly laugh of their 
 overworked class as they saw the pedler so belying his 
 courageous declaration, and they followed him as fast as
 
 102 JOSEPH ZALMONAF1 
 
 they could, around a corner and into a narrow alley beyond 
 the precincts of the " Pig Market." 
 
 "There, my lambs !" said Ben Zion, puffing and blowing 
 and fanning himself with a red bandanna pocket-handker 
 chief. " I ought to have told you that the only tiling I am 
 bound to run from is the nasty, prying American Health 
 Board. We poor pedlers never have a minute's rest when 
 those fellows have a working fit on. Down they pounce on 
 us, like eagles ; and if there is a fish in the neighborhood 
 that smells as if it had outlived its usefulness, bang ! they 
 seize up all the fish within a square mile around! It is 
 the same with fruit ! What is an honest fellow to do in the 
 midst of such persecutions ? And that reminds me, Esther, 
 that you are waiting for your lunch. Did you say three 
 cents ' worth of these very nice berries, my little dear ? " 
 
 Esther, the brunette, had been ferreting among the ber 
 ries while the pedler was talking. " Why, Ben Zion, this 
 fruit is not good," she said. " It has been kept too long. 
 You were right to run away from the Health Board." 
 
 Ben Zion threw down the horn of paper, and, raising his 
 hands, shook them furiously in the air. Then he folded his 
 arms across his breast, stood back, and gazed at Esther with 
 an air of deep disdain. 
 
 "Not good, you say, not good, my berries! The little 
 witch has the courage to say that to me to me, Ben Zion ! " 
 Then suddenly taking a " five-cent paper," he tilled it to the 
 brim with mouldy fruit, and, pushing it into Esther's 
 hands, said, 
 
 " There's double measure for you ! Give me the three 
 cents. Now run home, and don't try to cheapen my fruit 
 any more ! " 
 
 This master-stroke of impudence had precisely the effect 
 contemplated by Ben Zion. It brought the other two girls 
 to terms. They each left three cents in Ben Zion's coffers,
 
 THE PIG MARKET 103 
 
 and carried away an invitation to cholera. But they were 
 wise enough not to eat the fruit when they saw how bad it 
 was. The commercial instinct was strong in them, and in a 
 few minutes they had exchanged the berries for a small 
 loaf of the wretched bread for sale on every corner of the 
 Pig Market. 
 
 The baker dressed up the berries in a little basket, and 
 shortly afterwards avenged himself on the tribe of sweaters 
 by selling them to a contractor for twenty-five cents. And 
 thus was the transaction ended. 
 
 " The girls are right ! " said Ben Zion when left alone. 
 " There's too much richness and ripeness in this cargo ever 
 to pass the Health Board. So here goes ! " And he emptied 
 the mass of fruit into the gutter, after which, producing 
 from an inner pocket a worn leather cigarette case, he 
 lighted a fragrant roll of tobacco, and, lazily propelling the 
 cart before him, he returned into the market. 
 
 The tumult was now greater than ever. Choosing a spot 
 directly in the path of the advancing inspectors, Ben Zion 
 tilted up his cart, stretched himself luxuriously in it, and 
 began to sing in a high falsetto voice one of the comic 
 folk-songs which he had learned in David's theatre. 
 
 " We shall have rare sport now, as the bear said when he 
 hugged the hunter," remarked Ben Zion, looking up with 
 eager interest as the sound of a fresh scuffle and a woman's 
 piercing cries greeted his ears. 
 
 The scene was as un-American as possible. There was 
 nothing but a fat policeman to remind one that he was in 
 the largest city of the United States. Even the narrow 
 brick houses, belettered as they were with signs in Hebrew 
 characters, had a strangely foreign, air. But more foreign 
 of aspect than anything else was an old man in a long caf 
 tan and a skull-cap much frayed at the edges, who sat on. 
 the curbstone with both his wrinkled and knotted hands
 
 104 JOSKPII ZALMONAH 
 
 folded over his knees, and with an air of saddened resigna 
 tion upon his yellow face, on either side of which hung a 
 small curl of iron-gray hair. 
 
 " Why, how goes it, Father Manasseh ? " said Ben Zion, 
 as his gaze fell upon this pitiable figure. " You don't look 
 over gay, because you don't feel so, as the fox said when 
 they were skinning him, I suppose. Any new trouble ? " 
 
 " Ho ! I can't complain," said the old man. " The soci 
 ety gave me three dollars a week when I was ill, and I 
 saved something out of that. So that I still have the crust, 
 you know, and might die happy if I could only get Shiph- 
 rah back." 
 
 He sighed deeply, and a tear rolled down his withered 
 cheek, and took refuge in his whitening beard, as if it 
 knew itself to be a luxury of which the old man would be 
 ashamed. 
 
 " Oh, yes ! Shiphrah ! " said Ben Zion reflectively. " She 
 ran away, didn't she ? Or what was it ?" 
 
 " Worse than that worse ! " said the old man, unfolding 
 his hands and rising painfully. "But don't ask me the 
 story now. It makes my heart bleed. I sit here every 
 day, hoping that I may see her again before T die ; but she 
 seems to keep clear of the market. I shall find her yet ; 
 but I won't ask the police; no, I won't ask the police !" 
 
 Suddenly the old man looked up at the pedler, with a 
 gleam of hope in his countenance. " Ah, I remember ! " he 
 said, " you know Joseph young Zalmonah who is at the 
 head of the Cloakmakers' Union, don't you ? " 
 
 Ben Zion arose, and assumed an air of quiet dignity. 
 
 "I perceive," he said, "that you have heard how Joseph 
 and I led the cloakmakers the other night. Do I know 
 him ? It is a vain question, old man. We are hand and 
 glove. Well, and if I do know him, what then ? " 
 
 " Why, then I would ask you to tell me the way to his
 
 THE PIG MARKET 105 
 
 house. I would like to see his wife. I hear she has just 
 come over. She knew Shiphrah. They were from the 
 same town. Perhaps she may have been to see her. Will 
 you not tell me where I can find Joseph's wife ? " he said in 
 querulous, piping tones, and laying hold of the frayed and 
 soiled skirt of Ben Zion's coat. 
 
 Ben Zion gave the lachrymose patriarch the desired 
 information, and looked after him thoughtfully, as he 
 hobbled away. "Well, well," he said, "that will be a 
 search. It is hard work looking for acorns after snow 
 falls, as the bear with the frozen paw said." 
 
 Some hundreds of " push-carts " like Ben Zion's were 
 ranged within the narrow limits of Hester Street, and were 
 laden with every conceivable kind of merchandise. Behind 
 the carts stood the black brigade of misery, the great un 
 washed and saucy pedler's company, ready to starve, fight, 
 or suffer tortures in order to turn the nimble penny. 
 
 There were no ragged or crippled people in this company 
 of hucksters, and yet they produced upon the spectator the 
 impression of profound poverty. Old women in disordered 
 Avigs and tarnished caps, and in petticoats which seemed 
 to have come from the junk man, squeaked out, in cracked 
 voices, the value of their wares. 
 
 Cunning-faced boys, already bent and faded like men of 
 fifty, laughed and told jokes, as they dispensed infinitesimal 
 portions of rancid fish and huge pieces of half-baked bread 
 to the pale-faced operatives from some adjacent garret. 
 
 At a street corner a shaky and greasy flight of steps led 
 down to a basement in which an old Jew in a green coat 
 sold mouldy-looking meat, while the steps were occupied 
 by a starving book-worm, who had a meagre array of Hebrew 
 literature displayed on a dirty shelf. In a little recess half 
 a dozen old men, leaning on their carts, furiously discussed 
 some knotty point, making the air vibrate with their sonor-
 
 106 JOSEPH ZALMONAIT 
 
 cms jargon. Small slips of girls, barefoot and haggard, 
 went by like rays of moonshine, seeming as noiseless and 
 unreal. They were the messengers despatched by the toil 
 ing employees in adjacent sweating-shops to procure them 
 a little food for keeping soul and body in company. There 
 were bands of dirty-faced men who recklessly sold green 
 fruit, all the time shouting at the top of their voices, 
 ' Sweet ! Oh, sweet ! " And here and there was a pale, proud 
 face with genteel lines in it a face which spoke of refined 
 life and comfortable position in the past bent over the 
 merchandise on a cart, as if afraid or ashamed to look the 
 world in the eye. 
 
 Such a face Ben Zion now saw close to him, and he 
 studied it with his quick eye, making up his mind mean 
 time how he should address its owner. It was the face 
 of a scholar, a thinker, Avho was reduced to the extreme of 
 misery. 
 
 The man halted at Ben Zion's side, and, spreading a 
 clean white handkerchief, sat down and leaned his hand 
 some head against the little cart's side. For stock-in-trade 
 he had only a few yellow bound pamphlets containing 
 popular ballads written in jargon. And from the goodly 
 number of them it was pretty evident that he had done but 
 small business that morning. 
 
 "Well, comrade," said Ben Zion good-naturedly, "you 
 haven't sold more than a thousand volumes this morning, 
 I'll be bound. People don't want to read when they can't 
 eat." 
 
 " I have sold nothing," said the man in a husky voice, 
 and with an accent of profound despair. He spoke in the 
 jargon, yet there was refinement in his speech. ''Nothing. 
 And I have eaten nothing since yesterday. If this exist 
 ence is to go on day after day, in this terrible heat and in 
 this turmoil, I will throw myself in the river over yonder,
 
 THE PIG MARKET 107 
 
 rather than endure it! This the land of plenty, indeed! 
 Why, I am starving ! " 
 
 " Yes," said Ben Zion, getting out of his cart briskly, and 
 beginning to examine the new-comer's books, "that's all 
 very fine ; but drinking too much river water will not cure 
 you of starvation, nor give you back the fine position and 
 the money which the Russians robbed you of. We must 
 work our brains, man ! Work our brains ! Stand up here 
 by me a minute, and see how I will drag you out of the bog 
 into which you have floundered." 
 
 The man obeyed feebly, doubtless feeling that anything, 
 no matter how grotesque or humiliating it might prove, 
 would be better than his own lack of success. 
 
 Ben Zion was bent on killing two birds with one stone. 
 He saw the inspectors rapidly approaching (the Health 
 Board cart was but two blocks away now), and he wished 
 to appear before them as a seller of something besides 
 fruit. At the same time he was sincerely anxious to rescue 
 the poor man a scholarly refugee who had been expelled 
 from Moscow at four days' notice, losing property worth 
 forty thousand roubles from his peril of starvation. 
 
 So without any explanation he snatched two or three 
 dozen of the little volumes from the other cart, and with 
 them completely covered the floor of his own. Then he set 
 up a shrill yell, " Books ! books ! cheaper than dirt ! Wiser 
 than Solomon, more venerable than Moses, because of the 
 wisdom that is in 'em ! Books books ! at (How much 
 do you sell 'em for ? ) 
 
 " Ten cents." 
 
 " At ten cents apiece here they are the wonderful 
 songs and ballads of Mordecai, the poet of the people ! 
 Just the things to sing now, my friends, now that the day 
 of reckoning with the sweaters is at hand ! Ten cents 
 apiece ! Who'll buy ? "
 
 108 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 A silver coin fell into Ben Zion's ready palm. One of 
 the little books vanished into the capacious pocket of a 
 greasy-looking contractor, who was anxious to see what the 
 " poet of the people " had said of his class. Then came a 
 rabbi in a huge silk hat and a stained linen coat, who also 
 purchased. He was followed by an asthmatic tailor, and 
 next by a landlord. 
 
 " Take these coins and run and get your breakfast," said 
 Ben Zion, thrusting the money into his pale companion's 
 hand. " If you want to sell, you must shout ! If you keep 
 still in your corner, you will starve ! Run ! Trust me to 
 make money while you are gone. I will look after your 
 cart." 
 
 The man obeyed ; and so it happened that when the in 
 spectors came up with Ben Zion, whom they had plainly 
 discerned running away a few minutes before, he thrust a 
 book under their noses, and urged them to buy. 
 
 " Surely this is the man," said one of the inspectors. 
 " He is one of the worst sinners in the business. He 
 would peddle decayed vegetables by the ton, if we came 
 around less often." 
 
 " Shall I run him in ? " said a policeman. 
 
 Ben Zion flourished one of the books under the officer's 
 nose. " Have a book ? " he said. " Only ten cents." 
 
 "Yes, he's peddling books now," said the inspector; 
 "but there are the stains of the fruit on the sides of his 
 barrow. This fellow will poison the city some day. Can't 
 you talk United States ? " he said angrily to Ben Zion. 
 
 The pedler only flourished his books more lustily, and 
 proclaimed its virtues more loudly in his copious jargon 
 vocabulary; but, finally, placing the book again close to 
 the officer's face, he said dryly, 
 
 "Zehn cents. You better buy von." 
 
 " I'll pound your red head off, if you say that again,"
 
 THE PIG MARKET 
 
 cried the exasperated officer ; and the inspection procession 
 rolled along. Before it swept a wave of lamentation from 
 the old women, who saw their stock-in-trade seized and 
 thrown into the hated wagon. An aged hag, sorting but 
 tons in a heap on a push-cart, assailed one of the officers 
 tooth and nail, and was carried off screaming, her whole 
 family following her to rescue her if possible from the 
 grip of the law. 
 
 " That was a narrow escape i " said Ben Zion. " I think 
 I will stick to the side streets hereafter. Unless I sell 
 pants again ! People must have pants, even when they 
 can't get bread." 
 
 And he was lost in thought on this important matter 
 when the grateful man returned to thank him for interven 
 ing to preserve him from the pangs of hunger. 
 
 "Let me sell you a few more books," said Ben Zion. 
 And he addressed himself so deftly to his task, that in half 
 an hour the refugee was insured against want for several 
 days. He at first refused to accept any commission for his 
 labors ; but when pressed he accepted a quarter. " It'll come 
 handy to buy shoe-laces with," he thought. " But ought I 
 to sell shoe-laces and suspenders now that I am a leader of 
 revolutions ? " 
 
 While meditating on this momentous problem, Ben Zion 
 found the three girls to whom he had sold the berries 
 standing near him again. 
 
 It suddenly occurred to him that they might have heard 
 something about the, lost Shiphrah. He began questioning 
 them, and in a few minutes he was in possession of the 
 information which old Manasseh had so long sought in 
 vain.
 
 110 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 WITH THE POET OF THE PEOPLE 
 
 "COME, Joseph," said Miryara, with a faint trace of pet 
 ulance in her sweet voice, " if you drag along behind that 
 way we shall be too late. When Mordecai has a singing 
 tit upon him, he wouldn't wait for King Solomon." 
 
 " King Solomon has been dead for thousands of years," 
 answered Joseph wearily, as he quickened his pace. " You 
 live so much among those old historical personages in your 
 theatrical world, that you get to think they are real." 
 
 "Ah! Joseph, Joseph!" said the girl-woman, turning 
 her head and looking archly at him, " I know you well 
 enough to feel sure that when you try the comical vein, 
 you are worried about something. And why shouldn't you 
 be worried, after all ? " she mused with a sudden change of 
 manner. 
 
 " There's nothing very humorous in my situation," sighed 
 Joseph. " Thirty to forty thousand starving people ready 
 to break into riot, if I can't invent some pretence for 
 keeping them still ! What would you do in my place, 
 Miry am ?" 
 
 The pair stopped in the shadow of a tall tenement 
 house, as if the weight of Joseph's responsibility were 
 pressing upon them both. 
 
 " I don't know," said Miryam simply, raising her beauti 
 ful eyes, and looking at Joseph with an expression of per-
 
 WITH THE POET OF THE PEOPLE 111 
 
 feet trustfulness. " But I always feel sure that you will 
 succeed that you will do the right thing. It is as if 
 as if something were leading you on." 
 
 Joseph winced. There were times when he felt the un 
 seen guidance, and when he would gladly have acknowl 
 edged it. But for the moment he seemed to have lost the 
 touch of the guiding hand. 
 
 Since his stormy interview with Freier he had felt half 
 stunned and helpless. The slave-drivers had shown a firm 
 front against the revolt of the slaves. It was even evident 
 that they coveted open riot, that they might have an excuse 
 for harsher measures. 
 
 Surrounded by snares and pitfalls, friendless in a foreign 
 land, with the laws and the very Constitution of which he 
 was unfamiliar, and with a great army of desperate men 
 and women urging him to lead it on to reckless and lawless 
 deeds, unless he could find bread and work for it, he be 
 gan to feel appalled at the immensity of his task. 
 
 His senses swam when he tried to think steadily upon 
 the dangers and trials close at hand. 
 
 They were standing in Henry Street, that comfortable 
 old region of quaint Dutch-looking houses which was once 
 a fashionable promenade for New Yorkers, in those far 
 away days when a cow-pound stood on the site of the Fifth 
 Avenue Hotel, and when a journey to Harlem was an event. 
 Henry Street has still kept much of its ancient triinness 
 and neatness, although tall tenement houses have thrust 
 their ugly and angular forms in among the little mansions 
 and have brought with them troops of dark-visaged folk, 
 who seem as alien to America as if they had never heard 
 of it. 
 
 " I wish I could help you, Joseph," said Miry am ; " I do 
 with all my heart ! I I never saw you look as if you 
 needed help before."
 
 112 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 The mists arose, quite unbidden, in Joseph's eyes. His 
 helplessness was, then, apparent even to this unworldly 
 little waif ? He must make an effort, aud he did, taking 
 Miryam's hands, and saying kindly 
 
 " It will all come out right. Let us go on." 
 
 A few steps more brought them to the entrance of a gray 
 brick tenement house, which towered dizzily into air, as if 
 it were not at all certain of its footing, and might at any 
 time topple over. Miryam made her way among the sprawl 
 ing groups of olive-faced babies, tended by little damsels 
 with very womanly heads of hair, and with eyes which 
 sparkled with curiosity and good-humor. 
 
 "This is it. Come up," said the girl, pointing to the 
 annunciator, on which a small tablet bore the name in Ger 
 manic script : 
 
 MORDECAI MENZER 
 
 A little pang of envy shot through Joseph's breast, but 
 was gone in an instant. He wondered if lie could ever 
 attain to the dignity of a plate with his name upon it, as 
 Mordecai, " the poet of the people," had done. At present, 
 in his shabby lodgings in a frowzy quarter, he was far 
 enough from any such style. 
 
 They climbed flight after flight of poorly lighted stairs 
 hearing the click of sewing-machines and the droning 
 voices of actors and actresses rehearsing their roles in jar 
 gon, and a woman singing shrilly to the music of a cracked 
 piano. 
 
 Through an open door they had a glimpse of a veritable 
 " sweater's hell," where girls were toiling at the needle 
 in the immediate vicinity of a red-hot stove, on which the 
 pressing irons were heating. 
 
 The blast of fetid air which came from the room as a
 
 WITH THE POET OF THE PEOPLE 113 
 
 pallid employee hastened to shut the door, was what one 
 might imagine a puff from the cavernous mouth of hell 
 to be. 
 
 On the fourth floor Mordeeai Menzer's name again con 
 fronted them 011 a soiled and splintered door. Miryam 
 rang, and a moment later she and her companion were 
 standing in the presence of " the poet of the people." 
 
 He was a small man, on the borders of fifty, with a thin, 
 sharp face, and a bushy beard which he had evidently dyed 
 to conceal the snows of time upon it. He had a curious 
 way of gazing out from under his brows which at first was 
 rather startling ; but one soon discovered that it was only 
 a manner. Mordeeai Meuzer was a man of intense nature, 
 and he showed it even iu his ordinary speeches and ges 
 tures. 
 
 His greeting of Joseph was so deferential that it con 
 fused the young leader, who was prepared to compliment 
 the poet on his wonderful power over the hearts of the 
 Jewish people. But Mordeeai at first would hear little 
 about himself; his talk was of Joseph and his plans, the 
 lock-out, the labor revolution in progress. 
 
 The poet's domicile consisted of three diminutive rooms 
 and a rather dark kitchen. In the tiny dining-room his ro 
 tund little wife and two modest and pretty daughters were 
 busy with household cares. Here the poet had received 
 his visitors. He now conducted them into the next room, 
 a Liliputian salon in which some old faded tapestry-backed 
 chairs looked as if they felt crowded and out of place. In 
 one of these chairs sat a little nervous man with a dark 
 face, holding a violin in his lap. And on a low stool 
 behind one of the chairs, intently looking out of the win 
 dow, was the beautiful Bathsheba. 
 
 Joseph's heart gave a curious throb as he saw her, and 
 he could not refrain from gazing at her, until she slowly
 
 114 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 turned her queenly head, and seemed to take possession of 
 him with her eyes. He looked confused; and although 
 Miryam rushed to Bathsheba, and engaged in a lively conver 
 sation with her, he thought of nothing but Bathsheba and 
 her eyes, while the poet Mordecai finally intoned his his 
 tory, bestowing various picturesque maledictions upon the 
 government which had expelled him from his native Russia, 
 and had compelled him to begin his career anew in a fur- 
 away land. 
 
 Mordecai had much to tell, and in an ordinary frame of 
 mind it all would have been intensely interesting to Joseph. 
 The poet told how, when a child at the carpenter's bench in 
 his father's shop, he had begun to compose ballads telling 
 the story of his people's joys and sorrows. As he grew up 
 he found that his singing was nearly all sorrowful, and he 
 learned that his people were oppressed and down-trodden. 
 
 'Then came the magic and never-to-be-forgotten moment 
 when the spirit of revolt and the spirit of poesy moved within 
 him, and in a few tremendous verses, into which he had con 
 densed the anguish of a whole race, he had struck out at 
 white heat the ballads which had won for him the name 
 of the " Poet of the people." 
 
 As a youth, and finally as a man, he had wandered up 
 and down the Russian land, wherever those of his race 
 were to be found, and he had sung to them the songs which 
 gave them life and hope, and also the spirit of vengeance. 
 
 He created the cradle-songs to which Jewish mothers 
 have for more than thirty years rocked their babes to 
 sleep, and in each and all of these songs there is a plaint or 
 a wail. 
 
 In the villages and at the country fairs the women and 
 children flocked to hear him sing his own songs; and, when 
 the Russian officials found that they often went away weep 
 ing, they began to spy upon Mordecai. Sometimes they
 
 WITH THE POET OF THE PEOPLE 115 
 
 sent stenographers to take down his words ; at another 
 time they gave him twenty-four hours in which to leave 
 the locality. And at last they became so threatening that 
 Mordecai, who supported his family by singing in public 
 and by selling reprints of his own songs, felt constrained 
 to give up his little home and to migrate over seas to " the 
 golden land " which he had already celebrated in his verse 
 the golden sunset land of free and untrammelled 
 America. 
 
 Arriving here in the thick of the labor troubles, and find 
 ing his hapless countrymen and women starving by regi 
 ments, victimized in brigades, slave-driven in armies, his 
 sensitive nature had received a severe shock. 
 
 He no longer believed in "the golden land," and had 
 written, since his arrival, a bitterly satirical ballad tinged 
 with socialism, in which he ridiculed the United States as 
 a land of promise, but not one of performance. 
 
 Without being himself what the masses call a Socialist, 
 he had leanings in that direction, and was easily persuaded 
 to enter into friendly relations with Baumeister, and with 
 others who professed to believe in what they called " the pol 
 icy of force." 
 
 And it so happened that Mordecai, although he had been 
 but a few months in America, had sung at several socialis 
 tic gatherings, and had composed one or two rhymed 
 invectives against " capitalistic legislatures " and other in 
 stitutions of the present order of society, which quite 
 delighted Baumeister and his colleagues. 
 
 Therefore, when he was urged to bring his influence to 
 bear upon Joseph, he resolved to do it as a kind of duty, 
 and was readily persuaded by Baumeister to give the 
 young leader a rendezvous in his humble abode. 
 
 Baumeister, meantime, took excellent care not to appear 
 in the matter. He was acting by deputy, and, in this case,
 
 116 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 he had chosen with great adroitness, and had decided con 
 fidence in the result. 
 
 For Bathsheba was his deputy. 
 
 Baumeister was a man of talent, of comprehensive vision, 
 and great audacity. Bathsheba was a new convert, and 
 converts are always more zealous than those born in the 
 faith. 
 
 If she had remained in her native province of Russia, 
 and had never been moved from the calm conventionality 
 of middle-class life, she would have been the most exem 
 plary of matrons, the coldest and most statuesque of beau 
 ties. It is doubtful if she would even have descended to 
 the commonplace level of a flirtation with a provincial 
 landowner, or a passing officer in some crack regiment. 
 
 But destiny had thrust her forth upon the world by fill 
 ing her head with a caprice for this dark-faced tiddler, 
 who had won her heart by playing gypsy melodies at a 
 festival in her father's house one summer moonlight night. 
 She had run away to marry him, leaving home and fortune 
 behind her ; and when she had come to the end of the few 
 -thousand roubles which her mother had sent her, out of 
 sheer pity for the daughter whose erratic conduct she con 
 demned, she saw that there was no new fortune to replace 
 the old one. 
 
 She had married a man who, in the cold sunlight of 
 every-day life, turned out to be nothing but an ordinary 
 musician. In America he found crushing competition await 
 ing him in the very specialties in which he had hoped to 
 succeed. 
 
 If this had not soured his happy-go-lucky temper, not so 
 much could be said of Bathsheba. With the loss of her 
 illusions had come an immense and overpowering disgust, 
 which gradually transformed itself into a fixed hatred for 
 Society and all its institutions.
 
 WITH THE POET OF THE PEOPLE 117 
 
 The transfer of her existence from Russia to America, 
 the keen shock of disappointment experienced on finding 
 that the conditions of life, especially for the refugees, vic 
 tims of the labor glut which they themselves created, were 
 so hard and forbidding, and the contrast so appalling in 
 New York between the extreme of want and abject mis 
 ery and the topmost height of luxury and abounding pros 
 perity, gave the finishing stroke to the slender framework 
 of piety and tradition which at home would have sufficed to 
 keep her from Socialism. 
 
 A few words from Baumeister at the opportune moment, 
 and Bathsheba was an active worker in the cause of the 
 " force party," which she and her companions called 
 "Socialistic "when they wished to be mild, and which 
 they glorified by its real and more repulsive name when 
 they were determined to speak out. The exalted, almost 
 frenzied fervor of Bathsheba's work in "the cause" had 
 led Baumeister to believe that he could trust her to do any 
 thing. Himself firmly convinced that a "campaign of 
 force " was near at hand, he rejoiced at having within call 
 a woman who would recoil at nothing, who would even under 
 take the mission of the assassin should he confide it to her. 
 
 She found in the keen intellectual delights of this con 
 spiracy, hopeless and foolish as its aims and undertakings 
 in reality were, a charming relief from the deadly monotony 
 of life in a dreary street in an obscure quarter, surrounded 
 by her inferiors, and sometimes in doubt where the next 
 day's food was to come from. 
 
 She had early acquired an ascendency over her husband ; 
 and she made liberal use of it, converting him to the new 
 doctrine, and persuading him that by means of it they might 
 both yet attain to consideration and worldly success. Her 
 beauty and strength of mind argued more for her doctrine 
 than her rather wild words could have done ; and the hus-
 
 118 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 baud seemed, under Bathsheba's direction, as clay in the 
 hands of the potter. 
 
 ' It was Bathsheba whom Bauineister had chosen as the 
 instrument for the conversion of Joseph to his doctrine. 
 When the leader of revolt against society in the metropolis 
 had first had Joseph pointed out to him as one who worked 
 steadily against the inroads of Socialism in the ranks of the 
 oppressed people, he had fancied that he could sweep him 
 out of the way by some adroit manoeuvre. 
 
 But when he discovered that Joseph was his equal in 
 sagacity and prudence, and his superior as a popular leader, 
 he made up his mind that Bathsheba alone could operate 
 the conversion. He proposed to her the mission of bringing 
 the young leader over to the " school of force," and after 
 some hesitation she consented. 
 
 At that time she had never seen Joseph, and supposed 
 him to be some greasy cloakmaker, the very odor of whose 
 garments would offend her nostrils. When she learned that 
 he was a man of rare power, and that he impressed all who 
 saw him with the idea that he had a mission, she found 
 means frequently to see him without being herself observed. 
 This careful espionage had begun weeks before the lock 
 out was started. At first she found it a task, then, sud 
 denly, it became a pleasure, and she discovered that the 
 pale face of Joseph, with its patient weariness, had left its 
 impress on her heart. 
 
 Thenceforward she watched him with keen and unflagging 
 interest. She had not seemed to notice the young leader 
 that evening when with David he had seen her in the lodge- 
 room in Grand Street. But her eyes had followed his every 
 movement, and it was with a rapturous joy which thrilled 
 her that she noticed the profound impression made upon 
 him by her beauty. 
 
 The next day she found herself possessed of a strange,
 
 WITH THE POET OF THE PEOPLE 119 
 
 almost uncontrollable desire to see Joseph at once. If she 
 had been tardy before in approaching her mission, she now 
 sped to it with a willing foot. 
 
 She had gone to the theatre because she had felt the mad 
 wish to see him that very night. Amazed at this new man 
 ifestation in her nature, which she had supposed to be no 
 longer susceptible to romance, she began to analyze her 
 emotions. 
 
 At the end of a few hours she had made up her mind 
 that her position was singular and embarrassing, even for 
 a disciple of Baumeister, and a revolutionist who believed 
 but little in the sacredness of the marriage-tie, or any other 
 of the social conventions. 
 
 Had she loved Joseph at first sight ? Certainly she had 
 felt the dawning of a passionate devotion to the leader whom 
 she had sworn to seduce from his allegiance to order. 
 
 Bathsheba knew that she was well watched, and she con 
 cealed her new secret with all the skill of an accomplished 
 conspirator. She wished to see Joseph face to face again, 
 to hear him talk, to touch his hand, before she decided on 
 her future course. 
 
 She was a woman of more than ordinary courage and 
 resources. She realized fully what this new love, if indeed 
 it were love, was likely to mean for her all the possibili 
 ties of tragedy, humiliation, suffering, contained in it ; and 
 she felt that she must bring the fate closer to her, where 
 she could inspect it narrowly, without delay. 
 
 So she had profited by her acquaintance with David 
 and Miryam, and with Mordecai, the people's poet, to 
 lead Joseph to her side. After she had heard his voice, 
 had looked into his eyes, she would decide she would 
 decide. 
 
 But as she looked languidly out at the window, while 
 Joseph listened to Mordecai's monologue, she betrayed by
 
 120 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 no sign the anxiety and commotion which reigned within 
 her breast. 
 
 It seemed to her that she feared to hear Joseph speak, 
 lest something which he might say should force her to over 
 turn the idol which she had erected in the innermost sanc 
 tuary of her heart. 
 
 Miryam rattled on about the expedition of the night be 
 fore, unconsciously throwing into it, with her theatrical 
 training, a certain dramatic force, especially when she spoke 
 of Joseph. To her surprise Bathsheba seemed to know- 
 many of the details, but scrutinized her with wild, widely 
 opened, almost tearful eyes every time she alluded to 
 Joseph's part in the night-drama. As yet it did not enter 
 Miryam's innocent heart that Bathsheba might dare to love 
 him, nor did she dream that the beautiful woman in whose 
 lap she laid her head was a conspirator commissioned to 
 convert or ruin Joseph. 
 
 Suddenly the girl caught her breath, and said, "Oh, I 
 am so afraid that something will happen to Joseph! Do 
 remember your promise to warn him ! " 
 
 A wave of ashy pallor swept into Bathsheba's face and 
 out again in an instant. "You may be sure that I shall 
 do my very best," she said, and her voice had a curious 
 tremor in it. 
 
 At this juncture Mordecai's round little wife appeared 
 in the doorway with one of her husband's presentation sil 
 ver salvers laden with peaches, grapes, and a dark-looking 
 wine which they had brought over seas with them. 
 
 " May I join the worthy company ? " she said in her 
 quaint jargon ; and Joseph was glad to get free from Mor 
 decai's monologue, and to see a little movement in the room. 
 
 The company collected about the wine. The dark-faced 
 fiddler smiled pleasantly at Joseph, smacked his lips, and 
 said,
 
 WITH THE POET OF THE PEOPLE 121 
 
 "Yon don't get that every day, hey you other cloak- 
 makers do you ? " 
 
 " Ho ! " said Joseph, " wine to drink ! That would be 
 luxury indeed ! Why, we are happy when we can get water 
 enough. I know a sweater who allowed the company to 
 cut off the water in his place. He declared that he wasn't 
 going to be taxed to furnish water for a crowd of thirsty 
 workers ! ' Let each man bring his own drinking-water,' 
 he said. 'And if he can't do that, let him choke.' " 
 
 "Good subject for a little ballad," said the dark-faced 
 fiddler to the poet. 
 
 " There are so many that father doesn't know which to 
 chose first, does one, father ?" said the small wife, holding 
 her wineglass with both hands, and looking up at her hus 
 band with a proud and pleased expression. 
 
 And now Joseph became conscious that Bathsheba was 
 near him, and the little fiddler was introducing him in a few 
 well-chosen words, and with an air which showed that he 
 was very proud of her. 
 
 " It was so kind of you to spare a few moments from 
 your poor people ! " said a melodious voice, and Joseph 
 looked up in surprise. 
 
 Could it be the voice of Bathsheba, the " Socialist," which 
 had spoken thus considerately of his mission ? He was pre 
 pared to hear her sneer at his down-trodden cloakmakers, 
 but not to sympathize with them. 
 
 He gazed at Bathsheba, as if waiting for her to explain 
 herself. The sincerity in his questioning eyes both pleased 
 and startled Bathsheba. She lowered her gaze. 
 
 " So good of you," she continued, "to give us a chance of 
 seeing you. Mordecai has been inspired by what he has 
 heard and seen of your work, to write a little song about 
 the sweaters. He was good enough to sing it to me and 
 I thought I thought," here she raised her eyes and flashed
 
 122 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 their light upon Joseph's face for a moment, then swiftly 
 lowered them again, " that you ought to hear it. Certainly 
 it will be an engine to help you in your work." 
 
 Joseph was surprised that he did not readily find words 
 to thank Bathsheba for what seemed sucli purely disin 
 terested kindness. He was usually ready enough with his 
 tongue, but now he dreaded to open his lips, lest he should 
 say something foolish. 
 
 He felt deliciously flattered by Bathsheba's interest in 
 him. It seemed to make his work larger, finer in his own 
 estimation. At last he realized that he must speak, so he 
 stammered, 
 
 " I have heard it said that songs often make revolutions. 
 Why, then, shouldn't they aid strikes ? And Heaven knows 
 that we have bitter need of aid ! I am sure that if the poor 
 cloakmakers now starving in Hester Street could see the 
 impression their misery has made on you, they would be 
 more courageous than ever." 
 
 But while he was speaking he felt like crying out to 
 Bathsheba, " Woman ! Woman ! these are not the words I 
 want to say to you. I want to ask you why your eyes 
 burn so strangely into my being ; why the touch of your 
 hand on mine thrills me with a strange delight ; why the 
 little room seems full of a glory which emanates from 
 you ! " 
 
 Did his eyes ask these questions ? He did not mean 
 that they should do so. He meant to conceal the delirious 
 disturbance which Bathsheba had wrought in his soul, and 
 the purport of which he but vaguely understood. 
 
 They talked for some minutes, while Miry am aided the 
 housewife and her daughters in cleaning the room, so that 
 Mordecai might have a little stage for action. 
 
 " When he is excited in singing," said the small wife, 
 " he walks up and down ; and if he should happen to knock
 
 WITH THE POET OF THE PEOPLE 123 
 
 his shin against a chair, it would spoil the whole effect of 
 his song." 
 
 " Not because he has a bad temper, I hope, Frau Men- 
 zer," said a cheerful voice at the door, " because you know 
 the proverb, ' The sins of the bad-tempered are greater than 
 his merits.' " 
 
 " Here is Reb David ! " cried Miryam, " with his mouth 
 full of wisdom, as usual. May he come in ? " 
 
 " He must," said the little wife with effusive hospitality. 
 " And as proverbs are dry eating, and leave a bitter taste 
 in the mouth, he shall have a glass of wine." 
 
 David accepted the proffered glass, and went with it in 
 his hand to join Bathsheba and Joseph, who were conver 
 sing in low tones. 
 
 "Now," said Mordecai, springing into the middle of 
 the floor and addressing the dark-faced fiddler, " get your 
 violin. I feel the inspiration bubbling up ! Come ! I will 
 sing you the song which I have put into the mouths of the 
 victims of the sweaters." 
 
 The fiddler gently refused the written music which the 
 little wife handed to him. " I know the song by heart," 
 he said, "and so will every cloakmaker and operator in 
 New York before we have done with them." 
 
 Bathsheba and Joseph sat down, and listened.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 THE OBJECT-LESSON 
 
 A HUSH fell on the little company. The sacramental 
 touch of art was upon it. Mordecai began to sing. 
 
 He stood in the middle of the floor, holding his verses, 
 written in fine Hebrew script upon note-paper, in one hand, 
 and nervously beating the air with the other, as if he were 
 trying to catch flying words and phrases, and fit them to 
 his song. Thus he seemed for a few moments irresolute, 
 and a trifle ridiculous. 
 
 But most of his auditors knew that Mordecai was await 
 ing the exact moment when the inspiration would reach its 
 height, and that, when it came, he would startle them with 
 the wild beauty and eloquence of his rhymed composition. 
 
 Joseph studied him with all his might. He could hear, 
 close beside him, the rustling of Bathsheba's dress, and her 
 short, sharp breathing, as if she were painfully excited. 
 
 Suddenly the dark-faced fiddler struck a wailing chord 
 on his violin, and instantly ceased to play. It was like 
 the cry of a woman in distress and despair a heart-broken 
 wail which made the flesh creep. 
 
 Then came Mordecai's voice, and Joseph felt his heart 
 hot within him, as, in a stern recitative, rhymed, yet 
 roughly carven (such as an ancient Hebrew prophet might 
 have sung before an erring king), the poet of the people 
 told of the cloakmakers' torture.
 
 THE OBJECT-LESSON 125 
 
 And now the music of the violin accompanied the singer. 
 At first it was in a soft and brooding undertone, like the 
 sobbing of hungry children in the dark. 
 
 Presently it became stronger less plaintive fiercer 
 menacing as the poet, in the homely jargon which was his 
 native tongue, catalogued the sorrows and sufferings of 
 his oppressed countrymen and countrywomen. 
 
 At last it burst out into a tone of triumphant irony 
 like that of a prophet who, despairing of remedy for a hope 
 less situation, calls on those who created it to look on their 
 wretched work. This ironical vein was maddening. It 
 made Joseph long to arise, to go down into the street, 
 and, taking the first capitalist whom he might meet by the 
 throat, to knock out his brains with a stone. 
 
 It made Miryam weep ; and as she wept, the image of 
 her dead mother lying on the trestles in the little room, 
 with the flies buzzing curiously about her peaceful and 
 worn face, arose before her. 
 
 It recalled to Joseph the day when he saw his young 
 " partner" falling face downward on his machine, with his 
 mouth distorted, and his poor lean cheeks withered with 
 hunger. And with his brow aflame, Joseph started up, 
 making wild and convulsive movements with his hands, 
 and crying, 
 
 " Stop ! Stop ! I can't bear it ! " 
 
 But Mordecai motioned him imperiously to his seat, and 
 went on, with a proud smile for a moment wreathing his 
 thin lips, as a ray of sunshine sometimes plays about the 
 crater of a volcano. " The fit was on him," as Miryam 
 had aptly phrased it, and nothing but death could stay the 
 current of his splenetic and vindictive singing. 
 
 There was a curious refrain to the eight-line verses, con 
 taining a passionate appeal to the workers, so terribly op 
 pressed, to arise and strike down the tyrants. Into this
 
 126 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 refrain Baumeister and his band had wrought all the venom 
 of their cunning; and, as delivered by Mordecai, it was a 
 startling incentive to violence. 
 
 The last verse, which compared the young girls, fading 
 so quickly in the noisome atmosphere of the sweaters' 
 dens, to the flowers cut down by the mowers, and wither 
 ing speedily in the harsh, sharp sunlight, was irresistibly 
 moving. Bathsheba veiled her face, and great sobs shook 
 her broad bosoin. Then came anew the ironical refrain, 
 with the mournful undertone of music. Mordecai's in 
 tense, vibrating tones died away. 
 
 He sank down into a chair, looking white and old. 
 
 The dark-faced fiddler hugged his violin, and gazed out 
 at window, as if he saw there all the horrors mentioned 
 in the song. 
 
 A new Marseillaise of the poor had been born in that 
 humble apartment; and now that the singing was over, 
 it seemed almost as if the palpitating listeners could hear 
 the beating of the wings of the great angels of War and 
 Revolution, as they receded to the spaces from which they 
 had come down to infuse their spirit into this group of 
 mortals. 
 
 David was the first to speak. He knew that the tension 
 could be relieved only by a practical remark. So he said, 
 
 4< I will give you twenty dollars to sing that song as well 
 as that on the stage of our theatre next Saturday after 
 noon, Herr Mordecai." 
 
 " Oh, father sings just as well one time as another," said 
 the rotund little wife, who was jealous of her husband's 
 reputation. " That is, you know, after the first inspiration 
 has come to him. For he gets a fresh inspiration with 
 every new song; don't you, father ? " 
 
 Mordecai ignored his wife's loving, although clumsy, 
 efforts to aid him, and after one or two weak protests he
 
 THE OBJECT-LESSON 127 
 
 closed with David's offer. " Such chances are not to be 
 neglected," he said. "And if the cloakmakers were there 
 to hear they might be influenced." 
 
 "They shall be there," said David, "for I will invite 
 them. I can't feed the poor creatures, but I can point out 
 the way " 
 
 "For them to help themselves," said Bathsheba, arising 
 with her cheeks aglow. " That is it ! That is what your 
 song will do, Mordecai. It will teach the starving people 
 to ask in such a way that they cannot be refused. Do 
 you not think so?" she asked Joseph, turning suddenly 
 to him. 
 
 Joseph hesitated. It seemed to him that he was in a 
 boat which had drifted loose from its moorings, and was at 
 the mercy of tide and wind. For weeks he had fought the 
 Socialists ; had rebelled against the doctrine of Force ; had 
 stigmatized it as silly and criminal. And now here, after 
 a breath of song, and under the influence of this woman 
 Bathsheba's eyes, he was almost ready to admit that the 
 true way to solve the cloakmakers' situation was to strike 
 up Mordecai's song, and to march upon Freier and Monach 
 and all the other tyrants, at the head of a legion or two of 
 the starving people. 
 
 "I think that the poet of the people has sung us a great 
 song," he answered, trying to cast off the influence which 
 seemed mastering him. " And I am glad the men in our 
 Union are to have a chance to hear it at the theatre. But 
 I should not like to see them aroused to any deeds of vio 
 lence, because I am afraid that well, I feel certain that it 
 would ruin the cause." 
 
 " Oh, yes, yes," said Mordecai in a bitter tone ; " yield, 
 yield, always yield, in the hope of concessions which never 
 come! It is the story of our people " 
 
 " Well, as to that," said Joseph, beginning to rally, " I
 
 128 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 don't think I can quite agree with you. We have already 
 secured a good many concessions from the sweaters and 
 who says that we shall uot win the final battle ? It seems 
 to me that it is not so very far off, and sometimes I feel 
 confident of victory. But what has the party of force ever 
 done ? I certainly never heard of its doing anything 
 practical." 
 
 " There I think you misjudge it," said Mordecai un 
 easily, and looking at Bathsheba, as if he read his lessou 
 in her eyes. " The party of force is preparing the grand 
 revolution. If it were not for the partial revolutions of 
 leaders like yourself men whom everybody respects, and 
 Avhose courage nobody doubts, but who are unwilling to 
 admit that Society is rotten, and must be swept away by 
 complete revolution we, that is, the force party, would 
 be much further advanced than at present." 
 
 Joseph listened attentively, but with the air of one far 
 from convinced. 
 
 "And are those your sentiments also?" he said to 
 Bathsheba, turning round to her so sharply that she started 
 and lowered her eyes. 
 
 " They are," she said almost humbly. " Not that I 
 would presume to criticise you or your work, which is so 
 grand, so self-sacrificing" (the blood stole into Joseph's 
 cheeks), "but because I feel that nothing can be done with 
 out a complete social revolution. I should like be glad 
 to see you associated in such work." 
 
 " How long have you been in America ? " said Joseph, 
 keeping his gaze steadfastly on Bathsheba. 
 
 " Long enough to learn that poverty is as bitter and 
 terrible here as anywhere else," she answered hotly. 
 
 She began to rebel at Joseph's catechising mood. She 
 had fancied that she would be able more quickly to 
 establish her influence over him.
 
 THE Onj-KCT-J-ESSOX 129 
 
 But the man seemed to have two natures, quite differ 
 ent, yet each in some respects completing the other. One 
 was sensuous, passionate, sympathetic, yielding; the other, 
 cool, practical, unyielding as steel, and capable of leading 
 him. straight to martyrdom. 
 
 With woman's unerring intuition she made sure of these 
 things, and decided to accommodate her campaign to the 
 newly acquired knowledge of his traits. 
 
 But Joseph was gaining ground every instant now. 
 
 "Poverty is hard enough to bear anywhere," he said; 
 " but the remedy for it is not revolution in this country, I 
 am sure. It would be poor policy to undermine and blow 
 up a magnificent mansion because one could afford to live 
 nowhere in it except in the basement." 
 
 Bathsheba's eyes flashed. She liked Joseph all the 
 better for standing to his guns. 
 
 "Perhaps it is as you think," she said sweetly. "But 
 I believe that you are mistaken ; that here in this big city 
 there are tens yes hundreds of thousands who long for 
 the Social Revolution for the regime under which 
 every one will do just as he or she pleases, and when there 
 will be no inequalities of fortunes." 
 
 " Oh, dear, dear ! " sighed Mordecai's round little wife, 
 " what a blessed day that would be ! No more click-clack 
 of sewing-machines night and day, I should think, in those 
 times ! " And she took a huge pinch of snuff as fiercely as 
 if she had been strangling a millionaire, or helping to hang 
 a manufacturer. 
 
 " It may come to-day, to-morrow, in a week, in a month 
 this Social Revolution," said Bathsheba, lowering her 
 voice, and looking around, for she had not yet learned that 
 America is a free country, where one may speak without 
 danger of spies. " How did you know that you were not 
 in the van of the Social Revolution when you were leading 
 the cloakmakers to Simon's house the other nicrht ? "
 
 130 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 Joseph was startled. How little, indeed, it would have 
 taken to send the mad mob of hungry men and women into 
 the rich quarters, burning and sacking and ravaging ! 
 
 He had thought that often enough since. 
 
 " But it could only have ended in disaster and despair," 
 he said. A sudden vertigo seized him ; he staggered and 
 would have fallen, had not Bathsheba stepped forward, 
 caught him in her strong arms, and gently lowered him 
 into a chair. 
 
 The little wife came bustling with a glass of wine. But 
 the touch of Bathsheba's arms had electrified Joseph ; he 
 sat up, feeling a little ashamed, and holding one hand to 
 his head. 
 
 " You must excuse me," he said, looking around. " I 
 have been up so much nights lately that I am a little top- 
 heavy." He took the glass of wine, drank sparingly, and 
 professed himself as well as ever. But the mortal pallor 
 on his brow belied him. 
 
 " Fresh air is what Joseph needs," said David. " Instead 
 of bothering him with your socialistic notions, all of which, 
 I believe, will come to naught" (here Bathsheba flashed a 
 keenly reproachful glance upon David), "if you would 
 take him up to Central Park, or out on the river, you 
 would be doing the cause of united labor a real service. 
 And you, Joseph, be moi-3 careful of your health. Re 
 member the proverb, 'Our days pass quickly over us, 
 even as the shadow of a flying bird.' " 
 
 " I should be glad, for one ! " said Bathsheba quickly, 
 addressing Joseph, " if you would take David's advice, and 
 if we might all go together into the upper quarters of 
 New York. It would give us a chance to teach the labor 
 leader an object-lesson." 
 
 "Yes," said Mordecai ; "he would certainly feel the 
 bitterness of poverty more keenly when we came back."
 
 THE OBJECT-LESSON 131 
 
 " Then why go ? " queried Joseph. " No, I must go 
 home to my wife and little one. I have left them too 
 much alone since they arrived." 
 
 A shadow so imperceptible that no one save Miryam, 
 who was opening her eyes now, observed it, passed over 
 Bathsheba's face. 
 
 " Oh, it was only in the hope of justifying ourselves in 
 your eyes," she said coquettishly. 
 
 " I have just come from your house, Joseph," said David, 
 coining up and putting his hand on the young labor leader's 
 shoulder, " and I met Malcha going out with the child. I 
 told her I should see you this afternoon, and she wished 
 me to tell you that she had found Shiphrah, and was going 
 to stop with her until evening." He lowered his voice. 
 " You know the poor Shiphrah whom you pitied so much. 
 It seems that she is from the same village as Malcha, 
 and Malcha asked me to implore you not to be angry." 
 
 " No," said Joseph, his brow clearing, " it is an errand 
 of mercy. It is like Malcha." 
 
 ".She told me to tell you another thing," said David in a 
 whisper. " A letter has come from her mother, and in it 
 were a hundred roubles, which the good woman sent just 
 about the right time, didn't she ? Now, don't be proud 
 because of this good news. Remember what Rabbi Ashi 
 said : ' He who hardens his heart with pride softens his 
 brains with the same.' " 
 
 "There really is nothing to be proud of, unless it is 
 Malcha's good sense," answered Joseph. But he felt im 
 mensely relieved even at this momentary cessation from 
 grinding want. A sudden hunger for rest and fresh air, 
 for the odor of trees and flowers, for contemplation of the 
 calm of nature and the beauty of summer, seized upon him, 
 and would not be appeased. The battle in his nature, 
 caused by the intoxicating song, by the presence of Bath-
 
 132 JOSEPH ZALMONAII 
 
 sheba, by the knowledge that he was treading on dangerous 
 ground, had aroused new desires, new passions, of the 
 existence of which he had never before dreamed. The 
 spirit of resignation was dying away in him, and in its 
 stead arose an intense longing for the riches and luxury of 
 the world. To his inward shame and sorrow, he found 
 that he was forgetting the poor cloakmakers, and thinking 
 only of himself. 
 
 They lingered some time in conversation, while the little 
 wife pressed the simple refreshments upon all. Then 
 Mordecai sang once more one or two comic folk-songs, 
 which yet had in them the rebellious and menacing spirit ; 
 and it was almost six o'clock before they started on their 
 stroll up-town. David and Miryam, rejoicing that there 
 was no theatre for them that evening, led the way, and it 
 seemed natural that Joseph should escort Bathsheba down 
 the narrow and ill-lighted stairs, Mordecai and his wife, 
 very quaint in their provincial Russian Sunday best hats 
 and cloaks, bringing up the rear. 
 
 As they were descending the last flight of stairs, Bath 
 sheba turned to Joseph, with her hand gracefully raised, 
 and said with an arch smile, 
 
 " Will you promise to confess if the object-lesson con 
 vinces you ? " 
 
 "I hope I shall be frank," he said, his heart leaping as 
 he gazed down into the beautiful face, with its deep mys 
 terious eyes, from which Will-o'-the-wisp fires seemed to 
 dart into the air. 
 
 At David's suggestion they went down to the East River, 
 and there, at a pier below the bridge, they embarked on 
 a diminutive white steamer, which went coughing and 
 wheezing and blowing in and out among the statelier craft, 
 and carried them rapidly up stream. 
 
 The sunlight lay in great gleaming masses on the water ;
 
 THE OBJECT-LESSON 133 
 
 it seemed as if one might cut out pieces of it, arid take 
 them home. 
 
 In the west there was a great bank of golden h.aze, which 
 would have delighted the soul of Turner, could he have 
 seen it, and which might have interested some of our 
 American painters, had they not all been too busy inter 
 preting the misty blues and pearly grays of England <uid 
 Northern France. 
 
 Against this sumptuous background arose the lines >f 
 graceful masts and spars ; and now and then across it 
 moved the symmetrical mass of a huge Sound steamer, its 
 white sides glistening and its bows throwing up fountain 
 jets of diamond foam. Here fluttered gently down a group 
 of white sails, capriciously hovering at the black sides of a 
 battered ocean liner, drawn by two quarrelsome and aggres 
 sive tugs. The sunshine cast its glory over the long lines 
 of red brick warehouses, on the tottering and dirty docks, 
 and on the hundreds of bare-headed mothers with children 
 in their arms, seated at the dock's ends, in the hope of 
 securing a few breaths of fresh air. The vast current, 
 swirling around the piers and boiling and eddying about 
 the great vessels at anchor, caught the thousand points of 
 darting light, and reflected them in a million ways and in 
 infinitesimal variations. 
 
 A cool breeze fanned the heated brows of the poor ref 
 ugees, and lent a sudden animation to their spirits, which 
 for a time had suffered relapse from the tension caused by 
 Mordecai's song. 
 
 Now the steamer began to dart along the upper reaches 
 of the immense tidal stream : past sugar refineries, with 
 little fleets of steamships lying at their wharves ; past the 
 low shores crowded with evidenced of abundant wealth 
 and of the tremendous inland commerce of the nation ; 
 past the " Island," with its pretty lawns and grim penal
 
 134 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 institutions and asylums ; and presently it skirted the 
 wooded shore of a smaller island, dashed in and out 
 among a multitude of yachts lying peacefully at anchor, 
 shot through a drawbridge which opened obediently 
 at its approach, and pushed up to the entrance of the 
 Harlem. 
 
 Here, at a rambling and crazy old dock (like all the 
 docks in the metropolis) the friends disembarked. 
 
 Miryam was in an ecstatic mood. She ran and gam 
 bolled like a child of six, and rallied " lieb Joseph " and 
 Bathsheba on their solemn and careworn look. It was all 
 that David could do to subdue her gayety so that it should 
 not attract the notice of the passers by. 
 
