The Jewish advance., 1881-07-01
CHICAGO, JULY Il, 1881.

wailing most distressingly. Her son
came asking what allied her. For some
time she gave him no answer; at last
upon his repeated and anxious inquiries
she broke out in hysterical crying This
pierced his heart, but he suppressed his
emotion and said in an angry tone:
lis it not about her that you are cry
ing? Ten years have passed since she
has left the house, that black sheep, and
just now you disturb your own rest and
mine!"
Just now, just now-moaned the old
woman who had sat up in her bed--I
feel as bad as though she had left the
house this day. Did you notice her,
Joseph, how badly she looked? Merciful
God in heaven! A young woman as she
is, not thirty years old yet, and there is
not an ounce of flesh upon her bones!
How she must worry, how hard she
must work! 0, that heavy sack of pota-
toes which she had no power to raise!
And where should she get the power!
Was she ever used to such labor?"
''She will have to get used!- said
Joseph not without sneer-Did she
wish it any different? She was deter
mined to become peasant woman.
Did you ever force her to go out in the
field and to stay there for days and days
in succession hoeing and plowing and
working herself to death even when the
sun pours the scorching heat upon her?
Her husband, the peasant, sits in the
saloon playing and drinking; can she do
any better than digging POTATOES in the
field to save herself and hdf children
from starvation? She rejected tile cakes
which were offered her at 1'arentaI
house, let her. =. eat potatoes now -----
It's the punishment Of -
"Of God, you were going to say-in-
terrupted the old woman shaking her
head.--Do not mix up the Name of God
in this matter. I know not what He
might say that you, as her brother,
speak in this manner. You are her
brother after all. ;" S
"Mama,-called Joseph in great irri-
tation and anger-I wish you would not
always harp upon this word;sa brother
forsooth! and she, my sister! When [
will once be buried in the ground,
worms will gnaw at my flesh, and then
if one will dig me out and tell me that |
am her brother, do you not think that |
will gather up my decaying bones and
bury myself so deep that no one should
be able to find me again? There is a
bottle of vitriol in the store. It is so
strong stuff that it can bite out every
stain, even stains of blood from the gar
ment of a murderer. ButIth is no
stuff so strong that it could wash out of
my heart the sense of bitterness, which
gnaws and burns therein for the last ten
years. You are her brother is that
what you say? And pray, why do you
not ask yourself the question whether
she ever was my sister? You have seen
how I tore Kryoh ten years ago and
how I sat Shiv'ah,* because I was her
brother then. But am not her brother
since. Oh, what stupid fool [ would
be, to still consider myself as such"
1t could be noticed by the silence of
the old woman, that the outburst of
anger on the part of her son passed like
a storm through her head, for she had
no reasonable plea against his argument.
The truths uttered in such harsh and
powerful manner, tore open deep wounds
in her own heart which had been bleed
ing quietly since long, long time. AS
it is the habit of aged people in such
condition, she nodded ascent to every
word which thundered forth from the
mouth of her son. At last, however, she
said with tone of mildness:
sit is an ancient Jewish usage to rent the
garment-"tear Krv'ah' and to observe seven
days of mourning to sit SiU U'Gt when near
served when q near relative abjures his faith.
He is mourned after as one who Is lost to life
eternal.