The Jewish advance. (Chicago, Ill.) 1878-1881, 1881-09-23


the side of the old peasant, when sud
denly he remarked:
These ten years, you say, Mr.. Sme
tana, you have not been to see your
son?"
"As long as my son has been married
to the daughter of the Jewess. He
came frequently, especially at the begin
ming, wept and fell on his knees before
me, but pushed him away, or Stunned
his presence; | did not want to see him.
cursed and swore like a robber who is
led to the gallows, when people spoke to
me about my Parvcl.
And how did it happen that you went
to see him at lastY asked Joseph, urged
by an irresistible curiosity to learn all
about it.
He interrupted himself as if he had
asked too much.
Listen, and [ will tell you, replied
the peasant. Il am an old man, and the
Cantor in our village ioyfully awaits
the day when old Waczlaw Smetana will
be put in the ground at the side of his
wife. These twenty years she has been
expecting me. | am, besides, troubled
with bad cough, and whenever [ have
a fit, | imagine hear the voice of the
old woman calling me. You can sure
ly depend on what | now tell you: be-
fore the end Of this year the Cantor
will ring the church bell, and the musi-
clans will receive their qualification.
Waczlaw Smetana is an old house, of
which nothing but the four walls are
held together; but the inside looks as if
everything had been seized by the sheriff;
nothing remains in the old place; every
thing is turned upside down; the doctor
can no longer hold that together.
With that feeling which a'egays urges
Us to argue against such thoughts of
death, even if we are convinced Of their
rujson 4 etre Joseph also attempted to
encourage rhc old peasant, and to chase
away IL grave apgreheusions but he
said, with a gloomy smile of death on
his lips:
Before my window stands an old pear
tree, which is older than the oldest peo-
pie in the village, For the first time
this tree failed to bud this year; [ know
what that means
That the tree must be cut down"
said Joseph, thoughtlessly.
See, you say so yourself, spoke the
old peasant, whom the certainty of
death did not seem to scare in the least.
We'll, let us no longer speak of this.
Hear what had happened to me last
week, All of a sudden my cough wakes
me in the dark night; thought that the
cramp would not let me live for "a quarter
of an hour; but something in my body
must not be quite broken into pieces
and so the cramp passed. But when I,
to my great astonishment, felt [ had re-
turned into life, my thoughts involun-
tarily reverted to the pear-tree before
the window that refuse to blossom this
year. What thought do you think re-
yolved in my mind that night? The tree
refuses to blossom, because it knows
we'll that Waczlaw Smetana will vet des-
cend into his grave, and nobody will be
with him in the hour of his death. Then
made up my mind to set out early in
the morning to 90 and see my son. He
will not be so bad as to shut his door in
the face Of his old father, because he
did not let him enter his house ten years
ago And at last it occurred to me that
my Paryel can not lead such bad life,
since he has lived these ten years with
the daughter of jew, and nothing has
been heard Of her. Neither good nor
bad reports have been spread about my
daughter-in-law.
Is she then not baptizcd?" interrupt
ed Joseph, throwing an examining glance
upon the peasant.
What else did exasperate me from
the very first moment but the circum-
stance that all could read in Waczlaw