 "Well," said Joseph, who had never seen so much of 
 New York before, " thus far we have set eyes on nothing 
 but the activity of people working hard for their daily 
 bread. And I must say that it would seem very hard to 
 upset all this energy and industry by a revolution, just 
 because there is trouble in a few trades like ours, and one 
 or two hundred rascals refuse to pay decent wages for 
 honest labor." 
 
 Bathsheba did not answer, and her silence impressed 
 Joseph more than any voluble defence of her doctrines 
 could have done. Gradually she assumed guidance of the 
 party, and, just as the soft summer darkness was stealing 
 over earth and sky, they came out upon Fifth Avenue, in 
 front of the Vanderbilt mansions. They had been walk 
 ing for a long distance, having taken the elevated road at 
 One Hundred and Twenty-Fifth Street, and then left the 
 train at the wrong station and got lost; and Joseph's thin 
 cheeks were aglow with fatigue, and with the unwonted 
 fresh air, when they halted, and stood in mute contempla 
 tion of the line of palaces, churches, and hotels stretching 
 away on either side, as David expressed it, " like the
 
 THE OBJECT-LESSON 135 
 
 Devil's wheat-field, which was bounded on one side by the 
 North Pole and on the other by the South Pole." 
 
 Now that they were beyond the familiar neighborhood 
 of the East Side, the little company began to feel strangely 
 out of place, and each gazed at the other as if challenging 
 criticism on their respective shabbiness. Bathsheba glanced 
 down at her worn and frayed dress, which was not in the 
 prevailing fashion. She caught at the edges of her jacket, 
 much too heavy for the season, and the collar of which was 
 of decidedly antiquated design. She glanced from time to 
 time at Joseph, and was ill at ease. 
 
 Joseph tugged at his frayed wristbands, and silently 
 regretted that he had not been allowed to go home and don 
 his one good coat. He took off his hat and gave it a 
 surreptitious look. The band was stained, and the sunlight 
 of two seasons had taken much of the color out of it. Even 
 Mordecai, usually draped with effective majesty in his own 
 dignity, seemed dimly conscious that his attire was not in 
 harmony with that of the trim ladies and gentlemen who 
 sauntered lazily by with the apologetic air of well-to-do 
 New Yorkers detained in town in summer. 
 
 But they walked on, trying to be gay, and gazing at man 
 sion after mansion without the remotest idea who inhabited 
 any of them. Joseph had never been in Fifth Avenue be 
 fore, nor had he ever set foot in the Park. Like tens of 
 thousands of the inhabitants of the East Side of the narrow 
 and crowded island, he had rarely been very far west of 
 the Bowery, or north of Twenty-Third Street. 
 
 Up-town was unknown land to him. He now gazed at 
 the acres of palaces, the majestic entrances, the noble base 
 ments well protected with railings of wrought iron, the 
 exquisite windows overlooking vast expanses of ornate 
 architecture, with astonishment. 
 
 He had never been in a large city in Russia ; and no-
 
 136 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 where before had he seen so much splendor. " Why are 
 the houses all so quiet ? many of them seem deserted," he 
 ventured to say. 
 
 " Keb Joseph ! " said Miryam, " haven't you heard that 
 all the rich people leave New York in the summer, and go 
 to beautiful places in the woods and at the seaside, and only 
 come back when there is no more hot weather ? " 
 
 " While we sweat sixteen hours over our flat-irons and 
 our sewing-machines, even when the thermometer is at 
 ninety," said Bathsheba in a low voice in which concen 
 trated passion seethed like lava at a volcano's month. 
 " God ! God ! How can it be right that some should be so 
 happy and fortunate through life, while others toil and 
 struggle in torment, and die without leaving enough to 
 bury themselves decently ? " 
 
 The intensity of Bathsheba's utterance, and the bitter 
 ness of her words, seemed to touch a hidden chord in 
 Joseph's heart. 
 
 He turned to her with the tears standing in his eyes, 
 and murmured brokenly, 
 
 "That is a terrible question. Don't ask it again; it 
 stings me here," and he touched his breast. 
 
 A baleful fire flashed from Bathsheba's splendid eyes. 
 With a tragic gesture she pointed to the scene on the 
 broad stone steps of a great mansion a little beyond where 
 they were standing. 
 
 Two beautiful girls, in elegant dinner costume, had ven 
 tured out upon the steps in the warm darkness, and around 
 them were gathered three or four young gentlemen, in even 
 ing dress, who paid assiduous court to the beauties. 
 
 In the doorway a majestic mamma was enthroned in an 
 easy-chair, and two liveried servants were just bringing 
 out a tiny Turkish table, beautifully inlaid with ivory and 
 precious woods, and with a costly coffee service and liqueur
 
 THE OBJECT-LESSON 187 
 
 cellaret arrayed upon it. One of the young girls was strip 
 ping flowers from her corsage, and distributing them with 
 playful gestures to the courtiers at her feet. 
 
 Here were evidently some New Yorkers who had lin 
 gered in town in defiance of the conventionalities, and 
 who were enjoying au after-dinner chat under cover" of 
 the friendly dusk without any fear of scrutiny. 
 
 Bathsheba clutched Joseph by the arm, and pointed to 
 the comfortable group, the members of which had little 
 idea that Misery at that moment had her envious eyes upon 
 them. 
 
 " Do you see that, Joseph Zalmonah ? " she hissed. 
 " What more convincing than that do you want for an 
 object-lesson ? What do you think of the society that can 
 permit such insolent luxury as that, and at the same time 
 insist on such humble slavery as that of your poor cloak- 
 makers ? Do you think that you can ever reason with 
 those people there ? " pointing to the steps of the mansion. 
 " Not much. And if you beg of them, they will put you 
 in prison, or in an asylum." Her voice sank to a husky 
 whisper. " Why, what is left, then, but to rise up and com 
 pel them by force to be just to give a reasonable 
 share of the world's joys and abundance to those who are 
 starving for them ? Why don't you answer me, Joseph 
 Zalmonah ? " and she shook his arm furiously. 
 
 " What is Bathsheba doing and saying ? " cried little 
 Miryam, running up with a protecting air to Joseph, who 
 was staring at the group on the mansion's steps as if he 
 meant that the memory of it should be graven on his heart.
 
 138 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 THE STOEY OF SHIPHRAH 
 
 As they came away, the little dark- faced fiddler said 
 timidly, 
 
 "I don't see that those people were doing any harm. 
 They were just enjoying themselves. They did not ask ns 
 to come to America and get into trouble." 
 
 Bathsheba gave him such a vicious pinch that he cried 
 aloud, and was tempted to resent her reproof. But some 
 thing in his spouse's look daunted him. He felt that she 
 was in some mysterious way to derive profit from the 
 incident. 
 
 The poet Mordecai was meditative. He was already 
 composing a ballad on the episode in the manner of Nek- 
 rassof, most caustic of Russian popular poets, and was 
 thinking out lines full of bitter irony. Presently David 
 and Miry am turned the little party homeward, and Joseph 
 found himself side by side with Bathsheba, and some dis 
 tance behind all the others. 
 
 She laid her hand on his arm. Instinctively he stopped. 
 
 "Pardon me, Joseph Zalmonah," she said, speaking in 
 Russian, a language which Joseph understood perfectly, 
 but toward which he felt a kind of grim resentment, as if 
 it were intimately associated with the misfortunes of his 
 people. " I had something to say to you in private 
 something which I ought to say."
 
 THE STORY OF SHIPHRAH 139 
 
 Joseph looked down into Bathsheba's eyes, and his head 
 swam. He fancied that she must hear the beating of his 
 heart. 
 
 " I am listening," he at last found courage to say. " But 
 why should it be a secret ? I don't like secrets. I have 
 none from my family, my friends my" he hesitated an 
 instant " my wife." 
 
 Bathsheba understood. She had gone too far. She felt 
 a strange delight that Joseph should instinctively repel 
 the advance which she had made. It wounded her, but 
 raised him immensely in her esteem. When she spoke 
 again she was more timid. 
 
 " I just wanted to tell you that you are in danger. From 
 what I have seen of you to-day, I believe that you are too 
 valuable to yourself, and to others, to be sacrificed in a 
 street brawl or a riot. Some of the men whom you meet 
 daily are determined to do you a mischief. Don't ask me 
 how I know." 
 
 " But why should they wish to hurt me ? " said the 
 young leader, studying Bathsheba's face intently. " I 
 have never done anything to make enemies." 
 
 Bathsheba gazed at him in genuine wonder now. It was 
 evident that this frank and guileless youth did not know 
 that by the very sincerity and straightforwardness of his 
 action he was creating enemies at every turn. 
 
 " I see that you do not appreciate the risks you are 
 running," she said somewhat coldly, and moving away 
 from him as she saw her husband looking round. " Well, 
 I felt it a duty as well as a pleasure," she turned her 
 gaze full upon him, "to warn you against the Socialists. 
 And now I will say nothing more about the matter." 
 
 " The Socialists ! Why, they told me that you are a 
 Socialist." 
 
 " And you think it strange that I should warn you
 
 140 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 against myself, then ? " she said, with an odd little laugh, 
 and catching up her faded draperies around her, with a 
 swift and deft movement of her white hand. " Come, the 
 others are leaving us." 
 
 They went slowly onward, down the great avenue, a 
 trifle abashed by its magnificence, and by the air of ease 
 and comfort which characterized all the passers by. 
 Through the soft summer darkness the huge and bold 
 outlines of the mansions towered dimly. Here and there 
 a church, with pointed spire and sculptured portal, relieved 
 the monotony of the brown-stone fronts. 
 
 From the open windows of clubs came the sound of 
 laughter and gay discussions ; and within they could see 
 walls rich with gilding, and lined with costly paintings. 
 Alcoves filled with palms and other exotics, and stairways 
 richly carpeted, met their gaze. 
 
 Comfortable-looking elderly gentlemen, in cool yet prim 
 garb, sat in arm-chairs at the broad windows, and discussed 
 with sober and discreet gestures. Servants in evening 
 dress went leisurely to and fro, bearing seductive-looking 
 drinks in crystal goblets on silver salvers. 
 
 Mordecai stopped now and then to look in upon one of 
 these scenes of splendor, and as he stood with his gaunt 
 face ravaged by the passion of anger, his eyes sparkling 
 with resentment against the rich as a class, and his lips 
 open, displaying his teeth, as if he would like to pounce 
 upon the " idlers," as he called them in one of his poems, 
 he was not a pleasant spectacle to contemplate. 
 
 While they gazed and walked and felt a growing new 
 consciousness of the miserable nature of their own poor 
 quarter to which they were returning, a sudden thirst for 
 riches, an almost uncontrollable desire to participate in 
 the luxury and ease before him, sprang into Joseph's heart, 
 and behind it followed all kinds of mad and black ideas
 
 THE STORY OF SHIPHRAH 141 
 
 so that for the moment he was literally possessed of a 
 demon in the old Biblical sense. 
 
 Did Bathsheba, by a magnetism so subtle that he could 
 not perceive it, infuse her own ideas and longings into his 
 spirit ? He never knew and never dreamed of asking him 
 self the question. 
 
 But he did know that for a full half-hour, on that sum 
 mer evening, sheltered by the darkness, he walked abroad 
 the very incarnation of destruction, ready to hack, burn, 
 and destroy, in order to gain entrance to the terrestrial 
 paradises, glimpses of which were so new and so torment 
 ing to him. 
 
 This savage mood passed away long before East Broadway 
 was reached. Joseph left his companions in an elevated road 
 train, and trudged home with a curious collection of hopes 
 and fears crowding each other in his mind. As he arrived 
 at his house he was surprised to see Ben Zion seated on the 
 front steps, and Malcha haranguing him in a wild, passion 
 ate way. 
 
 Malcha's eyes were red, and it was plain that she had 
 been weeping. 
 
 The husband bounded up the steps, and took the little 
 wife in his arms. " Nothing has happened to Zipporah, I 
 hope ? " he said anxiously, as the small mother laid her 
 head trustfully against his thin and worn breast. 
 
 Malcha looked up, smiling through her tears. " Nothing. 
 It is about Shiphrah. They have hidden her away, and 
 won't let me see her." 
 
 Ben Zion arose, stretched himself, and came forward as if 
 desirous of being called into action. 
 
 " Shiphrah ? " queried Joseph ; " but I thought that you 
 had been with her all the afternoon. I am sure that David 
 told me so." 
 
 " Ah ! we were to have been with her, but they have put 
 her away where we can't "
 
 142 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 " Who ? " 
 
 "The sweaters! Listen, Joseph. Shiphrah's father 
 came to find me, hoping that I might have some news of 
 the poor girl. But I had no comfort for the dear old soul, 
 and while he sits here moaning and pulling his hair, and 
 whining for his child, in rushes Ben Zion, all out of 
 breath " 
 
 Here Ben Zion came directly into Joseph's range of 
 vision, and made a bow so full of dignity and whimsical 
 self-importance, that Joseph's thin lips were wreathed with 
 a smile. 
 
 " and Ben Zion says, ' I have found out where Shiphrah 
 is. She is hidden away in old Grunberg's, the sweater's, 
 and he swears that she shall not go into the street until 
 she has worked out her debt to him.' Then I asked her 
 father to call the police and have them interfere, but he is 
 an old fool, and won't do that. Joseph, can't the police 
 compel that beast to let Shiphrah go ? They say she is 
 dying by inches ! " 
 
 " Who says so ? " inquired Joseph calmly, but looking 
 admiringly on his little wife, to whom the indignation 
 which she felt over Shiphrah's fate had given a piquant 
 and animated beauty. 
 
 Ben Zion recited to Joseph the story which the girls had 
 told him in the " Pig Market." Joseph was thoughtful for 
 a moment ; then his fine face lighted up with intense reso 
 lution. 
 
 He brought one hand down upon the shoulder of Ben 
 Zion with a force which made the pedler jump. " This is 
 not a case for the police ! " he said ; " I will attend to it 
 myself. Grunberg must give up Shiphrah at an instant's 
 notice, or he must reckon with me ! " 
 
 " O Joseph, do be c;ireful, for Grunberg is a desperate 
 man," wailed little Malcha. " Remember what they say of
 
 THE STOHY OF SHIPHRAH 143 
 
 him, that he threw an old man down-stairs because he com 
 plained that he was getting blind in such a den ! And 
 they say that he strikes the work-girls ! " 
 
 '' He calls it ironing them," said Ben Zion in his unc 
 tuous voice. " When a girl doesn't work fast enough to 
 please him, he takes one of the pressing-irons off from the 
 red-hot stove and threatens to apply it to her back. A Polish 
 girl threw the shears at him one day for threatening her, 
 and he ironed her so that she couldn't get out of bed for a 
 week. Her mother went to the police court about it ; but 
 there ! they don't understand one-half that you say, and 
 they never interfere unless there is an actual fight. What 
 can you do ? " Ben Zion held the palms of his hands up, 
 and shook them with as much force as if he had been 
 apostrophizing Grunberg himself. 
 
 " I will give him a lesson ! He shall reckon with me 
 and with the Union ! " said Joseph, raising his right arm, 
 and making a peculiar downward sweeping gesture, which 
 he was wont to make when addressing large throngs, and 
 when greatly excited. 
 
 On viewing this gesture, Ben Zion felt that the " whole 
 business," as he afterwards expressed it in conversation 
 with a neighbor, " was bitten off and chewed," and that he 
 had nothing to do but to wait. So he agreed to meet Jo 
 seph at Grunberg's the next morning at ten o'clock, and 
 then went away to engage in some one of his many occu 
 pations. 
 
 The story of Shiphrah was sad and exceptional. She 
 had come with her father, Manasseh Rosenstein, from 'Rus 
 sia, three years ago. When the lonely Manasseh, with his 
 shy and lily-faced little daughter, had left the town in 
 which Malcha lived, they had a small capital, represented 
 by the sale of their effects at half-price to the Russian offi-
 
 144 JOSEPH ZALMOXAH 
 
 cials who expelled them. Manasseh, who was the most 
 harmless of men, and whose only fault was an intense de 
 votion to the tenets of orthodox Judaism, was boldly 
 accused by the officials of "attempting to conspire." It 
 was a meaningless charge, and without foundation ; but it 
 served to secure his expulsion from the " Pale," with a 
 horde of common wretches, who were marched from 
 " etape " to " etape " under the cruel guardianship of gen 
 darmes, and with fetters on their limbs. 
 
 Manasseh trudged uncomplainingly to the frontier with 
 his willowy, graceful sixteen-year-old daughter at his side, 
 and he quitted Russia without regret. In fact, he bestowed 
 upon it, beholding it while he was safe on German soil, a 
 malediction worthy the eloquence and the inspiration of an 
 ancient Hebrew prophet. 
 
 When the couple reached the promised land of America, 
 Manasseh accepted with meekness the humiliating disap 
 pointment which awaited him here. He shrank into a little 
 basement in Hester Street, filled a mouldy window with 
 mouldier Hebrew books, mostly of a pious nature, and went 
 through the forms of earning a livelihood. 
 
 A bit of bread and a black sausage satisfied his wants ; 
 and he slept among his books, with his head pillowed on an 
 ancient Talmud, for which he might have got a handsome 
 sum, had such a sacrilegious thought as selling it ever 
 entered his head. 
 
 But Shiphrah could not participate in his contentment. 
 Although nurtured in the sternest orthodoxy, she gave evi 
 dence of a desire to rebel against the many observances 
 which make of the Jews a peculiar people. The damp little 
 room in the rear of her father's shop, where she made her 
 bed on two packing-boxes covered with time-worn furs 
 brought from Russia, and the occasional invasion of this 
 singular domicile by inquisitive and predatory rats, filled
 
 THE STORY OF SHIPHRAH 145 
 
 her with disgust. The old man saw with horror that she 
 was daily slipping away from him, and that all the barriers 
 of the historic faith no longer existed between her and the 
 outer modern world, with its dangers, its heresies, and its 
 abominations. At first he was disposed to correct Shiph- 
 rah with sternness ; but a conviction stole through him 
 that it would be useless to try. He mourned in silence, 
 and was more rigid than ever in his own observances of re 
 ligious form. 
 
 In all that concerned the common life Shiphrah was com 
 pelled to conform. Manasseh was such a Sabbatarian as no 
 New England farmer ever dreamed of being. On Friday night 
 he began to prepare for the Saturday of prayer and repose. 
 
 His window remained open, and the books were exhibited, 
 but he never made the smallest effort to sell them. A 
 " reformed " Jewess was hired to cook the food which 
 Shiphrah ate on Saturday; her father would not allow her 
 to do any work on that day. He himself ate only food 
 cooked the night before. He would not light the cigarette 
 which on week-days "was his main consolation. 
 
 He looked upon men and women who amused themselves 
 by visits to theatre or social club on the sacred day as 
 criminals. Dressed in a faded brown coat which hung 
 down to his heels, in voluminous trousers which ended 
 just above his boot-tops, and in a fur cap to which he clung 
 even in the fierce heats of August ; with long locks of hair 
 combed in front of his ears, and with a pious book in his 
 hands, he walked up and down Hester Street on Saturdays, 
 with eye and brain oblivious to the secular world, the waves 
 of which beat noisily around him. 
 
 He was a devout worshipper in one of the many syna 
 gogues scattered through the quarter. 
 
 It was reached by a perilous journey up dark and 
 rickety flights of stairs, on which so many tiny children
 
 146 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 were always poking their way about that it was almost 
 impossible to make a step without planting a foot on one 
 of their squirming little bodies. 
 
 The synagogue, with its long rows of benches, divided 
 into sections for the men and the women ; with its central 
 praying-desk, its dingy walls, and its schoolrooms, where 
 children were taught the wisdom of the Talmud this 
 spiritual refuge amid the boisterous misery of the exiles' 
 quarter, was Manasseh's favorite retreat. When he en 
 tered, a smile lighted up his usually dark and severe 
 features ; when he left it, and made his way back to the 
 street, something of the spiritual glow still lingered, and 
 he placed his hands benign an tly on the heads of the 
 children crowding about his door, with a patriarchal gen 
 tleness and protecting air, as of old his ancestors had done 
 at the entrances of the tents of Israel. 
 
 One day Manasseh was troubled, and his hands trembled 
 when he went into the synagogue in Ludlow Street, for he 
 did not find Shiphrah there. Until then she had preserved 
 all the outward signs of adherence to the strictest ortho 
 doxy, and this backsliding was a great blow to the father. 
 It hurt him all the worse because among the orthodox 
 Jews the women are usually more fanatical than the men ; 
 and Shiphrah speedily had at her heels a score of feminine 
 critics, ready to accuse her of all the sins in the calendar 
 of wickedness, simply because she had fallen away from 
 orthodoxy. 
 
 About this time old Manasseh fell ill, which was not 
 wonderful, considering that he lived in a basement unfit 
 for a dog-kennel ; and Shiphrah, seeing the last few coins 
 of their tiny hoard vanishing, and the father's trifling com 
 merce at a standstill, quietly stepped into a sweater's shop 
 and offered her services. After the preliminary purgatory 
 of payments to learn the trade, Shiphrah was at last ad-
 
 THE STORY OF SHIPHRAH 147 
 
 mitted to the sisterhood of misery, and began to earn four 
 dollars weekly. And on this pittance old Manasseh and 
 the girl had lived for two years, when the tempter came. 
 
 Shiphrah was pretty, of a voluptuous yet refined beauty 
 rather uncommon in women of her class, and her priva 
 tions and incessant toil had added a pensive grace to 
 her naturally interesting features. While she was in 
 despair at her hard lot, she attracted the notice of a small 
 manufacturer, a Russian Hebrew like herself. 
 
 This man had set aside his wife because of some fancied 
 or real grievance, and besought Shiphrah to give him her 
 love, in return for emancipation from the horrible drudgery 
 which was consuming her youth, and which weekly sent 
 some poor man to die in the hospital. 
 
 The young manufacturer was handsome and pressing. 
 Shiphrah yielded to his solicitations, but dared leave 
 neither her work nor the wretched domicile of her father 
 without an explanation which she feared might result in a 
 tragedy. 
 
 But at last the chance came, and Shiphrah was quick to 
 grasp it. 
 
 It was during the feast of the Passover, the eight days 
 of which were for Manasseh a long spiritual relaxation. 
 He left the cares of the vulgar world behind him, and 
 revelled in the antique ceremonials which meant so much 
 to him. The lowering April weather caused him torments 
 of rheumatism ; but Manasseh insisted on enacting each 
 ceremonial as he had done in the old days when his wife 
 and large family of sons and daughters, now all gone but 
 Shiphrah, were gathered about him. 
 
 It was on the night when Manasseh observed " Seder " 
 that Shiphrah saw her chance. A warm rain was falling. 
 Manasseh closed his windows, drew the old curtains, and 
 lighted the candles. Then he placed the half-worn pillow
 
 148 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 from Shiphrah's rude couch on two chairs, arranged a 
 spread over it, and, as the head of the family, sat in 
 solemn state beside it. 
 
 Shiphrah had arrayed on the extemporized table the 
 plate with unleavened bread the three flat cakes on a 
 cracked bit of crockery ; the bit of lamb, the cooked egg, 
 the grated horse-radish, and the crushed walnut with wine. 
 And now she sat in her corner, white and mute. 
 
 Manasseh had put on the white robe over his ordinary 
 clothing, and his lugubrious appearance added to Shiphrah's 
 steadily growing fear. 
 
 First he took one of the flat cakes from the centre, broke 
 it in half, and placed the larger half under the pillow. 
 Next, as the head of the family, he passed the unleavened 
 bread. 
 
 Then, reclining as best he could in the narrow quarters, 
 he partook of the lamb and the egg seasoned with the 
 grated horse-radish, and Shiphrah also ate in silence. 
 After this Manasseh began a long reading from the " Hag- 
 gadah," and when bitter things were mentioned he placed 
 his hand upon the crushed walnut as a reminder. On and 
 on he read, in droning tone, while the candle sputtered, 
 until at last, from very weariness, he ceased, and glanced 
 over his great iron-bowed spectacles at Shiphrah, white 
 and mournful in her corner. As he gazed at her a sudden 
 compassion seized upon him, and he stretched out his hand 
 to the poor over- worked girl. 
 
 She arose, tottered to his chair, and fell on her knees 
 before him, crying, " Father, father, read no more to-night ! 
 O father, I have sinned, and am unworthy to remain in your 
 sight. And now I must go away and leave you ! But my 
 care will always be over you my love will be about 
 you!" 
 
 Manasseh let the Haggadah fall from his hands, and sat
 
 THE STORY OP J3HIPHRAH 149 
 
 listening, with terrible grimness, while Shiphrah told her 
 story. Tlieu he arose quietly, and seizing the new plates 
 bought expressly for the ceremony of that evening, he 
 raised them high above his head, and dashed them with 
 fury upon the floor. 
 
 This was his only sign of rage. Then he took the kneel 
 ing Shiphrah by the hand, raised her up, led her to the 
 door, which was ajar, and threw it wide open. " Go !" he 
 said hoarsely ; " do not desecrate our home any longer ! " 
 
 The rain was still falling. Shiphrah was thinly clad and 
 bareheaded : she made an imploring gesture, but the old 
 man was implacable. He closed the door in her face, and 
 in a minute the light in his window went out. 
 
 Shiphrah was alone. She walked through the rain to 
 the sweater's house, and sat on his stairs until his doors 
 opened. An hour later all her little household belongings 
 were delivered there. The sweater knew of her adventure 
 with the manufacturer, and understood. And that- night 
 the girl was installed in a comfortable home. 
 
 But the orthodox women averted their faces when she 
 passed them in the street, and said that after her departure 
 Manasseh had wailed long and loudly for her, as for one 
 dead. 
 
 This was the beginning of the life romance of Shiphrah. 
 
 Manasseh did not wither away, as all his fellow-worship 
 pers at the synagogue predicted. He grew gloomier and 
 more fanatical than ever. But one day, a year after her 
 departure from his door, there came news to him that 
 Shiphrah had narrowly escaped death in premature child 
 birth ; that she had been abused, and at last openly de 
 serted by her cowardly lover, and finally that she had 
 drifted back into the sweating-shop. 
 
 Then his heart longed for Shiphrah, and he sought her 
 everywhere. But never had he been able to find her until,
 
 150 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 through Ben Zion's aid, he had learned that she was held 
 in veritable slavery in Gruuberg's den. 
 
 And now Joseph was to liberate her, as he had already 
 liberated so many white slaves, from a bondage far worse 
 than any ever suffered by the unhappy African.
 
 GOD COUNTS WOMAN'S TEARS 151 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 GOD COUNTS WOMAN'S TEARS 
 
 A LONG ray of golden sunshine came in through the 
 dusty window of the sweater's dingy and malodorous rooms, 
 and, for an instant only, touched and glorified Shiphrah's 
 face. 
 
 The girl sat in a corner, surrounded by half a dozen dark 
 haired, slovenly Polish Jewesses, one of whom was weeping 
 as she toiled. Her tears fell on the garment in her hands 
 but that was so common a spectacle as to attract no specia" 
 attention. 
 
 Shiphrah gave her fellow-slave a sympathetic look no\v 
 and then ; but she was the only one who ventured to glanc( 
 up from labor and to bestow a little compassion. For th( 
 sweater was near by, standing at a table facing the girls 
 and he had a heavy hand. 
 
 He was a short, stout man, with a round head coverec 
 with bristling hair, with thick lips, and a, nose conspicu 
 ously flattened at the nostrils. His hairy arms were nakec 
 to the shoulder, and when he flourished them every one h 
 the two rooms trembled. Even his wife was afraid of him 
 and kept one eye on his movements, observing symptom; 
 of rising storm, and sometimes giving warning of them t< 
 the girls by mysterious feminine signals, too acute for th< 
 apprehension of man. 
 
 The sweater had been " sweated " himself, and he knev
 
 152 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 his trade perfectly. He understood the art of reducing 
 the human body to a machine-like regularity of action, every 
 atom of energy in which should be concentrated upon the 
 production of salable articles. 
 
 He understood how to crush out every playful instinct, 
 to repress each attempt at friendly conversation, and to 
 menace when there was a tendency to unruliness. If a 
 girl stopped to eat an apple, he had been known to take it 
 from her and to throw it out of the window. 
 
 "You will have nothing to buy apples with at the end of 
 the week, if you waste your time like that ! " he would 
 cry ; and the poor slave would tremblingly resume her 
 sewing, without daring to look up. 
 
 It was this sweater's boast that none of his cloakmakers 
 belonged to Joseph's Union. " None of their nonsense for 
 me ! " he was wont to say. " If they meddle with my busi 
 ness, I will soon show them that I am independent. If 
 they take my operators away, I can get a hundred more by 
 whistling at my door." But he secretly feared Joseph ; and 
 on this very morning, as he counted, sorted, and piled the 
 garments, he was plotting to propitiate him. 
 
 " I would like to knock off work at seven to-night," said a 
 thin, pasty-faced operator, shuffling up to the " boss," and 
 holding his hands clasped together in the supplicating 
 and timid way which showed the strain of Orientalism in 
 his nature. " We expect a new baby at our house, and my 
 wife, she " 
 
 "Expect and have are not twins, you know," said the 
 sweater brutally. " Stay where you are, and without loaf 
 ing, too, until half-past ten to-night ! Don't try to play 
 ' doctor ' here. You can do that when you get home." 
 
 The man flushed deeply, then paled, and two great tears 
 rolled down his cheek. He understood the allusion. In 
 the sweater's lingo, a workman who is too particular, in their
 
 GOD COUNTS WOMAN'S TEARS 153 
 
 opinion, about the number of hours he works, is called "doc 
 tor ; " and after he has been called so a few times, the 
 sweater kicks him out of the shop, claiming that he is demor 
 alizing all the others. He gazed sharply at the boss for a 
 few seconds, then turned despairingly away, and hobbled 
 back to his sewing-machine, which was in a dark corner. 
 
 It was a day of intense heat, and the sweat rolled from 
 the brows of the swarthy men as they sat at the machines. 
 It plashed on their arms, and left long marks on the wood 
 work, as the deft fingers guided the cloaks to the music of 
 the needle. No one seemed to think of the heat ; and in 
 the centre of the smaller of the two rooms stood a round 
 stove, with flat-irons upon it. This stove was red hot, and 
 gave out a sickening odor, which made the girls seated 
 nearest to it gasp for breath. 
 
 What tremendous activity pervaded the little company 
 of twenty-five men, women, and children ! Gazing on it 
 with his merciless eyes, the sweater felt a pride in the 
 talent for organization which it manifested. In this 
 Inferno he made his fortune ; every click of the machines 
 meant profit to him. In the earnestness of his desire for 
 gain, the hours did not seem long enough; and if his 
 wretched toilers, after leaving at ten at night, were not 
 back again before dawn, he cursed them, and often flew at 
 them like a wild beast. 
 
 The operators began with sewing the seams, the sleeves, 
 and fastening the " foundations " on to the cloaks. Then 
 they sewed on the face-cloths, and raced the needles round 
 the bodies of the coats, and sewed up to the slits. 
 
 After this they took the points out, and stitched all 
 round. Then came the under-collar, which was stitched 
 upon a piece of stiffening, and next the over-collar, after 
 which the needles took another run round, to make all things 
 firm.
 
 154 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 Meantime the attendant girls were catching up cloak 
 after cloak, as they came hot from the machines, and bast 
 ing in the sleeves. Then the garments went back to the 
 operators, to have the sleeves fitted and the bindings sewed 
 on. 
 
 And now the pressman's work began, or, more correctly, 
 never ended; for as fast as he had one pile of cloaks in 
 shape, another loomed up before him ; and when he dragged 
 his weary legs away at night, mountains of cloaks cast a 
 frowning shadow behind him. 
 
 Each cloak passed in review before the sweater, who with 
 skilful fingers marked with chalk the places for the but 
 tons. Then he distributed them to the button-sewers, 
 throwing down a certain number of cloaks before each girl 
 with a savage energy, which seemed to say, " If you do not 
 hurry, I will apply the lash." 
 
 Every one of the girls shrank each time the sweater 
 approached them, as if he actually had a whip in his hand. 
 No matter if the fingers bled, no matter if the poor heads 
 ached, no matter if a woman were faint from starvation, 
 imposed upon herself that her children might have a little 
 more to eat, there was no mercy, nor even the semblance 
 of compassion. To see men and women worn to exhaustion 
 by grinding toil was so common a sight for the sweater, 
 that he no longer appreciated the horrible indignity, the 
 immense pathos of it. 
 
 And so it is that a glut in the labor market can make 
 brutes of men, and slaves of the weaklings whom they have 
 the cunning to employ. 
 
 This sweater manufacturer paid the most wretched of 
 wages, because he had no contracts. He bought cloth at 
 bankrupt sales, and got great bargains. He paid workers 
 thirty-five cents per piece when other sweaters gave sev 
 enty-live ; and when his goods were finished he had them
 
 GOD COUNTS WOMAN'S TEARS 155 
 
 peddled from door to door among the large dealers, until 
 some one would take the lot. 
 
 When trade Avas slack, or he had a considerable stock of 
 unsold goods on hand, he became a veritable demon. At 
 the least infringement of his beggarly regulations, he 
 frothed at the mouth with rage. He spat in the faces of 
 the old men who protested that they could not do their 
 tasks. He threw one poor old fellow down-stairs for com 
 ing to bring his daughter a few apples and a cracked pot 
 full of coffee at noontide. He drove a dozen operators 
 from the place in one day, because they had arranged with 
 an ancient dame to bring them a warm dinner, which they 
 were to eat in their places at their machines. In vain did 
 they remonstrate and protest that they must eat or die. 
 " They could take their own time over their suppers," he 
 said, " but they should not waste his." This to the wage- 
 workers ; and to piece-workers he was almost equally tyran 
 nical. " Let them know what comfort is, and they will 
 desert me in a body," he said to himself, and he was right. 
 
 There was an ominous silence in the sweater's rooms on 
 this hot and stifling day ; and it made the sweater's nerves 
 tingle just a little with fear. His treatment of Shiphrah 
 had aroused a dangerous desire for revolt a feeling 
 which as yet none of the poor over-worked creatures dared 
 openly to manifest, but which was as full of perilous possi 
 bilities as the lava fire when it froths up to the rim of 
 a volcano's crater. 
 
 Shiphrah was heavily in the sweater's debt: he alone 
 had supplied the money without which she would have died 
 after her heart-breaking experience with her cowardly 
 lover ; and when he found that there was no way of getting 
 it back from that lover himself, he had turned in fury upon 
 the girl, and had cried : 
 
 "You shall never leave this place until you have worked
 
 15G JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 out every penny that you owe. And if any one who sews 
 here ventures to tell old Manasseh where his daughter is, 
 before she has paid her debt to me, I will throw the tale 
 teller into the street." 
 
 This would have been an idle injunction if given to a 
 company of independent American workmen and women. 
 But to the shrinking and affrighted group of refugees and 
 exiles, who had scarcely recovered from the shock of their 
 summary expulsion from Russia, and who felt completely 
 helpless in this strange and new land, the command and 
 the menace were very effective indeed. 
 
 Not one of the slaving and .starving cloakmakers em 
 ployed in this horrible den had dared to hint outside that 
 Shiphrah was held in bondage worse than their own. For 
 that matter, many of them had never heard Shiphrah's 
 whole story, and were little likely to see or hear of old 
 Manasseh. 
 
 But at last the three girls who had known Shiphrah in 
 happier days had strayed into the establishment ; had told 
 the story to Ben Zion in the " Pig Market ; " and the 
 secret which the sweater fancied safely kept had gone 
 straight to the hearing of the man whom lie really dreaded 
 most of all, the redoubtable Joseph. 
 
 It happened that as the hot forenoon wore away one of 
 the Polish girls, who was so faint that she could scarcely 
 ply her needle, took from a little bundle a tiny earthen coffee 
 pot, in which there remained a cupful of bitter liquid unwor 
 thy the name of the famous Arabian beverage. 
 
 Glancing around with fear in her eye, the girl advanced 
 her thin arm, and placed the little pot on the stove. 
 
 At that time the sweater was in the inner room, cursing 
 an operator whose work was not done to his satisfaction. 
 The girl had managed to get the coffee warmed before the 
 monster's return, and holding the coffee-pot in her lap, was
 
 GOD COUNTS WOMAN'S TEARS 157 
 
 exploring her bundle in search of a cup, when she heard 
 the tyrant's voice angrily raised. 
 
 In her nervousness she sprang up, overturning the coffee 
 upon the cloak in her lap, scalding her limbs, and uttering 
 a shriek, which brought the sweater to her side with an 
 ugly glare in his eyes. 
 
 When he saw what had occurred, he snatched the gar 
 ment from the girl and struck her twice, brutally, over the 
 head with it. 
 
 One of the buttons raised a livid scar on the poor crea 
 ture's cheek. 
 
 She stood panting, mute, chilled to the heart by this 
 insolent cruelty, but with a desire for vengeance growing 
 in her heart, and filling her with a fury almost too great for 
 expression. 
 
 Yet at last she clasped her hands and wept and cried 
 aloud. The earthen coffee-pot fell to the floor, was shat 
 tered, and the poor girls near by set up a sympathetic 
 wail. 
 
 The sweater's face grew white, but his eyes blazed with 
 passion. He advanced toward the girl again, flourishing 
 the heavy cloak, as if he meant to strike her down to the 
 earth with it. 
 
 Shiphrah could not endure this spectacle. She sprang 
 forward and implored the sweater not to strike. 
 
 But the brute in the man was now thoroughly aroused. 
 He pushed Shiphrah aside, and, roaring with fury, struck 
 the culprit again. 
 
 "I'll teach you," he cried, "to come breaking up all the 
 discipline of my place with your swineries." 
 
 This time the girl stood quite still, with the pallor of 
 death upon her gaunt face. A thin stream of blood trickled 
 from one of her nostrils, and the tears coursed slowly down 
 her cheeks.
 
 158 JOSEPH ZALMONAU 
 
 She raised her brow slightly, as if inviting and expecting 
 the next blow, which should finish her martyrdom. 
 
 " Stop, neighbor ! " suddenly cried a loud, clear voice 
 which made the sweater lower his hand and look confus 
 edly around him. " Have you forgotten the good old Jew 
 ish proverb, ' God counts woman's tears ' ? " 
 
 Then arose a humming and whispering and tittering, 
 interspersed with cries of indignation, and one or two 
 threats. The sweater instinctively felt that unless he 
 made some authoritative move instantly he would find him 
 self face to face with a revolt. 
 
 He turned angrily to see who had ventured to intrude. 
 
 The new-comer was Ben Zion, with whom the sweater 
 had a slight acquaintance. The pedler held in one hand 
 a long pole garnished with two or three hoops, from which 
 hung "pretzels" in various stages of staleness. In the 
 other he carried a huge jug; over his shoulder was a pack, 
 from which came a not unmusical clinking of tinware. 
 
 At sight of the sweater's inflamed features, and his eyes 
 in which murder was written, Ben Zion grinned, and made 
 a mock obeisance, remarking, 
 
 " Sorry to interfere in a family difficulty, as the bear 
 said when he ate the moujik who was beating his wife, but 
 I thought the good people up here might like a few mouth- 
 fuls of lunch. Now, these pretzels " 
 
 And he extended the pole, so that its point almost touched 
 the irate sweater in the face, and effectually prevented him 
 from striking another blow. 
 
 " Get out with your miserable trash ! Do you want to 
 poison my people ? "yelled the sweater. " Haven't I given 
 strict orders that no begging pedlers were to come into my 
 place ? Out with you ! " 
 
 " Oh ! A little minute ! " said Ben Zion caressingly. 
 " Why, I've only just come in ! And really, when it comes
 
 GOD COUNTS WOMAN'S TEARS 150 
 
 to choose between being poisoned, and beaten to death, I 
 don't suppose that your cherished employes " 
 
 The maddened sweater hurled the cloak from his hand at 
 Ben Zion. But the garment fell upon the red-hot stove, 
 where it was scorched crisp, at which a yell of triumph at 
 the sweater's discomfiture arose from the seven or eight 
 operators watching the scene. 
 
 Ben Zion had raised his pole, but he brought it down 
 again so adroitly that it served as a barrier to keep the 
 sweater from the corner in which Shiphrah and the poor 
 Polish girl were cowering and expecting to be cast out of 
 the workshop by the sweater's brutal hands. 
 
 " Why, there's the pretty Shiphrah, after whom her old 
 father has been hunting so long ! " said Ben Zion, assuming 
 an air of intense surprise, and at the same time winking and ' 
 grimacing in his endeavor to convey to Shiphrah that he was 
 a - friend. 
 
 " O my father ! " cried the girl, springing forward. " Is 
 he alive ? Does he hate my very name ? I wish I might 
 go to him, and pray him to forgive me ! " 
 
 " So you shall, pretty one ! so you shall ! " said Ben Zion, 
 cautiously setting down his jug, and slipping his pack from 
 his back. And as the sweater tried to rush forward to 
 Shiphrah, Ben Zion suddenly gripped the pole with both 
 hands, and tapped the sweater's head pretty smartly 
 with it. 
 
 " Excuse the accident ! " said Ben Zion, smiling serenely, 
 "but I really must speak with this young lady a minute. 
 And as she and her companion there seem positively faint, 
 I must offer them a cup of this excellent coffee and a pret 
 zel. Won't you have a pretzel too?" he added, shoving 
 the pole into the sweater's face again. Then, in answer to 
 Shiphrah, he said, 
 
 " You shall see your father to-day. His daughter shall 
 not be a slave anv Ion ire r. Deliverance is at hand ! "
 
 160 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 Ben Zion spoke these last words with a fine melodramatic 
 air ; then, stooping down, he brought forth from his pack 
 some tin cups, filled them with coffee from the jug, and 
 plucking some pretzels from the hoops, he passed this 
 frugal luncheon to the two girls, who were too amazed to 
 refuse. 
 
 " By your leave ! " said Ben Zion, grinning at the sweater, 
 \vhosp face was purple with rage. The operators and seam 
 stresses were now all crowding into the front room, laugh 
 ing, whispering, shaking their heads ominously. Never 
 before had so much time been lost in a sweater's den on the 
 East Side. The revolt was complete. 
 
 " Now, friends," said Ben Zion, " who says coffee and 
 pretzels ? Only three cents for each person ! You'll work 
 all the better afterwards. Oh, never mind him ! He'll 
 come round to our way of thinking after he has joined our 
 Union ! Gome ! who buys ? " 
 
 " I'll discharge the first man or woman who touches any 
 of that trash ! " shouted the sweater. " And as for you," 
 shaking his fist at Ben Zion, "get out of this room, or I 
 will send for the police ! " 
 
 "Do; and I'll give you in charge for kidnapping Shiph- 
 rah ! " said Ben Zion, pouring coffee for an operator who 
 had mustered up courage to brave the sweater. " Ah ! you 
 are more quiet now ! We live and learn, as the bear said 
 when he was hunting for honey, and the bees stung him." 
 
 " My father ! " moaned Shiphrah, suddenly awakened to 
 new hopes. "If I could see him once more ! " 
 
 "He will be here in a few minutes," said Ben Zion 
 calmly. 
 
 " Here ! " screamed the sweater ; " I'll break every bone 
 in his sanctimonious old body if he dares to come here. 
 And Shiphrah shall not leave this house until I have been 
 paid my money, all my money do you understand ? "
 
 GOD COUNTS WOMAN'S TEARS 161 
 
 His voice rose to a shriek the shriek of the miser fear 
 ing to be deprived of his treasure. 
 
 " How is that, man ? " said a voice which made the sweater 
 more frantic than before. " Is this a debtors' prison, or a 
 workshop ? Do I hear that you are keeping women here 
 against their will ? " 
 
 Everybody gazed at the entrance, where stood Joseph, 
 with Malcha leaning on his arm, and old Manasseh bending 
 over his staff, and looking like a prophet of doom. 
 
 " Who are you, and what do you want ? " snarled the 
 sweater, his eyes dilating like those of a wild beast at bay. 
 
 " I am the representative of the Cloakmakers' Union," 
 answered Joseph calmly, but drawing himself up, and mak 
 ing the downward sweeping gesture which always compelled 
 attention to his speeches. "And I want to know how it is* 
 that when we are engaged in a life-and-death struggle with 
 the manufacturers, your place is open, and you are driving 
 your employes harder than ever ? Perhaps you can answer 
 me that." 
 
 The sweater felt shivers of rage sweep over him. The 
 dreaded Joseph was here, and had doubtless brought revolt 
 in his train. He must act quickly against him. 
 
 "I know nothing about your Union, or you either," he 
 said rudely. " And I give you notice that if you come a 
 step farther into my shop you'll rue it ! " 
 
 As he spoke he advanced hastily to the stove, the sides 
 of which were ruddy with intense heat, and seized a huge 
 flat-iron from its top, shouting, 
 
 " Out with you, or I'll mark you for life ! " 
 
 Joseph looked at the maddened man sternly as he an 
 swered, 
 
 " We shall see who will go out first ! " 
 
 At that moment a lithe form brushed past the sweater, 
 and sprang into the arms of old Manasseh. Shiphrah had
 
 162 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 found her father again. Malcha withdrew with the girl 
 and her father into a corner of the darkened landing, and 
 the three quietly awaited the victory which they knew 
 would be Joseph's. 
 
 " Out, I say, or I'll brand you ! " howled the sweater. 
 
 The operators and the women were huddled together, 
 gazing almost reverently at Joseph, of whose prowess as a 
 popular leader they had heard. Some of the women were 
 muttering prayers. 
 
 Joseph's face shone with excitement. " Coward ! " he 
 said to the sweater. " It is men like you who make it so 
 hard for our people to rise ! But you shall tyrannize over 
 these poor men and women no longer." 
 
 The sweater concentrated all his malice, and hurled the 
 hot iron with tremendous force straight at Joseph's head. 
 But at the next moment he received such a thrust from Ben 
 Zion's pole that he nearly lost his senses, and when he 
 could breathe and see again, he noticed that his missile 
 had done no harm, and that Joseph was standing over him, 
 white and stern. 
 
 " Listen to me," said Joseph. " Shiphrah shall go to her 
 father, and in time what she owes you shall be paid. But 
 don't try to keep her now, or you may be torn in pieces. 
 And now, brethren and sisters," he cried, turning to the 
 astonished workers, "the Cloakmakers' Union will inarch 
 to Freier and Monach's at four o'clock. Will you join us ? 
 Will you strike for freedom ? or will you let this ruffian 
 bully you ? " 
 
 We will march we will go with you !" shouted the 
 operators, and the women also feebly assented. Then they 
 poured out of the shop, leaving the sweater and Joseph 
 face to face. 
 
 "Follow them!" commanded Joseph, "and let me see 
 you in the line of march at four o'clock, or it will be the 
 worse for you ! "
 
 GOD COUNTS WOMAN'S TEARS 163 
 
 "Never ! " snarled the sweater, foaming with rage. 
 
 " Follow them ! " cried Joseph in. a deeper voice, and 
 pointing to the door. 
 
 This time the sweater yielded, and he slunk out of his 
 own shop, and went timidly past Ben Zion, who stood on 
 guard with the pretzel pole at the door, and crawled timidly 
 down the dark stairways. 
 
 Meantime, Shiphrah was sobbing upon old Manasseh's 
 breast.
 
 164 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 THE HUNGER PROMENADE 
 
 SHIPHRAH would have knelt at Joseph's feet and kissed 
 the hem of his coat with veritable biblical fervor. But 
 the young leader would not permit it. 
 
 Malcha took the girl away to her house, old Manasseh 
 hobbling after, and muttering many pious phrases expres 
 sive of his joy. 
 
 Joseph and Ben Zion remained upon the field of battle. 
 
 " Are you aware," said Ben Zion, flourishing the pretzel 
 pole as if it bore a triumphal banner at its summit, " that 
 this is the Fourth of July, the anniversary of the great 
 day when the Americans dictated a peace, on the shores of 
 England, to the king who was trying to enslave them ? 
 They sailed over there, I'm told, and scattered the fleets of 
 England and France, and then made a proclamation of In 
 dependence, which they still repeat after their prayers. 
 When was it? Many hundreds of years ago, I'll be 
 bound ! " 
 
 "Not so very many," answered Joseph, with a quiet 
 smile at Ben Zion's distortion of the historical facts, 
 which he himself could not have stated with absolute 
 accuracy ; " not so very long ago but that they are still 
 much in love with their own independence, and care 
 precious little about anybody else's. Fourth of July, in 
 deed ! And our six or seven thousand hungry devils are
 
 THE HUNGER PROMENADE 165 
 
 going to parade, just to show these well-fed, independent 
 citizens how wretched we are ! It makes my heart ache." 
 
 'Don't grumble, Joseph Zalmonah," said Ben Zion. 
 " Think of the nice lump of money that the newspapers 
 raised for the Union ! Where should we have been with 
 out that, for the last day or two, I should like to know ? " 
 
 " True," said Joseph, " I don't mean to complain ; but if 
 anything is galling, it is to be poor in the midst of plenty. 
 But come, we have no longer any right here hark ! what 
 was that yell ? " 
 
 " It sounded like the cry that Levi Obermann gave the 
 day they threw him out of the synagogue you remem 
 ber ; the contractor ! They nearly tore the poor fellow in 
 pieces ! Halt there ! " he cried, lowering his pretzel pole 
 like a lance at rest. 
 
 The sweater rushed across the darkened landing, dodged 
 Ben Zion, and threw himself at Joseph's feet, cowering 
 like a whipped dog. " They will kill me ! " he whimpered. 
 " Don't make me go out there alone ! Go with me, or they 
 will tear mo in pieces ! " 
 
 " And they would not be far wrong ! " growled Ben Zion, 
 prodding the sweater with the pole. " Get up, you lump 
 of a needle-shifter, and try to be a man ! Are our fellows 
 ready to march ? " 
 
 "They are," said the sweater, his teeth chattering. 
 " What dreadful thing are they going to do ? " 
 
 " Get up ! " repeated Ben Zion, seizing the sweater by the 
 collar, " or, by the bones of Abraham ! I'll iron you with 
 your own flat-irons ! Join the procession, and ask no ques 
 tions, as the ant said to the elephant when they went into 
 the ark. Your life is safe enough under the protection of 
 our Union. And yet, only an hour ago you were fighting 
 against it ! " 
 
 " ' Our Union,' " said the reassured sweater, with a twin-
 
 1G6 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 kle in his eye ; " I thought you were a pedler. And wh.it 
 are you doing in the Cloakmakers' Union ? " 
 
 "I oh I am just a deputy to keep the fools in or 
 der," stammered Ben Zion, who had found the question a 
 little confusing ; " so get along with you, and don't so much 
 as dare to look at Herr Joseph, here, or he may not let you 
 join us. And then your goose certainly would be cooked." 
 
 It was at least a quarter of an hour before Ben Zion's 
 arguments, kicks, and proddings with the pretzel pole 
 could persuade the sweater to accompany him to the street. 
 When at last they came into the little square in front of 
 the house, they found Joseph, who had preceded them, try 
 ing to reason with a mob of women who had heard the 
 story of Shiphrah's detention, and wanted to lynch the 
 sweater before starting on this " hunger parade." 
 
 Public sympathy, as the kind-hearted policeman had told 
 Joseph, needed but to be aroused to yield goodly fruit ; and 
 little sums had found their way to the Union's treasury, 
 and made the cloakmakers more resolved than ever to fight 
 the lock-out to the bitter end. 
 
 The manufacturers had set non-Union men at work in 
 some of their establishments, and boasted that all the 
 power of New York's authority would be on their side if 
 these men were attacked. Therefore it had been deemed 
 expedient that the starving cloakmakers, who had been 
 thrust from their places because they dared to protest 
 against an infamous scale of wages, and as substitutes for 
 whom the non-Union men had been employed, should 
 promenade in a body, and still further enlist the pity of the 
 citizens of the metropolis. 
 
 Joseph did not approve of this ; it jarred upon his sense 
 of independence. And yet, in his heart, he admitted that 
 it was adroit and practical ; and at the last moment he had 
 placed himself at the head of the procession. He had
 
 THE HUNGER PROMENADE 167 
 
 halted the motley company before the sweater's, that he 
 might do justice in the case of Shiphrah ; and now he was 
 ready to march. 
 
 " On to Freier and Monach's ! to Freier and Monach's ! " 
 screamed the women. "Let them see how starved we 
 look." 
 
 " Yes," snarled an old crone ; " and if they laugh at us 
 we'll tear them limb from limb, won't we, darlings ?" 
 
 " Limb from limb ! " came back the answer in a shrill 
 chorus, which made Joseph turn pale. He knew that the 
 women would fulfil their threat, if they had even slight 
 provocation. 
 
 A tootling band, lent for the occasion by a friendly labor 
 organization, struck up the "Marseillaise," which the throng 
 did not recognize ; but when it played one or two German 
 airs, the starving people showed some little animation, and 
 stepped out as if they were going to take a new Bastile. 
 
 The sweater marched unmolested, and a dozen of the 
 workers who had just rebelled against his tyranny were 
 close behind him. 
 
 The day was intensely hot and airless. The ill-kept 
 streets steamed with rank odors. The tall gaunt buildings 
 seemed to sweat like the populace. 
 
 The throng was much smaller than that which had accom 
 panied Joseph to the landlord to demand justice for 
 Mother Levitsky. But in the glaring light of the summer 
 day it seemed more hideous, gaunt, and dreadful than the 
 company of the night march. 
 
 A thousand women, hundreds of them with puny, wailing 
 infants in their arms, headed the line. The misery of 
 these poor creatures was appalling. They were walking 
 skeletons. Their almost fleshless yellow faces; their fierce, 
 staring eyes; their matted locks; their ragged garments, 
 which scarcely covered them decently ; the way in which
 
 168 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 they clutched their starving infants ; the strident laughter 
 with which they hailed appeals for moderation and com 
 promise in case they visited the manufacturers' premises 
 all were terrible. 
 
 There were women who had nursing children at the 
 breast, and who had tasted nothing but a little coffee for 
 two days. They flourished their lean arms ; they wagged 
 their swollen tongues ; they danced hysterically, and prof 
 fered dreadful threats of vengeance. 
 
 The streets rang with the uncouth echoes of the " jargon." 
 
 Meantime the men, less talkative, but equally angry and 
 inflamed, dragged their weak limbs along. Some shivered 
 in spite of the intense heat ; others were sunstruck, and 
 had to be revived in the friendly shade of doorways ; all 
 clamored for water. Old men trudged on, munching bits 
 of black bread between their toothless jaws. The younger 
 operators had dressed themselves neatly for the occa 
 sion, but the fierce heat had prompted them to take off 
 coats and waistcoats ; and long before they reached Freier 
 and Monach's, they were reeking with perspiration, and as 
 dishevelled as the women. 
 
 They came at last to the hated manufacturers, the head 
 and front of the lock-out, the arch enemy of their Union, 
 and they set up a fierce yell. Most of them were ignorant 
 that the Fourth of July is a national holiday ; but those 
 who knew it felt certain that the tyrants would have some 
 one on hand to represent them and protect their property. 
 
 Joseph halted his starving company, with strict injunc 
 tions to make no attack on Freier and Monach's, and to 
 await his return. " There will be no ' scabs ' at work there 
 to-day," he said. " Besides, we must hear what the firm 
 has to say." 
 
 "Tear them limb from limb," shrieked the women ; but it 
 was evident that they would respect Joseph's admonition.
 
 THE HUNGER PROMENADE 169 
 
 So lie assembled his committee the identical one which 
 Freier and Monach had so badly treated on the previous 
 visit, and applied for admission. 
 
 They got in without difficulty. Freier and Monach were 
 both there, writing busily, and smoking huge black cigars. 
 Joseph was a little astonished to see Freier jump up and 
 come forward with much cordiality of demeanor. " Look 
 here, Zalmonah ! " he said in German, " call off your fellows 
 out there. We don't want any disturbance, and things may 
 all come round right yet. Come with your committee and 
 see us to-morrow about this hour. There's a good fellow. 
 Say to your cloakmakers that it will all be right to-morrow 
 arrange, you understand ? " 
 
 " No, I can't say I do," said Joseph. " Your last message 
 was one of war. Now you are as peaceful as moonlight. 
 What assurance can I give " 
 
 " Your army out there ? " said Freier, laughing uneasily. 
 " Oil, tell them that you are arranging the matter." 
 
 While he was talking he had edged away from the gaping 
 members of the committee, holding Joseph by the arm, and 
 had managed to get him into a little recess behind a table. 
 Here he said to Joseph in a hurried whisper, 
 
 " And, say, Zalmonah, you are a man of sense, and I've 
 heard that you wish to perfect your education. Now, if 
 you will drop all this labor business, I'll be your banker as 
 long as you like, and will write you a check for five thou 
 sand dollars any time you ask for it. Come ! Choose be 
 tween that out there " (indicating the waiting cloakmakers) 
 " and this good offer. Accept, and you will find plenty of 
 friends." 
 
 Joseph put out his hands quickly, and thrust the tempter 
 violently away from him. 
 
 Thinking that he was about to be attacked, the members 
 of the committee rushed forward.
 
 170 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 But Joseph stayed them with an imperious gesture. 
 
 Then he gave Freier a look of blazing indignation, which 
 turned the man white with apprehension. 
 
 "We will not come here to-morrow," lie said; "you need 
 not expect us. When we are ready we will come back for 
 our final answer about the close of the lock-out. And I 
 would advise you not to renew then the proposition which 
 you have just made to me. If you should do so, I would 
 hand you over to that crowd there yonder, and it would tear 
 you into shoe-strings ! " 
 
 "You are an insolent beast, and I will have you put whore 
 you can't talk so much!" said Freier through his clenched 
 teeth. " You think you can come here and dictate to us 
 Americans ! " 
 
 Joseph snapped his fingers in Freier's face. " That for 
 your threats ! " he said. " Perhaps we shall soon find out 
 who is master in this business. Good-day." 
 
 " I defy you ! " said Freier. " We Americans " 
 
 " Oh, come," cried Joseph, "your American citizenship is 
 too new to brag about. There are men in the procession out 
 there who are better American citizens than you are." 
 
 He stalked out with the committee at his heels, and 
 thus the second meeting with Freier ended like the first, in 
 anger and unfruitfulness. 
 
 " He tried to bribe me ! " said Joseph in a choking voice, 
 as he returned to the head of the hungry company. " Let 
 him alone to-day ! Come along to Broadway !" 
 
 And to Broadway they went. Thousands of promenad 
 ing citizens were startled by the passage of this melancholy 
 throng of tottering men, a,nd tattered women with skinny 
 children in their arms. They looked witli astonishment on 
 this sudden apparition of Misery in the very centre of 
 prosperity. It alarmed and enlightened them. When the 
 cloakmakers tottered home that night, almost despairing, 
 they had won a host of supporters.
 
 THE HUNGER PROMENADE 171 
 
 At the office of the Union Joseph found t\vo hundred 
 dollars in crisp bills, "the product of a collection down 
 town," awaiting his arrival. 
 
 He sent out trusty messengers to distribute this far and 
 wide among the starving ones, and then went home and 
 threw himself down on his bed, feeling strangely hopeful 
 that the lock-out would soon end. Malcha and the 
 child, as he learned from a note, were at old Manasseh's 
 with Shiphrah. 
 
 Joseph was just falling into an uneasy slumber in the 
 hot and ill-ventilated room, when there came a timid knock 
 at the door. At first he was disinclined to answer it ; but 
 finally, fearing lest it might be the news of some new dis 
 turbance among the cloakmakers, he arose and groped his 
 way wearily to the door, threw it open, and found him 
 self face to face with Rudolf Baumeister. 
 
 At sight of the nervous features of that energetic con 
 spirator, Joseph could not repress a frown. But Baumeis 
 ter saluted him so politely, and seemed so anxious to enter 
 into conversation, that Joseph rubbed his eyes and mut 
 tered, 
 
 " Well, Herr Baumeister, what is it ? Has your revolu 
 tion begun ? Is Society turned inside out, and have you 
 come to call me to see the remains ? " 
 
 " Zalmonah," said the man in a tremulous tone, " we are 
 on the eve of great things. The time is ripe for revolt. 
 The harvest awaits the reapers. I have come to ask you 
 to thrust in your sickle with the rest of us. Don't send me 
 away as you did before. Join us, arid work with us at 
 the grand overturning ! " 
 
 Joseph felt inclined to shut the door in Baumeister's 
 face. But weary as he himself was, and in deadly earnest 
 though Baumeister certainly was, he could not help ap 
 preciating the humor of the occasion.
 
 172 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 " Come in," he said ; " and before I make any decision 
 about joining, I should like to know what you propose to 
 overturn, and how many of you there are to overturn it." 
 
 " Always satirical, Herr Joseph," said Baumeister, 
 entering slowly, and leaning against the blackened wall of 
 the kitchen chimney and breathing hard. "Let me sit 
 down, please ; my head feels heavy." 
 
 " You look white and faint," said Joseph kindly. " Let 
 me give you a glass of tea, if we have any left." 
 
 " Yes," said Bauraeister, with an odd little laugh, " I am 
 as weak as one of your poor locked-out creatures. The 
 fact is that I have not tasted solid food for two days. I 
 haven't felt like eating ; and it makes my head turn round 
 you know the feeling." 
 
 Joseph looked at him attentively. He gave Baumeister 
 a chair at the little kitchen table. Then he placed on it 
 a wooden platter on which was a small loaf of bread and a 
 fried fish. 
 
 " When you have eaten we can talk," he said gravely. 
 
 Baumeister thanked him faintly, and began eating with 
 an apparently voracious appetite, saying between the 
 mouthfuls, 
 
 " I often get out of money, you see, when I am fol 
 lowing an idea ; and I won't beg. I wait. Sometimes it 
 is hard work this waiting, when you are hungry " 
 
 " Yes, I think I know something about that," said Joseph 
 dryly. 
 
 He was watching Baumeister narrowly, for he suspected 
 some conspiracy. His first thought was that the Socialist 
 had been drinking. But presently he saw that the un 
 steady flame in his eyes, the slight tremor in his muscles, 
 the curious inflections in his speech, were all the result of 
 some recent profound excitement. Was his hunger real ? 
 Or was it a trick assumed to enlist Joseph's sympathies ?
 
 THE HUNGER PROMENADE 173 
 
 Joseph suspected him, but pity arose to dull his sus 
 picions as he saw the would-be overthrower of Society 
 seated on. the old wooden chair, munching the hard bread. 
 
 " You were speaking of overturning," he said gently, 
 when Batimeister showed signs of relenting his attacks on 
 the bread and fish. 
 
 " Ah ! Overturn burn destroy and plant again ; 
 but not the old seed no no none of that!" said 
 Baumeister in a loud voice, rising hurriedly and coming 
 quickly to Joseph's side. " The hour is at hand, Zalmonah. 
 That procession of the hungry was a great thought, worthy, 
 my young friend, of your masterly mind. It has made a 
 tremendous sensation. The public is alarmed. The news 
 papers are talking about labor riots on a grand scale, close 
 at hand. The capitalists are quaking in their palaces! 
 What a grand chance for the ' party of force ' ! What a 
 moment for a demonstration ! One push, and we might 
 topple the whole wall down ! Ha, ha, ha ! Topple it 
 down, and bury the fat carcasses . of the capitalists under 
 it. Ho, ho, ho! Ha, ha, ha!" 
 
 Joseph stood listening to this tirade with a contempt 
 uous smile on his lips. But there was something so 
 strangely exalted in Baumeister's manner, that it almost 
 frightened him. The voice had an unsteady ring ; the ges 
 tures were almost grotesque. 
 
 " The last time you came here, Herr Baumeister," he 
 said, " I declined to believe that we cannot win our cause 
 by legitimate methods. Everything that I have seen since 
 your visit tends to confirm my belief. So that I am as 
 little disposed as before to go into the overturning busi-. 
 ness, which does not seem to be giving you a very good 
 living." 
 
 "Never mind me my living," stammered Baumeister ; 
 " the cause, the cause is all ! We must have you to help
 
 174 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 us : you are a tower of strength. We are losing chances 
 daily! A few hours ago, at Washington Square, we might 
 have started the great Social Revolution ! Your proces 
 sion was a splendid pretext for beginning. Make another 
 procession to-morrow dear Herr Zalmonah another 
 and we can in a few hours be trampling capital under our 
 feet. The masses will rise with us ! and the victory will 
 be easy ! You must you shall help us to start the Social 
 Rev " 
 
 Baumeister glared suddenly at Joseph. The word " rev 
 olution " died away on his lips. He uttered a loud yell, 
 and fell forward, foaming at the mouth, and breathing 
 stertorously, in an epileptic fit. 
 
 Joseph felt a slight touch on his arm. He turned and 
 saw Ben Zion. "I saw him coming here, and I followed 
 him," said the pedler, " thinking he might be up to some 
 mischief. I'll bring him out of that fit I know how. 
 My father's brother used to have 'em regular." And seat 
 ing himself astride the fallen Socialist, he began to bang 
 his insensible head against the floor. 
 
 " You will kill him," cried Joseph. 
 
 " See ! He's already coining round ! " said Ben Zion ; and 
 in another minute Baumeister opened his eyes, his heavy 
 breathing ceased, and he murmured as if he had never 
 ceased speaking, 
 
 " olution yes, the Revolution. You shall help us 
 to start it to-morrow." Ben Zion helped him to a chair, 
 and Joseph bathed his head with water. " You must have 
 got a touch of the sun," said Joseph; " you went down as 
 if you had been shot." 
 
 But Baumeister seemed to have no knowledge of the fit. 
 "Tell me," he said, almost pleadingly, " that I may count 
 you among the members of the party of force from this 
 moment henceforth ! Tell me that you will co-operate 
 with us to-morrow ! "
 
 THE HUNGER PROMENADE 175 
 
 " You have already had my answer on that point," said 
 Joseph firmly. " Neither to-morrow nor at any time. I 
 think your Revolution is a dream or a madness ! " 
 
 " Ah ! " said Baumeister, looking up quickly, with a 
 startled smile, " you wish to get rid of me, and so you call 
 me crazy. It is a poor argument." 
 
 He seized the tumbler in which some tea was standing, 
 and drank the liquid greedily. Then he arose slowly, 
 gripping the glass so fiercely that it cracked to pieces. He 
 gave Joseph a long, weird look, then dashed the fragments 
 of glass madly to the floor, and shouted with great force, 
 
 " You will not make the Revolution with us ? Very 
 well ; then we will make it without you ! And look well to 
 yourselves if you get in our way ! " 
 
 He extended his hand, and shook it menacingly in 
 Joseph's face. Then he picked up his hat and went out, 
 staggering like a drunken man. 
 
 "I'm afraid the heat has made him mad," said Joseph. 
 
 " The work was well begun before the heat finished it," 
 remarked Ben Zion. Then he thrust his hand into the 
 breast-pocket of his faded coat. "Here's a message. I 
 forgot it when I saw that lunatic in his fit. A little boy 
 brought it to me in the market, and asked me to get it to 
 you post-haste." 
 
 Joseph tore open the unaddressed white envelope, and 
 took from it a slip of paper, on which was written in deli 
 cate Hebrew script : 
 
 " I warned you once, but I am afraid that you did not take it enough 
 to heart. You are in great danger. If you do not join Baumeister 
 and his party you must be vigilant and wary. Those men are desper 
 ate. I know what they mean to do if you fail them. They think your 
 martyrdom would bring on the flurry that would turn into revolution. 
 You must take a decision, and act. B." 
 
 A second warning from Bathsheba ! It was lucky that
 
 176 JOSEPH ZALMOXAH 
 
 Ben Zion's attention was diverted to the safety of his push 
 cart outside; for otherwise he would have seen Joseph, 
 moved by a sudden passion which he himself could not have 
 explained, press the little missive to his lips, and then hide 
 it carefully in an inner pocket. 
 
 Ben Zion presently went away, and Joseph opened the 
 window of the front room and sat down, looking out over 
 the wretched world of East Broadway, where his people were 
 making their starveling preparations for their Sabbath. 
 There was an ominous stillness. People spoke in low tones, 
 and seemed preoccupied, as when a pestilence is abroad, or 
 war or famine is at hand. And when Malcha came home 
 an hour later, leading tired little Zipporah, who could 
 scarcely prop her sleepy eyes open, she found Joseph seated, 
 staring straight into space, as if he saw signs and wonders 
 there.
 
 JOSEPH AND BATHSHEBA 177 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 JOSEPH AND BATHSHEBA 
 
 A WEEK passed, and Joseph thought for the first time in 
 his life that the hours had leaden feet. One hot, malodorous 
 day followed another, each bringing nothing to distinguish 
 it from its predecessor save an increasing number of deaths 
 among the famishing cloakmakers. 
 
 From time to time Joseph received contributions from 
 charitable persons, societies, and churches. He trudged 
 about in the heat, refusing even to take horse-cars or " L " 
 trains, in his anxiety to save every penny. 
 
 " Each five cents may mean a baby's life a poor mother's 
 rescue from starvation," he said. 
 
 Of the money he took only his share. " Malcha and the 
 child were not to suffer," he said. " As for myself, I like 
 suffering. It adds a kind of savor to life." 
 
 " Those who have not suffered have not truly lived," he 
 would sometimes say to Malcha, when he started out in the 
 hot mornings to distribute his succor. 
 
 The cloakmakers stood valiantly to their colors ; but, as 
 j~et, the manufacturers, headed by Freier and Monach, gave 
 no sign of weakness. 
 
 One morning Joseph went out very early, to carry a few 
 dollars to a family whose chief had shown him the night 
 before a " dispossess " notice. " If we haven't the money 
 at nine o'clock to-morrow forenoon," he had said, " out we
 
 178 JOSEPH ZALMONAIT 
 
 go on to the pavement. My wife is already sick with the 
 hunger-fever. You know what putting us out would mean." 
 
 As Joseph hastened on his errand of mercy, at the angle 
 of two streets he met Freier face to face. 
 
 He would have avoided him. But Freier smiled, and 
 spread out his arms in most engaging fashion. 
 
 " Oh ! Ah ! Here is my good friend, the enemy ! " he 
 said, with an effusive politeness which was maddening to 
 the poor labor-leader. " I am sure that he will forgive me 
 for getting into a temper every time we have a conference." 
 He spoke in jargon, but suddenly changed to English, 
 saying, 
 
 " Now, look here, Herr Zalmonah, don't pull away from 
 me in that angry fashion ! I am anxious to have the differ 
 ences between us settled ; but your obstinacy blocks every 
 thing. Say, there's nothing in it for you, if you do win the 
 fight, don't you know ? Why not give up your share in 
 the matter, and let the greasy devils take care of them 
 selves ? " 
 
 The veins in Joseph's temples stood out in bold relief. 
 
 A strong color came into his face. He raised a warning 
 hand. But Freier was determined to be heard. 
 
 " Come, now, Zalmonah," and his voice sank to a whis 
 per, "you didn't like my proposition the other day. What 
 do you say to a trip to London, and then to the old coun 
 try, to Russia, to see your folks, and make them a few use 
 ful presents ? You need not be gone more than four months, 
 and by that time all this difficulty will have blown over. 
 Say the word, and I'll make the check the same that I 
 offered before, and sign it to-day. What does a thinker 
 like you want with all these labor brawls ? " 
 
 Joseph's voice trembled as he said, "So you would like 
 to send me to Russia, and have me stopped at the frontier 
 by the paternal police, on the ground that I am a suspi-
 
 JOSEPH AND BATRSIIEBA 179 
 
 cious and revolutionary person, eh, Herr Freier ? I see 
 that you persist in taking me for a simpleton. Once for 
 all," he said, raising his voice suddenly almost to a cry, 
 " take notice that I do not accept bribes ! I scorn and spit 
 upon them, and upon you ! And I warn you not to stand 
 an instant longer in my path ! " 
 
 The interview was in the shadow of the roaring "L." 
 An Italian bootblack, polishing a somewhat decayed pair 
 of shoes on the capacious feet of a Spanish negro, and 
 another Italian, busily engaged in brushing imaginary flies 
 from an already too thoroughly fly-specked stock of fruit, 
 were the only witnesses to the colloquy. The passers-by 
 did not even turn their heads to observe what the shouting 
 was about. 
 
 Freier moved aside. His face was livid for an instant ; 
 then it became ghastly white. But he smiled an evil 
 smile. 
 
 " Oh ! very well, Herr Saint Joseph ! " he said. " If you 
 refuse all the assistance which your friends offer you, you 
 must not expect any sympathy when you come to grief ! " 
 
 Joseph made a contemptuous gesture, pushed on, and 
 in a minute was lost to view in the hurrying throngs. 
 
 " And you will come to grief, my fine fellow ! " continued 
 Freier, shaking his clenched fist in the direction which 
 Joseph had taken. " You will come to grief much sooner 
 than you imagine. You are rushing upon your fate now, 
 without knowing it. But a trip to London ! And a chance 
 to talk to the labor-leaders there ! Who would have 
 thought him strong enough to decline those things ? I 
 see : we must try heroic measures with him." 
 
 Joseph, when the errand of mercy was finished, found 
 himself not very far from David's theatre, and felt that a 
 little conversation with the purveyor of plays and proverbs 
 would refresh him.
 
 180 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 So he presently made his way into a sort of loft at the 
 right of the stage, where David had assembled the mem 
 bers of his company around a property throne, turned on 
 its side, and serving as the table on which was spread a 
 substantial lunch of bread and cheese and sausages, and 
 a jug of weak beer. 
 
 The company had been rehearsing a new historical 
 drama in costume ; and kings and prophets, shepherds and 
 warriors, dancing-girls and angels, were seated on piles of 
 canvas scenery, munching contentedly before returning to 
 work. 
 
 David was fluttering about, helping each one to his por 
 tion, and teaching a young girl how to sing her role in 
 Hebrew as he cut bread and carved cheese. 
 
 " Why do you not sit down with the others ? " said 
 Joseph, as he entered. 
 
 David gave him a quizzical look. " Don't you remember 
 what Rabbi Juda said ? " he queried. " It was good advice. 
 'Ko one should sit down to his own meals until all the 
 animals are cared for.' " 
 
 Upon this the girls fell upon David, and with laughing 
 protests, and with a bombardment of bread-crumbs, drove 
 him almost breathless into a corner, whither he beckoned 
 Joseph to follow him. 
 
 " I have been wanting to see you," said David, suddenly 
 becoming very grave, " to thank you for the gallant way in 
 which you acted about poor Shiphrah. I know the girl," 
 a shadow passed over David's face, " and I was sorry to 
 learn of the way in which she was going. Miryam has 
 gone to her to-day to give her some work some sewing 
 for our theatre. I I just wanted to thank you." 
 
 As they clasped hands, Joseph saw that David's eyes 
 were filled with tears. 
 
 He turned away hastily. "It was nothing nothing
 
 JOSEPH AND BATHSHEBA 181 
 
 but duty," he said. " I thought I would run in to inquire 
 why you had postponed the production of Mordecai's 
 ' Hymn,' and to get away from my sad thoughts for a time." 
 
 " The hymn ? Oh, I am waiting for Mordecai. At the 
 last moment he backed out said the time was not yet 
 favorable, and that when the condition of the cloakmakers 
 was a little worse he would give me the word. I believe 
 he thinks that the song would start a revolution." 
 
 " Such things have happened," said Joseph. " But per 
 haps the lock-out will be ended sooner than Mordecai 
 imagines." 
 
 " Let us hope so. And, by the way, I was thinking of 
 yon and of Mordecai when you came in. For the fair 
 Bathsheba has just paid me a visit, and left me an impor 
 tant bit of news." 
 
 A tiny spot of color showed in one of Joseph's cheeks, 
 but he said nothing. David continued, 
 
 " She was looking bewitchingly cool and stately in a 
 brand-new gown of some soft texture, and she told me that 
 her husband has had a stroke of luck. He has been en 
 gaged for some garden in Chicago, where he will play gypsy 
 melodies at a very good salary, all the rest of the summer. 
 As for Bathsheba, she is going to remain here and to study 
 for the Hebrew stage ! What do you think of that ? " 
 
 "It does not surprise me, " said Joseph. "Women like 
 that must have a public career. They can't live without it." 
 
 " She was so calm and self-satisfied, " David remarked, 
 " that I tried to provoke her about the Socialists the 
 ' Party of Force ' or whatever they call it to which she 
 is said to belong. I could get no information from her on 
 that point. She pretended not to know what I was talking 
 about. But all the time, so little Gershom, here, says, that 
 arch-revolutionist, Baumeister, was waiting for her outside." 
 
 ' Is he much with her ? " asked Joseph sharply.
 
 182 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 " I don't know, but I think she follows his doctrines. 
 You know the proverb: 'Beat the gods, and their priests 
 will tremble.' I abused him roundly, and I don't think 
 she liked it. She inquired very sympathetically after 
 you." 
 
 Joseph had suddenly become thought fu He smoked 
 the fragrant Russian cigarette which David offered him, 
 and listened to an old Hebrew melody which the children 
 who were to appear in the historical drama were singing. 
 
 Their fresh and pure voices followed each quaver and 
 roulade of the ancient music, as David's skilled baton indi 
 cated the way. 
 
 "Ah! your life is the happy one !" said Joseph. "You 
 are safe in the ideal world, dealing with shadows ; and you 
 really have all the bread and cheese you want. But we 
 poor folk who deal in realities can get neither bread nor 
 cheese. What is this mystery ? " 
 
 " Yes, I am very much at home here among my pupils," 
 said David cheerfully ; " but I am really nobody outside of 
 these surroundings. ' A small coin iu a large jar makes a 
 great noise ; ' but in the street it would soon be lost. And 
 as for feeding on the fat of the land, why should we ? ' He 
 who increaseth his flesh but multiplieth food for the 
 worms.' " 
 
 With this rather cynical proverb ringing in his ears, 
 Joseph went away, and was plunged into sloughs of work 
 all day. 
 
 Late in the evening he perceived an unusual beauty in 
 sky and air. The intense heat still lingered, and down 
 in Hester and Ludlow Streets the poor people were 
 stretched in rows on their gaunt mattresses on the steam 
 ing pavements, gasping for fresh air. 
 
 But the moonlight was strangely weird and tender ; and 
 when by chance a wandering breeze from the East lliver
 
 JOSEPH AND BATIISHEBA . 183 
 
 penetrated the baking quarter, it seemed to have in it some 
 of the inspiring salty smell of the sea. 
 
 The poor little babies, with their drawn faces, puny 
 bodies, and thin legs, sprawled beside their mothers, wailing 
 and beating the air. 
 
 Now and then a mother, nursing her hungry child at 
 her hungrier breast, had a vision of cool, delicious fields in 
 some far corner of the Russian " Pale " a corner where 
 wild grasses, waving rhythmically, sent forth a sweet savor, 
 which seemed to kindle a delirium in the blood. 
 
 She saw the peasants reclining in the shade of great 
 trees, plucking flowers, and laughing as they pelted each 
 other with blossoms tinged with all the colors of the rain 
 bow. 
 
 Then she gnashed her teeth, as she looked around her at 
 the squalor of Ludlow Street, and felt the pestilential 
 vapors arising from the pavement to stifle her and her child. 
 
 The yelling of the children, which all the afternoon had 
 been fierce and menacing, as if even the little ones were 
 about to revolt against the tyranny of hunger, gradually 
 died away. Now and then the shrill wail of a baby per 
 sisted ; but finally the slumberous darkness imposed its 
 tranquillity. 
 
 Babes and mothers forgot their troubles ; the starving 
 fathers had a little peace, and lay beside their families, 
 glaring up at the cloudless blue sky, as if reproaching it 
 for its answerless and indifferent calm. 
 
 The old men, who could not sleep, moaned and groaned, 
 disturbing the others, who petulantly rebuked them. Ped- 
 lers slept in their clothes, struck down by fatigue, like 
 soldiers by shell or bullet on a battle-field. 
 
 And so by hundreds, by thousands, the hungry refugees 
 lay in the street, on the housetops, on the steps of old- 
 fashioned brick mansions, even in the middle of certain
 
 184 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 streets, their heads thrown back, their arms tossed about 
 fantastically, their pinched faces distorted and ghastly 
 under the moonlight which swept in measureless and 
 magnificent waves down on and over them, bestowing upon 
 them silent benediction. 
 
 As Joseph threaded his way among these unconscious 
 sleepers, three-fourths of whom were now dependent upon 
 his efforts for security from absolute starvation, he felt 
 as if he were walking through the streets of a city where 
 the plague had just run riot, leaving the dead in every nook 
 and corner. 
 
 Here were two thin, consumptive girls, fast asleep in 
 each other's arms. As Joseph stepped over them on his 
 way to Ludlow Street, it seemed to him that they were 
 dead, so pallid and motionless were they. But a second 
 glance showed him that they were faintly breathing. 
 
 An old man caught him by the skirt of his coat, and 
 asked him for a cigarette. Joseph found him one in a side 
 pocket, gave him a light from his match-box, and went on. 
 
 At this moment a dark figure left the angle of a house, 
 and went swiftly past him. Joseph caught a momentary 
 glimpse of the face. It was that of one of the Socialists 
 who, on the night of Mother Levitsky's funeral march, had 
 tried to incite the cloakmakers to riot. 
 
 A shudder swept through the young labor-leader's frame. 
 He remembered Bathsheba's latest warning. 
 
 Joseph was on his way to the same house from which 
 Mother Levitsky had been evicted, and in which lie and his 
 followers had so peremptorily taken to task the landlord 
 Simon. 
 
 He had been summoned thither by an urgent call from a 
 consumptive cloakmaker, who was to be sent to the 
 hospital the next morning, after having sacrificed his 
 existence to the Dagon of the sewing-machine ; and who
 
 JOSEPH AND BATHSHEBA 185 
 
 wished to have some provision made for his infant child. 
 As a member of the Union lie solicited Joseph's good 
 offices. 
 
 It was nearly midnight when he reached the door of this 
 house. Stepping over the recumbent forms in the open 
 passage-way, he went swiftly up four flights of stairs to the 
 sick man's room, arranged for the removal of the child 
 (whose mother had been buried only a fortnight ago) on the 
 following morning, and had reached the third floor on his 
 downward journey, when he was stopped by a sight which 
 sent the blood coursing like quicksilver through his veins, 
 and set his knees to trembling violently. 
 
 All was darkness on the landing, but a door directly in 
 front of him was open, disclosing to him a small room 
 flooded with soft light ; and, standing in the centre of it, 
 a beautiful vision, so fantastic, so ethereal that he could 
 hardly believe it real, stood Bathsheba ! 
 
 She was robed in a white gown of ancient pattern, which 
 left her stately shoulders bare, and the soft and clinging 
 folds of which outlined her noble form in all its ravishing 
 perfection. 
 
 One shapely arm was raised in graceful gesture, as if she 
 were a queen or a goddess beckoning an adorer to approach. 
 In the other she held a necklace of pearls, which gave out 
 soft glints under the mild radiance, and which she was 
 evidently about to don. 
 
 The room was profusely and picturesquely littered with 
 costumes and stuffs, some of which were evidently very 
 costly. On a little table at the right lay a tinsel crown and 
 a quaint antique sceptre. A large willow trunk, the lid of 
 which was raised, was filled to overflowing with dresses, 
 girdles, Oriental embroideries, slippers, flasks ; and a cimeter 
 with sparkling stones in its hilt reposed where it had been 
 carelessly thrown, upon a fur-bordered cloak such as rich 
 Polish matrons wore half a century ago.
 
 186 JOSEPH ZALMONAII 
 
 In a corner a tall manikin such as milliners use was 
 draped with an exquisite silver-gray costume ; and at 
 Bathsheba's feet was a mantle which she had apparently 
 just tried on, and rejected as an unworthy accessory to her 
 charms. 
 
 Joseph rubbed his eyes. "It is curious," he said to him 
 self, in an undertone, "how I see that woman everywhere. 
 Of course that is not Bathsheba. It is some actress taking 
 stock among her stage dresses, and my eyes have simply 
 played me one more trick ! Heigh ho ! " 
 
 He was continuing his way, with his gaze still fixed on 
 the beautiful figure bathed in the floods of chastened light, 
 when the woman started forward, and stretched out one 
 hand to shut the door. 
 
 Afraid that he might be mistaken for a robber, Joseph 
 darted forward to get past the door, and descend the stairs, 
 when the woman saw him. 
 
 It was Bathsheba, and they were face to face. He felt 
 her warm breath upon his hand, which he had raised as he 
 turned. 
 
 She looked at him for a moment with a vague fright in 
 her eyes, then turned half around, and sank to the floor 
 in a swoon. 
 
 In an instant Joseph was kneeling beside her, and, raising 
 her splendid head, he laid it, superb with its magnificent 
 masses of dishevelled hair, from which came a strange per 
 fume to trouble his senses, upon his shoulder. 
 
 Then he gazed earnestly into her face. 
 
 Yes, it was Bathsheba; but a transformation had been 
 wrought upon her features since he had last seen her. The 
 sternness was gone ; it had given place to a tender sensuous- 
 ness, almost childlike, as she lay there unconscious and 
 helpless. 
 
 The wrinkle between her brows had disappeared. There
 
 JOSEPH AND BATHSHEBA 187 
 
 was a faint impression of rapture about the lips. This was 
 not the destroying angel of the "party of force," but a 
 siren and a charmer whose influence might be illimitable. 
 
 " She is an enchantress ! " thought Joseph. " Am I 
 bewitched ? Perhaps this is only her image, and her real 
 self is far away, plotting with Baumeister, or listening to 
 Mordecai's hymns of revolution." 
 
 Bathsheba opened her eyes. She did not move her head, 
 nor for a full minute did she try to speak. It was a minute 
 of mingled rapture and torture for Joseph. He was in 
 truth under the influence of an enchantment, the same 
 mysterious charm which has lured men to destruction in 
 every age since time was born. 
 
 The woman at last lifted up her eyes. As her gaze 
 rested upon Joseph's perplexed and anxious face, a red 
 flush sprang into her cheeks, and the glow of her naked 
 shoulders so startled Joseph that he tried to withdraw his 
 arms. 
 
 But Bathsheba swayed, and would have fallen. 
 
 A moment more, and he raised her gently to her feet, 
 where she stood unsteadily, looking at him as if she were 
 about to order him to withdraw. 
 
 Then she moved to the trunk, and caught up a fleecy 
 wrap. 
 
 One twirl of her deft arms, and her shoulders were 
 draped. 
 
 Another twirl, and the disarranged tresses were brought 
 into subjection, and attractively knotted at the back of 
 her Juno-like neck. 
 
 And now she spoke, in a voice so tremulous that she 
 seemed to be suffering from fear. 
 
 "How caine you here? How did I happen to swoon ? 
 It was very silly of me. I I am confused Herr 
 Zalrnonah, will you give me that little scent-bottle on the
 
 188 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 dressing-table ? Thank you. How can you ever forgive 
 me for being such a child? But you frightened me 
 so and just at that instant, too, when I was thinking of 
 you." 
 
 " Of me," said Joseph in a faint voice, which did not 
 seem like his own. " You were too kind. I suppose that 
 you were thinking how the poor cloakmaker's delegate 
 came to be staring at you at such an hour in this house ; 
 but I will explain." 
 
 And in a few words he told her of his mission to the 
 invalid, and of his surprise at finding her in such a place, 
 among the sweated drudges. 
 
 " And masquerading in such rich attire," said Bathsheba, 
 who was all at once quite well again. " It is I who owe 
 my friend an explanation. We have that is my husband- 
 has had a great stroke of luck. He has got an engagement 
 in Chicago, which pays him very well indeed; and, thanks 
 to that good fortune, I am able to gratify my wish to study 
 for the stage while he is absent. All these pretty things 
 with which you see me surrounded were the property of 
 that unlucky actress at Reise's theatre. I think our people 
 liked her better than any one else who had come here from 
 Europe to play the historical dramas. The poor thing had 
 drifted from one abode to another, until she was stranded 
 here in this odd rookery of Simon's you know Simon?" 
 
 "I ought to know him. This is the very house from 
 which he evicted poor old Mother Levitsky the house 
 which we came so near to pulling down about his ears." 
 
 Bathsheba looked troubled. " So it is," she stammered. 
 " And I never thought of it until this moment. I should 
 not have come here. I see it now but I was carried 
 away by the splendid chance to get all these lovely things ; 
 and for that debt and a hundred dollars, which my hus 
 band was able to advance out of his contract, they are
 
 189 
 
 all mine ! Are they not beautiful ? And do you think 
 that I ever could be worthy to wear such charming cos 
 tumes on the stage ? You perhaps know that I can sing, 
 but I feel that I am frightfully wooden as an actress. Give 
 me a frank opinion, Herr Zalmonah. You know how much 
 I respect your judgment." 
 
 "I don't know. It is all too sudden. I I am glad 
 you are so fortunate. I am sure that it must be delight 
 ful to act." 
 
 The woman looked at him through her half-closed eyes 
 with the faintest suggestion of a smile on her face. She 
 saw that Joseph was confused, and she triumphed in his 
 confusion. 
 
 " If it had been any one but you, Herr Zalmonah," she 
 said, adroitly combining eye and lip flattery as woman alone 
 can do, " who had come upon me while I was trying on 
 these pretty things, I should have been ready to die of 
 vexation. But I know that you understand that it was not 
 vanity that impelled this masquerade. It was simply the 
 desire to test my capabilities to see if I had confidence in 
 myself." She cast down her eyes. 
 
 " And what do you propose to play first ? " inquired 
 Joseph, who could not take his eyes from Bathsheba's face, 
 although he felt her gaze burning his forehead. 
 
 " I don't know. Something strange and original. What 
 a pity, Herr Zalmonah, that you are not an author. Then 
 you might write me a play." 
 
 " And what will become of your special work while you 
 are acting ? " said Joseph. " I thought you were very 
 much devoted to that." 
 
 Bathsheba looked up at him with languorous half-closed 
 eyes. She sighed deeply, and opened and closed her hands 
 nervously. 
 
 " So I was," she at last said, " until I met you."
 
 190 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 The scent-bottle, which she had carelessly replaced on the 
 little table, fell to the floor and was shivered to atoms. A 
 faint and sensuous odor tilled the whole room, and seemed 
 to take possession of Joseph, as some subtle philter might 
 have done. His temples throbbed, and lights danced be 
 fore his vision. Finally he seemed to push a great weight 
 from his chest and to say, 
 
 "And how could I interfere with your plans your de 
 sires to -reform society the world ? " 
 
 Bathsheba appeared to move toward him, and yet he saw 
 her but dimly, as though she were surrounded by a golden 
 mist. Some irresistible force was impelling him to stretch 
 out his arms and to welcome her to them. But now she 
 was answering him. 
 
 " Can you ask me that ? " she said, almost breath 
 lessly. 
 
 She threw aside the wrap, as if it oppressed her, and 
 stood palpitating with lovely life and with her strong 
 emotion, as if soliciting from him a word, a caress, a 
 look. 
 
 There was something so exquisitely appealing in the 
 humility of her tacit confession, which expressed so much 
 more than her words, that Joseph was carried away by 
 it. 
 
 He stretched forth his arms, and in an instant she was 
 beside him, and her head was upon his breast. 
 
 For a moment then they stood apart, gazing around 
 them with a vague fright in their eyes. 
 
 From one of the floors below came a piercing cry, uttered 
 in the jargon, a cry of terror and anguish : 
 
 " Fire ! Fire ! Fire ! Save yourselves : the old shell is 
 burning ! " 
 
 Joseph listened intently, then turned and ran down one 
 flight of stairs, and listened again in the darkness. Sud-
 
 JOSEPH AND BATHSHEBA 191 
 
 denly a puff of acrid smoke came full in his face, and he 
 saw the red glare of the flames. 
 
 He rushed up the stairs again, and found Bathsheba, pale 
 as a marble goddess, seated in a chair, and listening intently 
 to the concert of voices in the street, which every moment 
 grew louder and more frantic.
 
 192 JOSEPH ZALMONAII 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 THE TRIAL BY FIRE 
 
 BATIISHEBA was the first to speak. " What is it ? " she 
 queried in a husky voice. 
 
 At the same time her woman's instinct prompted her to 
 catch up the costumes, the tinsel jewellery, the handsome 
 wraps, and to thrust them into the trunk. 
 
 With feverish energy she pressed them down, unmindful 
 of the confusion in which they lay. Suddenly she turned her 
 whitening face quickly around, looking first at Joseph, 
 then bending forward in the attitude of one listening 
 intently. 
 
 At last she sprang up with a muffled cry, and placed her 
 hand over her heart. 
 
 Meantime Joseph said nothing. He stood like one de 
 prived of speech and motion. 
 
 It seemed to him that he had been walking in his sleep 
 on the edge of a precipice, and had suddenly awakened to 
 see the awful gulf yawning before him. 
 
 And now the abyss sent forth a- column of smoke and the 
 bitter savor of fire; and from it sprang a flame which threw 
 its red glow on the sides of the chasm, and thrilled him 
 with awe and horror. 
 
 Had Bathsheba dreamed the same dream ? Had she 
 awakened to the same terrifying reality ? Why did 
 she start forward thus and glare at the smoke, and clasp
 
 THE TRIAL BY FIRE 193 
 
 her hands and raise them in supplication, then fall upon her 
 knees, and tremble as if she expected instant death ? 
 
 "Fire! Fire!" 
 
 Joseph heard the words faintly, as if they were shouted 
 at him from an immense height, and it did not strike him 
 as strange that the words were spoken in the jargon of 
 his people. 
 
 Then, suddenly, he awoke to reality, and became con 
 scious of the miserable Bathsheba cowering before him, 
 praying him to save her, and lamenting because her newly 
 purchased treasures were in danger. 
 
 Fire ! The house was on fire ! Joseph knew very well 
 what that meant. Unless he set at work instantly to get 
 the unhappy woman and her treasures to a place of safety, 
 a falling wall, or a stairway transformed into a fiery fur 
 nace, might cut off all chance for life. 
 
 Joseph would be burned with Bathsheba, in the house of 
 Simon, and his work would be at an end. 
 
 His precious cloakmakers would starve, and he himself 
 would soon be forgotten, like all the unfortunate ones who 
 fail, no matter how heroic their struggles ! 
 
 The lion in his soul bounded into action. 
 
 " Don't speak to me again until I find out what has hap 
 pened," he said imperiously to Bathsheba, who shrank back 
 and cowered before him. " I think we are in danger, but 
 there is no use in wailing about it." 
 
 Bathsheba ran to the window and looked out. She re 
 turned shuddering and shaking her head, and wringing her 
 hands like one demented. " My beautiful dresses ! " she 
 murmured ; " they will all be lost ! And I have never yet 
 worn them once in public. What a pity of pities ! " 
 
 She sat down helplessly on the floor, and began making 
 feeble efforts to close the trunk. But as she had thrust all 
 the costumes into it, the lid would not shut down, and 
 Bathsheba merely bruised and cut her fingers.
 
 194 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 Bathsheba's rooms were at the front of the house, at 
 the angle overlooking two streets. Joseph looked from the 
 corner window, down to the surging throng of women and 
 children, each of whom was yelling, " Simon's house is on 
 fire ! " but he saw no smoke or flame. 
 
 From the front he could see nothing but a muttering 
 company of cloakmakers, driven away from the house by a 
 policeman. 
 
 Where, then, was the fire ? 
 
 Was it at the back of the house ? And all important 
 question on which floor was it ? 
 
 The New York tenement house is a shell. Its mean 
 walls of poorly laid brick go down like paper before a brisk 
 flame. Its ladder-like staircases of coarse planking, and 
 its narrow air-shafts, act as funnels to fan the flames, and 
 to send them, roaring and crackling, to cut off the escape 
 of any wretched people caught in the upper stories. 
 
 Such a house will serve to shelter a hundred, or some 
 times a hundred and fifty persons, and it can be burned to 
 the ground in half an hour. 
 
 The firemen know that it is as dangerous to enter one of 
 these houses when the flames are raging in it, as to charge 
 against a well-intrenched enemy in time of war. Yet they 
 do their duty unhesitatingly, and with a chivalrous disre 
 gard of self rarely rewarded as it should be. 
 
 The nerve which can take a man through a sheet of 
 flame, or make him crawl on hands and knees in a room filled 
 with suffocating smoke, until he finds some aged woman 
 or tiny child left behind by a family in its mad rush for 
 safety, is the nerve of heroes. It merits as high recogni 
 tion as the bravery of the soldier. 
 
 But it does not get it. 
 
 Joseph ran into the passage, and swiftly down the stairs. 
 On the landing he stopped and listened: nothing. The
 
 THE TRIAL BY FfRE 195 
 
 doors were open, and the occupants were probably in the 
 street already. Few of them had any belongings which 
 they could not have carried on their backs. 
 
 Joseph went down the next flight, and was instantly 
 surrounded by wailing women, each of whom besought him 
 to save her. " There's no danger yet none that I can see, 
 good women! "he shouted; and shaking himself free he 
 went to the ground-floor. 
 
 He stopped on the last stair, and his heart stood still for 
 a moment ; for now he realized what a mistake he had 
 made in not seizing Bathsheba, and bringing her along with 
 him. 
 
 With characteristic greed Simon had leased a large room 
 on the ground-floor to a dealer in chemicals willing to pay 
 a huge rental for the privilege of not being disturbed. 
 
 Although the man himself admitted that frequent ex 
 plosions, the result of his experiments, created a standing 
 danger of fire, Simon had been willing to take him, and had 
 threatened with expulsion any of the wretched " sweated " 
 tenants who dared to complain of, or even to mention, the 
 fact. 
 
 And now the end had come ! It looked as if an explo 
 sion in this den of chemicals had not only cost the experi 
 menter his life, but had sent out the roaring column of flame 
 which was licking at the wood-work and the heated bricks, 
 and would soon crumble them like tinder. 
 
 Joseph saw this column of fire and the half a dozen men 
 flitting in the glare of it, trying to appease it with a few 
 puny buckets full of water. 
 
 He gazed as if fascinated by it, until it suddenly leaped 
 straight at him. as though actuated by some mad impulse to 
 destroy him, and he could feel its hot breath upon the walls 
 of the staircase. 
 
 If he chose to go forth alone now he would be safe.
 
 196 JOSEPH ZALMONATT 
 
 No one had recognized him. He could walk out at the 
 door and mingle in the throng of rescuers. 
 
 He looked at the flame once more, and, while his attention 
 was so occupied, a tall, lithe figure glided up the stairs, and 
 disappeared in the darkness. 
 
 Yes he could go away. But he could not thus desert 
 Bathsheba. His conscience forbade him to do it. 
 
 Yet was she not a disturbing and dangerous element in 
 his life ? Had he not been shaken to the very foundations 
 of his being by the subtle and sinister power which she 
 seemed able at all times to summon ? 
 
 What was Bathsheba to him ? 
 
 And now the great flame-monster leaped angrily and 
 menacingly again, and one of its tongues licked the wall, 
 and seemed loath to withdraw. Joseph felt as if some 
 invisible force were drawing him to the street. 
 
 But he resisted it valiantly, and went swiftly back up 
 the darkened stairway. As he reached the first landing 
 there was a yell below, and he saw the tongues of flame 
 lapping greedily at the planking of the stairs. Then came 
 a grand rush of red flame, and a cloud of smoke. 
 
 Joseph flourished his hands wildly, and ran like a maniac 
 up the second and third flight of stairs. It was now evi 
 dent to him that escape by the stairways was impossible ; 
 and that he must persuade Bathsheba to descend by the 
 fire-escape. 
 
 Meditating on the best way of doing this, he arrived at 
 her door, and to his great surprise he found it partially 
 closed. He was about to throw it open, when he heard the 
 sound of voices in angry colloquy. 
 
 He stood still, and could not help hearing all that was 
 said. 
 
 Bathsheba was crying. " You may say what you like 
 of him if it is true that he is a coward," she sobbed. 
 "I could have believed anything but that."
 
 THE TRIAL BY FIRE 197 
 
 "A coward ! " said the other voice ; Joseph smiled bitterly 
 as he recognized it as that of Baumeister. " That's a hard 
 word. But confess that your admiration shall I say 
 love ? for the heroic cloakmaker has had a severe shock ? 
 And come ! let me save -you while there is time. How do 
 we know that he did not set the house on fire, just to spite 
 his old enemy, Simon ? " 
 
 Joseph threw open the door. 
 
 " Who is the coward ? " he said in a deep voice, and 
 making a gesture which brought Baumeister almost to his 
 feet, so tremendously energetic and commanding it was. 
 " Who is the coward ? the man who tries to kill another's 
 reputation, or the man who seeks for an avenue of escape 
 for his enemies, even while they are plotting against him ? " 
 
 " His enemies ? " cried Bathsheba, who appeared to have 
 recovered her senses. " Surely you do not count me as an 
 enemy, Joseph ! You could not you cannot do that ! " 
 
 " Yes, both of you ! " said Joseph, springing into the 
 room and shaking his closed hand in Baumeister's face. 
 "As for you, woman, I see you in the true light now! 
 If I needed any proof that you were preparing to play me 
 false, I could find it in the presence of this man here. I 
 know you for a fine pair of conspirators ! But that shall 
 not hinder me from saving your lives." 
 
 A cracking and rending sound was heard below. Bau 
 meister ran to the door, looked down the stairs, and uttered 
 a loud cry. 
 
 " The passage below is already filled with smoke ! " he 
 said, returning to the room. " We must hurry down. 
 Come ! we can finish our disputes in the street." 
 
 He smiled maliciously at Joseph, and tried to seize 
 Bathsheba by the arm, and to drag her forward. 
 
 "Not that way!" shouted Joseph. "Are you mad? 
 The staircase nearest the street has already fallen in ; and
 
 198 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 the flames are rushing up here. We must get out by the 
 window ! You are standing over a raging volcano at this 
 moment ! " 
 
 Bathsheba turned to Joseph, her beautiful face trans 
 figured by a smile. " I knew he was no coward ! " she 
 cried, and before he could stop her she had thrown herself 
 passionately upon his breast. 
 
 Joseph made a supreme effort, and unwound her arms 
 from his neck. This struggle seemed to take all his 
 strength, and he staggered back against the wall, and 
 placed one hand over his heart, as if Bathsheba had just 
 dealt him a blow there. 
 
 " Repulse me if you will ! " she said ; " I don't care, now 
 that I am certain of myself! My heart yes, my soul 
 has spoken. The rest is of small consequence. As for 
 you, Baumeister, you see that you can no longer expect an 
 ally in me! Ah ! Heaven be thanked that Fate sent you 
 here to-night to see this and to know the truth ! I would 
 not care if all the world knew it now ! " 
 
 She spoke with melodramatic force desperately, defi 
 antly, as woman speaks when she knows that she has out 
 raged all conventions, and has no mercy to expect from 
 vindictive judges. 
 
 As she repaired the disorder of her hair, displaying her 
 beautiful round arms while she tremblingly bound up her 
 tresses, Baumeister, who seemed to have forgotten all about 
 the fire, gazed at her with undisguised admiration. 
 
 " I think you will make an actress ! " he said ; " I do, 
 indeed ! And your husband would think so too if he 
 were here ! I am not so sure about your capacity for 
 conspiracy. But come ! where is the fire-escape ? Ilerr 
 Joseph has admitted that he has no intention of burning 
 us alive, much as he dislikes us ! So let us get down to 
 solid ground ! These tenement houses have an ugly way 
 of falling in without warning!"
 
 THE TRIAL BY FIRE 199 
 
 " There is no fire-escape ! " said Joseph calmly, returning 
 from an investigation of the front and side windows. 
 
 " At the back of the house then ! There must be one," 
 cried Baumeister, beginning to rock to and fro, and giving 
 signs of an approaching epileptic fit. 
 
 " None there," answered Joseph curtly ; " I looked before 
 I went down-stairs. And the stairways are now a mass of 
 seething fire. Hark ! Do you hear the timbers crack ? " 
 
 " I shall jump down," said Baumeister doggedly, ap 
 proaching the window. " I prefer broken legs to being 
 roasted alive." 
 
 Joseph seized and held him back. " You will do nothing 
 of the sort," he said. " Strip up those dresses into narrow 
 pieces ; make a rope : I will make another. We will knot 
 them together, tie them to the window, and slide down on 
 them. Quick ! " 
 
 He sprang upon Baumeister with uplifted hand. The 
 man cowered before him, and in an instant he was at the 
 work. 
 
 " My beautiful costumes !" screamed Bathsheba. "Ah ! 
 what a punishment ! To own them but a few hours, and 
 then to see them destroyed by fire ! " 
 
 The men worked with desperate energy, goaded by the 
 fierce heat now close upon them, and by the smoke creep 
 ing upon the landing, and sending light ashen blue and 
 greenish wreaths and puffs into the room, to float above 
 their heads. 
 
 " Now take a part of your rope," said Joseph to Bau 
 meister, " and fasten this woman to me so that she cannot 
 slip or fall. Stand here ! " he said curtly to Bathsheba. 
 
 She obe}'ed meekly and without question. 
 
 "Bind us together," commanded Joseph; "and see that 
 you do it well, or I will keep you here until the floor falls 
 in. You know I am a man of my word."
 
 200 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 At the same moment his fingers closed over Bathsheba's 
 scissors, lying on the little dressing-table. 
 
 " Bind ! " he cried to Baumeister. 
 
 It was done ; and Joseph could feel Bathsheba's heart 
 beating fiercely against his own. 
 
 She was bound to him so that she could not fall when 
 he clambered down the rope, but so that his limbs were 
 free. 
 
 Entreating Bathsheba to be mute, and to remain perfectly 
 quiet, he strode with her to the window, and fastened 
 his line, knotted with what remained of Baumeister's, 
 to a stout old-fashioned hook in the sill, evidently once used 
 for fastening a rope for lowering bundles. 
 
 " If this gives way," he said, " some of us will learn how 
 broken legs feel." Then turning to Baumeister, he said, 
 
 " Down the rope ! hand over hand ! Down with you ! " 
 
 Baumeister trembled and hesitated. Joseph gripped him 
 by the collar. " Do you want me to throw you out ? " he 
 cried. 
 
 The terrified Baumeister swung over the window-sill, and 
 began the descent. 
 
 Joseph had calculated well. The rope made of Bath 
 sheba's ruined costumes served. It touched the ground. 
 In a minute Baumeister was out of danger. 
 
 Just as he was descending there was a great cry from 
 the crowd, and all ran a'ronnd the corner to the front of the 
 house. 
 
 Joseph examined the hook in the sill. "It may hold us 
 both," he said ; " I hope it will. Don't be frightened. 
 Hang as quietly as if you were dead, while I go down hand 
 over hand. If you struggle we are lost !" 
 
 Bathsheba bent forward and kissed him passionately on 
 the forehead. 
 
 " Shall I cut the bonds ? " he said in a terrible voice,
 
 THE TRIAL BY FIRE 201 
 
 "and leave you to perish alone ? Another caress like that, 
 and I swear to you that I will do it ! " 
 
 Bathsheba's lips paled. Joseph felt her weight heavy 
 on his arms. She had swooned. 
 
 " It is better so ! " he said. 
 
 It needed almost superhuman care to get out at the win 
 dow with his unconscious burden without falling. But he 
 did it. 
 
 He slipped the scissors into a side pocket, grasped the 
 frail rope, closed his eyes, and swung down by one- 
 hand. 
 
 He felt as if his shoulder were unjointed, and fancied 
 that the house was falling in, as he brought up his other 
 arm and caught hold. The next change was still harder. 
 Suddenly fire flashed out from a window at him. Again 
 and again he steadily lowered himself and his burden. 
 It seemed ages. His brain was in a whirl. He fancied 
 that they were flying through the air pursued by a fiery 
 demon. Then they were hurled against a mountain and 
 fell down. 
 
 Joseph's strength had given out as he was raising one 
 hand to relieve the other for the last time. His grasp 
 gave way, and he fell. But, as they were within five feet 
 of the street, no bones were broken. 
 
 The shock revived them both. Joseph seized the scis 
 sors and hastily severed Bathsheba's bonds. A stout fire 
 man was approaching them. 
 
 " Don't stand there," he said ; " the wall may come down 
 any minute. We just cleared all the people out o' this 
 street. Where t' 'ell 'd you two come from ? " 
 
 Baumeister was nowhere to be found. Joseph and Bath- 
 sheba turned and hastened away in the direction opposite 
 to that indicated by the fireman. That functionary was 
 about to call them back, when the crash of falling walls 
 interrupted him.
 
 202 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 Simon's house was falling into shapeless ruins. 
 
 " Oh, my beautiful costumes ! " sobbed Bathsheba, as she 
 heard the noise. 
 
 Joseph was angry, and was about to reprove Bathsheba 
 for thinking of her small loss, when so many greater ones 
 were to be mourned, when they came upon Bauuieister, 
 limping and gesticulating like a madman. 
 
 When he saw them he ran up to Joseph, and, grasping 
 his hands, he cried out, 
 
 " If it had not been for you I should have been roasting 
 up there now. Yes, you have saved my life ; and you shall 
 see that I am not ungrateful. Let all that took place up 
 there to-night be forgotten. You must not suppose that I 
 shall ever mention it to a living soul ! " 
 
 Joseph, who withdrew his bleeding hands with impa 
 tient haste, looked grimly at Baumeister. 
 
 " I have nothing to conceal," he said. " But for this 
 woman's sake it is better so. Remember your promise; 
 and now let us see what we can do for the poor people 
 who have been driven out. What can we do for her ? " 
 pointing to Bathsheba. 
 
 " Let her come with me," said Baumeister, drawing the 
 trembling woman to him. " I will find shelter for her." 
 
 " Shall we not see you again soon ? " said Bathsheba. 
 " You who have saved us ? " 
 
 " I shall go on with my work," said Joseph incohe 
 rently, "and when it is finished I am going away I 
 don't know where! I am tired of all this roar and turmoil 
 and misery ! I don't think it would be of any use to see 
 me again." 
 
 Bathsheba looked almost imploringly at him ; but he 
 turned and walked away briskly, and the twain watched 
 him as he parleyed with two or three angry firemen, 
 then leaped over some hose, and pushed his way to the 
 front of the burninj' house.
 
 THE TRIAL BY FIRE 203 
 
 A moment later the flames burst through the wall down 
 which they had recently lowered themselves, and the sky 
 was lighted up by the leaping fire. 
 
 The wall swayed and trembled, and then fell in with 
 a tremendous crash. Immense volumes of black smoke 
 arose, sending abroad noxious odors. The hum and beat 
 ing of the fire-engines in the adjacent streets went on with 
 rhythmic fierceness. 
 
 And now a vast clamor of shouting and wailing arose, 
 and was steadily maintained for some minutes, rising to the 
 acuteness of shrieks and groans each time that some fresh 
 disaster was announced. 
 
 " Ha, ha ! " shouted Baumeister, shaking his blackened 
 hand in the direction which Joseph had taken. " I think 
 we shall see the young labor-leader again. Sacrament ! I 
 am decidedly of the opinion that he has not seen the last 
 of us. And we have him in our power now, Bathsheba in 
 our power do you hear ? Let him run his race; he will 
 find us at the end of it. It has been a fine night's work 
 yes, a brave night's work ! " 
 
 Bathsheba stood gazing at him as if she had but little 
 idea of what he meant. And when he suddenly screamed 
 and fell face downward in the middle of the street, she 
 was so alarmed that she could do nothing but stand staring 
 at him and wringing her hands. 
 
 Just then a clumsy figure appeared among the smoking 
 ruins at the back of the house. It was carrying a small 
 child tenderly in its arms. Cleverly dodging a mass of 
 red-hot brick which came toppling down, the figure went 
 toward Bathsheba. 
 
 It was Ben Zion.
 
 204 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 THE SWEATER SWEATED 
 
 "THAT was a narrow escape, as the pig said when he 
 slipped out of the bear's mouth," quoth Ben Zion, address 
 ing Bathsheba as if meeting her at that moment were the 
 most natural thing in the world, and as if he had known 
 her since they both were children. " And see what I have 
 picked up while I was skirting the ruins of the house ! By 
 the bones of my ancestors ! I believe some woman must 
 have thrown the child out of a third-story window." 
 
 He held up the bundle, and exhibited a wretched little 
 crippled child, at least twenty months old, but so starved 
 and woe-begone with a hundred miseries, that it did not 
 look half its age. Its arms and legs were so thin and bony, 
 its face was so drawn and pinched, that Bathsheba shud 
 dered with disgust and horror as the glare of the conflagra 
 tion lighted up the puny waif. 
 
 " Take it away," she said ; " it is horrible ! " 
 
 "Come, this is hospitable," croaked the pedler, "hos 
 pitable beyond belief, as the fox said when the trap took 
 him in. I am just about to put the baby in your arms, 
 and to ask you to care for it, and you turn your nose up as 
 if it were a changeling. Come, a little courage ! " 
 
 As he extended his arms once more, with the bundle in 
 them, toward Bathsheba, he tumbled against the prostrate 
 figure of Baumeister.
 
 THE SWEATER SWEATED 205 
 
 "Come! now, you must take the little foundling!" he 
 cried, " for here is some one trying to dig his own grave, 
 and I must see who and what he is." 
 
 He unceremoniously placed the child in Bathsheba's 
 arms, at which she shuddered again, and cried out, 
 
 ' ; I don't want the little monster ! How do I know that 
 it hasn't come straight from some room reeking with 
 typhus ? " 
 
 " Ah, bah ! we are typhus proof, you and I," answered 
 Ben Zion, who was gradually assuming a very familiar 
 tone. "Now, whom have we here ? Baumeister! Of course ! 
 Another epileptic fit. I begin to understand. And his 
 hands are bleeding." He looked up sharply at Bathsheba. 
 " How happened you to be here to-night, and in company 
 with this man ? I wonder if his conspiracy has anything 
 to do with the burning of that house ? You haven't told 
 me why you are here and why you look as if you had 
 seen the Devil himself ! " 
 
 While he talked he bumped Baumeister's head against 
 the hard bed of the street, and did it with such seemingly 
 ferocious energy, that Bathsheba begged him to desist. 
 
 " Leave him to me," he said. " He doesn't inind love- 
 pats like that. I'll bring him to his senses, if I have to 
 smash his skull. Only to think that if I should give one 
 pat a little harder than the others, one of the worst of 
 Joseph's enemies would be out of the way ! But fair means 
 are the best ! " 
 
 Baumeister suddenly revived, sat up with a bewildered 
 air, and looked first at Bathsheba, then at Ben Zion, and 
 last at the flaming ruined walls near at hand. Then he 
 put his hand to his head, and drew a long sigh. 
 
 After all this he began in the most natural tone in the 
 world to tell them of some youthful adventure in Russia. 
 The fact that Bathsheba was holding a child in her arms 
 did not seem to him worthy of attention.
 
 206 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 Presently he got upon his feet, and walking unsteadily 
 to where part of the rope which they had used for descend 
 ing had fallen, he said as if communing with himself, 
 
 " This must be burned at once. It is lucky that I found 
 it. Bathsheba, let me whisper to you." 
 
 He came up to her so swiftly that he almost frightened 
 her, and hissed into her ear in German, a language which 
 Ben Zion but imperfectly understood, 
 
 " Not a word to this peddling fool about having seen 
 Joseph in the building just burned ! As you value our 
 work and your life, remember ! " 
 
 Then he turned and walked away without a word of 
 thanks to Ben Zion, or seeming to be aware that he had 
 just been grovelling in the street. 
 
 " That's the second time I've driven the black devils out 
 of him," said Ben Zion. "They have called me a sorcerer 
 before now for less than that in Russia. Our friend yonder 
 don't seem to me quite strong enough for a conspirator. 
 And you haven't told me why you and he were watching 
 the moon from this particular angle when the fire broke 
 out." 
 
 " I was in danger of being burned alive in the house, and 
 he saved me," said Bathsheba, determined if possible to 
 throw him off the track. A wave of crimson swept into 
 her cheeks as she uttered the falsehood, the utterance of 
 which she regretted a moment later. 
 
 (i So," said Ben Zion, " you were one of Simon's lodgers ? 
 Well, he will never persecute you for rent again. They 
 say that he was one of the first to be baked. And the 
 firemen tell us that at least ten others are in there with 
 him. Quite a lively evening, as the wolf said when he 
 carried off the moujik's baby !" 
 
 At that moment a sense of her utterly helpless and for 
 lorn condition flashed through Bathsheba's mind, and pre-
 
 THE SWEATER SWEATED 207 
 
 vented her from dismissing the sententious pedler with a 
 stinging exhortation as to the virtue of minding one's own 
 business. 
 
 She thrust one hand into a fold of her dress, where she 
 had been thoughtful enough to put her purse, which con 
 tained a few dollars and two or three bits of plain jewellery. 
 But everything else was gone ! " All my beautiful cos 
 tumes ! " she said once more, and began to weep bitterly. 
 
 Ben Zion looked at her with much curiosity. But he did 
 not question her further. " We shall gain nothing by stand 
 ing here, except a hot brick or two on our heads," he said. 
 
 " I must find a new lodging," said Bathsheba. 
 
 " Come with me," said the little man. " I will give you 
 shelter until morning, and then you can look about you. 
 And where is your husband ? " 
 
 Bathsheba told him, at the same time holding out the 
 baby, and imploring him to take it again. So without more 
 ado the little pedler clapped the mite under one arm, and 
 crying, "Come on!" set off at a rapid pace through the 
 fire-illumined streets. 
 
 They were soon away from the smoke and flame and 
 shouting ; and at the corner of two dirty streets Ben Zion 
 halted before an uninviting basement. 
 
 " This is my palace," he said. " Don't stumble on the 
 steps, and if you see a rat, don't scream. The rats are good 
 little folk, and they won't bite unless you try to take away 
 their privileges. I wish we had as much courage as they 
 have ! " 
 
 While he rattled on in the quaint jargon which at any 
 other time would have brought a smile to Bathsheba's lips, 
 he was pushing open a creaking door; and, striking a match 
 and lighting a rusty lamp which he had brought with him 
 from Russia, he ushered the faint and trembling woman 
 into a little cellar almost bare of furniture, and in one cor-
 
 208 
 
 ner of wliicli stood the push-cart, the faithful companion 
 of his laborious days. 
 
 Presently Bathsheba discovered a three-legged stool and 
 a rudimentary table dimly outlined in the obscurity. Sink 
 ing down on the seat, she hid her face in her hands, and 
 wept silently. 
 
 " Ah ! you have found the arm-chair ! " said *Rn Zion, 
 now assuming a cheerier tone. " I am sure that you will 
 be at ease there ! And now to put the child in the cradle ! " 
 
 He laid the human mite in the push-cart, saying, " Don't 
 squall, or the wolves will get you ! You shall be fed soon, 
 and that will be a novelty in your life ! But first let me 
 get breakfast for the grown-folks." 
 
 He groped beneath the table, and Bathsheba sprang up 
 in terror as she heard much angry squeaking, and knew 
 that the rats had been disturbed. 
 
 " Ungrateful little demons ! " said the pedler. " I feed 
 them every night, and yet they break into my larder and 
 steal my provisions when I am out leading the cloakmakers, 
 or rescuiug poor children. Let me see what their teeth have 
 left ! " 
 
 He drew from his hidden storehouse a small piece of 
 bread and one or two apples, and placed them gently be 
 fore Bathsheba on the primitive table. Then he set the 
 candle so that its feeble rays would fall upon this meagre 
 repast. 
 
 From a mouldy cupboard in the corner he took a small 
 bottle and a glass, and added them to the feast. " And now," 
 he said, " if you would only condescend to eat something ! " 
 
 Bathsheba opened her eyes and dried her tears as best 
 she could. 
 
 The small pedler's face shone with the graciousness of 
 heartfelt hospitality. The poor woman gained courage, 
 aud, with an attempt at a smile, she took up one of the
 
 THE SWEATETl SWEATED 209 
 
 apples, and began to eat it. " You are very kind to me," 
 she said ; " but we must not forget the child." 
 
 " Not I. In a minute or two I am going to get it some 
 hot milk at an all-night place on East Broadway. You will 
 not be afraid to sit here without me for a little while ? I 
 shall not be long. Or that would be better look here ! " 
 
 Ben Zion raised the candle and showed Bathsheba that 
 she was seated close to a pine partition, which had evidently 
 been put in by the enterprising landlord for the purpose of 
 renting to two tenants a wretched cellar barely large enough 
 for one. 
 
 He threw open a small door in this partition, and, beck 
 oning to Bathsheba, he said, " Come and look in." 
 
 Bathsheba obeyed, and was astonished to see on the 
 other side of the partition a little old man, with a face 
 seamed and forehead garnished with wrinkles, seated on a 
 bench before a small sewing-machine, and working with 
 astonishing rapidity. 
 
 The tiny room or hole in which this valiant toiler was 
 lodged had but one small window, through which in the 
 daytime only a few rays of light struggled feebly and 
 timidly, as if they knew that they were intruders, and ex 
 pected to be expelled as soon as discovered. 
 
 As he guided the garment on which he was toiling round 
 and round, submitting it to the strokes of the needle, he 
 was crooning to himself an "Alleluia" which Bathsheba 
 had often heard sung in her childhood, and which David 
 had incorporated in one of the history plays of his theatre. 
 
 The old man had a thin, highly pitched falsetto voice, 
 which rose triumphant above the click-clack of the machine, 
 and seemed to give to the needle's work a kind of rhythmic 
 grace. 
 
 There was little else in the room save a hard bench cov 
 ered with a few rags, on which the old man evidently re-
 
 210 JOSEPH ZALMOXAH 
 
 posed when he could no longer sit at the machine. An 
 ancient hair-cloth trunk, sprawling open, displayed a book 
 or two, a soiled cravat, a few bits of Oriental-looking dra 
 pery, a pair of liussian top-boots, and a fiat cap such as all 
 "greenhorns" wear on their arrival. 
 
 " Well, Father Israel," cried Ben Zion, " I see you are 
 hard at it. And no more idea than usual, I suppose, of 
 what is going on in the outside world ? I thought I would 
 give you a little air, and ask you to keep watch on my place 
 for five minutes, while I run out on an errand. I have 
 picked up a foundling, Father Israel, and I don't want any 
 one to carry it off." 
 
 " Good ! " said the little old man, without looking up. 
 "Nursing foundlings is pious work, but 'tis wearing. You 
 didn't happen to hear, did you, what the play is at David's 
 theatre to-morrow night ? " 
 
 " Yes ; it's ' Ahasuerus.' " 
 
 " Good ! " The old man arose, and showed a face spark 
 ling with enthusiasm. " That is the play of all plays that 
 I wanted to see." And he resumed his "Alleluia" in a 
 louder key, took a few turns up and down the narrow 
 cellar, then drank a little water from an earthen pitcher, 
 and sat down at the machine again. 
 
 Click-clack went the needles. He seemed to have com 
 pletely forgotten the existence of his neighbor, Ben Zion. 
 
 " That old dreamer thinks of nothing but his work and 
 his theatre," said Ben Zion, as they turned away from the 
 opening in the partition. " He works sixteen or seventeen 
 hours a day for six dollars a week, and he spends at least 
 four on visits to the theatre. He goes to see the history- 
 plays which tell the story of the Jews when they were a 
 great united people, and he has got so that he lives in the 
 past. He knows more about Pharaoh and Joseph, the 
 Shulamite and Judith, and Mordecai and Esther, than
 
 THE SWEATER SWEATED 211 
 
 about Harrison and Cleveland, or the Czar and the Pope of 
 Rome. Well, there now ! I suppose the old fellow finds 
 his present so disagreeable, that he likes to take refuge in 
 the past. Some call him cracked, but I don't think he is." 
 
 He took up a tin pail and went out, leaving Bathsheba 
 alone to watch the shadows, and to fancy, every time the 
 flicker of the candle changed them, that they were huge 
 rats coming to besiege her. 
 
 The "Alleluia" of Father Israel continued, without in 
 terruption, to bring into its grave and impressive rhythm 
 the semi-staccato of the sewing-machine needle. 
 
 Ben Zion's steps were turned toward the all-night restau 
 rant, where the announcement of complete meals for thirteen 
 cents, including two glasses of beer, had often attracted 
 the attention of the Health Board, when he heard a tre 
 mendous noise of confused shouting in the direction of the 
 fire. 
 
 He listened attentively, and a grin of satisfaction hovered 
 about his lips. " It sounds like a battle," he said. " The 
 big words certainly are flying about as thick as bombshells. 
 Let's see what they mean." 
 
 And, forgetting the probably urgent needs of the found 
 ling awaiting him in the push-cart at home, he ran swiftly 
 to the scene of the fire. 
 
 The whole side of the house near which he had met 
 Bathsheba had fallen in, but the other was still standing, 
 with portions of the roof clinging to it. Ben Zion hastened 
 to the front, and found himself in a throng which the firemen 
 and policemen were pushing back with ungentle hand, 
 because the clamorous men and women threatened to inter 
 fere with the work of isolating the fire. 
 
 The low buildings in the rear of the yard in which 
 Mother Levitsky had breathed her last were now burning,
 
 212 JOSEPH ZALMONAK 
 
 and jagged streaks of flame were shooting from them to 
 others. With axes and hammers the firemen fought des 
 perately to hurl down the blazing beams, so that their 
 flames could be smothered in the mud and wet ashes below. 
 
 As Ben Zion arose, after having been carried off his feet 
 by a lurch in the excited throng, he observed that the men, 
 women, and children were all yelling at and execrating one 
 person, the miserable landlord, whom he had supposed 
 to be burned in his own apartment. He raised his hands 
 and clapped them with glee, and danced as well as he could 
 in such a dense crowd. 
 
 Of two or three thousand persons who saw the plight of 
 Simon at that moment, there were not three who would 
 have extended to him a helping hand, so acute was the 
 hatred of the class which he represented ; so lively were 
 the remembrances of the injustices and cruelties which he 
 had committed in the name of his property ; so terrible was 
 the animosity against him since the eviction of Mother 
 Levitsky. 
 
 Simon had been awakened in time to escape from his 
 own rooms, and had hastened to the rear house, in which 
 two flourishing sweaters were established. In the cellar 
 of this house he had long ago buried a little stock of money 
 and valuables, declining, with the cunning and suspicion 
 of his class, to trust to safes or safe deposit companies. 
 
 The process of unearthing this was almost as laborious 
 as that of old Pepys when he dug up his concealed money 
 after the " great fire " in London. Time fled faster than 
 Simon fancied, and, when he came to the first floor and 
 was going into the yard, he found the terrible flames raging 
 directly in his path. 
 
 Above him toppled the wall of the other house, obsti 
 nately refusing to share the fate of its twin, as though 
 it had been reserved for some peculiar purpose.
 
 THE SWEATER SWEATED 213 
 
 The hot breath of the monster came full into Simon's 
 face, and singed his unkempt black beard, and sent a horri 
 ble pang through his eyeballs. He ran up to the second 
 floor of the low-studded, rudely built house, which was 
 filled with clothing, and would burn in twenty minutes 
 when the flames got a good hold on it. 
 
 Simon intended to climb from a back window of this 
 second floor on to the roof of an outhouse, whence he could 
 reach the street in the rear. But as he threw up the win 
 dow there was a horrible rush of hot and hissing masses 
 past his face ; then came clouds of blinding steam, produced 
 by the torrents of water falling from the hose of the engines 
 upon the fiery fragments of the wall. 
 
 At last he could look up, and to his horror he saw the 
 wall above him beginning to tremble and topple. Another 
 two or three minutes and it would come down with a crash, 
 and bury him in this fragile house beneath the ruins. 
 
 He shrieked wildly in the extremity of his terror. Then 
 he extended his hands and prayed ahmd. Finally he 
 staggered back to the front of the house, to find that its 
 stairs were burned away, and that long fiery tentacles had 
 seized upon the walls. 
 
 The roar of the flames was louder than the pulsations of 
 the engines or the shouting of the motley throng gathered 
 on the sides of the now open courtyard. 
 
 He rushed up to the roof of the house, and stood glaring 
 wildly about, tossing his hands aloft, and praying. Stand 
 ing thus, his cowering figure was brought in bold relief, and 
 the crowd saw it, and saluted it with a shout of execration. 
 
 Despite Simon's fiery situation, this cry sent a deathly 
 chill to his heart. He looked down at the yelling people, 
 and extended his hands to them. They answered with a 
 burst of derisive laughter. 
 
 "Stay there and roast, Simon!" shouted an old woman.
 
 214 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 " It will make you think of the many times you roasted us 
 in your sweater's den, before you got to be a rich land 
 lord ! " 
 
 " Say good-by to your wife and children, Simon ! " yelled 
 a bent and withered man, with bloodshot eyes and palsied 
 gait. " They are saved but you are damned ! " 
 
 Tears of rage and despair dimmed Simon's vision. His 
 knees were weak now, and it was an effort to hold up his 
 hands. At last he managed to cry feebly, 
 
 " I won't be singed alive here ! I shall come down and 
 run through the flames." 
 
 " Do, Simon ! Do ! " screamed the old hag, " and we will 
 throw you back again ! You must burn, Simon ! You must 
 burn ! " 
 
 At that moment the wretched landlord saw Joseph rem 
 onstrating with the vindictive old woman, and he heard 
 him shouting, 
 
 " After all, he is a human being like the rest of us ! I 
 will go up and bring him down ! " 
 
 And he turned to rush into the smoke and flame. 
 
 "lam saved," thought Simon.- "Joseph will save me. 
 But perhaps he will let them kill me afterwards." 
 
 " No ! No ! Joseph ; you shall not go ! " howled half a dozen 
 of Simon's tenants, and they threw themselves in his way. 
 " Let the villain burn ; let the sweater sweat for once, and 
 see how he likes it." 
 
 Joseph struggled in vain with the furious people. 
 
 Suddenly there arose a vast yell of triumph and exulta 
 tion. The wall overhanging Simon, and towering at least 
 fifty feet above the roof on which he stood, was falling. 
 
 Simon threw up his arms in despair. He heard the 
 voices of firemen calling from the rear of the building to 
 "come and jump into their arms," and telling him it was 
 " his only chance."
 
 THE SWEATER SWEATED 215 
 
 Then there was a shock which seemed to rend him limb 
 from limb, a horrible sense of burning and suffocation, 
 the acute lingering in his ears of the yells of vengeance 
 from the thousands in the street below and the mortal 
 part of Simon was of no further use in this world. 
 
 The wall had crushed in the smaller building, which was 
 now obscured from view by the dense smoke arising from 
 the smouldering piles of clothing. 
 
 Joseph turned away, sick at heart and trembling, and 
 would have fallen if Ben Zion's faithful hands had not just 
 then supported him. 
 
 " It is horrible ! " he said, after he had recovered a little. 
 " What could be gained for our cause by letting that poor 
 fellow be burned to death ? " 
 
 " Ho, ho ! " shouted a harsh voice, " Herr Joseph has 
 become very mild, all of a sudden ! " 
 
 Joseph looked up and saw one of the men who belonged 
 to Baumeister's group, a loud-mouthed Hebrew who had 
 made him great trouble while he was organizing the Union, 
 by constantly trying to incite the cloakmakers to violence. 
 
 " I don't think we require your opinions on the matter," 
 he said curtly, and turned away. 
 
 " Oh, indeed ! " cried the fellow, pushing his way up to 
 Joseph, and eying him rudely. " Why, you change about 
 like a weathercock ! Look here, all of you ! " he continued, 
 flourishing his arms and apostrophizing the crowd. "This 
 is the same Joseph who counselled burning Simon alive 
 once on the night that old Mother Levitsky died who 
 doesn't remember that? And now he pretends that he 
 doesn't want his own counsels to be followed ! Ho, ho ! " 
 
 He would have said more, but Ben Zion suddenly brought 
 his tin pail with metallic twang upon his head, causing him 
 to jump and roar with pain ; and at the same moment the 
 prancing horses of the fire-engines coming up put the
 
 216 JOSEPH ZALMONA1I 
 
 whole crowd into a scamper, and Ben Zion lost sight of 
 both Joseph and his violent critic. 
 
 Then the little pedler was smitten with remorse that 
 he had forgotten his errand of mercy for the foundling, and 
 he started off at a brisk trot to get the battered tin pail 
 full of hot milk. 
 
 When he reached the cellar again he found Bathsheba 
 seated where he had left her, with the child upon her lap. 
 She was vainly endeavoring to still its moaning, and at the 
 same time was intently studying its face. 
 
 Ben Zion's torrent of explanation, and the feverish haste 
 with which he presented the hot milk in a cracked glass, 
 did not seem to attract Bathsheba's notice. She was 
 absorbed. 
 
 "Is the brat good-looking ? " said the pedler ; " I suppose 
 I must find some one to adopt it to-day." 
 
 " I was thinking," said Bathsheba dreamily, " how won 
 derfully this child resembles Baumeister. Look ! There is 
 his identical expression when he is excited ! It is very 
 curious ! " 
 
 " Hum ! " said Ben Zion. He took a careful look. " You 
 are right. The child is a second edition of Baumeister, 
 wicked smile and all ! Now, how shall we account for 
 that ? " 
 
 " We will not try, just now," said Bathsheba, and she fed 
 the hungry child. 
 
 Old Father Israel was still singing and sewing in the 
 next room, and his " Alleluia " arose sweet and clear.
 
 THE MARSEILLAISE OF THE POOR 217 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 a 
 
 THE MARSEILLAISE OF THE POOR 
 
 " HUSH ! " said a deep resonant voice which every one in 
 the theatre recognized as Joseph's. " Mordecai Menzer is 
 going to sing." 
 
 The play that night was " Ezra, " a romantic drama 
 which dealt with the persecutions of the Jews in Russian 
 Poland. It was played with intense earnestness, although 
 the heat was stifling, and it was a night to be in the open 
 air, rather than at a theatre. 
 
 There was a wicked noble in it, who wished to carry off 
 an old Jew's daughter, and who, by the aid of a cunning 
 priest, fastened upon the venerable Hebrew and his pretty 
 Rebecca the dread accusation still as terrible in some 
 parts of Europe as it was in the Middle Ages that they 
 had slain a young Christian child, to use the blood in their 
 mystical sacrifices. 
 
 The old man and his child were dragged to prison ; and 
 then came Ezra, the deliverer, a banished patriot returned 
 to his native land to organize insurrection. 
 
 There was a striking scene in which Ezra assembled the 
 young men and maidens in a desolate field covered with 
 snow, and there made them swear vengeance against the 
 oppressor. This scene closed with the singing of religious 
 melodies, and there was a chorus ending with " Alleluia," 
 sung by a dozen maidens, who looked not unlike the old
 
 218 JOSEPH ZALMONAII 
 
 pictures of angels, as they knelt with folded hands and eyes 
 raised heavenward. 
 
 This chorus thrilled Joseph to his very soul, as he sat in 
 the darkened corner of the same box in which he had wit 
 nessed the performance of " Judith and Holofernus ; " and 
 the whole drama, with its strange and bitter savor of patri 
 otism, seemed to invite him to action. 
 
 There were phrases in Ezra's speech which stirred his 
 soul like a trumpet. 
 
 Now the curtain had fallen on the third act, and Joseph 
 came forward to announce that Mordecai, the " poet of the 
 people," was to sing the great song which might awaken, 
 the cloak makers to instant action. 
 
 As for Baumeister, cowering in a humble place in the 
 gallery, his eyes glistened with the hope that the poet's 
 song might influence the hunger-tortured throng to fall 
 upon their employers, or upon any one else who came in 
 their way, and to hack, burn, and destroy. 
 
 After Joseph's announcement there was a great clapping 
 of hands and waving of handkerchiefs ; and presently Mor 
 decai came in front of the curtain, and stood, rather tim 
 idly, awaiting the arrival of his " inspiration." 
 
 The sight of this little man, worn by sorrow, and with 
 his lean, angular face furrowed by thought, was inexpress 
 ibly pathetic to Joseph, who recognized in him one of the 
 leaders of the people. 
 
 But to the rank and file of the audience it was a trifle 
 disappointing, and whispers and suppressed laughter were 
 heard while the poet shuffled about, looking at the foot 
 lights. 
 
 At last he held up his hand, and the orchestra struck 
 into the singular air which Joseph at once recognized as 
 that which lie had heard the small fiddler play at the 
 rehearsal of the song.
 
 THE MARSEILLAISE OF THE POOR 219 
 
 Then Mordecai began to sing. He threw his head back, 
 raised his arms, and waved them violently, as if he were 
 hurling upon the audience the ringing ironical sentences in 
 which he denounced the sweaters, and expressed compas 
 sion for their prey. 
 
 Before the first verse was finished one or two of the 
 "sweaters" who had been skulking in boxes arose, and 
 tried to make their exits without attracting attention. 
 
 But they were observed, and one of them was caught and 
 buffeted. His hat was smashed over his eyes, his clothes 
 were torn, and, expostulating and cursing by turns, he was 
 pushed headlong out of the theatre. 
 
 Others, following, escaped with nothing worse than exe 
 cration. One man shook his fist in the sweater's face and 
 shouted, "Ah, we feel very uncomfortable just now, don't 
 we ? as the devil said when he was crossing the river on 
 the ice and broke through ! " 
 
 It was Ben Zion. 
 
 Mordecai had warmed to his task when the third verse 
 was reached, and he delivered it with terrible emphasis. 
 An old white-haired man in the orchestra laid down his 
 violin and sobbed aloud. 
 
 His sobs were contagious. The poor overworked girls in 
 the side seats burst into weeping when the lines alluding 
 to their dreadful fate were recited, rather than sung, in a 
 kind of frenzy. 
 
 Presently sighs and groans were heard from all parts of 
 the house, and from the gallery came the sound of curses. 
 Then all at once a sharp voice cried in jargon, with the 
 unctuous gutturals and languorous drawling of the un 
 learned man, 
 
 " That's song enough ! We know exactly what we have 
 to do now. Come on, comrades, and let's end this business! 
 Those who remain slaves any longer deserve to be kept in 
 slavery forever ! Come on ! "
 
 220 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 Joseph thought that the voice sounded like Baumeister's, 
 but he was too excited to be certain, and he had no 
 chance to investigate. For suddenly the whole audience, 
 almost entirely composed of the starving cloakmakers and 
 their families, arose, as actuated by a common impulse, and 
 poured into the street, leaving Mordecai panting and gasp 
 ing in front of the curtain, and the actors half crazy with 
 curiosity in their nooks in the wings. 
 
 Mordecai had done more than he expected to do. The 
 cloakmakers had made the most extraordinary sacrifices to 
 be present on this occasion. It was out of season for 
 theatres, but they had determined to make the affair im 
 posing by a full attendance. 
 
 They were in an exalted and dangerous frame of mind, 
 and the few incendiary words which Baumeister scattered 
 among them as they ran to and fro in the Bowery were 
 like coals of fire applied to tow ; or, as Ben Zion afterwards 
 described them, "like upsetting a kerosene stove in a 
 tenement house." 
 
 The sparks flew and the flame grew. 
 
 A small number of the spectators returned, but the 
 interest of both audience and actors was now diminished in 
 the fictitious drama. All had concentrated their attention 
 upon the real drama, which they knew to be near at hand. 
 
 Joseph went out into the Bowery, and found himself con 
 fronted by a tall policeman, who scowled at him and stood 
 in his way. 
 
 Joseph's blood was hot, and he returned the scowl with 
 interest. " Look here, young feller," said the majestic man 
 of buttons, "your people's gettin' excited. Why don't 
 you call them off home ? We can't be lettin' them block 
 up the street like this." 
 
 "Well, unblock it then that's what you are paid to 
 do ! " said Joseph.
 
 THE MARSEILLAISE OF THE POOR 221 
 
 "Maybe so," remarked the policeman, grinning. "But 
 it's just as well to let you know that if there's any chance 
 of a riot, the broken heads'll be mostly on your side. 
 Tell 'em to run along home now, like a good feller." 
 
 Joseph was too wild with rage to reply. But he went 
 out and wandered aw-ay from the crowd, thinking of what 
 he had heard Freier say about the very poor chances of a 
 labor riot in New York City. 
 
 He never could exactly remember where he spent the 
 rest of that night. It was as much a blank to him as if he 
 had been intoxicated, so absorbed was he in his many bitter 
 reflections, so turbulent were his emotions. 
 
 He only knew that when morning came, bringing the 
 sickening heat of a brazen July day, he was tottering, faint 
 and sick, along one of the side streets in the cloakmakers' 
 quarter, and heard that great crowds were gathering in 
 Ludlow Street, in Hester Street, in East Broadway, in all 
 the avenues where hunger had for weeks been spreading 
 its reckless counsels. 
 
 '' They are going to make a rush for Freier and Monach's 
 to-day, " said the man who informed him about the crowds ; 
 "and they say that if you don't lead them they will go 
 without you." 
 
 Joseph raised his drooping head. " I will lead them," he 
 said, " if only to keep them out of mischief. And it is 
 right that this matter should be settled once for all. We 
 can starve no longer." 
 
 He went home to find committee-men seated on his door 
 step and sullenly awaiting him. Malcha wrung her hands 
 in despair at his forlorn condition, and at the exciting 
 rumors every few minutes brought in. "Where have you 
 been all night, Joseph ? " she said as she brought him a 
 cup of tea. 
 
 " I don't know," he replied with such frankness that she
 
 222 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 stared and peered curiously at him. " I have been wander 
 ing getting ready ready for the storm." 
 
 Malcha began to cry, and this aroused Joseph to comfort 
 and reassure her. 
 
 He had not been at home an hour when a man came 
 running in, breathless with excitement, crying, 
 
 " They are all going to march, and they want you, Herr 
 Zalmonah. They mean to pull Freier out of his den " 
 
 "Tell them not to make a move on their peril until 
 they have seeu me ! " said Joseph, resuming his leadership. 
 
 A little later he was in a small restaurant in a side street 
 not far from Broadway, talking with an intelligent cloak- 
 maker who had volunteered to help him hold the crowds in 
 check, when he heard a tumult outside. 
 
 The old women began to run to and fro, and hurl their 
 skinny fists aloft as certain a symbol of coming mischief 
 among the Russo-Jewish refugees of to-day in New York 
 as it was in ancient Israel. 
 
 Suddenly there was a blood-curdling chorus of yells, and 
 a dozen men came running up, and dragging along, and 
 beating as they went, a poor f -How whose clothes were 
 torn to rags, and whose cheeks were livid with fear of 
 death. 
 
 For he read murder in the eyes of his captors. 
 
 " He's a scab ! " yelled one of the men, hopping around 
 him like a bird of prey. " A scab, a loafer of a scab ! We 
 caurjht him as he was on his way to Freier and Monach'^ ! 
 Whit shall we do with him?" And he shook his lean 
 fingers in the victim's face. 
 
 "Kill him! Kill him!" was the fierce response, roared 
 by a hundred voices. And away down the street, where the 
 people did not know what was going on, they took up the 
 refrain, and shouted, "Kill him ! Kill him ! " 
 
 The unhappy man fell on his knees and grovelled in the
 
 THE MARSEILLAISE OF THE POOR 223 
 
 dust. " Don't let them kill me ! " he cried, wringing his 
 hands and crawling to the right and left. " I have a wife 
 and children in Russia." 
 
 " Kill him ! " cried a captor, aiming a terrible blow at 
 his head 5 . 
 
 At this moment the ranks parted, and Joseph appeared 
 on the scene. He pushed the aggressive man rudely away. 
 
 " Why are you fighting among yourselves ? " he said. 
 " Have we not trouble enough already ? " 
 
 " He is a scab, a wretched scab ! " said the man sullenly, 
 pointing to the kneeling figure. "He said to me, 'I get 
 twenty-five dollars a week, and you are living on cabbages 
 and boiled shoe-strings because you are a fool.' Do you 
 think I will let him talk that way ? I say kill him !" 
 
 He raised his arm again, and his fellows prepared to join 
 him in a mad rush upon the unfortunate "scab." 
 
 " And I say not ! " cried Joseph loudly, and advancing on 
 the men. " Do you wish to ruin your own cause ? " 
 
 " I don't understand you, Herr Zalmonah," said the man, 
 falling back again. " I think you are foolish ! " 
 
 And now there were fresh tumults in all directions, as 
 other " scabs " were captured and were surrounded by the 
 locked-out cloakmakers. 
 
 Joseph rushed to and fro, trying to save the men from 
 being beaten. But he felt sick at heart when he saw them 
 laying about with broken heads, and noticed that one of 
 \ them was kicked into the gutter, as if he had been a dog. 
 
 Then there was a rush and a chorus of imprecations from 
 the men and wailing from the women as a compact body of 
 roughly dressed fellows came sweeping down the narrow 
 street. 
 
 One or two of them carried drawn revolvers ; others were 
 equipped with stout cudgels ; and although they bore no in 
 signia of authority, they acted, as Ben Zion remarked, as
 
 224 JOSEPH ZALMONAII 
 
 " if they had just bought the town, and wanted all the room 
 in it for themselves." 
 
 A few of the cloakmakers tried to stop their onward 
 movement, whereupon the new-comers charged with their 
 clubs, and a dozen of the locked-out men fell into the dust. 
 Then the assailants began to gather up the wounded and 
 frightened " scab " workmen and protect their retreat. 
 
 " The Pinkertons ! " cried Joseph bitterly. " So that is 
 Freier and Monach's little game ! " 
 
 He looked around him and saw that in all directions 
 there were dense throngs of his own people. This little 
 handful of Pinkertons, these modern swash-bucklers, whose 
 services had been secured by a manufacturer who did not 
 wish to be coerced to do right, would be swallowed up in a 
 twinkling of an eye if he were to give the signal. 
 
 Crack ! That was the sound of a revolver ! Joseph saw 
 one of his own men fall, and the man's wife throw herself, 
 shrieking and weeping, upon his body. 
 
 The man was shot .through the arm; he sat up after a 
 little, and began to curse loudly. 
 
 While Joseph was looking on at the fight, and was still 
 irresolute as to his own conduct, a sharp voice full of hate 
 cried, close beside him, 
 
 " A nice leader you are, helping the Pinkertons to rescue 
 scabs ! Yes ! a nice leader ! I am more than half inclined 
 to think you are a Pinkerton yourself." 
 
 Joseph looked up in astonishment. He found himself 
 confronted by a group of low-browed and sinister fellows, 
 wliom he at once recognized as Socialistic malcontents. 
 
 He thought he caught a glimpse of Baumeister's face just 
 behind them. But when he took a second and sharper look 
 the face was gone. 
 
 Some of these men had at one time belonged to his 
 Union, and had dropped out of it this one for non-
 
 THE MARSEILLAISE OF THE POOR 225 
 
 payment of dues, another because he found the atmos 
 phere uncongenial, a third because Joseph would not set 
 a day for the Grand Revolution. He had reason to believe 
 that they were all active, malevolent enemies, who would 
 not hesitate to put him in a false position if they could. 
 
 He stepped back a little and gazed contemptuously at his 
 accuser. " What have you done," he said, " which gives 
 you any right to criticise ? " 
 
 " You are a false leader ! " shouted another. " You want 
 to sell out the cause ! " 
 
 " Yes ; you are in league with the Pinkertons !" yelled a 
 little man with iron-bowed spectacles and a long beard. 
 
 " You were seen talking to Freier not long ago. You are 
 a spy ! You ought to be crushed ! " howled a hunchback, 
 whose only garments were a pair of summer trousers and 
 an old winter overcoat with a moth-eaten fur collar. 
 
 Just then Joseph felt a gentle touch on his arm. He 
 looked down, and saw the sweet girl-figure of Miry am 
 at his side. Instinctively he moved forward so as to place 
 himself in front of her, and to shelter her in case the mis 
 siles began to fly. 
 
 Miryam looked up at him, and he saw that she was vio 
 lently agitated. "Come away," she whispered; "these are 
 the very people about whom I told you. They mean to do 
 you a mischief. Don't expose yourself to be killed, Reb 
 Joseph ; please don't." 
 
 Thei'e was such a tremor in Miryam's voice, that Joseph 
 looked down in surprise into the pure little face, and was 
 startled at the depth of tenderness and emotion which he 
 noted there. " Come away, Miryam ! " he said. " These 
 men are mad, I think ! Surely nobody will believe their 
 ravings." 
 
 " Ah ! he's backing out ! He's running away ! " yelled the 
 conspirators, in chorus. " Look at brave Reb Joseph run-
 
 226 JOSEPH ZALMONAII 
 
 ning for his life ! Watch the deliverer of scabs as he makes 
 his retreat ! " and a fragment of a broken chair, which one 
 of the men had picked up in the street, whizzed past 
 Joseph's ear. 
 
 "Cowards ! " said the young leader, trembling with right 
 eous wrath, "do you want to tempt me? You know that 
 if I say the word, there are within call twenty thousand 
 hands to tear you in pieces ! Be off, or it will be the worse 
 for you ! " 
 
 " Ha, ha, ha ! " laughed the little hunchback hoarsely, 
 "Reb Joseph thinks that he still has an army at his 
 back ! He will change his mind when the cloakmakers have 
 all been told that he is the defender of scabs !" And the 
 misshapen man seized an old bottle and hurled it with mad 
 force at Joseph ! 
 
 But just then Ben Zion came running up, and leaped like 
 a tiger cat upon the hunchback, and rolled him in the dirt. 
 " Run, Joseph ! " he cried, as he came uppermost for the 
 second time, pounding his man all the time; "run to the 
 head of the column ! They are waiting for you, and they 
 are not afraid of the Finkertons ! " 
 
 " Ho, ho ! " laughed another of the conspirators, " Joseph 
 won't lead any column to-day." And he and his fellows 
 picked up some loose brickbats and stones at a corner, and 
 hastened forward. 
 
 " Fly, Joseph ! " shrieked Miryam. 
 
 " Never ! I will rout all these dogs single-handed; " and 
 he sprang forward to fulfil his threat. At that instant there 
 was a shower of heavy missiles, and he saw Miryam placing 
 herself directly in front of him. A moment later her fair 
 young head sank heavily. 
 
 A stone had struck her as she stood thus shielding her 
 beloved leader. 
 
 She fell, face downward.
 
 THE MARSEILLAISE OF THE POOR 227 
 
 Joseph felt himself pulled violently backward, and in a 
 minute or two he had lost sight of the angry conspirators, 
 and was surrounded by his own men. 
 
 " Miry am ! Miry am ! save her ! " he gasped. 
 
 But the men and women did not seem to hear him. The 
 names of Freier and Monach were the only ones which he 
 heard, and they were repeated over and over, in hoarse and 
 savage refrain. 
 
 " You are bleeding, Herr Zalmonah," said one of the men, 
 pointing to his forehead. " Something has hit you on the 
 head. Was it a Pinkerton who did it ? " 
 
 Joseph felt faint and half stunned, now that the excite 
 ment of the encounter with the Socialists was beginning to 
 subside. He took out his handkerchief and mopped his 
 brow. In so doing he discovered that he had received a 
 severe flesh wound. 
 
 An old woman bandaged his head, and another ran out 
 of a tenement house with a little pot of hot coffee, and gave 
 Joseph a drink, after which he felt better. 
 
 But the sun was now beating down with terrific force, 
 and he saw that it would soon melt and subdue the courage 
 of the half-starved people whose rights he was about to 
 assert ; so he staggered forward, saying, 
 
 " Get all the officers of the Union together, and we will 
 go to Freier and Monach's." 
 
 A tremendous shout rent the air. 
 
 The women screamed and flocked around Joseph, and laid 
 caressing hands upon his arm, as if they wished to acquire 
 courage by touching the garments of the prophet and leader. 
 
 In a few minutes all the men had assembled, and Ben 
 Zion had joined the group, without asking leave or license. 
 
 " You cannot have the fun without me, as the fox said 
 to the hounds," he remarked in a whisper, as the great 
 crowd began to press forward to the den of the oppressors.
 
 228 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 It was eight o'clock, and Freier and Monaeh's shop above 
 their counting-house had been humming with industry for 
 hours, when the advance guard of the locked-out cloak- 
 makers arrived in front of their doors. 
 
 The manufacturers had been warned of the uprising, and 
 a line of policemen stood quietly ready to guard their 
 property if need arose. 
 
 Freier had heard that Joseph was disabled, if not killed, 
 in the Socialistic riot, about the origin and purposes of 
 which his spies had brought him reports; and he was 
 amazed when he learned from a burly guardian of the peace 
 that a committee " of them Jews was waiting to talk to 
 him." 
 
 He flushed angrily, then grew white, and lighted one of 
 his huge black cigars. " Mind that your fellows stand firm 
 if they try to rush the place," he said to the policeman. 
 " You don't know them when they get excited. They are 
 devils ! " 
 
 " Most of them look this inornin' as if a breath would 
 blow them away," remarked the policeman, with a con 
 temptuous glance at Freier. 
 
 " Let those fellows in," snarled Freier, showing his teeth, 
 and looking so very like a wolf that the officer retreated 
 precipitately. 
 
 Joseph and his men were soon before Freier. " I 
 thought," said the latter with a grin, " that you were not 
 coming again to see me." 
 
 " My people changed their minds," said Joseph, " and I 
 am only their agent. They say that unless you do them 
 justice this morning, now, within the hour, they will 
 come in here and see you for themselves. You know ex 
 actly what we want ! Are you ready to let us have it ? 
 No ? Then I have nothing to do but to turn my mission 
 over to them."
 
 THE MARSEILLAISE OF THE POOR 229 
 
 "Hold on a minute! "said Freier, in a voice hoarse with 
 passion. "Before you begin to dictate, let me tell you one 
 thing. If you raise your voice to me, I will have you 
 arrested and run in for attempted assault ! Look at that 
 line of blue coats out there! " 
 
 " Fool ! " exclaimed Joseph, snapping his fingers in 
 Freier's face. "Do you know what would happen if you 
 should so much as lay a finger on me ? Here ! step up 
 stairs and look down on the crowd from the front window. 
 Up ! We will accompany you, and you can tell us what 
 you think." 
 
 He pushed the hesitating Freier to the stairs. In a few 
 moments they stood overlooking the great assemblage of 
 starving men and women. 
 
 It was a piteous spectacle, and touched even Freier's hard 
 heart. 
 
 There were long rows of old men sweltering in the hot 
 felt caps and coats in which they had left Russia, and look 
 ing ready to drop down into their graves. There were hun 
 dreds of bent and shrivelled old women, shaking their 
 heads menacingly. There were whole regiments of thin, 
 black-whiskered, pallid-faced men of middle age, with chil 
 dren clinging at their coat skirts, and with slattern and 
 woe-begone wives, pinched with hunger and tormented by 
 despair, crouching behind them. 
 
 And all these forlorn creatures were pushed forward 
 resistlessly by the bony hand of Hunger. 
 
 They were ready for the assault. 
 
 Freier felt this, and was afraid. He shivered. 
 
 " Open the window," said Joseph calmly. 
 
 Freier obeyed, cursing inwardly. He did not dare to 
 refuse. 
 
 The moment he showed his face there was a yell of 
 execration which made him feel cold about his heart. His 
 knees trembled.
 
 230 JOSEPH ZALMONAII 
 
 Joseph pushed him aside, as if lie were a child, and, call 
 ing his committee-men, he said, 
 
 " Take out the window-sash, top and bottom ! " 
 
 " In God's name ! " said Freier. 
 
 " Silence ! " shouted Joseph. lu a few seconds the window 
 was removed. " Now," said Joseph to his men, " Freier 
 and I will stand together in the open space, and you may 
 stand behind us." 
 
 " I will see that Freier does not get away ! " whispered 
 Ben Zion. 
 
 The young leader was saluted by a ringing shout, in 
 stantly followed by a second outburst of execrations for 
 Freier. 
 
 The "scabs" who had been at work within crowded up 
 to see this curious spectacle, and the policemen below 
 listened eagerly. 
 
 The vast throng of the cloakmakers stood, open-mouthed, 
 awaiting developments. 
 
 "Now, Freier," said Joseph, "justice must be done. I 
 am going to announce it in your name. If you contradict 
 and belie me, you must take the consequences." 
 
 Freier said nothing, but his knees continued to tremble. 
 
 "Fellow-workers," said Joseph, lifting up his voice. 
 "Freier and Monach are anxious to come to an under 
 standing with you, and to stop all the misery and misfor 
 tune w4iich the lock-out has caused." 
 
 A murmur of incredulity ran through the throncr. 
 
 " And now, Herr Freier " a-t this point Ben Zion 
 pushed him violently forward, eliciting from him an nndi- 
 ble groan of terror "desires to inform you that the lock 
 out is at an end." 
 
 Freier groaned again, whereupon Ben Zion thumped him 
 terribly in the back. 
 
 " At an end the lock-out ! And he is ready to sign an
 
 THE MARSEILLAISE OF THE POOR 231 
 
 agreement with us to secure you in your rights hereafter. 
 He, and the association which he represents, will accept 
 nine hours as a day's work and you shall have one full 
 hour for dinner. In the three summer months there shall 
 be a Saturday half-holiday ; wages shall be increased from 
 twenty -five to forty per cent ; there shall be no over-time 
 without pay ; and Herr Freier and his association pledge 
 themselves to do everything in their power to abolish the 
 sweating-system ! And this new condition of affairs shall 
 begin at once ! Do I quote you correctly ? " said Joseph, 
 turning politely to Freier. 
 
 " Yes yes," answered the frightened man, on whose 
 back Ben Ziou had just given another powerful blow; 
 "anything, everything ! You are the masters, and if you 
 ruin us, we can close up, I suppose ! " 
 
 " Then tell the people that we are agreed," said Joseph. 
 
 Freier managed to stammer forth a few words, announ 
 cing the "end of the lock-out brisk season coming 
 soon," and then would have fallen back, had not Ben Zion 
 propped him up. 
 
 " You can all go home now," said Joseph to the throng. 
 " The agreement will be signed to-day ; you can go back to 
 work to-morrow. Do you hear ? Move off at once to 
 your homes. I say the Union has won the fight! You 
 shall starve no more !" 
 
 There went up a scream, rather than a shout of triumph, 
 and the upturned faces beamed with joy and with grat 
 itude. 
 
 Hundreds of voices cried thanks and praises to Joseph, 
 and prayed him to come out, that the crowd might bear 
 him in triumph to the office of the Union. 
 
 "No no; go home and get ready for to-morrow's 
 Avork ! " said Joseph ; and at last the people moved slowly 
 and reluctantly away.
 
 23:2 JOSEPH ZALMONAII 
 
 Joseph stood, white and calm, watching their departure. 
 Nor would he stir from the window, or allow Freier to go 
 down, until the last of the cloakmakers was disappearing 
 round a corner. 
 
 " Now let me see you keep your promise, sir ! " he said, 
 turning almost fiercely to Freier.
 
 LIGHTNING IN CLEAR SKY 233 
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 LIGHTNING IN CLEAR SKY 
 
 THEY were about to sign the agreement. 
 
 Freier had summoned all the manufacturers interested 
 with him in the matter, and, with a cynical smile on his 
 sensuous lips, had conceded the points insisted upon by 
 Joseph and his committee. 
 
 " And now," said Joseph, " let these men and women get 
 to work, for they are starving. How would you like to sew 
 for a week, with nothing to eat, in such weather as this ? " 
 
 Freier did not answer. He shuffled his papers, and 
 seemed anxious to complete the business. 
 
 Joseph wiped the dripping moisture from his brow, and 
 turned away. To his momentary exaltation had now suc 
 ceeded a profound depression. His triumph did not seem 
 worth much, after all. But he felt that he had prevented 
 a riot and an assault on Freier, and surely that was worth 
 something. 
 
 Just then one of his men spoke, sharply and decidedly, 
 and continuing the train of thought which Joseph had 
 started 
 
 " Yes, that's the hardest of all. Going back to work and 
 having nothing to eat. That isn't right. Reb Joseph, you 
 must make him do as the Germans do when the manu 
 facturers have to give in. He must pay a contribution to 
 the Union, to compensate us for the time we have lost."
 
 234 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 Freier turned quickly on this man, with his hand raised 
 as if he would strike him. His teeth snapped like those of 
 a wolf. The cloakmaker retreated a little, but looked very 
 surly. 
 
 "Cbme, Keb Joseph," he said, "make him pay five 
 hundred dollars to the Union. It is the custom, and he 
 owes it." 
 
 "But the agreement is all ready to be signed," objected 
 Joseph, fearing a new delay. 
 
 " Never mind ! Make him do it ! " 
 
 The manufacturers said that they would leave the matter 
 in Freier's hands, and departed. Freier accompanied them 
 to the outer door. When he came back he said loudly, 
 
 " Well, men, be off ! I have my work to attend to, and 
 you ought to be about yours." 
 
 " These men," said Joseph, " insist upon having five 
 hundred dollars paid by you as damages." 
 
 " It will teach you not to lock us out again, perhaps," 
 added the cloakmaker. 
 
 " I will give you no money," said Freier. " You have had 
 concessions enough. I want you to get out of my place." 
 
 "Not until you promise to give the money," said the 
 cloakmaker, folding his arms. 
 
 " Never ! " shouted Freier ; but an instant later a new idea 
 seemed to strike him. He turned away, apparently to pore 
 over some accounts, then whirled back. 
 
 " Look here !" he cried, sitting down on the edge of his 
 desk. " I will give you a check for one hundred dollars 
 just to save time. If I do that, will you promise to leave 
 me in peace ? " 
 
 " No, five hundred," insisted the cloakmaker. 
 
 " Five hundred devils ! If you want the one hundred 
 you can have it ; you will get nothing else." 
 
 " Very well," said Joseph, thinking of the starving ones,
 
 LIGHTNING IN CLEAR SKY 235 
 
 and anxious to help them. He motioned to the cloakmaker 
 to be quiet. " Give the check and we will go." 
 
 A smile crept along the features of Freier, and seemed to 
 give them a peculiar glow. 
 
 "Shall I make the check payable to your order, Herr 
 Zalmonah ? " he said, turning to Joseph. <; Mind you, I 
 yield to force, and am doing this because you compel me 
 to your order." 
 
 Joseph scarcely heard him. He was thinking of some 
 thing else of that moment when Bathsheba had clung to 
 him at the window, with the fire raging below them. The 
 memory of her caress seemed to sting him with a wild, 
 sweet pain. A minute later the remembrance had faded 
 away. 
 
 Freier was handing him the check. He took it, and the 
 others crowded around to see it, and that it was made to his 
 order. 
 
 Then the agreement was signed, and Freier opened the 
 door, and bowed them out with an ironical politeness which 
 so angered Ben Zion that he could scarcely refrain from 
 leaving the manufacturer a memorial of his visit in the 
 shape of a black eye. 
 
 " Leave me alone for a few hours," said Joseph to his 
 men as they returned to the cloakmakers' quarter. " I have 
 much need of rest." 
 
 But they would not listen to him, and, catching him up, 
 bore him along on their shoulders, dancing and shouting as 
 best they could in their famished condition. 
 
 Gradually a long procession formed behind them ; and 
 although Joseph watched a trifle anxiously for the Social 
 ists, none of them appeared in it. And so Joseph arrived 
 in triumph at his own door, and was received with open 
 arms by Malcha, almost beside herself with joy at the news 
 of the victory.
 
 230 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 She thrust a cup of tea into his hand, and made him sit 
 down in the bedroom, where he found David and old 
 Manasseh conversing in low tones. 
 
 At sight of David, poor overworked Joseph let his cup 
 fall, and clasped his hands to his forehead. (i And Miry am ! 
 coward that I am ! what has become of Miryam, who saved 
 my life when the Socialists were throwing stones at me? 
 I saw her lying half dead on the ground as I was whirled 
 away in the crowd this morning. Where is she ? " 
 
 " Miryam is safe," said David quietly, approaching and 
 giving Joseph his hand. "She was struck down by the 
 blow meant for you, and she was badly hurt ; but she has 
 regained her cheerfulness now that she is laid away snugly 
 in bed at the theatre." 
 
 " What a noble child ! " said Joseph with tears in his eyes. 
 
 " She is like a delicate plant among weeds, when she is 
 with us," said David modestly. " Miryam is a little sain;,. 
 Her nature is like the. myrtle. You know the proverb, 'A 
 myrtle in the desert is a myrtle still.' " 
 
 David was in excellent humor. His eyes sparkled ; a 
 little color came and went in his face. "To think/' lie 
 said, "that old Mordecai's hymn against the sweaters 
 should have resulted in this ! You prepared the way, 
 Joseph, and Mordecai gave the final impulse. Ah ! you re 
 member Bathsheba's warning, do you not ? Well, you see 
 that it was necessary enough. And, by the way, if we call 
 Miryam a myrtle, what should we call Bathsheba? Did 
 you hear that she had taken a room in Simon's house on 
 the very day when his house was burned, and that she lost 
 all her precious costumes ? It will be some time before 
 she can play the Shulamite, I fear." 
 
 Joseph turned mortally pale, and looked earnestly at 
 David. But evidently the latter knew nothing of the manner 
 in which Bathsheba had escaped from the burning house.
 
 LIGHTNING IN CLEAR SKY 237 
 
 " I must go to little Miryam," he said, turning to Malcha. 
 "Will you not go with me ? " 
 
 " We are all going presently," replied Malcha. " But if 
 you don't eat your breakfast and hold your tongue, you 
 will be put to bed with your feet tied to the bed-posts." 
 
 This playful threat recalled Joseph to reason, for an 
 hour or two. But at the end of that time business once 
 more invaded his mind. His committee was summoned 
 from the front steps, where it had been sitting patiently, 
 to go with Joseph to the bank, and get the Freier check 
 cashed, and then to see the money duly deposited in the 
 safe of the Union. 
 
 After this was done in the presence of many witnesses, 
 appeals for succor began to flow in freely ; and they did 
 not stop until Joseph had paid out all but the last twenty- 
 dollar bill in small sums for the purchase of bread. 
 
 " Take some of the money yourself, Joseph," said one of 
 the committee-men. " You need it at home. You are as 
 poor as we are." 
 
 " I am poorer," said Joseph with a weary smile. 
 " Poorer, because I have no time to work and earn my 
 living. But I will not touch a cent of the money." 
 
 The men shook their heads and looked at each other 
 gravely after Joseph had gone. "He will not last long," 
 said one ; " he is too willing. Bending the bow too much 
 makes it crack." 
 
 " But it sends the arrow to the right spot," said Ben 
 Zion, who was angrily listening. " So what are you grum 
 bling about ? as the cat said to the fish when she was eat 
 ing it." 
 
 " I suppose if some of the money was offered to you, it 
 wouldn't be necessary to ask you twice." said a committee- 
 man, who considered Ben Zion an interloper. 
 
 " To me ? What do I want with your money ? " cried Ben 
 Zion disdainfully. " I am a merchant."
 
 238 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 The half-starved throng laughed in derision. 
 
 " Very well," said Ben Zion, " the next time that one of 
 you wants something out of my push-cart, I will show you 
 whether I am a merchant or not." 
 
 Joseph returned home slowly and painfully. There was 
 an ominous buzzing in his head, and his limbs were heavy. 
 As he turned into East Broadway he was compelled to stop 
 and rest. 
 
 Once he looked up hurriedly, for he thought the clouds 
 were gathering in the fiery sky. But presently lie saw that 
 mists were rising in his eyes. He tried to raise one hand, 
 and a sharp pain shot through his arm. 
 
 Alarmed, he hobbled the rest of the way as fast as lie 
 could, and gasped for water when the frightened Malcha 
 received him in her arms. Then he began to babble in a 
 disjointed and incoherent way about fire and danger. 
 
 " I believe he has got a touch of the sun," thought Mal 
 cha. But after a little he revived, and, looking around him 
 like one just come out of a dream, he saw an old woman 
 sitting on a stool in a dark corner. 
 
 " What does she want ? " he asked Malcha. 
 
 " I don't know. She will talk to nobody but you, she 
 says." 
 
 The woman came forward with a grin. "I have brought 
 you something from the landlord, Herr Zalmonah," she 
 mumbled in English. " Something that won't wait ! " 
 
 A shiver ran through Joseph's frame as he took the 
 folded paper which the crone handed to him. It suddenly 
 flashed through his mind that, in the rush and hurry of his 
 work for the cloakmakers, he had totally forgotten to make 
 provision for his rent. 
 
 At first the landlord had been lenient, observing that 
 Joseph was powerful among his own people, and not wish 
 ing to offend him. But by and by he became surly.
 
 LIGHTNING IN CLEAU SKY 239 
 
 Joseph now remembered that a few mornings before the 
 landlord had met him,, and asked him for the month's rent, 
 overdue, and that he had scarcely answered him. 
 
 He opened the paper, and smiled bitterly as he saw the 
 familiar word " Dispossess," which he had seen so many 
 times in papers served upon unfortunate members of his 
 Union. A sharp pain smote him at the heart. Turned into 
 the street ! That was all very well when he was alone ; 
 but now Malcha and little Zipporah were here, and it was 
 not only humiliating, but appalling. 
 
 He sent Malcha out of the room on some feeble pretext, 
 and then said to the old woman, " I am sick to-day, and 
 don't want to move before next Monday. I suppose we 
 can stay until then? Perhaps by that time " 
 
 " No," said the old woman brutally; "the landlord says 
 he's had enough of labor-leaders, and he won't have ye no 
 longer at no price. So you want to git out before to-mor 
 row night ! We need tenants that can tend to their own 
 business, and not be meddling with other folks." 
 
 " Very well," said Joseph, turning his back on this 
 abuse; "you needn't stay any longer." 
 
 " Oh, no, I suppose not," shrieked the woman, suddenly 
 becoming aggressive. " Just remember that you will be 
 fired if you are found here to-morrow night ! " and she 
 stalked away. 
 
 Joseph let the paper fall on the floor; an idle tear or two 
 dropped on it. This, then, was his reward! No roof over 
 his head, and no money in his pocket ! 
 
 He thought of the meagre twenty dollars in the Union's 
 treasury. " No ! " he said resolutely ; " that will be needed 
 to-morrow to buy bread for starving children." 
 
 Malcha did not return ; and Joseph sat looking into the 
 black future until fiery specks danced before his eyes, and 
 his head felt as if it were made of melting lead. Pres-,
 
 240 JOSEPH ZALMOXAH 
 
 ently he heard a light footstep, and looking up he saw 
 David standing near him. His heart yearned for a bit of 
 sympathy. 
 
 " Friend David," he said, " I am humbled to the very dust." 
 
 "'He who offers humility to God and man/" answered 
 David in his oracular fashion, " ' shall receive as great a re 
 ward as though he had offered all the sacrifices in the world.' " 
 
 " True, true, David ; but I am afraid that proverbs will 
 not help my case." 
 
 " Then we will find something more substantial ! " cried 
 David. " I know the cause of your sadness, Joseph. Do 
 you fancy that I will let that old skinflint, that landlord 
 without mercy, drive you out-of-doors just when you have 
 saved so many of our people from starvation ? He is 
 boasting that he will land you on the pavement; but he 
 won't," and he dropped on Joseph's knee four crisp five- 
 dollar bills. " Send that to the old fiend," he said, "and so 
 you will be safe for a while." 
 
 "No, no, David! I deserve to suffer: I have been too 
 negligent. I must begin to care more for my wife, and less 
 for the woes of other people." 
 
 " You must take the money. And now come with me to 
 see poor little Miry am. She has been calling for you at 
 intervals ever since she was hurt. Your presence will help 
 to make her better." 
 
 Joseph was finally prevailed upon to accept enough of 
 the money to satisfy the landlord's claim, and he had 
 brightened up and looked refreshed when Malcha returned. 
 She was loth to let him go out into the sun once more, but 
 he insisted ; and keeping in the shadow of the houses, and 
 stopping now and then to rest in a cool cellar, they finally 
 came to the theatre. 
 
 A simple couch had been arranged in the little loft where 
 Joseph had seen the company at lunch ; and upon it, cov-
 
 LIGHTNING IN CLEAR SKY 241 
 
 ered with fantastic Oriental draperies, and with her dainty 
 head propped up by the cushion on which Judith had exe 
 cuted " Holofernus," Miryain was lying, her eyes wide open, 
 and staring at the bare beams of the roof, and her thiu 
 girlish hands crossed on her breast. She was so strangely 
 still that Joseph's heart beat tumultuously at the thought 
 that she might be dead. 
 
 He was about to whisper to David, when the child-woman 
 turned her face, which was suddenly transfigured with a 
 heavenly smile, toward Joseph, and, as if moved by an ir 
 resistible impulse which she herself did not understand, 
 stretched out her arms to him. 
 
 He hastened forward and knelt beside her. 
 
 " Herr Joseph ! " she said, "it was very sweet of you 
 to come in your hour of victory ! I have heard I know 
 I told everybody that you would win ! " 
 
 A divine tenderness stole into her eyes ; and a strange 
 look, which made her seem older, and gave to her gaze a 
 womanly warmth and grace, thrilled Joseph deeply. 
 
 He took her hands almost timidly, looking round at David, 
 who encouraged him with a smile. 
 
 " Dear Miryam ! " he said, " did those brutal villains harm 
 
 you this morning ? If they did I shall have them punished ! " 
 
 _" They meant to take your life, Joseph ! " sighed the girl, 
 
 clinging to Joseph's hand with a yearning caress which 
 
 touched him beyond the power of expression. 
 
 ''I know I know, Miryain ! But I was mad I was 
 foolish to let you remain there an instant ! And to feel 
 that the stone aimed at me should have struck you down ! " 
 
 " It does not hurt now, Reb Joseph," said the girl bravely. 
 "It burned a good deal at first, but it is calmer now, and 
 it will soon be nothing. Ah, R-eb Joseph ! my spirit would 
 have been happ} r if I had been stretched dead at your feet, 
 and you had walked over me to victory ! "
 
 242 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 She touched Joseph's hand reverently with her thin 
 lips ; then sank back as if exhausted with emotion and 
 pain. 
 
 " Dear little Miryam !" whispered Joseph; "she is like 
 an angel of light. She is out of place in this rude life of 
 starvation and struggle. Heaven forgive me for bringing 
 a single pang to the poor child ! " 
 
 "'The rose grows among thorns!'" said David senten- 
 tiously, stooping over Miryam to listen to her breathing, 
 which was labored and hoarse. " She must sleep now. The 
 doctor is coming soon. She could not rest without seeing 
 you. Now it is our duty to make her well and strong." 
 
 "How I wish I could do something to help her ! " sighed 
 poor Joseph, who had been growing more and more im 
 patient of his poverty ever since the victory over Freier. 
 " But what can I do ? " he cried, clasping his hands. " I have 
 nothing, I am nothing ! Tell me, is Miryam seriously 
 bruised ? " 
 
 " She has youth and courage on her side," said David 
 evasively. But his face darkened, and his eyes looked 
 troubled as he spoke. Then he drew Joseph softly aside, 
 and they sat down together on a pile of costumes in which 
 a Hebrew army was that evening to vanquish an oppressor 
 in one of David's biblical dramas. 
 
 " Now that your battle is over, Joseph," said David, " I 
 wish to give you a bit of advice. You are not strong 
 enough to carry on this struggle, as it may be necessary to 
 do again and again. You have done your part ; your duty 
 now is to your wife and child." 
 
 "I know, I know," said Joseph humbly; "I am going 
 back to the machine at once." 
 
 " You can do better than that. Up in the Connecticut 
 hills I hear that there is a colony, made up of our people, 
 who have been helped by generous people abroad, and who
 
 LIGHTNING IN CLEAR SKY 243 
 
 are doing well. You might go there, and found yourself a 
 home, and live with them. They would be glad of your 
 counsel arid assistance. Our people are foolish to settle 
 in these city slums. But it is useless to reason with these 
 mobs. With you, Joseph, I can reason, and I entreat you 
 to found a home, an independence, a refuge." 
 
 " If it could only be ! " sighed the weary Joseph. " But 
 who would take care of my poor folk here ? " 
 
 " Others will spring up to continue your good work. 
 Promise me that you will think of the colony, Joseph." 
 
 " I will." Joseph grasped David's arm, breathing hard, 
 and looking as perturbed as if he had seen a spectre. He 
 drew David back with him behind a high pile of "proper 
 ties," and stood trembling and apparently angry. 
 
 Bathsheba had stolen in, and, moving lightly to the couch, 
 had knelt beside Miryam, and taken the girl's thin hands 
 in hers. Joseph could hear her speaking caressingly to 
 Miryam, and the girl was answering in a whisper. He 
 looked at Bathsheba curiously. She was as coldly, statu- 
 esquely beautiful as ever: there was nothing to indicate 
 that her nature was capable of the mighty passion mani 
 fested when she had thrown herself upon his breast, or when 
 they stood lashed together, ready to descend from the 
 window of the burning building. 
 
 " Come away ! " whispered Joseph ; and by crawling over 
 a beam or two they managed to regain the exit without 
 being seen by Bathsheba. 
 
 David placed both hands on Joseph's shoulders and 
 looked him squarely in the face as he bade him good-by. 
 " Think about the colony, friend Joseph," he said. " Up 
 there you would not be troubled by any more glimpses of 
 Bathsheba" Joseph flushed, but did not appear to be 
 angry " and perhaps that would be as well. ' Trust not 
 thyself until the day of thy death,' " added David, conclud-
 
 244 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 ing with a proverb, as usual, and turning away with a mist 
 iness in his eyes. 
 
 Joseph went home perplexed in spirit. 
 
 There was a great meeting at the Union that night, at 
 which the young labor-leader was fairly worshipped by the 
 mothers and wives who recognized in him the deliverer, 
 leading their sons and husbands up out of the land of Egypt, 
 and it was long past midnight before his weary head rested 
 on his humble pillow. 
 
 Toward six o'clock he awoke, with a delicious sense of 
 relief from the furnace heat which for the few days past 
 had made life almost intolerable. 
 
 A cool wind, laden with the aroma of the sea, was blow 
 ing through the open casements. Large raindrops were 
 plashing upon the window-sills ; and presently there came 
 a deep, magnificent thunder roll, which seemed to shake the 
 city to its foundations. 
 
 Malcha and the child were sleeping peacefully. Joseph 
 arose and dressed himself slowly, meditating on his many 
 escapes from trouble. His landlord was pacified : his vic 
 tory over Freier was decisive. Now he would go to work ! 
 
 He went out to the front steps, and sat down, enjoying 
 the brisk air and the cool rain breaths. Life began to seem 
 large and fine to him once more. Vague ambitions slowly 
 took shape in his mind. David's advice drifted through his 
 memory. He had a momentary vision of a charming coun 
 try home, where he and his were snugly ensconced, free 
 from cares and jealousies and impressions. 
 
 "Does Mr. Joseph Zalmonah live here?" said a sharp, 
 but not unkindly, voice close beside him. 
 
 He started, and found a keen-faced, gray -eyed man, 
 dressed in a blue flannel suit, a derby hat, and a pair of 
 untanned leather shoes, stepping briskly around so as to 
 face him.
 
 LIGHTNING IN CLEAR SKY 245 
 
 " I am the man," answered Joseph politely. "What can 
 I do for you ? " 
 
 " Mr. Joseph Zaluionah, the labor-leader ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Well, Mr. Zaluionah, I'm sorry to trouble ye, but I have 
 a warrant for your arrest, and if you will come along with 
 me, I'll explain it a little to ye, as we go along. " 
 
 Joseph laughed. Probably some trick of Baumeister's, 
 some trivial accusation of assault, or was it a blow struck 
 out of the dark by some more powerful enemy ? 
 
 "Come," said the man, "sorry to bother ye, but busi 
 ness is business. And you might as well know the charge, 
 because ye don't seem to think it's serious. The charge is 
 Arson." 
 
 The word fell heavily on Joseph's brain. " Arson ? " he 
 repeated wonderingly. 
 
 "Yes burning a house when they's folks in it see? 
 Come, now, Mr. Zalmonah, we don't want no crowd; git 
 your hat, and we will trudge along before the storm ketches 
 us."
 
 246 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 THE LIVING TOMB 
 
 WHEN Joseph went in to get his hat, he approached the 
 bed, and saw Maicha and the child slumbering so peacefully 
 that lie at once decided not to wake them. 
 
 Little Zipporah had clambered high up, and laid her 
 pretty head confidingly on her mother's arm, and she 
 nestled there in the most charming of postures. 
 
 The mother's deep regular breathing showed that she 
 could be awakened only with difficulty just then. Her face 
 wore a pleased smile, as if she were dreaming of something 
 very agreeable. 
 
 " She looks," thought Joseph, " as she did when she was 
 a young bride, with no care on her brow." 
 
 He bent down and kissed her, and as his lips touched her 
 face, flushed with sleep, a pang, as of a sudden stab, shot 
 through his breast, and he thought that he would have 
 fallen. 
 
 But he recovered in an instant, and, seizing his hat, he 
 quickly rejoined his watchful captor at the door. 
 
 He did not dare to look backward. For lie knew that if 
 he did he should fly to Malcha's arms, and awaken her to 
 all the wretchedness of a despairing good-by. 
 
 " Come on." he said ; " I am ready for you now." 
 
 " You seem to speak English pretty well," said the man. 
 " Ben in this country long ? "
 
 THE LIVING TOMB 24'J 
 
 " Long enough to know that there is as much injustice 
 in it as in most countries," answered Joseph bitterly. 
 " What fool has trumped up a charge against me ? I will 
 make him sweat for it before the day is over." 
 
 The man shot a keen glance at him. " A day ain't much," 
 he said, not unkindly, " when a feller's in. your fix. If I 
 was you, now, I wouldn't be too impatient. And when we 
 get over there," he made a gesture to the westward, which 
 might have meant anything this side of California, " I 
 recommend you to send home and let your folks know 
 where ye be. It'll save trouble." 
 
 " What do you call ' over there ' ? " said Joseph, looking 
 at the man fixedly. 
 
 " Wai, we're bound for Essex Market now," he answered, 
 " and then I suppose that if you don't get bail it'll be the 
 ' Tombs.' And it's pretty hard getting bail on arson now," 
 he added reflectively. 
 
 " Oh, the ' Tombs,' " reflected Joseph aloud. He had al 
 most forgotten that he was to be put in prison. But now 
 the fact loomed up before him, large, grim, and terrible. 
 
 With the instinct of any live thing which finds itself in 
 a trap, he looked desperately and quickly to right and left, 
 and then shot a swift glance at his companion. 
 
 " Now, Zalmonah," said the officer, moving up to him with 
 astonishing quickness, "you look like a man of sense. 
 Just prove it. I know that this part of the town is full of 
 your folks. But it wouldn't do you the least good to break 
 away. I'd git ye again, if I had ter have the militia called 
 out. You bet I would." 
 
 He took from his hip pocket a package of " fine cut " and 
 selected a capacious chew. " I'm right, hey ? " he queried. 
 
 " Yes," responded Joseph ; " you are right." 
 
 At that moment he heard the click-click-click clack-clack 
 of a sewing-machine, and it sounded like music in his ear.
 
 248 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 They had turned into a quarter where cloakmakers 
 abounded, and the clack of the machine indicated that the 
 poor people had gone to work again. They would have 
 bread now, he thought, as the great tears stood in his eyes. 
 What mattered it what became of him ? 
 
 Each moment he expected to see one of his followers 
 recognize him, and ask him where he was going ; but he 
 encountered no one who knew him. 
 
 The fact was that every cloakinaker was at home or in 
 the shops, working for dear life to make up for lost time, 
 and no one thought of glancing into the street. 
 
 In. a few minutes they were at the Essex Market prison, 
 where Joseph had often been to intercede for an indiscreet 
 workman or woman who had been illustrating her argument 
 with scratches upon her neighbor's face. 
 
 Here he was interrogated and locked up ; and after he 
 had written a little scrawl to his wife, begging her not to 
 be alarmed, and to come and see him at mid-day, he sat 
 down on the bench in his cell, and in a few minutes fell 
 fast asleep. 
 
 The relapse after the long strain had come. Joseph was 
 as weak as a child. . 
 
 Two days after his arrest Joseph stood, a little tremulous 
 and disturbed, but still full of courage, at the entrance to 
 the " Tombs." 
 
 He had seen Malcha ; he had seen Ben Zion ; he had 
 seen kind friends who were indignant at his arrest. But 
 the magistrate had placed his bail so high that no one in 
 his humble circle no, nor any ten of them combined 
 could raise it; and so he was going to the ' Tombs" to 
 await his trial. 
 
 Joseph vaguely noted the long, low wall, like that of an 
 Egyptian burial-place ; the diminutive entrance, with the
 
 THE LIVING TOMB 249 
 
 words "City Prison" in modest type, and a grating, just 
 inside of which a fat policeman sat, with a cheerful smile 
 upon his face, and an apparent willingness to let everybody 
 and anybody in the world go in, although he might have 
 totally different notions about allowing them to go out 
 again. 
 
 A shadow seemed to rest upon everything. His captor 
 pushed him forward a little as the grating swung back, as 
 if he feared the sudden revolt of the flesh in favor of 
 liberty. 
 
 Joseph stepped briskly in. The policeman swung the 
 grating to position, popped the key into his pocket, and 
 proceeded to stare with great earnestness at nothing at all. 
 
 Now that he was caged, Joseph took accurate note of 
 everything. He observed the low, old-fashioned vault 
 ing of the ceiling of the reception-room; the high desk out 
 of which a clerk stared in a coldly unsympathetic way, as 
 if bored by the new arrival ; the wooden railings, behind 
 which the prisoners were compelled to file, and the smooth 
 polish which had been put upon them by the innumerable 
 hands' of thieves, murderers, drunken ruffians, and outcasts 
 on their way to even less comfortable abodes. 
 
 He was ushered into a deep recess beneath the vaults, 
 and seated at a table beside his companion. But no one 
 else came near him ; the shadows fell more deeply around 
 him. He fancied that it was something like being dead. 
 The silence and gloom of the living tomb had already taken 
 hold upon his spirit. 
 
 He let his hands fall listlessly in his lap, and sat con 
 templating them with reproachful gaze, as who would say, 
 " Xow, what have you done wrong to bring me to such a 
 place as this ? " 
 
 By and by he heard a footstep, and an elderly man in a 
 neatly fitting frock-coat of expensive material Joseph
 
 250 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 remembered long afterward how he eyed that coat, and 
 tried to discover whether or not it had been made by a 
 sweater's bondman entered and looked at him with a cold 
 glance, but without greeting him at all. 
 
 " This is Zalmonah, Warden, "' said Joseph's captor. " You 
 know. Case of arson in the first degree. No bail." 
 
 The warden looked at the man with a frigid stare. 
 
 Now came much writing down of Joseph's responses to 
 questions asked by the clerk, who came out of a dark recess, 
 and careful searching of pcckets ; and then warden and 
 clerk seemed to fade away, and Joseph's captor arose and 
 essayed a grin, at the same time holding out a huge knotted 
 hand, and saying, 
 
 " Well, so long, Zalmonah. I guess you'll be all right 
 here. And if, as your friends say, you hadn't nothing to 
 do with that case of arson, why, you won't be staying here 
 a great while." 
 
 Joseph reached out one hand he seemed gifted with 
 extraordinary strength for a moment and gripped the offi 
 cer by the collar of his coat. Then he drew the man close 
 to him, and looked sharply into his eyes. 
 
 " Do you mean to tell me," he said, " that you have ever 
 for an instant supposed me guilty of arson ? " 
 
 " Well perhaps," stammered the man, who was the 
 least bit daunted ; " but now that I have seen you " 
 
 "Then if you could believe that," said Joseph, spurning 
 the fellow away, " you are a greater fool than I take you 
 for. Now, what do they want to do with me ? " 
 
 " This way," said a cracked voice, and Joseph saw at his 
 elbow a small gray-headed man in a faded dark blue uni 
 form, with a slouch cap on his head, and a bunch of keys in 
 his hand. This elderly person led the way as if he were a 
 hotel porter showing a guest the best rooms in the house, 
 until they reached the railings, when he got Joseph in front 
 of him, and said curtly, ' Turn to the right."
 
 THE LIVING TOMB 251 
 
 A lock clicked, a grating swung open ; an attendant seated 
 in the obscurity peered out sharply at Joseph, as if deter 
 mined to be sure of recognizing him again ; and then Joseph 
 and his guide rambled along under the archway. From 
 point to point lanterns cast dubious rays, which seemed 
 timid about affronting the general blackness. 
 
 " Pretty good weather to-day, ain't it ? " said the guide, 
 jingling his keys. 
 
 " Fairly good," answered Joseph. " But you would never 
 know it here. This is like a tomb." 
 
 The man looked fixedly at him for a moment. " Wai, 
 that's right, ain't it ? " he said querulously. " They call it 
 the ' Tombs,' don't they ? What d'ye expect ? " 
 
 "Nothing," answered Joseph with a sigh. 
 
 And indeed he had arrived at that point where he really 
 expected nothing more. It seemed to him as if the end of 
 his self-imposed martyrdom had come, in a universal black 
 ness in which he should soon find oblivion. A host of con 
 fused and fleeting images his wife, his child, Miryam, 
 David, Ben Zion ; Mordecai, with his songs ; Bathsheba, with 
 her sinuous grace and dangerous wiles ; Baumeister in his 
 epileptic fits came .around him, were luminous for a mo 
 ment, and then were consumed by the shadows. 
 
 And now they were at another door, which was opened 
 with a grating key, and which, swinging inwards, disclosed 
 a consumptive-looking keeper sitting in a low chair, from 
 which he arose to open one more creaking and heavy portal. 
 This led into a narrow corridor, along which Joseph was 
 hurried, without perceiving that the first turnkey had left 
 him, and that he was between two others. 
 
 They passed through a gate, on one side of which, on a 
 little perch, sat a harsh-featured man, and Joseph was ush 
 ered into a small cell on the lower tier of the section re 
 served for prisoners awaiting trial, and found himself
 
 252 JOSEPH ZALMONAII 
 
 welcomed with a sort of fierce joy by a commonplace de 
 faulter with an East Side drawl, who said he was lonesome, 
 and mighty glad to see company ; and he furthermore added 
 that if Joseph had any tobacco, he would be "much obliged 
 for some." 
 
 Joseph at first turned his back on this importunate fellow- 
 prisoner, because he felt an imperious need of retiring into 
 his own spirit, and compelling the world, with its prison- 
 walls, to vanish from his thoughts. He sat down on his 
 little bed, and held his head in his hands so long that his 
 companion said, " Huh ! cracked, I guess ! " and began 
 writing on a piece of foolscap, with a soap-box for a table. 
 
 Joseph did not look up from his revery until the prepa 
 rations in the corridor told him that night had come. He 
 thought of Malcha lonely in a strange land, with a little 
 child to care for, and with no resource save manual labor, 
 and then the hot tears gushed from his eyes. He lay down 
 and turned his face to the wall, and that night the iron 
 entered into his soul. 
 
 But next morning he was more tranquil, for there was a 
 bustle around him, and an air of cheerfulness pervaded even 
 the living tomb. On the corridor above, reporters were 
 flocking about the cell of a financier who had fallen by the 
 way, and he heard them laughing and talking in a high key 
 with the wretched man. 
 
 Joseph was allowed to send for such things as he needed, 
 and was informed that a friend had opened a credit for him. 
 HP was offered a newspaper, and permitted to smoke cigar 
 ettes, and to write and send letters. But no matter how 
 absorbed he became in the petty occupations permissible, 
 he could not shake off the feeling that he was entombed 
 alive, and that for him the sentient, breathing world, with 
 its colors of sunrise and song of birds and kiss of wife and 
 children, was lost forever.
 
 THE LIVING TOMB 253 
 
 That day brought him a visitor. It was David, serene 
 and quaint as usual, seeming to bring with him the fresh 
 air of freedom, and some hope for the future. 
 
 " And Malcha ? " gasped Joseph, clinging to the grating, 
 and shaking it desperately in his anxiety. 
 
 " Malcha and the child will be provided for until your 
 innocence is proved," said David. " The poor wife was 
 going to work in a cloakmaker's (a groan escaped Joseph's 
 lips), but I put a stop to that. I have a project, Joseph, 
 and I have come to tell you about it. But first take these 
 little things which Malcha and Miryam have sent you," and 
 he handed in a little basket, which had been duly examined 
 by the Cerberus at the entrance. 
 
 "Food and flowers!" said Joseph, glancing at the gifts. 
 " They can wait. The scheme the scheme ! " 
 
 " You know," said David, hugging the bars of the grating, 
 " that when the righteous dies ' 'tis earth which meets with 
 loss.' You are too valuable to us to be lost in this battle 
 that you are fighting against such fearful odds, Joseph; and 
 as soon as you are free I mean to take you and yours into 
 a new and a safer field of action. Joseph, I am going to 
 found a colony myself." 
 
 " Well, there now," said Joseph, " if I heard Ben Zion 
 say a thing like that, I could listen without a smile ! But 
 when I hear an intelligent and practical man like you 
 Since when were our poor people qualified for the rough 
 work of colony life ? They were not successful enough with 
 farming at home to try it abroad." 
 
 " Yet we are going to try it, Joseph, and we want you to 
 lead and encourage us. Up among the hills, a hundred and 
 fifty miles from here, in a State they call Connecticut do 
 you remember my mentioning a colony already founded 
 there ? we have found a half-deserted section where we 
 can get homes cheaply, and where we can establish small
 
 254 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 industries. And now our first duty, Joseph, is to get you 
 free, so that you may help us. In the fresh air of the coun 
 try, and with land of your own, you will be a new man. 
 We will draw the refugees away from the sweaters to us ! 
 We will leave them without slaves to tyrannize over ! We 
 will outwit them, Joseph, and they shall lose all their ill- 
 gotten gains." 
 
 Transfigured by his enthusiasm, David shook the bars so, 
 and talked so loudly, that a keeper came to peer curiously 
 at him. 
 
 But Joseph shook his head sorrowfully. "I am afraid 
 that it is all a dream, David. And how am I to be got out 
 of here, even if your dream is realized ? No, no ; I 
 must stay here in the darkness my enemies have laid 
 'their hands on me; and 'Israel is smitten, as the reed is 
 shaken in the waters.' " 
 
 He tried to smile. 
 
 " Come, now," said David, " ' into the well which supplies 
 thee with water cast no stones.' Why refuse the pleasing 
 prospect of the colony ? I shall keep an interest in my 
 theatre, which pays me well ; and we will have a home for 
 Miry am and Malcha and the child, and for Manasseh and 
 Shiphrah " 
 
 He paused, and a wave of color came into his face. " I 
 would like to have Shiphrah included in the scheme, if you 
 do not object, Joseph," he said almost humbly. 
 
 Joseph did not answer at once. He was beginning to 
 understand that David's interest in the unfortunate Shiph 
 rah was more than a benevolent one ; that the young play 
 wright and manager had learned to love the erring one. 
 Presently he put out his hand, and David took it. 
 
 "Did I not deliver Shiphrah out of the hands of the 
 sweaters ? " Joseph said ; " and was it in order to hinder her 
 from receiving any gift of God which might come to her?"
 
 THE LIVING TOMB 255 
 
 The two friends understood, without further words. 
 When they parted Joseph felt a fresh breeze of hope on 
 his brow, although David had not been able to give him a 
 single iota of information about the real author of the fire 
 which had burned Simon's house, and with it many of the 
 unlucky tenants. David was confident that the real culprit 
 would be found ; that meantime bail for Joseph would yet 
 be accepted ; but that was all. 
 
 Left alone, Joseph began to reflect seriously on his dni.y 
 to himself in the matter. The most serious evidence against 
 him seemed to be furnished by his presence in the house 
 at the time the conflagration was discovered, and the 
 fact that he had cried out to Simon, on the night when the 
 cloakmakers had gone to rescue poor Mother Levitsky, 
 something about having his houses burned. If two, three, 
 or a half dozen of the hostile seceders from his Union were 
 to swear in court to these things, Joseph felt convinced 
 that it might go hard with him. Was Baumeister at the 
 bottom of the intrigue ? and would he arise to swear away 
 Joseph's life and liberty, and to cause him to be forgotten 
 of men ? Was he capable of such baseness ? 
 
 When weeping Malcha came to see him that same day, 
 Joseph felt as if his heart would burst. How could he 
 answer the flood of questions which she ponred into his dis 
 tracted ears? How tell her that. he was with Bathsheba 
 In the burning building, and that he had rescued her from 
 it ? The blood arose to his cheek as he thought on these 
 things. But it faded away again when Malcha, who was 
 the very acme of goodness and patience, and whose belief 
 in him was absolute, told him that in a day or two she was 
 to begin work in a cloakmaker's. 
 
 Joseph besought her not to do it, and told her of David's 
 project of the colony. " Wait a few days," he said, with 
 an attempt at a smile, "and all will be well."
 
 256 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 But Malcha would not hear of it, nor of any reliance 
 upon David's friendly assistance. To the machine she 
 would go, and earn her own living, until Joseph should be 
 given back to her. And there was a fierce resolution in 
 her pallid little face as she held up Zipporah above the 
 railings to be kissed, and went away, looking back with a 
 scared, hunted sort of glance which cut Joseph's pride 
 severely. 
 
 When she was gone Joseph entered his cell, and fell into 
 such a paroxysm of despair that his companion feared that 
 he would attempt his own life. But little by little his 
 courage came back, and he steeled his soul as all heroic 
 natures have done since Society invented torture for those 
 who reprove its crimes and follies. 
 
 By contact with the earth he got new strength, like 
 Antaeus. He was thrown down and trampled on ; but he 
 felt growing within him an infinite strength for resistance 
 to suffering. 
 
 Days passed, each one hailed by Joseph as likely to 
 produce an event, and each, like its predecessor, stealing 
 away slowly amid the dull round of prison duties. Now 
 and then came a " new boarder," who was curiously scanned 
 by all the old pensioners, and at once rated. Joseph dis 
 covered that the tongue of scandal and slander wagged far 
 more busily inside prison than outside. 
 
 Night came, with its awful stillness, its locked and double- 
 locked gratings, its blackness, which seemed as if it must 
 be denser than that of the tomb. And then came morning, 
 with click and clatter of locks and with the hundred an 
 noyances to which Joseph daily subjected his poor soul 
 because he could not bring himself to think that he was a 
 prisoner. 
 
 One day, after he had been in the " Tombs " three weeks, 
 Joseph was seated in the door of his cell, gazing moodily
 
 THE LIVING TOMB 257 
 
 into the glowing coals of the huge heater which, winter and 
 summer, does duty in the damp and unhealthy corridor, 
 when " the visit of a lady " was announced. 
 
 He hastened to the grating, thinking that it was of course 
 Malcha with the child. 
 
 But it was not Malcha and Zipporah. It was Bathsheba ; 
 and before he could draw back from the grating her warm 
 hands had touched his cold ones, and had sent a passionate 
 thrill through his whole being. 
 
 "No no," said Joseph faintly, like one who is slowly 
 swooning ; " I did not desire to see you. I cannot talk 
 with you now." 
 
 Bathsheba did not speak just then. She withdrew her 
 hands ; her cheeks grew ashy pale, and she stood looking 
 at Joseph through the bars with an air of offended majesty. 
 
 " Go away," he said ; " I cannot hear anything that you 
 have come to say. If it affords you pleasure to look upon 
 your work, gaze at it! But don't expect me to join in. your 
 joy at my ruin ! " 
 
 The woman found her tongue now. Her eyes sparkled ; 
 she tossed her head saucily, and stamped her feet upon the 
 stone floor. 
 
 " You call this my work ! " she said. " And after I was 
 the first to warn you ! " 
 
 "A pretty warning indeed ! You found me walking into 
 the trap, and did not tell me I was in danger." 
 
 Bathsheba took no notice of this accusation. " What if 
 I were to tell you that I could set you free within a 
 week ?" she whispered. " Would you believe that ? " 
 
 " No. I do not think that I shall ever be free again." 
 
 Bathsheba looked at him in unfeigned surprise. 
 
 " Go and do your worst ! " said Joseph with a fierce 
 energy. " You and Baumeister between you can easily 
 make up a story that will send me up the river."
 
 258 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 " His mind is wandering," said Bathsheba in a low tone, 
 as if communing with herself. " I tell you, man, that I am 
 going to set you free," she said, looking at him as if she 
 were wondering why the words did not throw him into 
 transports of joy. Then a great tear rolled down one 
 cheek, and was speedily followed by another. " In a 
 week. You will see." 
 
 "When I see it then I will believe it," said Joseph. 
 "You will have to produce the person who set the house 
 on fire. Can you do that ? " 
 
 " Perhaps." 
 
 " Then it is your duty. Why not go and do it, instead 
 of coming here to look at me ? " 
 
 A great sigh caused Bathsheba's bosom to heave convul 
 sively. Her eyes overflowed with tears. " You are cruel, 
 very cruel, Joseph," she said ; " but I will do my best to 
 save you, even though you turn away from me forever as 
 you do now. I- wan ted to see you, to tell you that I am 
 once more at work studying for the theatre " 
 
 " The theatre ! " cried Joseph. " My God ! she talks of 
 theatre, as if we had not enough of tragedy in real life ! " 
 
 " for the theatre," continued Bathsheba, not heeding 
 his interruption. "And I wanted to tell you of Miryam 
 she will recover." 
 
 " I am glad," said Joseph. " Do as you please ; think 
 as you please ; act for me or against me, but leave me now. 
 Do you not see that I am dead and buried ? Then why 
 hang about my tomb ? " 
 
 "I came," concluded Bathsheba, "to tell you those 
 things, and to bring you this." She threw a little package 
 inside the grating, saying in very good, clear English to 
 the keeper seated near by, "'You needn't jump; the bundle 
 has already been looked at." Then she turned around 
 and went with a slow and stately step down the corridor.
 
 THE LIVING TOMB 259 
 
 "Gad! she's a hummer!" said the keeper coarsely. 
 " Sister ? " he asked of Joseph. 
 
 The vexed and worried labor-leader did not answer. 
 Presently he picked up the parcel and retired with it to 
 his cell. 
 
 It contained a few books, among them a little yellow- 
 covered volume of Mordecai Menzer's "Songs for the 
 People," with the famous verses which had awakened the 
 cloakmakers "to action printed on the first page. There 
 were some bunches of grapes, and a flower or two. And 
 on the top of all these poor offerings lay a picture of 
 Bathsheba as she must have looked when a school-girl 
 in that far-off Russia which now seemed separated from 
 Joseph by an eternity of sorrow and suffering. 
 
 Her picture ! He tore it into shreds with such fierceness 
 that his cell companion smiled. 
 
 But next day, when he was seated at his grating, gazing 
 again into the glowing coals through the open door of the 
 heater, he saw the face of the picture there, looking 
 mournfully and reproachfully at him.
 
 2GO JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 THE WONDER-KABBI 
 
 BATHSHEBA hastened back to her humble lodgings, where 
 she was living surrounded by misery so much greater than 
 her own that she seemed rich by comparison. A kind of 
 rage against Joseph, against fate, against the whole world, 
 took possession of her. 
 
 So, then, there were no illusions left ! She was face to 
 face with the barren fact that Joseph despised and dis 
 dained her. 
 
 There was something in this so intolerably humiliating 
 to Bathsheba's pride that it cut her to the heart. The 
 exquisite torture of Joseph's rebuff seemed also to bring 
 her thoughts down once more to the gloomy level whither 
 they had descended when she had first joined the "party 
 of force." She longed to wreak upon the world, upon 
 Society, the vengeance which her love forbade her to 
 undertake against him. 
 
 As she wound in and out of the dirty and narrow streets 
 of the East Side, she often raised her hands and shook 
 them at the sky, as if she were menacing the unseen powers 
 which would not allow her to shape her life in harmony 
 with her own conceptions of happiness. 
 
 Spurned ! Very well ! she would study, toil night and 
 day, become a great actress, gain fabulous sums of money, 
 and spend them in fighting this grim, unyielding social
 
 THE WONDER-RABBI 261 
 
 order which was inflicting such wretchedness upon Joseph 
 and tens of thousands of the hapless refugees. She felt 
 that she could attain greatness. 
 
 In the intensity of her preoccupation she made more 
 gestures fiercer ones ; and, pausing at a corner, she tapped 
 her brow dramatically, asking herself aloud in Russian, 
 
 " Have I not the power here with which to win ? " 
 
 A fat policeman lounging near by observed Bathsheba 
 curiously. He crossed the street toward her, saying, " Loony, 
 1 guess," and was about to speak to her, when a little man 
 with red hair and beard, dressed in a singularly variegated 
 collection of clothes, came up, and, greeting Bathsheba, led 
 her away. 
 
 "I have been looking for you everywhere," said Ben 
 Zion, with a certain reproach in his tone. " Ah ! I see that 
 you are admiring my new clothes. I got 'em at a bargain 
 three dollars for the lot. That was a great find." 
 
 He raised his hands, and, laying the palms open on the 
 air, shook them up and down as if weighing imaginary 
 money which lie fancied that he had saved by his bargain. 
 " Now," he said, " you will not be ashamed to be seen in 
 public with me. And do you know I have got a clew." 
 
 "Have you?" cried Bathsheba delightedly. "What 
 is it ? " 
 
 " Hum ! that is a long story. You must come with me 
 at half-past five to the house of the Wonder-Rabbi, and if 
 there we don't stumble upon something to prove Joseph's 
 innocence, then may I never peddle more ! " 
 
 " The Wonder-Rabbi ? What is that ? Some cabalistic 
 nonsense, I suppose," said Bathsheba disdainfully. "Never 
 mind, I will go, whatever it is ; for at the mere thought of 
 seeing Herr Joseph free my heart leaps up like like " 
 
 "Ah! it isn't every Avoinan I'd ask to go with me into 
 the Wonder-Rabbi's house," said Ben Zion, glancing around,
 
 262 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 as if he feared being overheard. "Not Malcha now. 
 She'd spoil everything. Not even you, unless you were 
 cool as you have been lately. Will you meet me, then, 
 at the Wonder-Rabbi's door at half-past five ? If you will 
 promise, I will give you the address." 
 
 " Very well ; I will come." 
 
 Ben Zion handed Bathsheba a greasy slip of paper, on 
 which was written the number of a house in an adjacent 
 street a neighborhood tilled with the very poorest people. 
 
 " Your rabbi must be a ' wonder ' if he can get a living 
 in that neighborhood," said Bathsheba. 
 
 " Pooh ! wise men can live where the foolish starve," 
 responded the pedler. " Now I will run home and see if 
 the rats have carried off that Baumeister brat but I know 
 they haven't, for he kicks at them like a little thorough 
 bred, he does ! " 
 
 And he ran away before Bathsheba could ask him why 
 he still kept the child which he had saved on the night of 
 the great fire. 
 
 She reflected that she had not seen Baumeister since 
 then, and she resolved to ask Ben Zion what had become 
 of him. 
 
 Neither Mordecai nor any of the apostles who had been 
 grouped under Baumeister's teaching had seen him. Had 
 he given up his task as hopeless, and vanished ? 
 
 At the appointed time Bathsheba met Ben Zion at the 
 door of an old-fashioned house in a little corner near 
 Rivington Street. Two generations ago this had been a 
 new and handsome mansion, set in a pretty garden, with 
 a charming outlook over the East River. 
 
 Now it was walled in at front and back by acres of ugly 
 scrambling tenement houses, into many of which the sun 
 shine crept only for an hour daily. 
 
 Near the door stood little groups of refugees, conversing
 
 THE WONDER-RABBI 
 
 in whispers, and glancing over their shoulders at the door 
 in awestruck fashion. 
 
 " He is certainly a great man, is Reb Moiser," said an 
 old woman in a quavering voice. "They say he talks 
 directly with Jehovah. Every Friday night, just before 
 the services in the synagogues, he has ceremonies ; and 
 while he is talking with Jehovah, he turns white, and he 
 groans like a man in great pain. You will hear him to 
 night. And I know that he can cure the blind and make 
 the lame walk ! " 
 
 "I must try him, then," said a red-eyed cloakmaker, "for 
 working in a dark corner is ruining my eyesight. I can 
 scarcely see Mother Abramovitch's face there, six feet 
 away ! " 
 
 " He's the man for your money, Reb Moiser is," croaked 
 the old woman. 
 
 " Bah ! " said Bathsheba to Ben Zion, as they went up the 
 steps, "I thought you were above things like this, Ben 
 Zion." 
 
 "Wait until you have seen Reb Moiser, and you will 
 sing another tune," croaked the little pedler in his quaint 
 guttural, as he pushed boldly inuO the grimy passage-way, 
 and beckoned Bathsheba to follow him. 
 
 They climbed a greasy flight of stairs, picking their way 
 with difficulty among the infirm old women seated on every 
 other step, waiting in the hope of seeing the Wonder-Rabbi, 
 and securing his precious advice. 
 
 Ben Zion turned into a little room at the right, where sat 
 a tall, gawky youth, accoutred, in spite of the fact that the 
 thermometer registered seventy, in a heavy long cloak, a 
 pair of top-boots, and a pointed fur cap, which gave him 
 a fantastic appearance, as if he had walked out of some 
 mediaeval chronicle, and suddenly come to life. 
 
 This youth peered sharply at Ben Zion and his compan-
 
 264 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 ion ; then taking his pen in hand, as if preparing to make 
 an entry iii the great book which lay open before him, he 
 cried, 
 
 " Approach, Jew ! " 
 
 " Well, well, here we are, as the bear said to the moujik 
 when he bit his head off," responded Ben Zion querulously. 
 
 "Silence!" said the youth, looking askance at the ped- 
 ler; " this is no place for laughter." 
 
 " Yes, we know it isn't a theatre ; but you needn't be so 
 crusty about it," piped up Ben Zion. 
 
 " Who are you, what is your name, your age, and how 
 many children have you?" said the youth glibly, at the 
 same time motioning Bathsheba to step forward 
 
 Bathsheba was amazed to hear the little pr Her answer 
 with equal glibness, 
 
 " I am a clothing dealer, named Rosenstein, forty years 
 old, a widower with four children, and this is uiy poor sis 
 ter who lives with me." 
 
 This astonishing statement almost took Bathsheba's 
 breath away, and she was about to denounce lien Zion, 
 when she suddenly perceived that he was playing a game 
 for some purpose, as yet hidden, and she decided to hold 
 her peace. 
 
 "Good ! " said the youth, flourishing his pen as if he were 
 imparting a benediction. "And how do you know, Jew, that 
 Rabbi Moiser will consent to see you ? " 
 
 "Oh, I am sure," said Ben Zion, instantly assuming a 
 cringing attitude, "that he would not have the heart to 
 refuse us. We are in great trouble, and no one but the 
 rabbi can help us." 
 
 "You must pay fifteen cents each," said the youth, ex 
 tending a bulbous paw. 
 
 The money was paid by Ben Zion, who grumbled that it 
 was " very dear," and the youth arose and lumbered into
 
 THE WONDER-RABBI 265 
 
 an inner room. Returning after a little, he ushered the vis 
 itors before the far-famed and redoubtable Wonder-Rabbi. 
 
 That personage proved to be a corpulent and mild-looking 
 man, with a yellowish complexion, a fat face, with a beak- 
 like nose, and an iron-gray beard which rippled down upon 
 his breast, where it was neatly parted. 
 
 He wore a black silk gown, and his head was crowned 
 with a conical fur cap, around which a few languid flies 
 were buzzing, as if they felt certain that coolness must 
 linger in such Arctic headgear. 
 
 The room was darkened, and on a little desk two long 
 tapers were burning. By this dim light Bathsheba could 
 see that the rabbi's eyes twinkled merrily, and that he was 
 no whit austere of mien. 
 
 As Ben Zion moved forward the Wonder-Rabbi opened 
 his lips, and in a solemn voice said, 
 
 " You are a clothing dealer, named Rosenstein, forty 
 years old, a widower with four children, and this is your 
 sister who lives with you." 
 
 "0 Rabbi," said Ben Zion, seemingly overwhelmed with 
 this evidence of supernatural divination, " great and learned 
 man ! we know that you hold converse with Jehovah, and 
 we have come to you for help." 
 
 " You are well and hearty, both of you," remarked the 
 Wonder-Rabbi, rising and advancing toward them with 
 measured pace. " Why do you come to me ? Do you know 
 that I can read your souls if I will ? " 
 
 " We know, great and learned man," answered Ben Zion, 
 affecting to tremble, " that you who can talk with Heaven 
 can read our hearts. We know that there are no secrets 
 from you, and so we have brought our troubles to you. Is 
 it your will to advise us before we tell our story ? " he 
 added, with a malicious wink, which made Bathsheba bite 
 her lip to refrain from laughing in the rabbi's face.
 
 266 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 " I could advise you, son, but it is better to hear first 
 what you have to say, that I may see in what temper your 
 soul is. And if you intend to consult me, my fee is fifty 
 cents each." 
 
 Ben Zion began puffing and blowing and protesting that 
 it was ruinous. But he finally produced two discolored 
 half-dollars, which were laid upon the little desk. And 
 now the Wonder-Rabbi's eyes twinkled again. 
 
 " Speak, Jew," he said with solemn unction, folding his 
 fat hands across his breast. 
 
 "It is this way, great and learned man," said Ben Zion, 
 still affecting utmost humility. " We are poor folk, as 
 I told your learned and worthy self just now, and 'tis a 
 chance with us, as the bee said in the frost-bitten garden, 
 if we manage to pick up a living in this land of refuge. 
 Now, it happened that the other day a tenement house not 
 far from where we live was burned, and, while I was rum 
 maging round at the back of the burning house, seeing if I 
 could not save something or somebody, bang ! I felt a bur 
 den come down on my shoulders, and when I pulled myself 
 together and looked at it, it was a little baby, three-fourths 
 bones, with precious small life in 'em a kind of living 
 skeleton, dressed in rags, learned rabbi." 
 
 Ben Zion paused, caught his breath, and glanced warily 
 out of the corner of one eye at Bathsheba, to see that she 
 maintained her role accurately. Then he continued, 
 
 " 'Surely,' I said to myself, 'this small creature must 
 have been thrown from the house by some half-crazy 
 mother, who, poor thing, is most likely burned to a cinder 
 by this time, so I'll take charge of it for a moment, and 
 give it food and drink, as the ravens fed Elijah, because 
 there seemed to be no one else to do it.' Yes ; and I got 
 away from the house lest the walls might fall upon me ; and 
 I opened the little bundle of rags, and took the small bag
 
 THE WONDER-RABBI 267 
 
 of bones by the hand, and I grinned at it, and said ' Scholem 
 alaichem ! ' and I thought the brat's lips answered back, 
 ' Alaichem scholem ! ' Then I fetched the creature away, 
 and near by on the ground I found a man in a fit." 
 
 " Silence, Jew ! " said the Wonder-Rabbi, arising and lift 
 ing one hand with a gesture intended to be majestic. " I 
 shall now give you a proof of my power, so that you may 
 never venture to doubt it hereafter." 
 
 The wild looks of Ben Zion and Bathsheba betrayed their 
 astonishment. 
 
 " The name of the man whom you found lying on the 
 ground in a fit is Baumeister. He is a Socialist, or some 
 thing like that. And the child which you had rescued was 
 his child, which he had wished to destroy and forget ! " 
 
 "Great Rabbi!" stammered Ben Zion, "I was convinced 
 that everything past and present and future is known to 
 you." 
 
 The Wonder-Rabbi drew himself up to his full height, 
 and looked at his visitors with a triumphant smile. 
 
 " There are those," he said, '' who have presumed to 
 doubt my power. I think, in future, you will not be of 
 the number. And to convince you thoroughly of my wis 
 dom, I will tell you something which until this moment 
 has remained a secret with me." 
 
 Then, in a sort of mystical chant, he added this singular 
 phrase : 
 
 <' The mother, deserted by the father and husband, camo 
 far across seas with her child to find him. And when she 
 had come near to him, and had made her presence known 
 to him, she perished in the flames, but the child was spared 
 to confound the father." 
 
 Ben Zion began dancing and capering about the room 
 until the tapers on the small desk rattled. "Prove me 
 this, learned Rabbi," he said, halting suddenly in his mad
 
 268 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 career, "and I will see that a purse of five hundred dollars 
 is made up for you, and that your reputation as a learned 
 man who talks with Heaven is sounded to the four quarters 
 of the refuge colony." 
 
 Now the Wonder-Rabbi's eyes sparkled again, but this 
 time it was with avarice. 
 
 " Your chief rabbi, and your leaders in the synagogues, 
 speak ill of me," he said. "But there is not one among 
 them who could tell you what I have told you that 
 Baumeister is the father of the foundling which you 
 picked up." 
 
 Bathsheba looked around her uneasily. It seemed to her 
 that the place was bewitched. The dim light, the pompous 
 manner of the Wonder-Rabbi, the musty odors exhaled 
 from the tapers and from the rabbi's fur cap, all im 
 pressed her unpleasantly. She felt like running away, and 
 was turning to do so, when the grave voice of the rabbi 
 was heard again : 
 
 "And now tell me your trouble, my children, for you. 
 have not come to that yet. But before you proceed further 
 in this business we shall demand a new fee of two dollars 
 each." 
 
 Without a grumble this time Ben Zion counted out the 
 money. " Our trouble ! " he cried in cheerful tones ; " you 
 know well enough what it is ! We want to know what 
 Baumeister was doing so near the fire that night, and why 
 his child was in danger there ? " 
 
 Bathsheba's heart stood still for an instant. Did the 
 Wonder-Rabbi know that she had been in the house, and 
 that both she and Baumeister had been rescued thence by 
 Joseph ? What would he say of her ? 
 
 If he knew this he made no allusion to it. 
 
 " And what is the reason that you are so curious about 
 Baumeister ? " he said.
 
 THE WOXDEE-KABBI 269 
 
 " Because an innocent man," shouted Ben Zion, " is lying 
 in prison, accused of burning a house and the people in it ; 
 and because, if you can prove that Baumeister did the job, 
 our friend will be free, and you will have the five hundred 
 dollars ! Do you understand that, old man ? " shouted the 
 pedler, entirely forgetting his reverence and his manners 
 in the joy at the thought that he might serve as the instru 
 ment of Joseph's release. 
 
 The Wonder-Rabbi did not lose control of himself. He 
 kept his role to perfection. " You shall hear more, my 
 children," he said, advancing toward them, and smiling 
 serenely as Bathsheba held up her arm to ward him off, as 
 if she suspected him of casting a spell upon her. 
 
 He resumed his mystical tone, as if listening to revela 
 tions which came to him from an unseen world; and in a 
 species of rhythmical chant he uttered these words : 
 
 " Esther was her name. She was the wife of his youth, 
 and he basely deserted her. From Podolia she came hither 
 to find him. Then the husband and father was wroth with 
 the wife, and sought to destroy her with fire." 
 
 " How do you know all this ? " cried Bathsheba, spring 
 ing forward. " Did Baumeister fire Simon's house so that 
 his wife and child might be burned alive in it ? Speak, 
 man ! Don't you know that Justice demands it ? " 
 
 The Wonder-Rabbi concealed his fat hands in the folds 
 of his sleeves, and smiled pleasantly on the excited woman. 
 " I can tell no more now," he said softly. 
 
 "But the innocent man in the 'Tombs'!" cried 
 Bathsheba. 
 
 " And the five hundred dollars ! " shouted Ben Zion. 
 
 "When I have them in hand, Jew," said the Wonder- 
 Rabbi, "we can proceed further." 
 
 Ben Zion hung his head. He was convinced that he had 
 promised too much. " I am a poor man, learned Rabbi," he
 
 270 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 said, " but if a quarter of that sum would do, I could raise 
 it by to-morrow night.'l 
 
 "It will do to begin with," said the Wonder-Rabbi, 
 bringing out his fat hands, and rubbing them briskly. 
 " But the witnesses against Baumeister are few and feeble. 
 If the mother was burned in the fire " 
 
 "And how did you know the mother ? " asked Bathsheba. 
 
 The Wonder-Rabbi did not notice her question. He was 
 studying Ben Zion very carefully. At last he said, 
 
 " Do you know where this Baumeister can be found ? " 
 
 " I can produce him," said Ben Zion. 
 
 " Then see that he is at the meeting in the lower rooms 
 of this house to-morrow, which will be Friday evening, and 
 if he is guilty, he shall confess then and there ! " 
 
 " Alleluia ! " cried Ben Zion. " The work is done. 
 Joseph is free. The Devil is beaten ! And now I must 
 not lose a minute in finding out Baumeister, and telling 
 such a tale that he will be sure to come here to defend 
 himself. Then, crack ! the trap shuts and the fox is taken. 
 And I will see to your money, worthy man." 
 
 "No more to-day," said the Wonder-Rabbi sleepily. 
 "Be sure to have Baumeister here before eight o'clock, 
 and to be here yourselves. The rest trust to me ! " 
 
 He gave them a piercing glance, and then retired and 
 sank back upon his chair and closed his eyes. Bathsheba 
 could almost have sworn that she saw him vanish in a 
 cloud among flashes of flame, like Don Juan in the opera. 
 
 She went out like one walking in a dream, and when they 
 were safely in the street, she burst upon Ben Zion wrth an 
 impetuous flood of questions. 
 
 "How could that old humbug know all about Bau 
 meister ? " 
 
 " I will tell you," answered Ben Zion. " 'T was easy. 
 This was the way. One day an old woman came to my
 
 THE WONDER-llABBI 271 
 
 cellar to borrow a few apples, and she saw the child. 
 ' Miracles of Moses ! ' she says, ' but I saw that baby in a 
 woman's arms at the house of the Wonder-Rabbi not two 
 weeks ago,' she says. 'And what's the Wonder-Rabbi?' 
 s:iys I. ' Why, the old man who knows everything, and 
 talks with Heaven!' says she. Then I began to see a 
 light, and I says, 'Ben Zion, here's your clew!' And I 
 followed it up, as you see." 
 
 " How ? " stammered Bathsheba. 
 
 " Why, the woman with this child, which is the living 
 image of Baumeister, might be Baumeister's wife. She is 
 hustled over to America with a lot of refugees, and landed 
 here in this devil's Babel. She wants to find her husband. 
 So the first man she makes for is the Wonder-Rabbi, like 
 the poor ignorant thing that she is ! He takes her money 
 for his worthless advice. But he takes her address too, 
 and he follows up her movements with Ins spies these 
 old fakirs all have their confederates. You can be sure 
 that he knew as soon as we did that Baumeister wished to 
 get rid of her, and that he was only waiting the right time 
 to spring the whole thing on him." 
 
 " Ben Zion ! if this could all be true ! " sighed 
 Bathsheba. 
 
 " Ah, woman, if you had been gifted with a head as long 
 as mine, you would have found out these things for your 
 self already ! " 
 
 Ben Zion was an active enemy. Before dawn of the 
 next day a rumor was spread through the whole cloak- 
 makers' district that the Wonder-Rabbi, the mystical man 
 who talked with Heaven, had, in a trance, declared that 
 Baumeister was the author of the crime for which Joseph 
 was suffering in prison. 
 
 As it spread rapidly from garret to garret, it grew in
 
 272 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 proportions, and by the time it reached the ears of Bau 
 meister, who had been lying sick of hunger and fever in 
 the lodgings of one of his Socialist disciples, since the con 
 flagration, it was a terrible tale. 
 
 " You must go to the Wonder-Rabbi's house and give 
 him the lie in his teeth, or you are a lost man," said his 
 friends to Baumeister. " The cloakmakers will mob you 
 unless you speak out ! " 
 
 And so Baumeister arose from his couch of unfinished 
 cloaks and coats, and, looking like a ghost, went swagger 
 ing about, saying that he would be at the Wonder-Rabbi's 
 house, and would confound the liar in his teeth, that very 
 evening. 
 
 His fierce looks, his trembling limbs, his wild language, 
 convinced most of those who saw him that he was guilty. 
 But his followers clung around him, and said that he would 
 drive the rabbi out of town. 
 
 David had been communicated with, and after having 
 prudently looked the Wonder-Rabbi over, had privately 
 said to that strange personage, 
 
 " T have no doubt that you are an old fakir, but you may 
 have secured knowledge of some facts which will help us." 
 Then he showed him one hundred and fifty dollars. " It is 
 yours," he said, "if Baumeister confesses publicly to-night." 
 
 " Have no fear," said the Wonder-Rabbi. 
 
 At eight o'clock Friday evening the crowd was dense in 
 front of the Wonder-Rabbi's house, and a yell of angry 
 disapproval was heard as Baumeister, pale, disordered, and 
 with his eyes staring before him as if he saw ghosts, pushed 
 past the throng, and, escorted by seven or eight of his fol 
 lowers, entered the house. 
 
 The front rooms below were filled with women convers 
 ing together in awestruck whispers. Some of them had
 
 THE WONDER-RABBI 273 
 
 brought ailing children, for whom they intended to bespeak 
 the Wonder-Rabbi's advice, when he had finished his talk 
 with Heaven. A tall boy dressed in a shiny black Rus 
 sian coat was placing fish, bread, and black wine upon a 
 table on which four tapers were burning. 
 
 Presently came a second boy, wearing a long black coat 
 and a fur cap, and little curls in front of his ears. He 
 covered the bread and fish with a white napkin, and then, 
 sitting down, seemed absorbed in silent prayer. 
 
 The excitement was now intense. Women climbed on 
 the benches, ranged at the ends of the packed room, and 
 craned their necks to see better. 
 
 Suddenly two folding doors leading to what had been in 
 old times the back parlor of the mansion were thrown open, 
 and the Wonder-Rabbi appeared. He wore a white fleecy 
 robe, dotted with stars cut in tinsel. This robe hung 
 loosely above a long black surplice of rabbinical cut. On 
 his head was perched his conical fur cap, and his flowing 
 beard was neatly combed. 
 
 He covered his face with his hands, and began to walk 
 with solemn pace towards his seat at the table. 
 
 At that instant Baumeister, at the head of his troop in 
 the passage, caught sight of the white robe and the fur 
 cap. 
 
 " That's the old fakir, there, is it ? " he cried. " That's 
 the charlatan who tries to take away my good name ! Let 
 me get at him, and I'll teach him to keep from slander in 
 future ! Yes, and then I'll hand him over to the police for 
 swindling the poor people ! " 
 
 An ominous roar behind Baumeister indicated that he 
 had some backers who were courageous enough to help him. 
 
 " Bring the old fox out ! " shouted Baumeister, " and 
 I'll teach him to talk of honest men ! " 
 
 David, Bathsheba, and Ben Zion, huddled in a corner, 
 watched the scene with eager curiosity.
 
 274 JO8K1MI ZALMONAH 
 
 The Wonder-Rabbi removed his hands from his face. 
 
 "Is that Baumeister ? " he said in a deep voice. "Let 
 him come and stand here before me!" 
 
 The crowd parted to right and left, the women and chil 
 dren falling over each other, and Baumeister strode defi 
 antly in, and went up to the Wonder-Rabbi with menacing 
 air. 
 
 But the Wonder-Rabbi advanced upon him, and, pointing 
 at him with his long right forefinger, he said, employing 
 the familiar " thou " of the jargon, 
 
 " Baumeister, thou hast no secrets from me ! Esther was 
 thy wife's name. She was the wife of thy youth, and thou 
 didst basely desert her. From Podolia she came hither 
 with her child to find thee. Then thou wert wroth with 
 'her, thy wife, and thou didst destroy her with fire !" 
 
 At the last words he raised his voice to a high, sharp 
 pitch, which so affected the overwrought nerves of the 
 women that they screamed and wailed. 
 
 Baumeister staggered back as if he had received an 
 arrow in the breast. " This man is a demon ! " he said 
 hoarsely. " He knows all things. Esther was her name. 
 From Podolia she came. And I did it. It is true. I did 
 it. I destroyed her with fire. All the world must know it 
 now." 
 
 He uttered a loud cry, reeled, and fell down in a fit. 
 
 David felt Bathsheba's head heavy upon his shoulder. 
 She had fainted. 
 
 The Wonder-Rabbi covered his face with his hands again, 
 and, guided by his sons, moved slowly to his chair, and 
 took his seat at the mystic table.
 
 THE SWEATEES' TRIUMPH 275 
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 THE SWEATERS' TRIUMPH 
 
 DAVID was anxious to get through with the "little tra 
 gedy," as he called it, and to fly to Joseph with the news 
 which established his innocence. But a moment's reflection 
 convinced him that not all the cheering tales in the world 
 could extricate the young labor-leader from his cell that 
 night, and that it would be best to devote himself to others 
 for the moment. 
 
 An old woman sprang to the relief of Bathsheba, who 
 had sunk into a death-like swoon ; and seeing her cared for, 
 David and Ben Zion tried to make their way through the 
 densely packed throng, and to see that measures were taken 
 for the arrest of Baumeister. 
 
 But this duty was taken out of their hands, for the cloak- 
 makers had clamorously besought a policeman's services ; 
 and presently a blue-coated guardian, as round as a barrel, 
 and almost as unwieldy, came into the house, and laid about 
 him so vigorously with his elbows and fists, that he reached 
 Baumeister, had him aroused out of his fit, set upon his 
 feet, and arrested in very short order. Baumeister's par 
 tisans made a terrible clamor, and threatened to tear the 
 officer limb from limb ; but secretly they were much alarmed 
 for their own safety, and eager to get away. 
 
 The Wonder-Rabbi sat very quietly at his table, still keep 
 ing his face covered. But from time to time he groaned
 
 276 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 and struggled, and uttered fragmentary exclamations sup 
 posed to be ancient Hebrew ; and the old crones said that 
 he was beginning to talk with Heaven. 
 
 This did not hinder the policeman from interrupting him 
 long enough to tell him that he would probably be wanted 
 as a witness, and that he must not attempt to decamp under 
 pain of being sent to the House of Detention. 
 
 There was small danger of the Wonder-Rabbi's flight. 
 He saw, with his usual cunning, that his mysterious un 
 veiling of the real criminal in the now celebrated arson 
 case would be attributed by the poor uneducated folk to 
 supernatural power, and not to the simple fact that the de 
 serted Esther's first visit on her arrival in New York had 
 been to his house, where she hoped that she might by some 
 sorcery gain tidings of Baumeister. 
 
 The seance was broken up by the incursion of the police 
 man, the arrest of Baumeister and one or two of his follow 
 ers, and the catechising of the Wonder-Rabbi. When 
 Baumeister, who since his fit seemed to have fallen into a 
 semi-conscious state, had been dragged away, the throng 
 diminished ; and presently no one was left save a very old 
 Jew in a shiny black hat of exceedingly ancient fashion, 
 with corkscrew curls dangling in front of his ears. He 
 sat swaying back and forth, and wagging his head in a sort 
 of religious ecstasy, long after even the most superstitious 
 of the old women had vanished, and the Wonder-Rabbi had 
 retired to an upper room to receive the reward, which David 
 paid him gladly. 
 
 " Ouf ! " said David as he left the house, accompanied by 
 the now restored Bathsheba and Ben Zion. " I am glad to 
 be out of that atmosphere. ' He who mixes with unclean 
 things becomes unclean himself,' " he said, almost uncon 
 sciously quoting the rabbinical proverb. "That old fakir 
 laid his plans very nicely," he added. "Of course it is
 
 THE SWEATERS' TRIUMPH 277 
 
 clear that Baumeister's wife, the minute she reached here 
 from Podalia, Avent iu search of the Wonder-Rabbi ; and he 
 and his spies found the man, and sent the wife to him to 
 claim her rights. Then came the arson, which gave the 
 old pretender a chance to turn a penny." 
 
 " A penny ! " said Ben Zion scornfully ; " a hundred and 
 fifty dollars, you mean. Why, it is a fortune to him ! And 
 that is the reason that I mean to watch his house to-night, 
 to make sure that he doesn't give us -the slip. He may be 
 afraid that his practices will come to light and get him 
 into trouble. And you, Bathsheba, what will 3-011 do ? " 
 said Ben Zion kindly, noticing her worried and perturbed 
 look. 
 
 " She is going with me now, to take Malcha the good 
 news," said David. 
 
 Bathsheba gave him a lightning look out of the corners 
 of her eyes ; but David either did not see it, or pretended 
 that he did not. 
 
 "And then," he said, "she can goto the theatre, and stay 
 with poor Miryam, who will also be glad to learn such good 
 news. Dear little soul ! I should believe that she is half in 
 love with Joseph if I did not know that she is overcome by 
 her reverence for him." 
 
 "Ah," remarked Ben Zion, assuming a discouraged air. 
 " I must have the Baumeister brat provided for somewhere ; 
 for if it is left alone in my cellar so much, the rats will be 
 carrying it off." 
 
 "We will take it to the colony with us," said David 
 quietly : " if the mother was really burned in that house " 
 
 " And if she wasn't she would not be much good," inter 
 rupted Ben Zion. 
 
 " It is our duty to care for the little creature. And you, 
 too, will come with us to the colony, won't you, Bathsheba? " 
 
 David had never addressed her so familiarly before.
 
 278 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 Something in his voice touched an emotional chord. Her 
 eyes filled with tears as she answered, 
 
 " You are forgetting, in your desire to be kind to me, that 
 I am studying very hard for the stage, and that my husband 
 is soon coming home." 
 
 " True," said David dryly ; " I had quite forgotten that. 
 And then you will want to stay here to see Baumeister's 
 trial. But if I am not much mistaken he will never be 
 tried. He is as crazy as a bear when the bees are stinging 
 him." 
 
 "When Ben Zion had left them they tramped rather 
 wearily to Joseph's domicile. Bathsheba talked freely to 
 David, expressing gratitude for his offer to include her in 
 his colony project, and protesting that her duty lay in New 
 York. 
 
 When she learned that David intended to take the lib 
 erated Joseph and Malcha with him, she gave him another 
 piercing look, which he seemed to feel to the very marrow 
 of his bones, but she remarked simply, 
 
 " I should hate the country. It is the whirl and turmoil 
 of the city which stimulates me to life." 
 
 " I suppose, " said David with the most innocent manner, 
 "that the 'party of force ' will expire, now that Baumeis- 
 ter has been taken in such a sin ? " 
 
 A spasm of pain passed over Bathsheba's beautiful face, 
 and a moment later it was followed by a darker shadow. 
 
 " Don't put me on the rack to-night, please, " she said 
 with such a piteous appeal in her voice that David re 
 proached himself for a brutality of which he was not 
 really guilty. 
 
 When they reached Joseph's house they found lights 
 dancing about, and heard little Zipporah shouting for joy, 
 and Malcha sobbing hysterically. Then they felt that the 
 good news had reached there before them.
 
 THE SWEATERS' TRIUMPH 279 
 
 Some of the cloakmakers had run all the way, and were 
 now sitting, breathless and dust-stained, on the steps, talk 
 ing loudly and excitedly. Half a dozen of them were vol 
 unteering to go to the " Tombs," and demand their leader's 
 release; but when David had told them that they would 
 probably succeed only in getting locked-up themselves, 
 they renounced their wild scheme, and sat picking their 
 nails and looking black. 
 
 They felt an imperious need of vengeance upon some 
 body ; a desire to cut, burn, destroy, for the sake of showing 
 that they could and would resent the manner in which 
 their leader had been treated. 
 
 Old Manasseh and his daughter Shiphrah were there, 
 seated humbly in a corner, amusing the small Zipporah, 
 while Malcha " had her cry out." 
 
 " There, there ! " said the old man arising at last, and hob 
 bling over to Malcha, " ' tears solace the heart, but beware 
 lest they leave wrinkles/ the wise man said. Come, dry 
 these drops, girl, and be patient^until the morning." 
 
 "And if they should find some new excuse for keeping 
 him longer than to-morrow, " said Malcha. " Oh, I could 
 not bear it any longer ! " 
 
 As she said these words she turned, and saw David and 
 Bathsheba facing her. 
 
 It was instinct rather than knowledge which made the 
 little wife shiver and draw back a trifle from the beautiful 
 woman on whose brows so heavy a shadow now lay. Had 
 she known of the adventure of Joseph and Bathsheba in 
 the burning house, she could not have shown a more sudden 
 repulsion. 
 
 Bathsheba felt it to the very core of her heart, and it 
 seemed to her unjust. She flushed angrily, in spite of a 
 violent effort at self-control, and the greeting between the 
 two was not cordial. Malcha held out her hand, neverthe 
 less, and Bathsheba took it, saying,
 
 280 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 "We hurried here, hoping to be first with the "good 
 news, but some one was before us." 
 
 "You mean about my husband ? " said Malcha, smiling 
 faintly through her tears ; and Bathsheba was surprised to 
 note that the last word gave her a sudden start, and made 
 her heart beat more rapidly than usual. 
 
 " Yes ; and I hope that your troubles are over now, and 
 that he will be able to work for himself, after all the pains 
 he has taken for others." 
 
 Both women were speaking the familiar jargon, with its 
 thees and thous, and the passion which was rising within 
 their hearts was veiled under the friendly forms of speech. 
 
 " If he gets out, I suppose he will continue his work," 
 said Malcha valiantly ; <; it will take something more than 
 prison to frighten him." 
 
 " Oh, you quite misunderstand me ! " cried Bathsheba ; and 
 at this point David interrupted with a proverb : " Come, 
 come, 'there is no occasion to light the lamp at noontide ;' 
 nor to borrow trouble to-night about Joseph's course to 
 morrow. The great thing is to be ready for the unex 
 pected, and to get some sleep to-night, so that if Joseph 
 needs us in the morning he can have our services." 
 
 Bathsheba presently excused herself, and went away ; 
 and after David had had a long talk with Manasseh and 
 Shiphrah, urging then to join in the project of the colony, 
 he also departed, leaving them to console and encourage 
 Malcha. 
 
 On the way down the street he saw two cloakmakers 
 gesticulating furiously, and heard one say to the other, 
 
 "They say that Freier was at his office late to-night, and 
 one of his old employes one of the old men who had 
 been half killed with overwork in a sweater's shop went 
 in and said, 'Joseph will be out to-morrow, eh, Freier?' 
 and laughed. Then Freier ran after him, and threw his
 
 THE SWEATERS' TRIUMPH 281 
 
 cigar at him, and kicked him, and called him all sovts of 
 names, and said, ' Joseph will be a jail-bird for many a 
 long day yet ! ' Now, if Baumeister is the criminal, what 
 does that mean ? " 
 
 What, indeed, did it mean ? David walked home musing 
 on what he had heard, and dark with foreboding of the 
 morrow. 
 
 He thought he knew what it meant at noon next day. 
 Baumeister, trembling and abject, and seeming under the 
 influence of some strange preoccupation, repeated before 
 a magistrate the confession which he had made to the 
 Wonder-Rabbi, and was installed in prison, while Joseph's 
 innocence was recognized. 
 
 ISTot one word did Baumeister say about meeting Joseph 
 inside the burning house ; not one word concerning Bath- 
 sheba's presence there. He said that his wife had come 
 from Russia without his consent ; that he could not care 
 for her and attend to his " great work " at the same time ; 
 and that when she had hunted him down he had conceived 
 the idea of getting her burned in Simon's house, and had 
 started a fire in the shop on the ground-floor, where the ex 
 plosives were kept, hoping that the conflagration might be 
 ascribed to an accident there. 
 
 His repentance was too lachrymose to be sincere, and 
 there was a black look on his face when he spoke of Joseph 
 which showed deep hatred. 
 
 Shortly after he was locked up he fell into a deep stupor, 
 which lasted for hours, and which his guardians at first 
 attributed to some drug. When he was aroused out of it 
 he talked glibly, but without coherence. " This is a lunatic 
 they have given us to keep," said one of the two men who 
 examined him. 
 
 It was said that Joseph was to be liberated in the after-
 
 282 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 noon of that day, and there was a great crowd waiting to 
 receive him within the gloomy walls of the "Tombs." Mai- 
 cha, Zipporah, David, and Ben Zion stood anxiously await 
 ing the appearance of their hero. 
 
 At last he came forth, hollow-eyed and tremulous ; and 
 his smile when Malcha laid her head for a moment on his 
 breast was wan and feeble. But the joy of regained free 
 dom was gradually beginning to appear in his eyes, when 
 suddenly Malcha and Zipporah were hustled to one side, 
 and Joseph found himself again arrested, this time at the 
 suits of various manufacturers, for "extortion." 
 
 When this misfortune was explained to Malcha, she 
 fainted, and lay like one dead in the prison, and finally had 
 to be borne away, followed by the wailing Zipporah. and 
 by a screaming and gesticulating mob of women, who flour 
 ished their lean arms, and threatened to tear down the 
 " Tombs " unless Joseph were soon released. 
 
 Joseph stood dry-eyed and almost smiling under the 
 stroke. He was beginning to understand the depths of the 
 hatred which he had aroused, and to feel that there was 
 much suffering before him. 
 
 Ashy pale at the lips, and with his clear, frank eyes di 
 lated by the excitement, he was marched back to his cell 
 to await events. 
 
 Before leaving him, David said cheeringly, "Pooh! this 
 is nothing ! The bail will be small, and I will have you 
 out and on the way to my new colony in a day or two." 
 
 So he ran off to see about giving bail. 
 
 Great was his consternation when he discovered, after 
 forty-eight hours of wearisome labor, that no sums which 
 he or his friends could assemble together would procure 
 Joseph's deliverance. The bail was not only placed out 
 rageously high, but bondsman after bondsman whom he 
 brought up was rejected, and emissaries from the prose-
 
 THE SWEATERS' TUIUMPH 283 
 
 cutors kept a close watch upon his movements, and seemed 
 to possess means for outwitting him at every turn. 
 
 The poverty-stricken Union made desperate efforts to get 
 the requisite sureties, and also sent emissaries to the law 
 yers to learn what was the basis for the charge of " ex 
 tortion " brought against the long-suffering and unselfish 
 Joseph. 
 
 When they at last discovered that the charge of " extor 
 tion" rested largely on the fact that Joseph, for his 
 Union, had accepted the check of Freier and Monach for 
 the one hundred dollars, a practice general among the Ger 
 man Unions, the idea being to make the " boss " sorry that, 
 by a " lock-out," he has caused his employes a vast amount 
 of misery, they laughed the stupid accusation to scorn. 
 Joseph, they explained, had done what the Union instructed 
 him to do. He had taken the check for one hundred dol 
 lars, and, in company with other members of the Union, 
 had gone to a bank and cashed it, after which he had placed 
 the money in the treasury of the Union, not even accepting 
 a penny for himself. 
 
 " But," said the sapient lawyers, " was. not the fatal check 
 made out to his order ? " It was. " Very well, then he must 
 bide where he is, and stand trial for extortion ;" nor could so 
 dangerous a personage, who very likely had repeated the 
 same manoeuvre with a dozen or perhaps a hundred manu 
 facturers, be allowed to go at large until after his trial, 
 unless he could summon most formidable sureties. 
 
 The days flowed solemnly and slowly away, with that 
 supreme disregard for our unhappiness which becomes so 
 striking to those who feel the hand of misfortune. When 
 we are happy, all nature seems to rejoice with us. When we 
 are in trouble, she appears calmly indifferent. 
 
 Malcha, white and frightened, came and went in the 
 gloomy prison, bringing Joseph news and decent food, and
 
 284 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 sometimes a little money which some admirer had left for 
 him. 
 
 One day she brought forty dollars, wrapped in a hand 
 kerchief, and told him that it had been left for him by a 
 beneficent society which had approved of his moderate 
 course during the lock-out. 
 
 Joseph suddenly became thoughtful. Here was money 
 which he could accept without dishonor. He called to 
 David, who had come in with Malcha and Miryam, and was 
 now standing a little apart from them, with the child-woman 
 at his side. 
 
 <; Take Malcha and Zipporah with you to the colony, 
 David," lie said. " I foresee that my stay here will be long ; 
 perhaps, who knows ? I may be convicted." 
 
 " But you will appeal," said David, who had been study 
 ing American law forms with great care. 
 
 " Of course, of course," responded Joseph impatiently, 
 gripping the bars with his long, slender fingers ; " but it will 
 all take time. And while I am packed away here, they 
 would starve or go into the sweaters' hells to look for bread. 
 For the sweaters will triumph now, ha! ha! Have they 
 not laid me by the heels ? Take Malcha and the child with 
 you and go, David." 
 
 And so it was agreed. A few days later the initial trip 
 to the colony was made, and David's theatre had to conduct 
 itself as best it could for a week, while the clever manager 
 installed the melancholy Malcha and her little one, with 
 Miiyam, in an old farmhouse on the ''abandoned farms" 
 which he had bought for a song, in the Connecticut hills. 
 
 Miryam was pale and weak when she first reached the 
 colony, but in a few days her strength returned, although 
 her color seemed to have fled forever. 
 
 From time to time she would suddenly raise her hand to 
 her heart, as if she felt a sudden spasm of pain there.
 
 THE SWEATEES' TRIUMPH 285 
 
 But she appeared to have regained her spirits ; and while 
 she labored with Malcha at the making of cheap porte- 
 monuaies, suspenders, combs, and other simple articles 
 which the colonists were trying to produce in large quanti 
 ties, she sang the quaint old religious songs from "Ezra" 
 and "Judith and Holofernus," and "Queen Alexandria/'' 
 from " Esther," and from a dozen other historical dramas of 
 David's repertory. 
 
 David plied back and forth between the colony and New 
 York, and often brought news of Joseph, who, stern philoso 
 pher in his prison, was endeavoring to dissuade the cloak- 
 makers from clubbing together their little earnings to defend 
 him. 
 
 One sorrow lay heavily on David's heart. He could not 
 prevail on old Manasseh and Shiphrah to accompany him 
 to the colony. David's heart still yearned toward the once 
 erring, but now repentant, Shiphrah ; and he was determined 
 to save her before she fell back into the hell of misery out 
 of which she had been raised by 'Joseph's bravery. 
 
 The month of August had worn itself out with sullen 
 heat, and September had brought a little comfort with a 
 cool dash of rain, when David, who had hastened down 
 from his colony to respond to some of the innumerable 
 demands made upon him by the lawyers conducting 
 Joseph's case, found an hour at his disposition before 
 returning to the train. 
 
 " I will spend it," he said, " in trying once more to per 
 suade Manasseh and his daughter to join us." 
 
 But when he reached the cellar where Manasseh and 
 Shiphrah made their humble abode, he found that they had 
 gone away. An ancient dame who sold stale fish hard by 
 thought that Manasseh had taken a cellar down near the 
 river. "Better inquire of the United Hebrew Charities.
 
 286 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 And the girl she had gone back to work at her trade, and 
 no one had seen her for a week." 
 
 A thrill of horror passed through David's breast. Had 
 Shiphrah been caught once more in the sweaters' web ? 
 
 Every day he heard tales of the audacity of these cunning 
 sweaters the vampires who sucked the blood of the poor 
 exile. Although the cloakmakers threatened to mob them, 
 they were starting up again in a hundred places on the 
 East Side. 
 
 The manufacturers encouraged them, pointing to the 
 plight of Joseph as an indication that they need have no 
 more fear. 
 
 Freier pretended that he was giving strict adherence to 
 the compact which he had made with Joseph. But he was 
 aiding more men to build up sweating-shops, and inventing 
 new infamies for the persecution and plunder of the poor 
 laboring men and women. 
 
 I T e told the fresh contractors, who timidly said " that 
 they had heard that pushing the laborer was dangerous,*' 
 how the law could be violated with impunity by pretending 
 to make concessions, whenever public opinion or sentiment 
 was aroused, and inspection, even of the very partial and 
 incomplete nature thus far essayed in New York, was 
 imminent. "And then," he said, "you can do your work 
 on the quiet. Who will think of looking for a contractor 
 [i.e. a sweater] in some out-of-the-way street ? Besides, 
 your workmen and workwomen can be brought directly 
 from the steamers to the workshops, and allowed to go out 
 only after dark. A little sweating in New York will take 
 the country roughness out of them." 
 
 Thus spoke Freier, as vile a slave-driver as ever lived, 
 practising his infamous calling in the very teeth of the 
 opposition of organized labor, and trampling down even 
 such steadfast leaders as Joseph.
 
 THE SWEATERS' TRIUMPH 287 
 
 David heard of all this, and his heart sank when he 
 pictured Shiphrah as once more in the hands of the villains. 
 He dreaded Malcha's displeasure each time that he failed 
 to bring Shiphrah home. 
 
 Now, it happened that the poor girl had really gone back 
 to the very sweater from whose clutches Joseph had rescued 
 her. This miscreant had set up in a new quarter under 
 another name, and surreptitiously worked for Freier, wind 
 ing his tentacles about his old victims whenever he could. 
 
 One day the great Freier paid a sly visit to the shop, and 
 there Shiphrah was pointed out to him as Joseph's friend. 
 
 The sweater laughed coarsely in the girl's face as he said 
 this, and placed his big hand familiarly on her shoulder. 
 
 "Oh, this is the wench, is it ?" said Freier, approaching, 
 and puffing a cloud of smoke from his huge black cigar in 
 her face. " I say, she ought to be in jail along with Joseph, 
 and we'll have her there yet if she says much, hey ?" 
 
 The maddened girl struck Freier in the face, and then 
 burst into tears. 
 
 With an oath he raised his hand, and returned the blow, 
 like the coward that he was, and Shiphrah fell, with the 
 blood gushing from her nostrils. 
 
 "Ah, pick her up, some of you," said Freier, retiring 
 down the stairs, followed by the contractor. And when he 
 was in the street he said, 
 
 " They ain't people, them creatures up there, you know. 
 They're only cattle." 
 
 But he felt uneasy when he thought of what might 
 happen if Joseph were to be acquitted.
 
 288 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 THE WHITE FAST 
 
 OLD Manasseh sat on a broken bench in the crowded 
 synagogue, listening rapturously to the wild recitative of 
 the chazan, which had been kept up for hours, without 
 seeming to weary the robust voice of the intoner, or the 
 patience of the pious listeners. 
 
 The long room, on the second floor of what had once been 
 a tenement house in Ludlow Street, was packed with the 
 faithful, who were celebrating the " White Fast," Yora 
 Kippur, the Day of Atonement, which comes ten days after 
 Rash Hashshanah, the New Year, and is a recognition of 
 God's grace in forgiving the transgressions of weak human 
 creatures. 
 
 On each of the five floors of this narrow, ill-contrived 
 firetrap of a tenement, a synagogue for a congregation of 
 poor cloakmakers had been installed. The worshippers in 
 Manasseh's company could hear the tramping and shuffling 
 of feet above them, and the shrill notes of the chazan's 
 voice, rivalling those of their own ministrant. 
 
 In the whole building ten or twelve hundred of the refu 
 gees had been gathered since dawn. The September day 
 was now drawing to a close, but none of the people showed 
 any inclination to go away. 
 
 Now and then a child stole in with a whispered message 
 to the father or grandfather message which provoked a
 
 THE WHITE FAST 289 
 
 faint smile, because it was understood to be a command to 
 come home to supper, and not to imperil health by too long 
 a fast. But generally the response was a negative shake of 
 the head and a mystical closing of the eyes, which signi 
 fied a stronger inclination to commune with the sacred mys 
 teries than to attack the supper of dried fish, pickles, and 
 coarse bread. 
 
 Manasseh's soul swam in seas of delight. He was pene 
 trated with a vague consciousness that on these new shores 
 to which he had come there was absolute freedom of wor 
 ship ; and it seemed to him that every minutest ceremonial 
 of this day of days had a sweeter savor for him than ever 
 before. 
 
 He mused on the three books of Rabbi Jochanon those 
 supreme registers of human action, and wondered in which 
 the names of his neighbors had "been inscribed. Had the 
 long period of penitential days between Rash Hashshanah 
 and Yom Kippur been duly improved by him ? 
 
 He reviewed each one of his actions slowly and minutely, 
 and shook his head, as if he could not decide for himself. 
 Then he murmured a response or two to the musical cries 
 of the chazan, and finally his head fell forward on his breast. 
 
 The fatigue of the long day's fast had worn old Manas 
 seh's strength quite out. 
 
 The room was filled with rude benches, on which the 
 young and old men sat together, dressed in their best 
 clothes, and wearing their hats. At the end next the street 
 was an altar, before which burned the lamp the light of 
 which is kept aglow night and day. 
 
 Here stood the chazan, looking Oriental in his skull-cap, 
 and with the striped prayer-shawl thrown about his shoul 
 ders ; and here were grouped a few of the elders those 
 who had earlier in the day given the strange and impres 
 sive blessing of the " Cohanim."
 
 290 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 At the other end, in an enclosure provided with windows, 
 sat the women and girls apart. Through the yellow cur 
 tains at the windows of this enclosure they could see with 
 out being seen. 
 
 This touch of Orientalism added to the picturesqueness 
 of the gathering. The sound of the feminine voices coming 
 from this secluded apartment in response to the chazan pro 
 duces a singular impression on the spectator who sees it 
 for the first time. 
 
 Manasseli was old, hungry, and scarcely knew from 
 whence his next crust of bread was to come, but he was 
 happy. In this blessed period, which combined the memo 
 rial of the deliverance of Israel from Egypt with the days 
 of Judgment and Forgiveness, what need was there to 
 worry about earthly concerns ? 
 
 Yom Kippur, the sacred time when the question of sin 
 is settled for the year between God and man what should 
 interfere with it ? The Lord had written in the book, but 
 it would remain unsigned until eleven days after Yom 
 Kippur. This thought was pleasant to Manasseh, and con 
 soled him for exile and suffering, and for the new disap 
 pearance of his daughter. 
 
 Shiphrah had not left him to the pitiful fate of the help- 
 less aged deserted in a great city. Every week she sent 
 him by mail a tiny sum of money ; but she would not let 
 him know where she was. He was thinking of her as his 
 head drooped and his eyes closed, and he finally fell into a 
 deep sleep. 
 
 . As evening approached, the yellow wax candles which 
 had been set up in memory of the dead gave forth a sickly 
 glare. The heated atmosphere, thick with dust and reeking 
 with effluvia, became almost intolerable. The women, as 
 they sat on the rudely cushioned benches in their little 
 compartment, fairly gasped for breath.
 
 THE WHITE FAST 291 
 
 The cloakmakers and their half-grown boys were huddled 
 together in a submissive attitude. The peace of faith was 
 upon their faces. It had been a hard struggle for many of 
 the fathers to procure, in their half-starved and moneyless 
 condition, the " scapegoat chicken " which an old custom 
 requires them to kill at Yom Kippur, in order that their 
 sins may be sworn upon it. The sacrifice of the chicken is 
 held to wash away the sins which one may have committed 
 during the year. 
 
 It was a strange scene, The intensity of the worship 
 was heightened now and then by the prostration of some 
 suppliant on the bare boards of the dirty floor. One aged 
 man knocked his forehead against the planking, beat his 
 breast, and cried aloud for help from God. 
 
 He called out one by one the list of his sins, most of 
 them peccadilloes ; and although there was something highly 
 ludicrous in the circumstantial character of his catalogue, 
 no one ventured to smile. The most minute details of the 
 gathering were sanctified by The Presence. 
 
 The synagogue at this moment was something more than 
 a place of worship. The dear familiar ceremonies, clung 
 to with all the more passionate intensity because the people 
 had been persecuted for their sake, seemed sweeter and 
 tenderer than ever before, because they took the minds and 
 hearts of the refugees back to their old homes, and brought 
 up remembrances of their childhood and youth to men who 
 were bent and broken with protracted toil. 
 
 While the weird melodious chant of the chazan resounded 
 through the rude chamber, men and women saw arising 
 before their closed eyes the vision of the cool Russian up 
 lands, with their wealth of wild-flowers in summer, and 
 their covering of dry, feathery snow in winter. 
 
 They saw the mud-begrimed villages, with their wooden 
 houses, in front of which were tiny gardens, or piles of
 
 292 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 wood for fuel, or great wells around which the youths and 
 maidens gathered to gossip in the still, mystical evenings 
 in autumn, when the last warm hazes lay along the level 
 lands. They saw, too, the oppressor in his fur cap and jack 
 boots, and the scurvy knaves who drove them from their 
 homes, and divided their little possessions among them 
 selves. 
 
 But all these things were in a kind of golden mist, and 
 caused a delicate feeling of love and longing for the old 
 home to arise in the heart, and to bring with it tears of 
 vain regrets for the vanished fields and the forever-de 
 serted graves of beloved ancestors. 
 
 Many a man and boy among the worshippers dreaded the 
 moment when it should be announced that the three stars 
 had appeared in the evening sky, and when they would be 
 compelled to go out into the cold world with its sombre 
 realities, its dreary sojourn in the bleak lanes of a foreign 
 city, its climb to the desolate beds in the back kitchens or 
 the stifling workrooms of the tenements, and its terrible 
 toil during all the daylight hours, and far into the night. 
 
 The door creaked, and a woman, coarsely dressed, with a 
 veil such as married women of the Orthodox faith wear, 
 partially concealing her face, stole in, and hastened to find 
 a dark corner in the woman's compartment. 
 
 It was Bathsheba. 
 
 Fortunately there was a vacant seat, and so far in the 
 shadow that, had any one known her, it would have been 
 hard to recognize her, once she was ensconced in it. 
 
 She had been studying all day in her lonely little room, 
 working hard upon the rdle which she had chosen for her 
 debut at a small theatre lately sprung up as a rival to 
 David's prosperous institution. 
 
 Her husband had sent her money, and the news that he 
 approved the resolution to study for the stage, and would
 
 THE WHITE FAST 293 
 
 soon be at home to help her. She recognized that she ought 
 to be contented, and yet she was overmastered by an im 
 mense and constantly growing discontent. 
 
 In her soul a strange revolution had been in progress for 
 some time. So long as Joseph had been free, and at his 
 work, she had been willing to admit that he was right, and 
 that Baumeister and she herself were wrong, and that the 
 " party of force " was a ridiculous illusion and a dangerous 
 snare. 
 
 But now that she saw Baumeister fallen by the way, 
 and recognized that he had never been anything save a 
 vulgar self-seeker; now that she saw Joseph in prison, 
 insulted and derided by his enemies, and apparently de 
 serted by that society, the interest of which he had so 
 valiantly labored to protect against the party of revenge 
 and disorder a kind of savage protest against Society in 
 general awoke within her, and blossomed into a flower 
 which might prove a poisoned bloom. 
 
 Besieged by emotions which she could not define to her 
 self, tortured by Joseph's indifference to her, vexed and 
 worn down by fatiguing study and by hopes and fears for 
 the future, Bathsheba felt the need of the old familiar 
 forms, which might bring consolation to her spirit. And 
 so, although she had long been inattentive to her spiritual 
 duties, and had been sneered at by some of the Orthodox, 
 who knew her as a reformed Jewess, she threw on her 
 cloak and veil, and hastened to the Ludlow Street nest of 
 synagogues, which happened to be nearest her abode. 
 
 For a few minutes she sat very still, feeling a little 
 abashed, and wondering how much of her history one or 
 two women who eyed her curiously must know. But pres 
 ently she discovered that they did not recognize her as one 
 whom they had ever seen before ; and she listened to the 
 musical wail of the chazan, and to the muffled responses of
 
 294 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 the men, with a sense of delight at which she was surprised. 
 She fell to thinking of the luxurious home of her child 
 hood, and a deep wrinkle appeared between her brows, and 
 for a moment gave a sinister and forbidding character to 
 her face. Then it disappeared, and her face resumed its 
 usual serene and impassive beauty. 
 
 Presently there was a vacant place next the little line of 
 windows through which the occupants of the woman's 
 section could see what was going on among the men. 
 
 Bathsheba went over to it, and by kneeling on the low 
 divan, and looking through a broken pane of glass, she had 
 a very good view of the singular proceedings. 
 
 A tall, gaunt figure, arrayed in a kind of white robe, 
 which gave it the look, in the dim light, of a colossal 
 spectre, was moving forward timidly, as if a little doubtful 
 of the reception in store for it. But the men and boys 
 made way slowly for it, as if recognizing that it needed 
 more room than they did, and that it was about to engage 
 in some important ceremonial. 
 
 At last the figure had room enough in front of it. 
 Stretching out long arms and making wild gestures in 
 dicative of despair, it began slowly to sink on bended 
 knees, all the time muttering to itself something which 
 sounded like a confession of sin. 
 
 One family group, seated close to this singular penitent, 
 seemed to overhear what it said, and arising suddenly, with 
 alarmed and indignant looks, left the synagogue without a 
 word. 
 
 Now the figure clasped its hands, and, bending forward, 
 knocked its head violently against the floor, still muttering, 
 but in a lower tone than before. Evidently it had some 
 grievous sin upon its conscience, for over and over it re 
 peated this contrite ceremony, never once raising its eyes 
 to look at one of its neighbors.
 
 THE WHITE FAST 295 
 
 There was something indefinably terrible in this figure, 
 robed in garments which looked like grave-clothes, and 
 bowed down in the anguish of supplication on the evening 
 of this " settling-day " with God. 
 
 Bathsheba could not take her eyes off the figure. It fas 
 cinated and frightened her. When one of the yellow 
 tapers, burning in memory of the dead, cast a sickly glow 
 upon the white robes, as the gaunt figure arose, she uttered 
 a stifled cry, and buried her face in her hands, as she had 
 done when, a timid girl, she had been alarmed by some 
 sudden sound. 
 
 Boys and men now began leaving in large numbers. The 
 arrival of this, and one or two other apparitions like it, was 
 a sign that the worship of the day was nearly over ; for the 
 desperate sinners who came to stand face to face with God 
 in the synagogue, and to pour out in his holy place the con 
 fession of their guilt, usually chose the closing hours of the 
 service, that they might be the less disturbed. 
 
 As the congregation thinned out the tall white figure 
 became more demonstrative. It smote its breast with ter 
 rific force ; it tossed its arms on high, and cried aloud the 
 names of persons whom it had wronged. Bathsheba thought 
 that she recognized one or two names spoken ; but perhaps 
 that was a mistake. If the figure would but turn ! 
 
 At that moment it did turn, as if in obedience to her 
 wish, and to her astonishment she saw the well-known fea 
 tures of a notorious " sweater," one of the meanest of the 
 contractors who had been guilty of robbing the helpless 
 poor a man whose name was execrated by every one who 
 had ever worked for him. 
 
 How came he there ? Was he, then, a member of the 
 synagogue ? And could he come there among the very 
 people whom he despoiled, and publicly confess to God his 
 sins against them, and get them all marked off for the past
 
 296 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 year, and a new set of "soul books" opened with no more 
 difficulty than this ? 
 
 The thought seemed so absurd that it brought a contempt 
 uous smile to Bathsjieba's lips, and a wild resolve instantly 
 into her breast. 
 
 The sweater at his prayers ! The sweater imploring par 
 don in his grave-clothes on the day of the White Fast! 
 Surely it was a cruel mockery ! 
 
 Scarcely knowing whither she was going, Bathsheba 
 leaped from the divan, and ran out into the men's section. 
 Such an unheard-of act, at so sacred a moment, instantly 
 provoked a profound commotion. Men arose, pointing at 
 her; boys laughed confusedly, and the chazan turned to 
 see what was the matter. 
 
 The tall figure scrambled to its feet, and stood swaying 
 clumsily, looking so unearthly that the men and boys 
 shrank away from it. 
 
 Bathsheba pointed directly at the sweater, and cried in a 
 high, piercing voice, which rang like the blare of a silver 
 trumpet: 
 
 " The oppressor of the poor and helpless in the congre 
 gation of the Lord ! The sweater in tlie synagogue, to in 
 sult us with the catalogue of his sins against us ! Out witli 
 him ! Let him be spat upon and trampled in the dust ! 
 Away with him ! " 
 
 Her voice died away into a wail, which had an electrical 
 effect on the cloakmakers present. They rushed forward ; 
 and, although not many of them recognized the sweater, 
 who had his den in an obscure street, and masked his occu 
 pation under another business carried on in the same build 
 ing, this startling feminine accusation was enough to make 
 them raise their hands to strike him. 
 
 " It is such villains as this man this robber of the poor 
 who insults us in our sacred worship such men as these
 
 THE WHITE FAST 297 
 
 who have put your leader in prison, and who are driving 
 you to the slaughter again. Down with the sweater ! " 
 
 Hushing forward, she shook her closed hand in the 
 sweater's face. He shrank back in terror, and, finding him 
 self surrounded by the bent, broken, and prematurely aged 
 workmen, whom he might presume to be his natural ene 
 mies, he uttered a hoarse roar, like that of a mad bull shut 
 into an enclosure. 
 
 Then all at once rallying his courage, he swept back the 
 aggressors, and called on the chazan to protect him. His 
 face became as pale as his prayer-clothes, and he fully 
 believed that his last moment had come. 
 
 The chazan, who was an old man, could not see well, and 
 came forward with his hands outstretched, as if imploring 
 peace. The men made way for him ; and, as he complained 
 of the darkness, one of them took a newspaper from his 
 pocket, twisted it into an improvised torch, set it on fire at 
 a candle, and held it above his head. 
 
 The sweater cowered at the chazan's feet, begging him to 
 save his life, and to re-establish order. 
 
 " A sweater ! A sweater ! " cried Bathsheba. " His 
 presence denies the congregation of the Lord ! Drive him 
 out ! " 
 
 " Peace, peace ! my children!" said the old chazan, curi 
 ously scanning the sweater's features by the light of the 
 burning paper. " God is ready at all times to acknowledge 
 true penitence ; and of repentance there are seven degrees." 
 
 " True ! " cried Bathsheba, advancing, and looking like an 
 ins'pired prophetess; "but listen! This, too, is from the 
 Talmud: ' God is merciful, and pardons the sins of man 
 against himself; but he who has wronged his neighbor must 
 gain that neighbor's forgiveness before he can claim the 
 mercy of the Lord ! ' ' 
 
 The chazan stood confused. This strange woman who
 
 298 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 interrupted the service and quoted the Talmud astonished 
 and shocked him. 
 
 A cry of approval of Bathsheba's last words went up from 
 the cloakmakers. " Ay ! " cried one, " ask the sweater if he 
 has been forgiven by all the poor people that he has just 
 accused himself of sinning against ! " 
 
 The sweater tried to pull off his white robe, and to escape. 
 And now the improvised torch, the newspaper, went out, 
 leaving an odor of acrid smoke, of which a cloud arose and 
 hovered over the assembly densely packed in the front part 
 of the room. 
 
 A timid voice in the woman's section was heard saying, 
 " Fire ! What's burning ? I am not going to stay here. I 
 smell fire !" 
 
 In vain did Bathsheba, who paled with sudden intuition 
 of the danger, spring backward and explain to the women 
 that the odor came from a paper which had been trampled 
 underfoot, and that there was no flame visible. The alarm 
 was taken, and there was a mad rush for the narrow door, 
 the unique means of exit. 
 
 Six brawny women rushed to the door, shrieking, "Fire ! " 
 and, forgetting that it opened inward, threw their united 
 strength against it, and, splintering the panels and carrying 
 one hinge away, crawled out, dazed and hysterical. 
 
 With the instinct of self-preservation urging her on, 
 Bathsheba sprang after them, and, after getting an ugly 
 g.'ish in the wrist, she reached the outer landing. There 
 she felt herself pounced upon and hurled along by a mad 
 dened throng escaping from the floor above ; and, bruised, 
 with her clothing torn and mined, and her senses reeling in 
 dismay, she was pushed into the street, and dragged off by 
 strong arms. And then she fainted. 
 
 In less than a minute the panic had become general. 
 The worshippers escaping from the second floor fell head-
 
 THE WHITE FAST 299 
 
 long under the feet of hundreds, leaping, crawling, fighting, 
 on the way down from the synagogues in the upper stories, 
 in each of which the alarm had been given by shouts of 
 " Fire ! " echoed from mouth to mouth. 
 
 In the dark stairway, with their steep, narrow stairs, men. 
 and women and children were wedged so tightly that they 
 could scarcely breathe. They fought with each other. The 
 strong trampled down the weak; the brutal jumped upon 
 the heads of their fellows, and tried to walk on them. 
 
 The sweater and the poor chazaii were pushed down the 
 stairs together, just after Bathsheba's escape, and many of 
 the blows aimed at the sweater were received by the ven 
 erable ministrant, who was in a half-dead condition when 
 finally dragged out. The sweater avenged himself as best 
 he could by savagely trampling on the faces of one or two 
 of the cloakmakers, as he with almost superhuman strength 
 got free of the press, with no worse accident than a dislo 
 cated shoulder. The groaning and imploring, the yells and 
 imprecations, the wailings and snarlings, were like those 
 which arise from a battle-field. And still the terrible push 
 ing of the dense black masses corning down from above 
 crushed out the breath and life of those weaker ones who, 
 like sheep in an overcrowded pen, had fallen beneath the 
 impetuous rush of the stronger. 
 
 Among the feeble ones who had been thrown, and now 
 lay two deep, on the last flight of stairs leading to the 
 street, was old Manasseh. 
 
 Hastily awakened from his slumber by his neighbor on 
 the bench, he had succeeded in getting through the door, 
 but had speedily been thrown off his feet, and so trodden 
 on, that his faint hold on life was almost loosened forever. 
 
 He was dimly conscious that a great disaster had occurred, 
 but his senile imagination was excited by the belief that he 
 had been selected for a species of martyrdom. When the
 
 300 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 cruel feet crushed in his ribs and tortured his chest, a smile 
 'of angelic sweetness lighted up his severe but patient face. 
 He could not move his body, but he turned his eyes heaven 
 ward, and then eastward to the land of his fathers and his 
 fathers' God. 
 
 He seemed to see his daughter Shiphrah, radiant as she 
 had been in her innocent youth, before she had lost hope 
 in the sweaters' hell, coming swiftly toward him on a 
 starlight Friday evening, to announce that everything was 
 ready for the wonted ceremonial. And who was that 
 behind her ? Was it the image of his dead wife ? 
 
 He tried to rise, but the effort seemed to take all his 
 life from him. The violent shock of bodies falling upon 
 him caused fires to dance in his eyes. Then they died out 
 with strange suddenness. A cool calm was stealing over 
 him. 
 
 Manasseh shaped his aged lips to say the sublime words 
 which he had often said over a dying friend : 
 
 " SlIEMA, YISRAEL, ADONAI, ELOHENU ADONAI ECHAD ! " 
 
 And with this declaration of belief in the divine unity 
 comforting his soul, the patriarch passed from the land of 
 exile, swiftly and undismayed, into the Great Unknown.
 
 JOSEPH COMES FORTH 301 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 JOSEPH COMES FORTH 
 
 JOSEPH read, in the newspaper brought to him in his 
 prison, of this dreadful panic, which resulted in the loss of 
 a dozen lives, and the maiming of two-score poor creatures. 
 
 But it was not until Ben Zion arrived, with the radiance 
 of his enthusiasm seeming to communicate an unusually 
 fiery glow to his shock of red hair, that he heard the story 
 of Bathsheba and the sweater. The journals had not 
 secured this, or they had not chosen to print it. 
 
 " And to think," cried Ben Zion, " that the beast got away 
 after all, while so many worthy men were trampled to 
 death in their prayer-shawls ! Well, well, we shall meet 
 again, as the bees said to the bear when he stole their honey ; 
 and it will go badly with the sweater on that occasion." 
 
 "Now, don't be vindictive," said Joseph to his hench 
 man. 
 
 " Reb Joseph ! " cried the little pedler, getting into a 
 highly agitated state, " you are too calm and too forgiving. 
 You must have more spirit of vengeance in you, if you 
 want to be a popular leader ! Do you ever see me, now, 
 pardoning the beasts of sweaters ? I'd prick 'em to death 
 with their own needles if I had my way. But you, Joseph, 
 you would forgive everybody even Freier or or 
 Baumeister." 
 
 " What news of Baumeister ? " inquired Joseph quickly.
 
 302 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 " He's going crazy at a fast pace, they say. When he 
 comes but of one fit he chatters about his work until he has 
 another one, like the monkey that ate the green pepper. 
 Some think he's shamming, but I call him a sure enough 
 crazy man. Who else would have opposed you and tried 
 to get you killed, Joseph ? " 
 
 " Who, indeed ? " said Joseph with a weary smile. " But 
 if I am ever free of this place, I will go to visit Baumeister, 
 and do all that I can for him, and for the child which you 
 have told me of." 
 
 Ben Zion made a gesture which indicated his extreme 
 willingness to perform one office that of hangman for 
 the now disconsolate leader of the " party of force ; " but he 
 took care to say no more of his uncharitable sentiments to 
 his leader, whose forgiving nature was a source of perpet 
 ual perplexity to him. 
 
 On one point Joseph's patience did not seem exhaustless. 
 When Ben Zion told him that Freier was moving heaven 
 and earth to undo all that the Union had succeeded in doing 
 to promote the independence of the poor working-men, the 
 imprisoned leader's eyes flashed, and lie rattled the iron 
 bars of the " dangerous offences " section so that a keeper 
 hurried up to see what had happened. 
 
 Another month went by with such slowness that it 
 seemed a year to Joseph. He lived in a kind of waking 
 dream, from which he was aroused now and then only to 
 hear of the burial of old Manasseh, and the fact that 
 Shiphrah in her den of slavery had not heard of her be 
 reavement until a few hours before the funeral ; or to be 
 told that Baumeister would never be brought to trial, hav 
 ing already shown such violent insanity that he could not 
 be produced in public ; or to consult with the counsel which 
 the Union had furnished him, with reference to the conduct 
 of his own case.
 
 JOSEPH COMES FOKTH 303 
 
 He had lost all hope, and had but one wish, to know 
 the worst, so that he might steel his spirit to endure it. 
 His heart bled for his wife and child ; he felt no anger 
 toward any one, not even toward the prejudiced people 
 who represented him as an enemy to Society and a corrupt 
 demagogue. 
 
 On the day before his trial began in the court of Oyer and 
 Terminer, Bathsheba made an attempt to see him ; but he 
 refused to receive her, and sent back word that " she must 
 have courage for herself ; he had none left to offer her." 
 
 This was so bitter a speech for Joseph to make, that he 
 himself regretted it after it was made, and would have re 
 called it had it been possible. 
 
 Finally came the trial ; the shock of removal from the 
 prison world, with its tomb-like stillness and the half 
 lights, to the glare and bustle of day, with the eagerly 
 curious, unsympathetic, sneering faces in the street ; the 
 curt insolence of keepers and deputies, and the fierce 
 attacks of the prosecutors upon him. 
 
 One thing alone kept him up. It was the almost rever 
 ential demeanor of his poor cloakmakers, who daily sent a 
 delegation to watch the trial, and to offer him their feeble 
 aid. The sturdy sympathy of David and Ben Zion, who 
 were with him whenever it was permissible, was also 
 encouraging. 
 
 " It was wise not to let the women come to court, Joseph," 
 said Ben Zion. " They would have been making a scene. 
 But we stoics know how to shut our teeth hard, and bear 
 whatever mischief the Devil sends us." 
 
 And Joseph himself was glad that Malcha was not there, 
 when, at the close of the trial, in whicli it seemed to him 
 that all his motives and aims were misrepresented, he 
 found that he was sentenced to twenty-one months imprison 
 ment in Sing-Sing, as a common malefactor.
 
 304 JOSEPH ZALMOXAH 
 
 A gray mist seemed to arise before his eyes. His life 
 appeared a useless garment, which he might now lay aside. 
 He had been crippled in the battle ; and what could it 
 matter now where he was laid away to die ? 
 
 While he sat stunned, vaguely wondering what they 
 would do next, his counsel placed his hand on his shoulder, 
 and said, " Cheer up, friend Joseph ! the fight is not at an 
 end yet by any means. We shall appeal the case; and 
 meantime we shall apply for a certificate of reasonable 
 doubt of your moral guilt, which I think the judge is dis 
 posed to give. If we get that, we will have you out of the 
 ' Tombs ' on bail in less than a week ! Then it might be a 
 long time before the decision in Supreme Court General 
 Term." 
 
 It took Joseph some minutes to grasp this idea. When 
 he had mastered it, a little color came into his thin cheeks. 
 
 " And I could be free to pursue my work for six months, 
 or perhaps a year, before the appeal is decided ! " he cried, 
 rising up. "Why, I ask nothing better ! It would be a 
 chance to give Freier another lesson ! " And he closed 
 his hands tightly, and drew a long breath. 
 
 Freier had been in court twice, with his sneering face 
 a '.id insolent manners; and had even nodded familiarly to 
 Joseph, and grinned an evil grin. Joseph's blood boiled 
 as he thought of the man's contemptuous air, and the way 
 in which he disclayed his fat fingers loaded with heavy 
 gold rings. 
 
 Bathsheba, too, had appeared at the trial once only. 
 Joseph had seen her face for a moment, and she had grown 
 very pale, and turned to avoid his gaze. Now that there 
 was some small prospect of at least temporary freedom, lie 
 was surprised to find himself asking, " Shall I ever see her 
 again ? " 
 
 After a few days of dreary waiting the lawyer's predio
 
 JOSEPH COMES FORTH 805 
 
 tions were verified. Appeal had been taken from the 
 decision, and the " certificate of reasonable doubt " was 
 granted. Bail was reduced to a figure which the Union 
 could meet, and Ben Zion and half a dozen others at once 
 set off to make the necessary arrangements. 
 
 Malcha had insisted on coming to see Joseph as soon as 
 his conviction was announced ; but he had compelled her 
 to return to the colony and await his liberation on bail. 
 
 David comforted the little woman with assurances that 
 the Court of Appeals would never confirm such an infamy 
 as the sentence ; and this sentiment was making its way in 
 the Union. But wherever the cloakmakers were beginning 
 to hold up their heads again, the malignant influence of 
 Freier appeared, and the hand of Freier came out of the 
 darkness and struck the poor slaves to earth. 
 
 Early one morning Ben Zion came bounding into the sec 
 tion of the prison where Joseph was confined, with so ag 
 gressive an air that the kee*per was at first inclined to lock 
 him up for a few minutes, to "take the cheek out of him." 
 But when he heard that the little pedler brought news of 
 bail, and immediate freedom for Joseph, he forgave him. 
 
 Joseph's hands trembled, and he could scarcely pack the 
 few small articles strewn about his cell. Now that the 
 doors were to open, an immense responsibility seemed to 
 settle down upon his shoulders, and he gasped as if it were 
 crushing him. 
 
 Getting into harness again was not easy. 
 
 Two hours later the formalities were all fulfilled ; the 
 bail which long ago had been scornfully refused, was now 
 accepted, and Joseph was soon in the office of his counsel. 
 
 He reeled like a drunken man, clutched at the back of a 
 chair, and asked piteously for a glass of water. He caught 
 sight of his face in a little mirror, and felt shocked to see 
 how pale and wretched he looked.
 
 306 JOSEPH ZALMOJJAII 
 
 "Let me give you a bit of advice, Zalmonah," said his 
 counsel ; " I hear that some of your friends have started a 
 little enterprise up in the country somewhere. If I were 
 you, I should join them. To go back to agitation at once 
 might have a bad effect on your case, you know." 
 
 " Have I been brought out of the ' Tombs,' to be led away 
 and made useless ? " said Joseph, who spoke very precise 
 English when aroused. " If I have, I am ready to go back 
 at once." 
 
 " Oh, do as you please, my boy ! " said the famous lawyer, 
 who had had a good many hundred dollars, raked and 
 scraped together by the cloakmakers and the friends of 
 Joseph, since the case began, and who felt that he must 
 do something for his money. "But I think a little 
 prudent abstention, you know " 
 
 " Good-day," said Joseph, and tottered out, followed by 
 Ben Zion, who was muttering that lawyers ought all to be 
 hanged on one tree, after which men could settle their 
 grievances at one-half less than they now pay. 
 
 Once across the Bowery, and in the familiar world of the 
 East Side tenement region, Joseph found a perpetual 
 ovation awaiting him. The women held up their babies 
 that he might touch them ; the old men in caps and caftans 
 muttered blessings on him ; the poor pale girls smiled their 
 languid thanks for his martyrdom in their behalf. 
 
 And now came Malcha and Zipporah rushing to cast 
 themselves into his arms ; and David, smiling and sowing 
 proverbs in all directions ; and Mordecai Menzer, " the 
 people's poet," with his little wife, holding out hands, and 
 uttering flowery welcomes ; and one or two repentant mem 
 bers of the old " party of force," who had been warned by 
 Baumeister's sad fate, and had decided to return to their 
 primitive allegiance while there was yet time. 
 
 Together they went, tumultuously happy, to the offices of
 
 JOSEPH COMES FORTH 307 
 
 the Union, where such a throng was gathered that the 
 police hung anxiously on its outskirts. 
 
 In the little room with the broken-backed chairs and the 
 lame writing-table, where the officers of the Union held 
 their meetings, Joseph stood up to make a speech, with 
 Malcha looking on proudly, and David and Mordecai 
 applauding every other sentence. 
 
 He concluded with this phrase, " I will take up the work 
 again, if you will agree that you will remain in rebellion 
 against the cruel taskmasters who make your lives 'bitter 
 with bondage.' " 
 
 The good old words from Exodus seemed to put force into 
 his breast. 
 
 " Yes, yes, Joseph ! go away now and rest, and when 
 you come back we will smite the sweaters and drive them 
 out of the trade." 
 
 " And if you require a leader while Joseph is gone, you 
 have only to apply to me," said Ben Zion in a loud voice, 
 and smiting himself on the breast with an air of impor 
 tance. 
 
 Everybody laughed, at which the little pedler bristled 
 up and looked fierce, which provoked still more laugh 
 ter. 
 
 And presently Joseph and his friends went away to the 
 loft in David's theatre, where they had a simple meal, and 
 sat listening to the members of the chorus rehearsing; 
 and Joseph, dazed by the fresh air and the excitement, 
 fell asleep on a pile of costumes, and enjoyed the first really 
 refreshing slumber that he had known for weeks. 
 
 When the young labor-leader awoke it was late in the 
 afternoon. Near him, and waiting patiently for him to open 
 his eyes, two cloakmakers a wretched operator, already 
 half paralyzed by his terrible slavery on the machine, and
 
 308 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 a gawky boy, arrayed in nothing but a flannel shirt and a 
 pair of much-worn trousers were sitting. 
 
 David came bustling in. "Now, say your say to Reb 
 Joseph," he cried, " and be off ! Has not he done enough 
 for you yet ? " 
 
 The man assumed a whining tone, and, ignoring David, 
 he said, " Reb Joseph, we heard that you got out this 
 morning, and we hurried to find you, and ask you to inter 
 fere and save us." 
 
 " What can I do ? " said Joseph, sitting up and looking 
 around rather sleepily. " Am I not a fallen leader ? " 
 
 "Reb Joseph," said the man, " since you were put in 
 there we have been working for a contractor who got 
 garments from Freier and Monach. Things went on bad 
 from the start, but we did get some wages every week, 
 until last Saturday, when the scoundrel of a contractor up 
 and bolted. And he has carried off the wages of all the 
 people in the shop. Two hundred and seventy dollars, it 
 was. My share was fourteen, and we can't get anything. 
 Even the machines had been mortgaged by the contractor 
 weeks ago. We can't touch them. Oh, but he was a cunning 
 rascal ! And we are starving ! " 
 
 Here the boy in the flannel shirt began to blubber sym 
 pathetically. 
 
 "We went to Freier," said the man; "he laughed at us, 
 and said he had paid the contractor, and had nothing to do 
 with us. And he told us to get out. He shut the door in 
 our faces himself." 
 
 " When ? " said Joseph, arising suddenly, and making his 
 old gesture of command. 
 
 " Yesterday, Reb Joseph." 
 
 " Don't Reb me. Do you take me for a patriarch ? Get 
 up and stop that boy's howling ; give me the address of your 
 shop, and go home. I will see Freier, and tell him he must
 
 JOSEPH COMES FORTH 309 
 
 find you work in the old place until the scoundrel of a 
 sweater can be caught and punished. Go to the Union and 
 tell the secretary to give you a dollar each. That will last 
 you a few days, won't it ? I have lived on a dollar and a 
 half a week. You can." 
 
 The man and boy arose, gave him the contractor's address 
 and went away comforted. 
 
 " What time does the train leave for the colony ? " in 
 quired Joseph. 
 
 " At seven o'clock. Lie down and rest, for you will need 
 all your strength for the journey," answered David. 
 
 " I will return here in two hours." 
 
 Malcha came running to him, and threw her arms around 
 him. 
 
 " No work to-day, Joseph, I beg of you ! " 
 
 " I am going to have a little talk with Freier before I 
 leave town," he said calmly. 
 
 Malcha began to cry. " What new trouble, Joseph, will 
 you bring upon us ? That man will provoke you if he can, 
 and have you put in prison again." 
 
 " Nothing of the sort will happen, and Herr Freier will 
 be as obedient as possible. Come, Ben Zion, I shall want 
 you as a witness." 
 
 The little pedler trotted out after Joseph, who seemed 
 to have all his old strength again. 
 
 " Let them go," said David to the lamenting Malcha. 
 "Joseph is right. Freier will remember that he still has a 
 dangerous antagonist in Joseph." And when she would 
 have reasoned further he closed her mouth with a proverb. 
 
 Meantime Joseph and his little henchman strode away 
 to the office of Freier and Monach, which they reached in 
 fifteen minutes, not without gathering in their wake quite 
 a company of cloakmakers out of work, who were eager to 
 see what Joseph would do.
 
 310 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 Freier was in his private office, surrounded by contractors 
 who had come to solicit the privilege of receiving from 
 him the cloth, already cut, which they were to make their 
 "slaves " transform into garments. 
 
 The contractors saw Joseph first, and scattered like fright 
 ened sheep. Most of them knew him by sight ; the rest 
 from description : all feared him. 
 
 " What's the matter ? " said Freier, in jargon, laughing 
 at the sweaters. " Have you seen a factory inspector coming 
 around the corner ? " 
 
 At this moment the door of the office swung open, and 
 Joseph entered, with Ben Zion at his heels. 
 
 " Oh, I understand ! " snarled Freier, turning very pale, and 
 stepping back behind a board table, on which lay a formid 
 able pair of shears. " No wonder the poor fellows were 
 frightened. Here, men ! " he shouted, " you needn't run away. 
 We have a distinguished visitor Mr. Joseph Zalmonah, 
 fresh from the ' Tombs,' and he has something to communi 
 cate." 
 
 " Quite right," said Joseph ; " but you need not fortify 
 yourself. I wouldn't touch you any more than I would touch 
 a snake. I have come here to tell you what you must do 
 before nightfall, unless you wish to have me summon my 
 beggar's army, as you once called it, and pull this house down 
 over your head." 
 
 "Ah ! you hear him ? " snarled Freier, retreating gradually ; 
 " he gets bailed out of prison, and he comes straight to me, 
 and he threatens me. Take notice, all ! I'll have him 
 arrested on a new charge." 
 
 Joseph strode forward so quickly that he had turned the 
 corner of the table, and placed his hand on Freier's shoulder, 
 before anyone could stop him. "Don't let me hear any 
 more of that sort of talk ! " he said in a low tone. " You 
 know who is master just now. I have but a few words to 
 say."
 
 JOSEPH COMES FORTH 311 
 
 And briefly he recited to Freier the complaint of the 
 starving cloakmakers whose " sweater " had run away. 
 
 " You must go to that shop, furnish those people with 
 work, and pay them for it at the end of the week. They 
 cannot perish of hunger because your man has proved a 
 scoundrel and has run away with their wages." 
 
 " I have nothing to do with them ! " screamed Freier. 
 " Let them starve and rot ! They are no good anyway. I 
 can get a thousand better workers by whistling out of the 
 door." 
 
 Joseph looked Freier steadily in the face. " I under 
 stood your little game from the first," he said, " but I am 
 not sorry to have heard you confess it. You have worn 
 out that lot of men and women with overwork, and you 
 and your hound of a sweater have arranged a conspiracy 
 between you to get rid of them. You are an inhuman 
 wretch. I have been released just in time to check you in 
 this new trick. And now ohoose ! Will you give those 
 starving people work, until your confederate the contractor 
 can be found, or shall I tell my Union what I think is the 
 proper punishment for a man who has broken every con 
 tract that he has made with us ? " 
 
 Freier's whole frame quivered with excitement, but he 
 managed to control himself. At last he shook himself free 
 from Joseph's hand, and said sullenly, 
 
 "Well, I will give the poor devils one more chance, 
 because I do not want trouble with you just now. I will 
 furnish them work and wages until another contractor will 
 take the job. But let me tell you, Herr Joseph, that your 
 new reign will be very brief. You fool ! Do you think that 
 you will be allowed to meddle much longer with an indus 
 try which amounts to twenty-five millions of dollars a year 
 in my branch alone ? Haven't you already had a taste of 
 what you may expect if you keep on ? I hear that you are
 
 312 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 out on appeal now. That's all right. But the appeal will 
 be decided against you, and you'll go up the river all the 
 same by and by. And while you are up there for twenty- 
 one months we can do as we please, hey ? " 
 
 " Perhaps," said Joseph haughtily ; " but you can't do so 
 now." 
 
 Freier fairly foamed at the lips. He seized the huge 
 shears and dashed them with terrible violence to the 
 floor. The contractors gathered around him, but dared 
 not interfere. 
 
 "Now," said Ben Zion, "no more theatrical business, 
 Freier, or you might get a taste of the ' Tombs ' yourself, 
 and you wouldn't like it. Good-by. You don't look pretty 
 when you are angry. Come, Herr Joseph." 
 
 " Remember," said Joseph, shaking his hand warningly 
 at Freier, "if your promise to care for those people is not 
 redeemed by six o'clock, I will take the case into iny 
 hands." 
 
 Freier bellowed with rage, and turned and ran to the rear 
 of the office, and threw himself into a chair. 
 
 When Joseph had got into the open air again, Freier's 
 menacing prophecy seemed to follow and torment him. 
 Was it true then ? Was he irretrievably ruined, and would 
 the enemy triumph ? He went back to the little theatre- 
 loft and sat in a corner, gloomy and unwilling to talk, until 
 Malcha summoned him to start for the train. 
 
 Just then Ben Zion, who had been detailed to report on 
 Freier's movements, came in. " You can go in peace, Hen- 
 Joseph," he said. " Freier is still afraid of you. He has 
 done as he promised." 
 
 " Come, then," said Joseph, with a flash of his old bright 
 spirit, " let's be off to the colony ! "
 
 PURIM IN THE COLONY 313 
 
 CHAPTER XXV 
 
 PURIM IN THE COLONY 
 
 IT was a still, dreamy afternoon at the end of February 
 one of those days when, since the singular moderation 
 of our coast climate, violets are sometimes found timidly 
 unveiling their exquisite beauty in sheltered glades among 
 the New England hills. 
 
 Long ago the children thought themselves fortunate if 
 they could find beneath the crust of snow in the late days 
 of April the dainty pink flush of the hardy arbutus. But 
 all that is changed at least for a cycle of years ; and as 
 Joseph sat amid the fragrant newly sawn planks in the 
 old-fashioned saw-mill down by the serviceable stream 
 which supplied the colony with water, he could almost 
 persuade himself that spring had arrived. 
 
 "Sixteen months and a half," thought Joseph. "All 
 that time have I been here. It seems to separate me from 
 the old life as if it were a period of ten years. Sixteen 
 months and a half ! Am I the same man ? " 
 
 After nearly eight months of anxious waiting Joseph 
 had been delighted to learn from his counsel that the 
 Supreme Court, General Term, had reversed the decision 
 of the Oyer and Terminer, which had sentenced him to 
 twenty-one months in state prison. In this the upper 
 court had probably been influenced by the "certificate of 
 reasonable doubt " granted by the judge in the lower one ;
 
 314 JOSEPH ZALMOXAH 
 
 and by the fact that Joseph, as the agent of his Union, in 
 compelling Freier and Monach to pay a sum as compensa 
 tion for the loss of the workmen's time during the lock-out, 
 had but followed the general practice of the foreign Unions 
 in New York City. 
 
 Joseph's counsel encouraged him to believe that this was 
 an end to the whole matter ; but the event proved that he 
 was too sanguine. The District Attorney announced his 
 intention of carrying the case to the Court of Appeals, 
 and refused to quash the indictment until that court of last 
 resort had decided whether or not Joseph were guilty of 
 the crime of extortion. 
 
 This course was unusual, and was at once cited as perse 
 cution. But the prosecuting officer disclaimed any feeling 
 in the matter, and considered himself insulted by the mere 
 supposition that he could wish anything else than a clear 
 ing up of the points of law. 
 
 Joseph was at first profoundly discouraged by this new 
 complication, which left the sword still hanging over his 
 head ; and his discouragement was increased by the news 
 brought to him by Ben Zion that Freier was wild with 
 delight at the new turn matters had taken. 
 
 He proclaimed everywhere among the sweaters that 
 Joseph would certainly be sent back to prison by the Court 
 of Appeals; and Joseph suspected that an anonymous 
 letter which reached him at the colony, containing these 
 words, " You will see Sing-Sing yet, so don't get proud," 
 was the work of Freier's pen. 
 
 But Malcha and David and Ben Zion and the majority 
 of the cloakmakers believed the enthusiastic declarations of 
 his counsel that Joseph's troubles were over, and that he 
 would soon be able to return to his work among them, 
 untrammelled, justified, and triumphant. 
 
 Joseph arose from his seat on a log, and went over to the
 
 PURIM IN THE COLONY 315 
 
 primitive sink where he and his workmen made their rude 
 toilet after work. A piece of broken mirror was tacked 
 to the pine planking, just level with Joseph's eyes. He 
 looked into it and started back in mock dismay. 
 
 "I have grown younger," he said, " not older; and those 
 ugly wrinkles have covered themselves up. What a grand 
 thing it is to have enough to eat, appetite to eat it, and 
 fresh air to breathe ! " 
 
 His features expressed content. Yet he sighed. And at 
 that moment, as by some magic, he seemed to see arising, in 
 the little square of glass, the beautiful, but sad and yearn 
 ing, face of Bathsheba. 
 
 A shadow fell across everything for a moment. 
 
 But it went as swiftly as it had come, and Joseph 
 returned to his work, murmuring, 
 
 " Heigh ho ! I wonder if the poor thing is happy at last ? " 
 
 The memory of Bathsheba brought in its train a host of 
 other remembrances, and he passed them in review. 
 Baumeister, long ago transferred from the " Tombs " to a 
 lunatic asylum, from which he was likely never to emerge ; 
 Freier, with his evil smile and menacing gestures ; Shiph- 
 rah, with her heart-broken air, her pallid face and trembling 
 limbs these had been a part of his life. Would they 
 ever interest him again ? Was it not selfish of him to 
 breathe fresh air, and eat wholesome food, while his people 
 still struggled in the noisome dens of the East Side ? 
 
 He felt guilty because of his own physical well-being. 
 He seemed to hear a voice saying, " Joseph, hast thou for 
 gotten thy brethren ? " 
 
 A little door at the back of the mill flew open, and 
 Zipporah bounded in, her olive-colored cheeks tinged with 
 a wholesome red, her eyes sparkling, and her small frame, 
 grown chubby since she had come to the colony, all quiver 
 ing with excitement.
 
 316 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 " Tate ! " 1 she cried, taking off her hood, and swinging 
 it by the strings, "have you chosen your present to David for 
 Purim? Don't you know that you should give it to-day ?" 
 
 Joseph took Zipporah on his knees, and stroked her 
 rumpled hair. "True," he said, "we must give David 
 something nice. Here's a little money ; run down to the 
 store and buy it, and mind that you don't tell him before 
 hand what it is to be." 
 
 Zipporah took the coin and bounded away on her mission, 
 leaping over the planks like a young fawn. 
 
 Joseph's memory went back to his boyhood's days in the 
 Russian village, when presents were sent from one house to 
 another, and when each recipient immediately sent one in 
 exchange, wrapped in a handkerchief, and accompanied 
 with good wishes. 
 
 Purim ! The feast of gladness. The day when old and 
 young rejoiced together, and when families were reunited 
 around the festal board. 
 
 " Ah ! that accounts for the noise last night, I suppose," 
 he said. "The young folks were jumping on Hainan. I 
 thought that was it." 
 
 Purim is preceded by the feast of Esther, the clever 
 beauty whose witchery helped to save the Jews. On that 
 day the sacred story is read aloud ; and whenever among 
 the Russian Jews the name of Hainan is mentioned, it is 
 the subject of universal execration, and the children and 
 youth go through the motions of " jumping upon him," and 
 trampling him to death. 
 
 In some of the densely settled sections of the East Side 
 this ceremony is attended with so much noise that the 
 police come running to see where the riot is. " What is 
 the disturbance about ? " they anxiously ask. 
 
 "Jumping on Hainan," is the quiet reply, and the salta- 
 Papa.
 
 PUEIM IN THE COLONY 317 
 
 tory exercises are kept up with increased vigor until morn 
 ing. 
 
 And here they were celebrating Purim in that far-off New 
 England colony, thousands of miles of stormy water and 
 of vast plains intervening between them and their old 
 llussian home in the " Pale," where they were at liberty to 
 do almost nothing without a " declaration." Here they were 
 free to celebrate as they chose, and no one interfered with 
 or spied upon them. Surely this was a great gain. Joseph 
 felt a wave of thankfulness arising in his heart. 
 
 He had been absent when the feast occurred on the pre 
 vious year. This year he would participate in it. 
 
 David's colonial experiment was prospering. With six 
 teen hundred dollars which he had saved out of a prosper 
 ous season at his theatre, he had purchased three abandoned 
 farms on the edge of a Connecticut village, and had placed 
 a dozen families, taken out of the clutches of the sweaters, 
 upon them. 
 
 The farms had been bought from a railroad company, 
 which had purchased them from their migrating owners 
 for the timber which their forests contained. This had 
 been stripped away ; but the rocky acres and the numerous 
 buildings, most of them in very good repair, were a god 
 send to the poor refugees when they arrived. 
 
 David gave them everything rent free for the first year; 
 and, installing themselves in the old-fashioned farmhouses 
 and even in the deserted barns, they began the manufacture 
 of cheap wallets, of suspenders, of silk hats such as the 
 Bowery beau delights in. They got sewing-machines from 
 a neighboring town, and then began a " race with labor for 
 independence," as David expressed it. 
 
 Accustomed to the long hours of the sweaters' dens, they 
 could not bring themselves to reasonable periods of toil, and 
 the Yankee farmers round about, who thoroughly respect
 
 318 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 a talent for hard work, began to take a liking to the tem 
 perate, inoffensive new-comers, who worked from sunrise 
 until eleven P.M., and spent their holidays in song and in 
 picturesque ceremonials. 
 
 In the keen air of the New England hills the men ant 
 women whose faces had become deathly white under the 
 horrible slavery in the sweaters' dens were getting a 
 healthy color. Old patriarchs who had been tottering on 
 the verge of the grave suddenly seemed to receive a new 
 lease of life. 
 
 The women, who now and then had a chance to observe 
 the prim neatness of the Connecticut farmers' wives, began 
 to leave their slattern ways behind them. And the chil 
 dren romped all over the fields in all seasons, and laughed 
 and rejoiced from sunrise to sunset, as if they had never 
 known the horrors of Ludlow or Essex Streets. 
 
 Here and there a family worked at the making of cloth 
 ing, and turned an old farmhouse kitchen into a repro 
 duction of the crowded shops of the East Side. But the 
 windows were open ; air and light were abundant, and 
 wholesome, although coarse, food was plenty. " The work 
 ers in our shops sing at their toil," said David one day to 
 Freier, whom he had chanced to meet on the Bowery, and 
 who had asked him, with a thinly-veiled sneer, for news of 
 " that enthusiast," Joseph. " Our people sing at their work, 
 but yours never do." 
 
 Freier had scowled and passed on, and that day he had 
 been more than usually brutal to contractors, sub-contract 
 ors, poor people imploring " jobs," and all who came within 
 the scope of his tyranny. 
 
 Having got this little social experiment well under way, 
 David had returned into his old life at the theatre, where 
 he continued to prosper and to quote proverbs. But Miryam 
 remained behind, and abode with Joseph and Malcha.
 
 PU1UM IN THE COLONY 319 
 
 Miryam was a child no longer; but with a precocious 
 womanliness had come to her a mysterious languor and a 
 strange pallor, which disquieted all who loved her. Her 
 grave, sweet face, with its introspective eyes, was never 
 more beautiful than when she was watching Joseph at the 
 work which he had chosen, and which the physician, who 
 had warned him that his lungs were in danger, had advised 
 him to adopt. 
 
 As Joseph was destined to be a leader wherever he might 
 be, he very soon found himself surcharged with the cares 
 of the little colony, so that his own work sometimes suf 
 fered. But he prospered none the less ; and the two or 
 three visits which he had made to New York had convinced 
 him that the Union was holding out fairly well under 
 the guidance of those whom he had appointed to replace 
 him. , % 
 
 The sweaters had been held in check for nearly a year 
 after the termination of the great lock-out. But now they 
 were beginning to raise their heads again. Joseph heard 
 this from many sources ; and he said daily to Malcha, " I 
 must have another brush with those fellows yet." 
 
 A curiously misspelled letter from Ben Zion now and then 
 confirmed this conviction. In one instance the wages had 
 been reduced without the shadow of an excuse ; in another, 
 the sweaters were beginning their old trick of making cuts 
 in wages on trifling pretexts; in yet another, they were in 
 sisting on a return to the long hours, and were paying women 
 only three dollars weekly for sixteen hours' work daily. 
 
 " It will get better again soon, Joseph," pleaded Malcha ; 
 " why waste your life in fighting those wretched sweaters ? " 
 and Joseph would stop talking about the subject, only to 
 begin again on the first favorable occasion. 
 
 On this day of Purim his thoughts roved far from the 
 colony, as he sat alone among the logs and planks in the
 
 320 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 mill. He had worked but little there during the winter, 
 although the river had not been frozen; and on this beauti 
 ful February day, so like spring, he had been giving the 
 old saw a trial. Now he was resting and thinking. 
 
 The image of Baumeister arose before him. He remem 
 bered the day when, shortly after his installation at the 
 colony, he had returned to New York to see Baumeister at 
 the insane asylum to which he had been transferred under 
 a judge's order. 
 
 This visit had been a great shock to Joseph. As he stood 
 facing poor crazed Baumeister in the narrow and crowded 
 ward of the asylum, he had felt as if he were standing on 
 the perilous brink of some black and bottomless abyss. 
 
 Out of this dread depth came up questionings and men 
 aces and all kinds of incoherent prophecies, but nothing 
 which could serve in any way as a guide to poor toiling 
 exiles and refugees. 
 
 Joseph dimly felt, although perhaps he could not have 
 expressed it so, as if Baumeister, with his wild and reckless 
 aspirations, his passionate hate of society and desire for 
 vengeance upon it, and his utter lack of conscience, were 
 the product of the dull centuries of Russian oppression and 
 savage cruelty. The soul had been stunted, and was not 
 competent thereafter to arise to the full measure of a large 
 liberty. 
 
 Baumeister did not seem to think Joseph's visit at all 
 extraordinary. He greeted the. young labor-leader in the 
 most natural manner, and began pouring forth a torrent of 
 complaints about his sufferings while he was in prison. 
 
 " Everybody went to see you, Herr Joseph," he said, " and 
 carried you good things to eat, but nobody came near me. 
 And they kept me in a very damp place. All this because 
 that old fool of a Wonder-Rabbi swore my liberty away." 
 
 Joseph gazed at him in astonishment. Had Baumeister
 
 PUHIM IN THE COLONY 321 
 
 forgotten the events which led to his imprisonment ; or 
 was he feigning forgetfnlness ? 
 
 " Tell me, Baumeister," he said, " did you really set fire 
 to Simon's house, knowing that your wife and child were 
 there and might be burned to death ? And have you for 
 gotten that you were seen in the house by Bathsheba, by 
 me, and that I saved you from getting roasted yourself ? 
 Come, now, there's a good fellow, try and remember ! " 
 
 Baumeister did not answer for a minute or two. He began 
 rocking to and fro, staring at the keeper, who was listening 
 rather jealously to their conversation in the jargon, of 
 which he understood not a word. 
 
 Suddenly he jumped up and down, and a wild, fierce light 
 came into his eyes. Joseph recoiled a few steps, but 
 Baumeister came up to him with quick, stealthy step, like 
 an animal about to seize its prey, and shouted, 
 
 " Esther was her name ! She haunted me ! She hindered 
 my work ! And she went up in smoke, she and the child ! " 
 
 "No, Baumeister, no," said Joseph with an expression of 
 intense pity in his eyes ; " the child was saved, and shall be 
 cared for as long as I live. Ben Zion has it in his keeping, 
 and you know he is a good little man." 
 
 Baumeister looked earnistly at Joseph for a long time. 
 Then he began to laugh ; his eyes burned with a curious 
 light, and his breathing grew hoarse. Finally he spread 
 out his arms, and fell face forward in a fit. 
 
 " It's no good talking to him any more to-day," said the 
 keeper, edging Joseph away, as if he meant to push him 
 out of the ward. " When he gets over one of those fits lie 
 is as crazy as a loon ; wants to have a crown, and thinks he 
 is the Czar of Russia, and a hundred things wuss than that." 
 
 And so it proved. When Baumeister recovered conscious 
 ness, his first act was to recoil from Joseph with an expres 
 sion of horror, and to say, " Don't let him touch me ! Ho
 
 322 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 has claws and horns ! Bring me my crown and sceptre, and 
 I will command him to retire." 
 
 Joseph went out heart-sick and dazed. " The poor crea 
 ture gets crazier every day," said the keeper. " He will 
 never be brought to trial. Sometimes he thinks he is lead 
 ing a party of rioters, and he dances up and down the ward, 
 shouting blood and thunder, burn, sack, and destroy, until 
 you'd think the universe was coming to an end. Now and 
 then he gets some of the violent cases in the ward to follow 
 him when he makes a rush ; and on my soul, when you'd see 
 them lunatics a-charging, with Baumeister shouting out the 
 few English words he knows to 'em, you'd think we had an 
 assemblage of mad tigers in there, 'deed you would ! " 
 
 " Has the poor man no visitors ? " said Joseph. 
 
 "Once in awhile a lady comes to see him a mighty 
 fine-looking creature she is an actress maybe ; and she 
 jabbers away to him for an hour, with him cryin' as if his 
 heart would break, and she weepin' too. It 's quite heart- 
 breakin'. But she hasn't been here for a long time now. 
 Sometimes she sends the poor fellow some flowers, or a book 
 in them funny characters, all black and three-legged 
 a jargon book, they call it, and it's all jargon to me." 
 
 Bathsheba still had a kindly thought for Baumeister. 
 This seemed to please Joseph, he could not explain why. 
 Even now, as he sat in the old saw-mill, months after his 
 last visit to the asylum, musing on it, this remembrance of 
 Bathsheba's good-heartedness comforted him. 
 
 He wondered what she had done with all her fierce 
 dreams of social revolt and revolution, and whether she 
 would ever be contented in her new career as an actress. 
 She had made her debut a few months after Joseph's libera 
 tion, and had achieved only a modest success. But she had 
 shown great aptitude for the stage, and this and her beauty 
 had enabled her to rise rapidly. At present she was the
 
 PURIM IN THE COLONY 323 
 
 central figure in a large company which purveyed romantic 
 dramas and religious operas, the subjects of which were 
 invariably taken from Jewish history, to the quarter of a 
 million Hebrews of all classes and grades of prosperity who 
 inhabit the metropolis. She was already a celebrity, and 
 was gaining ground daily. 
 
 Twice only had Joseph seen Bathsheba since he had sent 
 her away, sorrowing and humiliated, from the prison. He 
 had met her once at the house of Mordecai Menzer, the 
 poet, where, in company with her husband, who was now a 
 prosperous impresario, she had come to consult with the 
 poet about the recitation of a popular poem to be recited 
 between the acts of a drama. 
 
 She had greeted Joseph quietly, coldly, and had made no 
 allusion to the past. He fancied that to her, as to himself, 
 it seemed as if a gate were closed between that past and the 
 present with its new duties and trials. But when she gazed 
 at him for a moment, mournfully, with those lustrous eyes, 
 searching the depths of his being, he felt as strongly, as 
 irresistibly drawn to her as of old. 
 
 He took his hat, mumbled some excuse, and got away out 
 of Mordecai's house as quickly as he could. 
 
 The second time was at David's theatre, when he was 
 making a flying visit to New York. She had come in to 
 ask David for the loan of some historical costumes for a 
 benefit performance. While David jested with her about 
 thus aiding his rivals, she had kept her eyes fixed on 
 Joseph. That day he was troubled as never before, 
 and when he spoke with her he acted like a man in a 
 dream. 
 
 David noticed his abstraction, and when the beautiful 
 Bathsheba had gone he said, as if communing with him 
 self, 
 
 "Commit a sin twice and it will not seem a crime."
 
 324 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 The wisdom of the old proverb sank deeply into Joseph's 
 heart. 
 
 All these things passed in review before him as he 
 worked and rested alternately in the saw-mill, his heart 
 heavy despite his many reasons for content, despite the 
 fact that the feast of gladness was at hand. 
 
 Presently one of the elders of the colony, an orthodox 
 Jew who had prospered wonderfully, and had housed his 
 large family in one of the old farmhouses, came to invite 
 Joseph and his wife and little Zipporah to attend with him 
 and his family the simple festivities which they had ar 
 ranged for the evening. 
 
 Joseph accepted gladly. "I was but trying the saw, 
 Jacob," he said; "I hope you don't think I was working 
 seriously on this good day. We will be with you at 
 dusk." 
 
 Miryam was unusually still and thoughtful at the little 
 home festival of Purirn, celebrated by the pious father with 
 his numerous family around him, and to which she, with 
 David, Joseph and Malcha and Zipporah, had been invited. 
 
 Supper was spread on a long table in the old-fashioned 
 room ; the wax tapers burned cheerfully, and in their light 
 the red wine in the quaint decanters glowed. 
 
 At the head of this table stood the father of the flock, 
 his gray hair crowned with a black skull-cap. Near him 
 sat the wife ; on the right and on his left was a favorite 
 daughter. Farther down on either side were ranged the 
 other daughters, and the family of a married son, with a 
 flock of children. The men wore their hats and the striped 
 prayer-garments, and the women the veil which covers the 
 forehead and the hair of the orthodox Jewess. 
 
 There was reading of the story of Esther, and of the 
 wreck of Haman's plot because of her beauty and address ; 
 there was much drinking of cups of wine ; and the head of
 
 PURIM IN THE COLONY 325 
 
 the family then distributed little presents to each member 
 of the household. 
 
 So simple and patriarchal was this scene that no one 
 could have beheld it without pleasure. Even Joseph, fond 
 of saying that formalism and tradition were eating the 
 heart out of the race, felt a thrill of happiness at the sound 
 of the old familiar songs of gladness and the time-worn 
 passages reciting the discomfiture of the evil Hainan. 
 
 After the supper the hymns were sung with enthusiasm 
 until a late hour, and David had improvised a quaint little 
 play not unlike an old mystery of the fifteenth century, in 
 which all present took part. 
 
 Miryam personated an angel, and as she passed by Joseph, 
 who had been detailed to represent an Assyrian soldier on 
 guard, and raised her soulful eyes to meet his, Joseph 
 thought that he had never seen a more spiritual and lovely 
 face. 
 
 The play ended, the grandparents led out the little chil 
 dren in the dance, and the wheezy extemporized orches 
 tra acquitted itself wonderfully of its difficult task. 
 
 The moon was shining brightly when the party dispersed ; 
 and in the confusion of leave-taking Joseph whispered to 
 Malcha, " Do not sit up for me ; I am going to walk a little 
 in the moonshine," and got away, as he thought, quite 
 unnoticed by any one else. 
 
 He walked swiftly from the farmhouse, down the hill 
 toward the river and the saw-mill. 
 
 Why he directed his steps thither he could not have told. 
 He went as if pushed by fate. 
 
 All was dark and silent in the old mill, and the pungent, 
 odors of the sawed planks made the head heavy. Joseph 
 lighted a bit cf a candle which stood on the edge of the 
 sink, and sat down to read a letter which had been shoved 
 into his hand by the ancient Father Israel, once joint
 
 326 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 lodger with Ben Ziou in the cellar where Bathsheba had 
 taken refuge on the night of the tire, but now removed to 
 the colony and promoted to the high office of its postman. 
 
 Father Israel, in giving Joseph the letter, had confessed 
 in trembling tones that he had got it from the post-office, 
 five miles away, with numerous others, tea days ago. 
 ' But it slipped into a hole in the lining of my coat, 
 Joseph," quoth the old man, " and I clean forgot it until 
 now. I hope it is nothing that can't wait." 
 
 Joseph had not looked at it then. But as he brought it 
 under the light now a wave of color swept into his face, 
 and then receded instantly, leaving him ashy pale. 
 
 He tore open the missive, and his hands shook as he 
 read. It was a curt note from his counsel, saying that 
 his case had suddenly been pushed forward, and was to be 
 heard in three days. As the Union had no money, he must 
 hasten to make a provision, so that they could send a man 
 to argue against the District Attorney, or bad consequences 
 might follow. "Five hundred would do," said the counsel. 
 
 " Five hundred devils ! " said Joseph. " And how quietly 
 he writes this to me, when I have not five hundred cents ! 
 And the letter is ten days old. And as no one has been 
 to town from the colony, and no other letter has come to 
 warn me, and the argument has been made, I am lost, I 
 suppose ! But perhaps the decision is not given yet. 
 Surely we should have heard " 
 
 At that moment Joseph's quick ear detected the sound 
 of a light footfall outside. " Who can that be ? " he mur 
 mured; and, opening the door, he stepped out into the 
 moonlight, and found himself face to face with Bathsheba.
 
 THE GREAT TEMPTATION 327 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 THE GREAT TEMPTATION 
 
 SHE was very pale ; her hair was dishevelled, and she 
 seemed to be suffering from extreme fatigue. She did not 
 look up at him, but kept her gaze fixed on the ground, and 
 seemed abashed. As Joseph approached her, he fancied 
 that he could hear the loud beating of her heart. 
 
 A sudden pang seized his own heart, and he felt that she 
 had come to warn him of impending misfortune. His 
 breath came quickly ; the blood was hot in his veins ; his 
 legs seemed heavy as lead. He stretched out one hand with 
 a gesture which was almost imploring. 
 
 " Speak ! " he said huskily. 
 
 Bathsheba struggled to obey, but no sound came from 
 her lips. The moonlight, falling full upon her lovely face, 
 gave her an expression so weird, so unearthly, that for an 
 instant Joseph thought that she was dying. In spite of 
 his determination not to do so, he darted forward, and 
 caught her in his arms. 
 
 She swayed heavily forward, and for a moment or two 
 she leaned her head against his breast. Her splendid hair 
 was damp with the night dews ; and when she looked up 
 Joseph saw that there were tears upon her face. They 
 stood apart again, Joseph almost humbly awaiting the 
 message of fate which he felt sure that she had brought to 
 him. Espying a huge log, which had been hauled up the
 
 328 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 day before to be ready for the sawyer, she went to it and 
 sank wearily down upon it, saying in a hoarse whisper, 
 
 Water ! " 
 
 Joseph dashed into the mill, and soon returned with a 
 tin pail filled with clear cold water, of which Bathsheba 
 drank a little. Then she wet her handkerchief, and held 
 it to her forehead and eyes. At last she said faintly, 
 
 " I was burning up. The fever seemed to tear me to 
 pieces. It is the impatience. I have hurried so. And all 
 for what ? " 
 
 She let the tin pail fall at her feet, the water trickling 
 down her dress, and sat for a minute with her hands folded 
 in her lap, and her eyes gazing into vacancy, like one 
 demented. 
 
 " How did you come here ? " said Joseph gently. " How 
 did you find your way to the colony, and in the night ? " 
 
 "I walked," she answered, gradually recovering her voice. 
 "At the depot I tried to hire a team, but the farmers wouldn't 
 let me have one. I suppose they thought it was too much 
 trouble, and yet I told them that I was in mortal haste ! 
 But they laughed at me ! So I walked." 
 
 " And why ? " timidly asked Joseph. " What has happened 
 that you could not wait and come by day ? And will you 
 not let me take you to Miryam, or to Malcha ? You 
 must be worn out. Do you know that it is eleven long 
 miles from here to the depot ? " 
 
 "And if it were eleven hundred," said Bathsheba, with a 
 rising exaltation of manner which alarmed Joseph, " I 
 should not have felt them or noticed them. It seemed to 
 me that I was buoyed up by celestial wings ; I felt like 
 soaring away over the woods and streams into the delicious 
 moonlight. But I remembered my purpose, and I bent my 
 course here. It is nothing. When I was a little girl, I 
 walked across twenty miles of snow-covered steppe, just
 
 THE GREAT TEMPTATION 329 
 
 to say that I dared. The winds howled, and so did the 
 wolves. But I did it." 
 
 She arose arid arranged her falling tresses, and drew her 
 loose veil over her head. " Joseph," she said, " hear me to 
 night without anger. What I have to say will not take 
 long. But is that your house there ? If it is, coine farther 
 away." 
 
 " No ; it is an old saw-mill. My home is nearly a quarter 
 of a mile off. There is no one stirring in the colony but 
 us, I should think, unless David should happen to be making 
 one of his night rounds. When he can't sleep he walks in 
 the fields, and composes plays as he goes along." 
 
 " Is David here ? " queried Bathsheba breathlessly. 
 
 " He is, and has been for some days." 
 
 u Ah ! I wondered how it was that he had not sent you 
 word about the " 
 
 She paused and turned away, as if to conceal the emotion 
 which was betrayed in her voice. 
 
 " About the what, Bathsheba ? Something has happened, 
 arid you are afraid to tell me ! Speak ! I can bear the 
 worst ! Is it about the appeal ? " 
 
 Bathsheba nodded, and at the same moment a convulsive 
 sob shook her whole frame. Suddenly she felt Joseph's 
 hand upon her shoulder, and looked up, tearful, but with a 
 smile of such divine tenderness, that it awed him. He felt 
 like one to whom a great treasure is offered, and who knows 
 that he has no right to accept it. The angry revolt in his 
 soul shook his whole frame, but he stood his ground. 
 
 " Listen, Bathsheba," he said : " tell me all, and at once. 
 I know, I feel, that the case in the Court of Appeals has 
 gone against me. Is it not so ? " 
 
 " Joseph," said the woman, turning and looking up 
 into his face, " it is true, and I hurried with all my might to 
 be here among the first. Fate has been kinder to me than
 
 330 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 I had dared to hope. It has let me be the one to break the 
 news to you, and it has brought us together, face to face, 
 here in the still night, where no one can disturb us. This 
 is reward enough." 
 
 She uttered these words in a deep voice, tremulous with 
 passion, and Joseph looked at her in astonishment. 
 
 " Joseph," she said, " the appeal is decided against you. 
 The court of last resort has agreed with the sentence in 
 Oyer and Terminer, and your original sentence is reaffirmed. 
 You must go to Sing Sing for twenty-one months, unless 
 the governor pardons you." 
 
 " Very well," said Joseph. That does not frighten me. 
 I will give myself up, and not have any nonsense about 
 extradition from another State. I would not have my 
 enemies think that I am afraid of them." 
 
 He drew himself up, and paced to and fro in the moon 
 light, Bathsheba watching him with gleaming eyes. 
 
 " The decision was in the afternoon papers," she said. 
 " Oh, I have been watching ! It appears that the argument 
 was made six or seven days ago. Everybody wondered 
 when they heard about the argument that you and your 
 friends in the colony gave no sign of life. Freier spread a 
 rumor that you had run away. Some of the poor folk in 
 the sweaters' hells believed it. Ah, Joseph, they are help 
 less ! My heart bleeds for them ! But no one man can 
 save them. You have done your share." 
 
 Joseph stopped short in his walk, and looked sharply at 
 Bathsheba. 
 
 " When I am buried underground, or at the bottom of 
 some river, I shall have done my share for them not 
 before," he said. 
 
 "All vain all vain ! " cried Bathsheba, coming rapidly 
 to him, and gesticulating madly. "The sweaters are vic 
 torious. Fresh thousands of exiles come in every week;
 
 THE GREAT TEMPTATION 331 
 
 and the people who are starving must work on any terms. 
 Law is dead, at least, no one enforces it, and the men 
 and women are turned into miserable slaves ! The greedy 
 manufacturers make the strong among the exiles drive the 
 weak ! The ignorant are ground down in this land of 
 liberty as they never were ground in the Pale ! And what 
 is your reward for all your efforts to bring order out of this 
 hideous chaos, to let the light in upon this festering slave- 
 market, to expel the oppressors and to protect the helpless ? 
 What does a free land a liberty-loving nation give 
 you for all this ? A prison, and the name of a common 
 malefactor ! " 
 
 She was speaking in Russian now, and with a nervous 
 eloquence which grappled upon Joseph's soul. But he felt 
 that it was his duty to throw off this influence, and he 
 said, almost sadly, 
 
 " Woman, would you tempt me again from the path of 
 duty ? Why, if a hundred thousand prisons lay in my 
 road, I would face them all rather than give up because I 
 have been worsted once by the manufactures." 
 
 "No no, Joseph," cried Bathsheba in strange, muf 
 fled tones, as if her emotion were stifling her ; " don't say 
 that ! " And, before he could stop her, she had fallen on 
 her knees and clasped her arms about his limbs. " Don't 
 say that ! Don't throw away life and all that makes it 
 worth living, for the mad war for the working-man ! Hear 
 me, Joseph. I have thrown everything to the winds, and 
 cast my whole life on the hazard of to-night, and I must 
 cpeak! Hear me, and kill me afterwards if you will." 
 
 Joseph struggled to free himself, but Bathsheba only 
 clung the tighter ; and kneeling there in the moonlight, 
 magnificent and enticing in her imperial beauty, she poured 
 forth her impassioned soul, while the young labor-leader 
 listened and trembled.
 
 332 JOSEPH ZALMOXAII 
 
 " Come away out of this horrible mesh of constant toil 
 and suffering," she cried. (i I cannot have your young life 
 broken and degraded by the slavery of the prison. I can 
 not bear to think of the humiliation which they will heap 
 upon you. O Joseph ! Man against whom I once thought 
 to plot and conspire, you conquered me by the magic of 
 your earnestness, and now I am pleading to draw you a \viiy 
 from it. But it is for your good. Listen! I have re 
 nounced all for you ! I have thrown my theatre engage 
 ments to the winds ; I have sent away the few things that 
 1 possess ; I will never return into that hell of misfortune 
 and poverty. And let me plead with you, Joseph, to come 
 away with me. See ! I have prepared all money 
 Come ! by to-morrow night we can be in Canada, and take 
 ship to London, where they will not think of hunting for 
 us. Come ! I will be your slave, and toil for you ; but I 
 cannot see you taken and thrust into prison, and ruined for 
 life. See, Joseph ! I implore you ! Do not spurn me." 
 
 Bathsheba threw her head back, exposing the exquisite 
 beauty of her superb throat ; and her hair, falling in pictu 
 resque disorder around her face, lent a new charm to her 
 powerful and seductive beauty. 
 
 Joseph trembled so violently that he thought he would 
 have fallen. The woman's clinging arms seemed to burn 
 into his flesh ; his brow was hot, and his eyes ached, while 
 strange flashes of light came and went before them. 
 
 The odors of the calm, silent night arose around the 
 striving pair, the penetrating aroma of the sawn wood, 
 the fresh smell of the bark on the old log, the cool fra 
 grance from the hillside covered with new forest growtli ; 
 and they seemed momentarily to steady Joseph's dancing 
 senses. 
 
 Yet he felt himself yielding, and it seemed to him that 
 one more move of Bathsheba's arms, one more of those
 
 THE GllEAT TEMPTATION 333 
 
 fiery caresses into which she had put the ardor of a nature 
 long repressed, would force him to stoop and take her in 
 his arms, and to fold her there forever more, and to rush 
 away madly with her into the future, leaving behind the 
 cruel present with its dolorous prospect of prison and per 
 secution, and dull round of prosaic duties in the service of 
 the ignorant and the wronged. 
 
 One kiss, one mutual caress, and all the world would 
 melt away, and they would live for each other alone. 
 
 He heard the sigh of the night breeze in a thicket near 
 by ; he felt the rapturous tugging of Bathsheba's appealing 
 arms ; his head swam, and an ineffable delight stole through 
 his being. A long sigh shook his whole frame, and he was 
 extending his hands to invite Bathsheba to rise, and to 
 be clasped upon his heart, when a light footstep sounded 
 near, and a moment later a lithe little figure sprang into 
 the moonlight close beside him. 
 
 It was Miryam. 
 
 Bathsheba loosened her imploring hold upon Joseph's 
 knees, and, crawling away a few paces, leaned her head 
 against the old log, and began to cry passionately. 
 
 Joseph stood looking over Miryam's head into the moon 
 lit space beyond, not knowing, not caring, what she might 
 do or say, but feeling profoundly thankful that she had 
 arrived in time to save him from what might have been a 
 fatal step. 
 
 He was at first surprised to see that the girl did not 
 hasten to Bathsheba, and raise her up and question her as 
 to why she had come. Then it became apparent to him 
 that Miryam had perhaps heard all ; that Bathsheba was 
 blameworthy because she had tempted him to desert the 
 path of duty and honor, and that he himself had wavered 
 strangely. Had he not almost yielded ? 
 
 Miryam placed her hand over her heart, and coughed
 
 334 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 slightly once or twice. A spasm of pain wrote its lines 
 upon her lovely face. She stood looking first at Joseph, 
 then at Bathsheba, as if she hardly dared ask what so 
 strange an interview, in so singular a fashion, could mean 
 at such an hour. 
 
 At last she put out one little hand, and took Joseph's 
 right hand in hers. It seemed to him that there was comfort 
 and safety in this brave, virginal clasp of the girl who had 
 so long revered him, aud who had now been made the un 
 witting instrument of saving him. 
 
 " Miryam," he said softly, as if he were afraid of the 
 sound of his own voice, " Bathsheba has brought me bad 
 news, and she has been begging me to take a course 
 which " 
 
 "Bathsheba's a bold, wicked woman," said the girl, "to 
 say what I heard her say just now ; and why and how she 
 should come here at such an hour I don't know." 
 
 She paused and looked confused, as if even the contempla 
 tion of Bathsheba's boldness were contaminating. "And 
 why, Reb Joseph, has she been talking to you of prisons and 
 such dreadful things ? I thought all that was gone by. 
 Speak ! Why don't you answer me ? What has Bathsheba 
 told you ? " 
 
 " She has brought me the first news of the fact that the 
 Court of Appeals has decided against me, and that my old 
 sentence is still in effect. And she is trying to persuade 
 me that it is not my duty " (here Joseph spoke a little 
 bitterly) " to go to State prison for twenty-one months ! But 
 I must go, and I will." 
 
 " Reb Joseph ! How terrible ! " 
 
 Joseph looked up quickly, for there was a peculiar sound 
 in Miryam's voice which alarmed him. 
 
 The girl was standing with both hands now pressed 
 tightly over her heart. Suddenly, uttering a faint cry, and
 
 THE GREAT TEMPTATION 335 
 
 as if struck down by the dread news which she had just 
 heard, she fell as if she had been shot. 
 
 With a moan on his lips Joseph sprang forward to raise 
 her up. As he turned her face to the moonlight he broke 
 into a sob. Little Miryam was dead. 
 
 She had died instantly of heart-pang. 
 
 Then arose before Joseph the vision of the fateful day 
 when he was attacked by the ignorant members of the 
 " party of force," to which Bathsheba had herself belonged, 
 and he saw the valiant maiden throwing herself in front of 
 him to shield him from the missiles, one of which had 
 struck her full in the breast. It was that cruel missile 
 which had been the begetter of the heart-pang which had 
 now stretched Miryam dead at his feet between him and 
 the woman to whose seductive wiles he had almost 
 yielded. 
 
 Miryam had died for him to save him from Bathsheba 
 to preserve him for his duty, and, if need be, his martyr 
 dom. 
 
 A great rage arose in his heart against Bathsheba. 
 
 He laid Miryam gently down upon the ground, and going 
 to the sobbing woman he took her roughly by the wrist. 
 
 " Rise np," he said, " and look upon your work ! " 
 
 Tremblingly Bathsheba obeyed. She gazed at Miryam 
 without asking a question. And she went on sobbing as if 
 her heart would break. 
 
 " Good God ! woman, don't you care ? Have you no 
 remorse ? " he cried. 
 
 Bathsheba bowed her head. 
 
 " Now go, and never let me see you again. Go back to 
 your work, and forget all the foolish things which you 
 have said. I shall be in New York soon to give myself 
 up. But let none of your sort of people come across my 
 path."
 
 336 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 The woman stretched out her hands with a gesture of 
 appeal or of regret. Joseph was too deeply stirred to dis 
 tinguish which it was. 
 
 " Go ! " he said in a terrible voice. 
 
 Bathsheba went to the log where her veil was lying, took 
 it up, put it on, and departed with slow and measured steps, 
 like one carrying a heavy burden. 
 
 And now Joseph remembered that the woman had trav 
 elled eleven miles on foot that evening in pursuit of her 
 reckless and criminal mission, and that she was probably 
 fainting for food. What if she should fall and perish by 
 the way ? His heart was all at once filled with great com- 
 passion for her ; he was sorry that he had spoken so harshly. 
 
 He strode after her, and touched her gently. She turned, 
 trembling, as if expecting him to strike her down. 
 
 " I was a brute ! " said Joseph. " I drove you away 
 hungry and exhausted. Forgive me ! Come to my house, 
 and Malcha will give you food and a place to sleep." 
 
 " Your wife ? " said Bathsheba with a strange look. " No, 
 really, it would be asking too much. I have bread and 
 meat in my pocket." 
 
 She held up a little package. " Don't worry about me." 
 And she turned and began walking off again in the same 
 slow, heavy way. 
 
 " But it is not wise that you should go, now Miryam is 
 dead," said Joseph, wringing his hands ; " and you must 
 remain here to testify as to the manner of her death." 
 
 "Dead! Miryam!" and Bathsheba uttered a shriek 
 which rang through the still, cool night and seemed to 
 go mounting up into the stars. " Dead ! The beautiful 
 child ! " 
 
 She rushed back to the place where the girl was lying, 
 white and calm, and, kneeling near her, burst into low, 
 passionate wailing.
 
 THE GREAT TEMPTATION 33T 
 
 A minute or two later David came up from the river- 
 bank by a little path which led around the mill. He was 
 musing as he pursued his midnight walk, and it was not 
 until he was within a few yards of the group that he heard 
 Bathsheba's lamentations and saw the little group. 
 
 He sprang forward and seized Bathsheba's head in his 
 hands, bent it back, and gazed into her face. 
 
 " You here ! " he said. " What do you want ? " 
 
 Bathsheba pointed to the body of Miryam, which lay a 
 little in the shadow. David uttered a scream like that of 
 a parent who sees his child struck dead before his eyes. 
 
 Then he beat his breast, and Bathsheba's head, released 
 from his grasp, fell forward as if she were dead like 
 Miryam. 
 
 " She is gone she is dead ! " murmured Bathsheba. 
 " I came here to bring Joseph the dreadful news that the 
 appeal is rejected, and that he must go to prison. Miryam 
 came and heard, and she fell down straight down. 
 Reb David ! Can it be possible that she is dead ? " 
 
 "The cruel news killed her, my pure, my sweet, my 
 darling one ! " said David, communing with himself. He 
 put out one hand and brushed Bathsheba aside ; a moment 
 later he seemed to have forgotten her existence. 
 
 Then he took Miryam in his arms, and, rising slowly and 
 painfully from the kneeling posture into which he had 
 thrown himself to examine her features, he moved away 
 toward his house, repeating brokenly the words of the old 
 saying of the wise rabbi, which he had been heard to quote 
 many times : 
 
 " Life is a passing shadow. The shadow of a tower or a 
 tree; the shadow which prevails for a time ? No; even as 
 the shadow of a bird in its flight, it passeth from our sight, 
 and neither bird nor shadow remain^." 
 
 " Come ! " said Joseph to Bathsheba. " Here is tragedy
 
 338 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 enough for one night. Are you going back to the depot, 
 or shall I find you a place to rest ? " 
 
 He spoke like one heavy with sleep, or dazed with 
 excitement. 
 
 B^thsheba sprang up with nervous energy. 
 
 ' ; I am going," she said. " Perhaps you will think of 
 me wh,en you are growing gray and old before your time 
 in that hell of a prison. Perhaps you will see my face in 
 your dreams. I feel almost certain that you will." 
 
 She paused, and looked intently at him. Joseph seemed 
 to feel the solid ground giving way beneath his feet. 
 
 " God ! " he cried, suddenly raising his arms and turn 
 ing his face upward, "judge Thou between this woman 
 and me. Set my feet in the right track, and hold them 
 there, or I am lost ! " 
 
 Bathsheba gazed still more sharply at him. At last she 
 burst into a shrill laugh ; then she snapped her fingers in 
 the air, and whirling around went off at a swift pace. 
 
 But when she was well out of sight of Joseph and the 
 mill she fell down in a swoon, from which she did not 
 awaken for a long time. After her senses came back she 
 sat by the roadside, ill and confused, until sunrise. 
 
 A passing farmer gave her a ride in his ox-cart, and she 
 reached the depot in time to climb into a slow train for 
 New York. 
 
 It was evening when she once more saw the lights of the 
 great city. As she set foot on its pavement she remem 
 bered that, in her mad departure, she had given up all her 
 engagements, and had written a letter to her husband, who 
 was in a neighboring city, to say that he need never ex 
 pect to see her more. 
 
 Nevertheless she dragged her weary limbs back to her 
 old lodgings. To her surprise her husband was there, with 
 a smile on his lips.
 
 THE GREAT TEMPTATION 339 
 
 " Been having the tantrums, I hear ! " he said. " That's 
 what comes of studying too hard for your stage business. 
 Oh, eome in and rest, and you'll be all right again. What 
 have you done with your trunks ? " 
 
 She did not dare to tell him that she had sent them to a 
 city near by, there to await her orders after her flight. 
 
 " I suppose you had 110 real intention of running away," 
 said the dark-faced tiddler, lighting a cigarette. " Just a 
 tantrum, so old Frume, your dresser at the theatre, said. 
 Running away wouldn't do with me, you know. I'd run 
 after you and bring you back. You're too valuable to 
 lose." 
 
 .Bathsheba sat down. She shivered and closed her eyes. 
 
 " By the way, there's bad news about an acquaintance of 
 ours that Joseph the labor-man, you know," continued 
 her husband. "The cloakmakers are full of the news 
 to-night. It seems that he's got to go up the river, after 
 all. He'll be badly broken up, won't he ? Mordecai will 
 have to make up a new ballad about him, he, he, he ! The 
 sweaters are still ahead, aren't they, now ? " 
 
 " He wasn't practical," said Bathsheba. " Such men 
 always come to grief. Don't talk to me any more just 
 now, there's a good fellow. I'm going to lie down. I feel 
 chilly."
 
 340 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII 
 
 CARRYING THE CROSS 
 
 IT was morning, and the sun shone in a sky of crystal 
 blue. Here and there fleecy clouds sailed swiftly forward, 
 evanescent and exquisite as mist-wreaths around a moun 
 tain peak. The moist woodland exhaled fragrant odovs ; 
 and in the edges of the thickets the squirrels frolicked 
 with apprehensive air, as if certain that this mid-winter 
 mildness would soon be followed by snow and cutting 
 blasts. 
 
 Joseph came out upon a headland, and paused to enjoy 
 the majestic spectacle of the blue and smooth waters of 
 Long Island Sound spread far below. Never before had 
 this serene and beautiful countryside, with its picturesque 
 coast, with innumerous miniature bluffs, with caverns, with 
 promontories, with islets in the softly moving water, 
 seemed so beautiful as now. 
 
 A tiny sail was fluttering around a distant point, and the 
 fleck of white awoke a sudden longing in Joseph's heart. 
 O to tear himself now and forever from the dull and 
 pestilential orbit of the existence in which his lot had been 
 cast ! to seek some unknown and slumberous land where 
 life was poetry and the struggle for bread never intruded 
 itself upon human attention ! 
 
 The intensity of his longing at that moment, with the 
 sordid and wretched mockery of his bounded life stinging
 
 CARRYING THE CROSS 341 
 
 him, and the gray walls of the prison rising, a dismal 
 vision, iu front of him, was so great that his eyeballs 
 were strained until his vision became indistinct, and his 
 finger-nails were imbedded in the flesh of his palms. 
 
 And with this longing came the vision of a lovely, even 
 a sensuous face, filled with the mysterious and indefinable 
 languor of the Russian type touched with a tender 
 grace of Orientalism borrowed from Semitic origin. It 
 hovered before him in the luminous air; its bewitching 
 gaze seemed to lure him on to fields which he had not yet 
 trod. 
 
 Was it Bathsheba's face etherealized, transfigured ? 
 He dared not answer this question. When he closed his 
 eyes the vision came nearer, was more provoking, sweeter, 
 maddening. 
 
 Thus were the saints of old tortured by the visions born 
 of those longings which they were victoriously treading 
 underfoot. 
 
 Joseph was on his way to the office of his counsel in 
 New York, to deliver himself up. After the wild emotions 
 through which he had passed in the last two days, it 
 seemed to him that he was all at once many years older. 
 The colony life lay behind him in a kind of haze, as if it 
 were an experience of long ago. 
 
 He had agreed with David that nothing was to be said to 
 Malcha and the others of Bathsheba's mad visit and mad 
 der proposal ; but he had told David all, not even conceal 
 ing any smallest detail which tended to inculpate himself. 
 
 The testimony of the two men as to Miryam's sudden 
 death from heart-pang, " while she was talking to Joseph," 
 was unquestioningly accepted by the members of the little 
 colony, every person in which revered them both. All 
 night the Jewish wail of mourning was heard in the farm 
 houses, for Miryam had been dear to all.
 
 342 JOSEPH ZALMONAII 
 
 Joseph thought it best to keep his bad news from all but 
 Malcha, during the day following Bathsheba's visit and 
 Miryain's death, and to go away quietly in the night. The 
 colony would know soon enough, and at present he did not 
 feel that he could support the anguish of a general leave- 
 taking. David knew, and Malcha knew, and they could 
 mourn in silence with him. 
 
 But in little Malcha's resolution Joseph found exceed 
 ing comfort. " We will work night and day to secure a 
 pardon from the governor," she said; "and we shall have 
 a home here when we need it. So why worry about us ? " 
 
 " A pardon for a man who has committed no crime ! " 
 said Joseph disdainfully; and his whole soul rebelled 
 against this idea. 
 
 But David and Malcha persuaded him. And he did not 
 suspect, as he kissed the sleeping Zipporah and parted with 
 Malcha, to start upon his journey, that ere he was out of 
 sight she would fall down in a swoon, from which David 
 with all his arts could with difficulty arouse her. 
 
 When she recovered she was brave, and all day she went 
 about superintending the preparations forMiryam's funeral, 
 and carrying her sad secret locked within her breast. 
 " Joseph had been called to the city on business about the 
 Union." That was all that she could be induced to say, 
 and fortunately no news came from the great city. What 
 would have been her anguish had she known with what 
 phantoms her heroic husband was struggling on the way, 
 and how, at times, he seemed tempted out of the path of 
 duty and honor ! 
 
 Joseph left the headland, and walked briskly along the 
 highway, which here and there ran beside the water. Once 
 or twice the thought came to him : A plunge into the blue 
 waters would end all your cares. Why prolong life in 
 which there is so little to get and so much to suffer in
 
 CARRYING THE CROSS 343 
 
 which the vain, the mediocre, and the mean prosper and 
 grow fat, and the unselfish are plucked and tortured ? One 
 cool plunge ! 
 
 But presently he brushed away these suggestions as 
 unmanly ; and, as he hastened on toward the depot, the vis 
 ions left him. His spirit became calmer, 
 
 A farmer who knew him by sight met him on the road. 
 " Fine day, Mist' Zalmonah. Goin' to taowu ? " said the 
 rustic cheerily, and nodding a hearty salute. 
 
 Joseph looked at the man in astonishment. Had he not 
 heard ? did he not know ? And then there drifted in upon 
 him the feeling that he was but a speck, a mote in the uni 
 verse ; and that his small sorrows, his ridiculous anguish 
 and sense of injustice, were of trifling consequence in the 
 world. There was a kind of rude comfort in this feeling. 
 
 He answered the farmer with a hearty, "Yes; a little 
 visit to New York," and went on, and on, and on toward 
 his prison. 
 
 When he reached the depot he learned that the train was 
 an hour late. He sent off a despatch to his counsel, saying, 
 " I will be in your office before dark : make such arrange 
 ments as you think proper." Spelling the words correctly 
 in English occupied some little time : he took out his 
 pocket dictionary and consulted it. 
 
 He was surprised at his own calmness. It seemed to 
 him that he was really at last enjoying the work of giving 
 himself up. 
 
 By and by the train from New York came, fuming and 
 snorting and bell-ringing, up to the wooden platform. 
 Joseph stood listlessly studying the faces of the passen 
 gers. 
 
 But suddenly he gave a shout, and hastened forward to 
 meet a little man dressed in clothes much too large for him, 
 and carrying a bundle done up in a mysterious cloth wrap-
 
 344 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 per, which appeared as if it might once have been the flag 
 of a merchant vessel. 
 
 " Ben Zion ! " cried Joseph, and he fairly hugged the 
 small pedler in the exuberance of his gladness at having 
 one sympathetic soul to make the return journey with him. 
 
 The pedler looked up at Joseph, and two big tears rolled 
 down his cheeks. But they curiously belied the angry 
 expression which made his red hair more bristly than usual, 
 and his mouth disclose a range of teeth which seemed anx 
 ious to snap at somebody. 
 
 "Reb Joseph ! alive and well, and by the bones of Abra 
 ham ! in spite of all these dreadful things, still the strongest 
 of all us poor leaders ! Well, well, this is a meeting, as the 
 wolves said when they met the emperor; and at such a 
 time ! " And he laid down the bundle and shook Joseph's 
 two hands until they ached. 
 
 Although Joseph was little in the humor for laughter, lie 
 could not help smiling at the quaint figure of the pedler, 
 and at the almost reverential way in which Ben Zion scru 
 tinized his face. 
 
 " And where were you going, Ben Zion ? " he said. 
 
 "Where else, Reb Joseph, but to your colony, to get 
 every member of it except yourself to sign my petition. " 
 And he pointed down to the bundle, adding quickly, with a 
 tremor in his voice, 
 
 " I suppose you have heard the bad news. They said 
 among the sweaters that you had run away, but they 
 couldn't make us leaders believe that." 
 
 Ben Zion still cherished the belief that he was an effect 
 ive labor-leader, and that without his valuable services the 
 work of Joseph could not have been brought to fruition. 
 
 " I have heard that I have to go back to prison, if that is 
 what you mean. But I wonder that some one from the 
 Union had not come sooner to let me know. The lawver's
 
 CARRYING THE CROSS 345 
 
 letter was not given to nie until it was too late to do any 
 thing." 
 
 " Ah ! now that explains things," said Ben Zion, his brow 
 clearing up. " The lawyer said he heard that you had gone 
 away somewhere, and then the little dark-faced fiddler he 
 was spreading stories last night, so I was told " 
 
 " Stories ! What stories ? " said Joseph with a sudden 
 harshness in his voice. 
 
 " Well, it seems that Bathsheba has been having fits, and 
 that all of a sudden she stopped acting at the theatre, and 
 sold a lot of her costumes. Then one day, when she 
 thought her husband would be gone for some days, she 
 packed everything off, and left him a letter telling him not 
 to count on her any more, and that she was going away off 
 where he would never hear of her. But it seems that the 
 fiddler was jealous of her, and that he had been watching 
 her for some days, as the bear watched the bees, getting lit 
 tle but stings for his pains. He had her followed, and the 
 spy comes back and says that she bought a ticket for this 
 station. ' Why, that's the station for Joseph's colony,' 
 says the fiddler, and he goes and spreads it around that 
 Bathsheba has perhaps gone away with you, and that 
 neither of you will ever be heard of again" 
 
 " The liar ! " 
 
 " Agreed ! " said Ben Zion. " But just wait until I put 
 my paws on him, as the bear said of the fish that was mak 
 ing faces at him in the water. And nobody knows where 
 that crazy Bathsheba is now. Heigh ho ! She's travelling 
 fast on the road that Baumeister 's at the end of." 
 
 Joseph shuddered. But what did it matter to him ? 
 Would he not in a few hours be shut out from the world ? 
 What did anything matter now ? 
 
 '' And now, Reb Joseph, are you really going back ? No 
 there ! I thought never to ask you such a question. You'll
 
 346 JOSEPH ZALMONAII 
 
 have a few bad days among those cut-throats. But the gov 
 ernor can't refuse our petition. What do you think of 
 this ? " 
 
 And plunging down into his bundle he drew forth a vast 
 roll of paper, scribbled all over with Russian and Hebrew 
 characters, interspersed here and there with English and 
 German. " Won't that make his Excellency's eyes dance ? " 
 
 " They will not pardon me," said Joseph a little bitterly. 
 " Freier and all the others will go up there to the governor's 
 mansion with tears in their eyes, and tell him that the holy 
 cause of capital is in danger from such rascals as I am ; and 
 they will make me take my medicine, as they say in the 
 f Tombs.' Let us say no more about it just now, for they 
 say the train is coming." 
 
 On the way back to New York, Ben-Zion unfolded the 
 plan of Joseph's friends, and showed him that a formidable 
 effort, in which the American press and public of the great 
 city had interested itself, was on foot to obtain his pardon. 
 " Your name is in every paper, Joseph : you are a great 
 man," said the little pedler with unction. 
 
 They had taken an earlier train than that by which Bath- 
 sheba had travelled on the preceding day, and they arrived 
 in New York toward four in the afternoon. 
 
 " Leave me now, Ben Zion ! " said Joseph, surprised that 
 no officers were on hand at the station to seize him ; '-and 
 bring the people of the Union to meet me at the lawyer's 
 office in an hour and a half." 
 
 Ben Zion looked wonderingly at him. "Don't be afraid," 
 Joseph said. " Have I not told you that I will be there ? 
 By the way, could you find that poor Shiphrah, and bring 
 her to me there ? I have a message from Malcha to deliver 
 to her, and they may be sending me up the river at any 
 time." 
 
 " Shiphrah ! " stammered Ben Zion. " I found out where
 
 CARRYING THE CROSS 347 
 
 she is, but they have been having typhus-fever down there 
 lately. They say the dead are piled up very thick in the 
 sweaters' tenements. I wouldn't like to go in there just 
 now, Reb Joseph, unless " 
 
 "Never mind, Ben Zion." And a picture arose in 
 Joseph's memory of the horrible scenes which he had seen 
 among the wretched operatives in a " typhus ward." Mis 
 ery ! misery ! Ever the same refrain. Typhus the hun 
 ger fever, born of the crushing work, the insufficient 
 nourishment, sometimes the total lack of it for days, the 
 foul air and the promiscuity of the tenements turned into 
 forcing-houses. The Sweaters' Hell ! Would it never be 
 swept out of existence ? Was there any excuse for its tol 
 eration in this new land of plenty, where fortunes were 
 made in a single year, arid where labor could think and say 
 whatever it pleased ? Was there not a Sweaters' Hell in 
 more than one of the great American cities ? What had 
 these poor exiles done that they should be compelled to 
 starve and freeze in winter, and starve and roast in summer, 
 and to become the prey of typhus when their puny frames 
 .were exhausted ? Who could save them ? Would their 
 cry for help be heard, or must they go down in the great 
 waters of misery, spurned and buffeted, as relentless Nature 
 has spurned and buffeted the weak since Time began ? 
 
 "No, Ben Zion, never mind seeing Shiphrah to-night. 
 We can send a letter to her perhaps. Meet me in an hour 
 and a half with the others. Be punctual." 
 
 The pedler trotted off with his petition bundle under 
 his arm, and Joseph began to walk leisurely down town. 
 There was a bitter pleasure in this last walk before the 
 brand of the convicted criminal would be finally placed 
 upon him. Each commonplace sight and sound had a new 
 and unusual charm for him. 
 
 He went along Park Avenue, gazing at the spacious man-
 
 348 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 sions with their huge entrances ; at the elegant streets 
 crossing the avenue, each with its rows of palatial houses. 
 He peeped into a trim coupe in which two beautiful girls 
 were chatting and laughing, and he nodded pleasantly to a 
 man carrying a heavy bundle who jostled him and said, 
 "Excuse me." 
 
 Presently he came to the brow of the hill ; and there he 
 met a procession of small Italian children, under the guid 
 ance of a sweet-faced woman, who had apparently been 
 taking them for an airing on some "saint's day." 
 
 The little girls, with their neatly braided hair, and the 
 boys, with their dreamy, poetic faces ; the musical prattle of 
 pupils and teachers, and the air of contentment and security 
 which pervaded the whole procession, seemed to touch 
 some fountain of regret and longing in Joseph's heroic 
 bosom. 
 
 He thought of his own child, from whom he must now 
 be separated so cruelly for so long a time, and his eyes 
 grew dim. A terrible tearing pain seized his heart ; it was 
 as if some dread power were wrenching it from his breast. 
 
 He turned to look at the children again and again at 
 their happy faces and their pretty dress. And he mur 
 mured, " Our people will be like that some day when I 
 have suffered enough for them." 
 
 He took up his cross and went on. 
 
 When Joseph reached the vicinity of his counsel's office, 
 which was in a shabby building near the "Tombs," he saw a 
 great crowd surging back and forth in obedience to the im 
 perative waving of policemen's clubs. 
 
 He knew at once that his telegram must have scattered 
 the news of his arrival through the cloakmakers' quarter, 
 since Ben Zion had told him that some one went to the 
 lawyer's office daily from the Union; and his heart beat
 
 CARRYING THE CROSS 349 
 
 tumultuously at the pleasant assurance that he was not 
 entirely forgotten. 
 
 A few steps farther, and he felt a friendly grasp upon 
 his arm. A well-remembered voice greeted him; an old 
 woman seized his hand and kissed it. His cheeks were 
 aflame now ; he held his head up, and his spirits revived 
 when he heard voices crying all around him in the rugged 
 jargon, "Keep up, Joseph! Keep up! We will pull you 
 through, and you will beat the sweaters yet." 
 
 And so perhaps he might! Who knew what strange 
 happiness Fate might not have in store for him ? 
 
 " He run away ! " said another voice. " Never ! The very 
 idea was foolish. Of course it was one of Freier's lies. 
 He will be out and tree old Freier, as the moujik treed the 
 bear, before Passover comes. What was that lie about the 
 actress ? Of course it was all Freier's work ! We'll pull 
 that old devil to pieces yet ! They say the governor has 
 Joseph's pardon all made out, but that the sweaters are 
 using plenty of influence against it. What luck that where 
 they're going after death it'll be hot enough to make them 
 sweat a little ! " And then came a confused and growing 
 roar, which finally broke into something very like a cheer, 
 as Joseph entered the lawyer's office. 
 
 He found his counsel in great good-humor, and ready to 
 wager large sums that Joseph " would be free in two or 
 three days." But the young labor-leader's slight experience 
 of prison routine made him less sanguine. He listened 
 gravely to the recital of the efforts in progress on his be 
 half ; and when he found that his fight had raised up for 
 him friends in many an unexpected quarter, he felt pro 
 foundly calm. 
 
 And now came Ben Zion and the officers of the Union, 
 puffing and blowing with haste and excitement, and there 
 were hundreds of messages and dozens of handshakings ; and
 
 350 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 just as a lynx-eyed man strolled in and remarked politely, 
 " Mr. Zalmonah, I understand you've come to surrender," 
 and Joseph had answered, "Certainly ; I don't wish to put 
 the State to any trouble," Ben Zion whispered, 
 
 " I couldn't find any one who had seen Shiphrah lately. 
 But who should I meet but the little dark-faced fiddler, 
 as I was hurrying off to the Union ; and after he had abused 
 you, and said he hoped they'd set you to breaking stone up 
 the river, he let me know that he was going to meet Shiph 
 rah this very afternoon, as she had been doing some work 
 for Bathsheba, and he had to fetch it. So I asked him to 
 tell her to come and see me in the market to-morrow, and 
 he grinned and said he would. Bah ! he made me feel 
 crawly, but I think he'll give the message, because it will 
 offer him a chance to abuse you to Shiphrah. Yet he used 
 to say that you were a hero ! " 
 
 " This way, Mr. Zalmonah," said the lynx-eyed man ; and 
 Joseph now had a confused notion that he was elbowed 
 through the crowd, then hurried sharply to the right, into 
 the "Tombs" prison, along a dark and narrow passage 
 and at last he realized that he had once more left the world 
 behind him. 
 
 An hour later he was in the closely guarded, triply locked 
 and barred section where the men under sentence were 
 crowded together. 
 
 A keeper sat in a high seat close by a railing which 
 would have resisted the shock of a thousand men. Two 
 rows of cells, one above another on either side, were open, 
 and the men who at night were locked in them were now 
 walking up and down. Joseph thought of the wolf which 
 he had once kept in a cage in Russia, as he saw them pa 
 cing fiercely, and muttering to themselves. A nameless 
 terror awoke in him as he scanned the faces of these 
 men.
 
 CARRYING THE CROSS 351 
 
 He leaned against the perpendicular bars of the railing, 
 and ventured to ask the keeper who they were. 
 
 " Good many on 'em's waitin' execution," said the keeper 
 carelessly. " Some's on stays ; some's to be moved up river 
 soon. Got your stay yet ? " he added not unkindly. 
 
 " N-no I don't think so in fact, I don't know what it 
 is," answered Joseph, who was trembling violently now, 
 and was compelled to cling to the railing for support. Mur 
 derers ! He was surrounded by murderers ! And these were 
 his companions now and perhaps for a long time to 
 come. Surely Freierhad triumphed, and the Sweaters' Hell 
 would never be swept out of existence ! 
 
 There was one young man with dark, handsome features 
 and fine, bold carriage, walking to and fro, smoking a cigar 
 ette, and now and then stamping with one foot, as if in 
 vexation. An unearthly and lurid gleam in his eyes made 
 Joseph almost afraid of him. 
 
 The keeper noted his impression. " He's to be turned off 
 April 8," he said. " He won't get no more stays, and he 
 knows it. But they go on hopin' just the same," he con 
 cluded, taking a sharp look at Joseph, who was frightfully 
 pale. 
 
 Joseph turned, walked to his cell, and fell down on his 
 cot in a deep swoon. 
 
 In a day or two Shiphrah came to see Joseph ; and when 
 she presented herself at the railing he was shocked, so 
 fearful had been the ravages of racking toil and foul air 
 upon her slender frame. She moved and talked like an old 
 woman ; and her eyes had an apprehensive look, as if she 
 feared the taskmaster behind her. 
 
 " Surely, my poor Shiphrah, I brought you out of the 
 hands of the sweater for nothing. Why did you fall back 
 into them so readily again ? "
 
 352 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 " I was starving," said the girl gloomily. " Father had 
 nothing and long before he died I had to go back. I 
 knew this man. I get enough to eat. If it wasn't for 
 typhus all round us I should be pretty comfortable." 
 
 Seventeen hours a day, and three dollars a week, refuse to 
 eat, and a pile of unfinished garments to sleep on ! Yet 
 poor Shiphrah saw such terrible misery near her that by 
 comparison she considered herself " pretty comfortable." 
 
 Shiphrah brought him the news that Bathsheba was still 
 acting, and with success. Evidently she had repented of 
 her wild intentions. Joseph was glad of this, although he 
 had vowed that the woman should never have his thoughts 
 more. " She is good to me," said Shiphrah. " I love her. 
 I do some work for her, little by little, when I can steal 
 time from the boss. She gives me theatre tickets. I have 
 been twice : it is all the fun I have." 
 
 Then Joseph begged Shiphrah to accept Malcha's invita 
 tion to go and live in the colony, and he spoke of David. A 
 thin red streak showed in one of Shiphrah's cheeks, but 
 she resolutely declined. " I am no fit company for your 
 people up there, especially for David," she said. " Let me 
 work here till I die with a rush some day. That is all I 
 ask." 
 
 Shiphrah's despairing declaration might be echoed by 
 thousands upon thousands of poor victims in the Sweaters' 
 Hell. 
 
 The days began to go swiftly. Joseph learned that New 
 York was more and more deeply moved by his fate. Flow 
 ers, money, books, baskets of food, came to him. News 
 papers talked of him daily. Politicians called on him. 
 Malchaand David and Ben Zion came and went, bright-eyed 
 and hopeful. The mysterious " stay " had been granted. 
 The cry for Joseph's pardon, as for one sinned against,
 
 CARRYING THE CROSS 353 
 
 but not sinning, grew louder every day. Joseph founa 
 that he slept dreamlessly each night. His courage revived. 
 One day when he was standing at the railing he startled 
 the keeper by shaking the bars violently. 
 
 "I guess they'll come down for you pretty soon for 
 good," said the rough fellow, smiling. 
 
 " I begin to think so too," remarked Joseph.
 
 854 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII 
 
 THE PASSOVER SUPPER 
 
 MALCHA carefully arranged the three cakes of the "un 
 leavened bread " according to the formula, and smiled as she 
 stooped to caress Zipporah, and to ask her if she re 
 membered what she had to say this first night of the Pass 
 over. 
 
 " Yes, little mother," said the girl, clapping her hands 
 joyfully. " See if I don't know it right ! When the cup 
 is filled with wine the second time, and the Seder dish is 
 taken up from the table, then I say, ' Why is this night 
 different from all other nights ? Any other night we may 
 eat leavened or unleavened bread, but on this night only un 
 leavened bread. Any other night we may eat any species 
 of herbs, but this night only bitter herbs. Any other night 
 we do not dip even once, but on this night twice. On all 
 the other nights we eat and drink, either sitting or leaning, 
 but on this night we all lean.' . . . See, little mother, I 
 have said it so often that I can't make a mistake ! And 
 then this is what all you grown-up folks must say ; and I'm 
 sure you'll forget some of it : ' Because we were slaves unto 
 Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Eternal, our God ! brought us 
 forth from thence, with a mighty hand and an outstretched 
 arm. And if the Most Holy, blessed be He! had not 
 brought forth our ancestors from Egypt, we and our chil 
 dren and our children's children had still continued in bon-
 
 355 
 
 dage to the Pharaohs of Egypt. Therefore, although we 
 were all wise, all of us having knowledge in the law, it 
 nevertheless is incumbent upon us to discourse on the de 
 parture from Egypt ; and all those who largely discourse of 
 the departure from Egypt are to be praised.' " 
 
 "Of course they are," said a mellow, cheerful voice, 
 which sent the warm blood rushing into Malcha's cheeks; 
 " but do you know that sometimes I think we are not out 
 of Egypt yet ? " 
 
 It was Joseph who came in, and placed his thin hand in 
 parental benediction upon the small Zipporah's head 
 Joseph, freed from his captivity by the generous pardon of 
 the Governor of the State, who had refused to see in the young 
 labor-leader's act the crime which his enemies had attrib 
 uted to him ; Joseph, restored to his work, and revived 
 and strengthened by the sympathy and helpfulness of hun 
 dreds of all classes and religions in the great city. 
 
 He had grown paler, and he stooped a little, as if his 
 burden had been heavy to bear. But there was a radiance 
 on the forehead, a sparkle in the eyes, and a firmness at the 
 lips which indicated that he possessed all his old belief in 
 his mission, and all his resolution in pursuing it. 
 
 " What, Joseph ! " said Malcha reproachfully, " do you 
 make light of the holy forms of our ancient religion ? " 
 
 He took his wife's head in his hands, looked at her smil 
 ingly a moment, then kissed her on her brow. " Didn't I 
 tell you before we were married that I was a Reformed 
 Jew ? " he said, with a twinkle in his eyes. " If you want 
 to see Seder carried to extremes, just go into the flat on the 
 other side of the passage. They are all Orthodox there, 
 and they will go through the entire ceremony, if it takes 
 them until sunrise. But come ! you know that I love the 
 old ways, and I will sit and listen. It will take my mind 
 off from the horrible things I saw this afternoon."
 
 356 JOSEPH ZALMONATI 
 
 "What were they, papa?" said Zipporah. 
 
 "There were so many of them that I cannot tell them 
 all," said Joseph, sitting down and taking the child upon 
 his knee. "But I will tell you what I saw in a miserable 
 room on the third floor of a tenement house in Chrystie 
 Street. Three pretty little children in rags, and gathered 
 around a tin plate with a few boiled beans on it. That 
 was the breakfast, dinner, and supper of those three starv 
 ing, helpless ones. In a dark closet, without air, the mother 
 lay dying of a slow fever; and the father is dying in a hos 
 pital, where our Union managed to get him sent. If it didn't 
 make your heart bleed to look at the poor children, with 
 the smallest one stretching out its lean hands and crying 
 * Oo ! Oo ! ' because it didn't get enough to eat, you only had 
 to look at the mother, without proper clothes to cover her, 
 and not a cent in the world ! And why ? Because day by 
 day, month by month, year by year, for seven long years, a 
 sweater held in slavery the poor husband, who was an 
 operator and could work the machine well in the sweater's 
 hell, and paid him the wages of starvation for the work 
 which three men ought hardly to have done ! Why ? Be 
 cause the sweater coined the poor wretch's blood, drop by drop, 
 and when he had it all in good red yes, blood-red gold 
 safe in his own pocket, he kicked the useless operator into 
 the street to die ! He cheated him of his wages, he lied to 
 him, he struck him ! Oh ! I say we are not out of Egypt yet ! " 
 
 Zipporah's face was upturned, and she listened with lips 
 quivering and eyes flashing. The women came out of the 
 kitchen and crowded together at the door to hear. And an 
 old patriarch hobbled forward from a warm corner, and 
 put his wrinkled hand to his ear. 
 
 "But that was not all that I saw," continued Joseph. 
 " I went out into Grand Street, and just as I was going to 
 climb the " L " steps whom should I see but Freier. He
 
 THE PASSOVER SUPPER 357 
 
 didn't see me, and I was not anxious to enter into conver 
 sation with him. But I noticed how well he was dressed, 
 and how he rolled along with that air of owning every 
 thing ; and I saw his big white lingers loaded with rings, 
 and his prosperous leer, and how he pulled his coat away 
 for fear it would touch a poor devil of a cloakmaker who 
 was loafing because one of Freier's sweaters had resented 
 his independence. And I knew that it was out of one of 
 Freier's shops that the poor used-up operative, whose chil 
 dren I had just seen starving, had been kicked, after he 
 had been worked to death. Then it seemed to me that the 
 air was filled with blood, and I hurried up and took my 
 train, for fear that I might run after Freier and tell him 
 what I thought of him ! " 
 
 " Yes yes," said a woman in the kitchen door ; " Freier 
 is a man-eater ; and there are too many like him. But 
 what can poor folks do? When one worker gives out, 
 twenty of our poor refugees are howling for his place. 
 The weak ones have to go to the wall." 
 
 Joseph's voice had risen to a strident key, while he was 
 reciting the horrors which he had just seen. The women 
 stood appalled and trembling, and they were beginning to 
 cry, when the piping, quavering voice of the old patriarch 
 was heard repeating one of the verses from the Passover 
 ritual : " ' For at every time enemies rise against us to 
 annihilate us ; but the Most Holy, blessed be He ! hath 
 delivered us out of their hands.' " 
 
 " Well, well ! " said Joseph, sinking down on the little 
 sofa in front of the Seder table, " don't let me worry you ; 
 but sometimes I feel the cruelty, the horrible wickedness, 
 of the situation so that it lifts my soul to revolt. I won 
 der," he said with more gentleness, " if this was not the 
 way poor Baumeister felt at times when he gabbled about 
 his ' party of force ' ! But where are the others ? "
 
 358 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 "They are coming up-stairs now," said Zipporah. "I 
 hear 'em." And she ran to open the door. 
 
 "Promise me that you will be calm to-night, Joseph," 
 said Malcha in a whisper. " Remember that these good 
 people will get frightened, for they are not used to your 
 ways." 
 
 "I will roar no more," said Joseph, beckoning Zipporah 
 to come and sit by him as the company assembled. 
 
 This was the first time Joseph and Maloha had met 
 with some old friends, well-to-do merchants at home, but 
 suddenly expelled from Moscow with only the wreck of 
 their fortunes. The two brothers and their wives inhab 
 ited a small flat in a tenement house in Broome Street, and 
 the tiny rooms were filled with the quaint old bits of fur 
 niture which they had brought from their Russian home. 
 
 They had been allowed a month in which to settle up 
 their affairs before expulsion; and this gave them the 
 chance which most of the exiles did not have that of 
 taking some of the household treasures with them. They 
 had begged Joseph and Malcha and the child and David as 
 a special favor to be with them on this first Passover night, 
 and Malcha had delayed her return to the colony to ac 
 cept this friendly invitation. 
 
 The two rooms of the flat were spick-and-span clean, and 
 decorated with pictures and a few Hebrew books. The 
 table was resplendent with clean linen, and in front of the 
 elder of the two brothers were arranged on a glass dish 
 the three unleavened cakes, covered separately ; and the egg, 
 the " haroseth," the salt water, the shankbone, the bitter 
 herbs, and the parsley were placed on the consecrated cover. 
 
 A pillow was laid beside the officiator, who wore his 
 hat ; and opening the manual, after the guests were seated, 
 he began rapidly to read the " sanctification " in alow voice. 
 
 Meantime the other brother filled the wine-glasses of
 
 THE PASSOVER SUPPER 359 
 
 peculiar shape which had been procured expressly for the 
 occasion ; and the women bustled to and from the kitchen, 
 bringing things which had been forgotten, while the patri 
 arch, with one hand to his ear, made gestures of approval 
 or dissent with the other, according as the unction of the 
 reading suited his fancy. 
 
 Slowly, yet not without a certain innocent and seemly 
 mirth, the ancient ceremonial progressed. After the sancti- 
 fication came the washing of the hands, then the taking of 
 the parsley dipped in salt water. " You don't eat enough 
 of it," said the good patriarch querulously. "A good Ortho 
 dox Jew would eat ten times as much as that." 
 
 "But, father, 'tis so mortal bitter," said one of the 
 women. 
 
 " All the more reason to eat it, then ! " he piped. 
 
 Then came the careful breaking of the middle one of 
 the three cakes, the saying of the service, the washing of the 
 hands, and the breaking of the uppermost cake, after which 
 the bitter herbs, horseradish, and vinegar were eaten in 
 commemoration of the bitter work which the Israelites 
 had to perform in Egypt. 
 
 " Give me a good handful," said Joseph, " so that I may 
 not forget even for a minute." 
 
 Then after the proper cups of wine had been served in 
 the appropriate places in the service, and the haroseth and 
 horseradish had left a bitter taste in every one's mouth, 
 the supper was brought in. First came the soup, with the 
 unleavened nodels swimming in it ; then broiled fish, and 
 finally some roast lamb and salad, of which Joseph ate 
 slowly in his grave, preoccupied way, like one whose 
 thoughts were thousands of miles away. But all at once 
 he said quaintly, 
 
 " If my cloakmakers should see me eating such a meal as 
 this, they would say that the cause of organized labor is 
 lost."
 
 360 JOSEPH ZALMONATI 
 
 "Don't be too much their slave, Joseph," said the brother 
 who was presiding. " You have suffered enough already. 
 Persecution prison and hunger, I dare say, now and 
 then, eh ? " 
 
 " Ah, well, I generally managed to get a crust and a sup 
 of tea, except in the first days when I was living on apples, 
 which are not half so filling as pickles, although they're 
 more genteel eating." 
 
 " Sh-sh ! " said the other brother, " some one is at the 
 door." 
 
 "Well, you need not say sh-sh," said his wife; "we're 
 not in Russia any longer, and there's nothing to be 
 afraid of." 
 
 "True, true; I forget. See who it is." 
 
 " I suppose it is David," said Joseph. " He promised to 
 come, although he said he might be late." 
 
 It was David, but he would not come in. He had an 
 important message for Joseph a message which could 
 not wait. Would he come out at once ? 
 
 " Here, here, you are not eating enough of the middle 
 cake ! " cried the patriarch fretfully. " Bless me ! what 
 would the Orthodox think if they could see this ? " 
 
 While the two brothers were discussing with the patri 
 arch the true method of serving the unleavened bread at 
 that particular point in the repast, Joseph went out into 
 the passage, seizing his hat as he went along. 
 
 " Promise to return in an hour, Joseph," cried Malcha, 
 " no matter what it is." 
 
 " I promise," said Joseph ; and when he was in the dark 
 passage he felt his hand gripped tightly by David, and one 
 of David's arms stole around him, and "stayed him up," 
 as if he would need support. 
 
 " What is it, David ? " said Joseph, who felt a strange 
 presentiment that at last he was to have news of Bathsheba
 
 THE PASSOVEK SUPPER 361 
 
 the first since he had come victoriously out of the " Tombs," 
 with the governor's pardon in his pocket, and ten thousand 
 adoring cloakmakers at his heels. 
 
 " Come down-stairs quick, and out of the street," said David. 
 
 When they had crossed into another street where but few 
 people were coming and going at that hour, David said, 
 
 " I have a message from Bathsheba. She is dying. If 
 she lives until midnight it will be a miracle." 
 
 " Well ? " said Joseph. He felt his knees trembling. 
 
 "It is a verbal message ; but you may be sure that it is 
 correct, for Bathsheba made the woman who brought it to 
 me repeat it many times before she was satisfied." 
 
 "Well?" said Joseph. 
 
 " It is this : ' I send to Joseph the kiss of reconciliation 
 and peace. Let him think of me as one who first conspired 
 against him, next worshipped him ; and who, if she had not 
 been cut down by the way, would have worked for him. 
 And whatever he has done is right, and she alone has been 
 blameworthy.' " 
 
 " Where is she ? " said Joseph huskily. 
 
 " In Forsyth Street." 
 
 Joseph caught David by the arm. " Is it typhus? " he cried. 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 At this moment a figure darted out of the mists, and 
 falling at Joseph's feet grasped him about the knees. " 
 Reb Joseph," it cried piteously, "promise me that you will 
 not go to her ; swear that you will not ! It would be your 
 death, and what could we do without you now ? Promise ! " 
 
 It was Ben Zion. 
 
 " Get up," said Joseph, " and don't make a spectacle of 
 yourself. Do you suppose that I fear typhus ? Have I 
 not lived next to it, ate and drank among those who were 
 soon to die of it, tended those who were dying of it? 
 Look at me ! I am typhus proof ! "
 
 362 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 "Perhaps so," said David, "but the innocent wife and 
 child whom you have just left are not. Itemember, ' Wlio 
 sees the wife die has assisted at the destruction of the 
 sanctuary itself.' " 
 
 " I am not going to Bathsheba, my friends. Why should 
 you think that I am ? " 
 
 "Because," said Ben Zion fiercely, "she is a witch, and 
 who knows but she sent that message so that you would 
 be tempted to go and see her, and catch your death 
 there ? " 
 
 " Be quiet ! " said David. " Let me tell Bathsheba's 
 story, and then if Joseph has a message to send, he must 
 hasten to send it." 
 
 Ben Zion fell back, muttering, 
 
 " Well, well ! these be times indeed, as the fly said 
 when the ox stepped on him ! There are none too many of 
 us labor-leaders now, and I am not going to see Joseph 
 sacrificed for a silly, sentimental play-actress ! " 
 
 "Bathsheba's husband deserted her," said David, taking 
 Joseph by the arm, and walking with him up and do\vn 
 the quiet street. " They quarrelled while you were in the 
 ' Tombs,' because he had learned that she had gone to see 
 you at the colony, and he fancied that you had a plan for 
 running away together." 
 
 Joseph said nothing. He was thinking of the exquisite 
 and luminous vision which had hovered before him on the 
 day when he had left the colony to deliver himself up ; of 
 the lovely face and the clouds of dusky hair, the lips and 
 eyes which spoke of slumbering passion those adoring 
 eyes which had reproached him so cruelly when he had 
 repulsed her on the night of the death of Miryam. 
 
 " Just then Shiphrah was sewing for Bathsheba from time 
 to time, on her costumes. He knew it; and so he knew 
 shortly before he decided to leave her that Shiphrah was
 
 THE PASSOVER SUPPER 363 
 
 surreptitiously working on a cloak for Bathsneba. One 
 day recently Bathsheba, not suspecting that he was med 
 itating a vengeance on her, said that she had not heard 
 anything of Shiphrah for several days. ' I wish,' she said, 
 ' that you would go and look up my cloak, for I shall want 
 it at a performance in a week or so.' ' Agreed,' says the 
 husband, and he goes off to the sweat-shop where Shiphrah 
 Avorks. When he gets there he finds it closed. 'Why is 
 this ? ' he inquires. Because there was a typhus case 
 there, and the Board of Health had closed the place, and 
 condemned all the clothing there as infected, for a man 
 had been struck down with typhus in the place. But he 
 does not care for that ; he has come after his property that 
 has been paid for in advance, and he will have it ; and 
 finally you know how our poor people are they get 
 frightened at his bluster, and yield. He gets into the 
 place, and, under a pile of garments that just reeks with 
 infection, he finds the theatrical cloak, which he recognizes 
 from his wife's description. ' This is mine,' he says with 
 an evil smile ; and if the sweater comes back and makes a 
 fuss, send him to me at this place/ and he gives a false 
 address. Then he takes the cloak straight to Bathsheba, 
 and says, ' Shiphrah was gone, but I managed to find it. 
 Very pretty it is, and much good may it do you.' And that 
 night he goes out, and hasn't been heard of since. They 
 think he has gone West. Bathsheba tries on the cloak, 
 and at the proper time she is struck down with typhus." 
 
 " Where is Shiphrah ? and how did you learn all this ? " 
 said Joseph in a trembling voice. 
 
 " When Bathsheba found herself deserted she sent for 
 me ; but before I could come the typhus had declared itself, 
 and the woman in whose house she lives had isolated her ; 
 packed her away for fear the Board of Health would 
 hear the story. Then Bathsheba sent ine Shiphrah's ad-
 
 3 )4 JOSEPH ZALMONAH 
 
 dress : I hurried to it and learned the story. Nothing was 
 to be found of Shiphrah : she had disappeared, as they dis 
 appear in that sweater world ; and the scared folk in the 
 neighborhood say that the infected cloak was da^erous 
 enough to kill fifty women." 
 
 " Did Bathsheba know of her husband's vengeance ? " 
 
 " She suspected it when she was taken ill ; and when she 
 heard my story from the nurse, who has been true to her, 
 she gave herself up as lost. And to-night is the end, Joseph. 
 Will you send her a word, for she has come out of delir 
 ium, they say, and is now sinking swiftly." 
 
 " And why should anything stay me from going to her ? " 
 cried Joseph passionately. 
 
 Ben Zion sprang forward. " Reb Joseph," he said, 
 " you '11 have to kill me before you can go to that woman. 
 She is a witch." 
 
 Joseph was silent for a long time. David, with his fine 
 sympathies, Ben Zion, with his ruder ones, both felt that 
 a terrible struggle was taking place in the great heart. 
 But at last he spoke. 
 
 " Tell Bathsheba that I wish her eternal peace. Tell her 
 that all is forgiven and that she should be glad to go up 
 out of Egypt into the promised land ! No no not 
 that ; tell her peace eternal peace." 
 
 His voice broke. David hurried him back toward the 
 Broome street house. 
 
 "You have won your battle at last, Joseph," he said. 
 And although Ben Zion did not say it he felt it. 
 
 Then they hastened away, and left him alone. It was 
 better so. 
 
 He looked upward before he went into the house. The in 
 finite stars were shining ; the mist had vanished ; the blue 
 sky was beautifully serene but so far so very far 
 away. Joseph stretched up his arms as if he were grasp-
 
 THE PASSOVER SUPPER 365 
 
 ing at the immeasurable spaces ; but they mocked him with 
 their vastness, they scorned his yearning. 
 
 In the darkened passage and up the unlit stairs he groped 
 his way back to the peaceful Passover festival. The 
 patriarch was declaiming garrulously about the exact period 
 at which the consecrated brandy should be tasted. But in 
 a corner Malcha and the women were talking about Bau- 
 meister and his sad fate. " Why not have his poor child 
 sent to the colony ? " said Malcha. " It would be looked 
 after there." 
 
 " Ah, here is Joseph ! " the women cried. " Ask his 
 advice about it." 
 
 " How pale you are, Joseph ! " said Malcha. " You look 
 as if you had seen a ghost. Oh, I hope," she said in a 
 whisper, as he came closer, " that you haven't been near 
 any of those typhus people." 
 
 " Oh dear no ! But you must remember that I have not 
 had much fresh air lately." 
 
 "Why, open the window," said one of the brothers. 
 " Father don't mind, do you, father ? " 
 
 " Bless ye, no ! Read on, son, read on," said the patri 
 arch impatiently. And the reader, still pursuing the cere 
 monial, read, " ' And the children of Israel sighed by 
 reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their complaint 
 came up unto God.' " 
 
 Joseph had moved to the opened window, and sat by it, 
 
 /looking up at the stars. Half an hour afterwards, and 
 
 just as he was about to come away, it seemed to him that 
 
 all the stars grew dim, and he sprang up and uttered a 
 
 faint cry. 
 
 That was the moment when Bathsheba died. 
 
 THE END.
 
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