Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1917-09-13

streets; this service was required.
OF all families in the villages about
Warsaw, and could be escaped on
ly by paying a heavy tax. W. had
also to assist in keeping the roads
IN repair, and for this, too. the
women and children were en-
ployed, since the men could not be
spared from the work of the farm.
At nightfall we were always ex-
hausted, and would swallow our
soup and black bread hastily, and
then fling ourselves down, dressed
as we were, on a heap of straw in
one corner. We were very poor,
and yet not SO poor as we seemed;
but to have added one little com
fort to our home would have meant
a visit from the tax-inquisitor, and
perhaps a search. The only way
to escape this was to live in mis-
cradle poverty.
I'm spite of all this, my father
still kept up his studies. Al night,
after carefully closing the shutters
and stuffing the cracks with rags,
so that no ray of light could be
seen outside, he would light a lit
tie tallow dip and sit reading for
hours. He read the same books
over and over, for books were very
hard to get. The ones he wanted
were almost always forbidden. To
be found possessing one meant
Punishment. So all of his books he
kept concealed ever more care
fully than he did his money. In
deed, he valued them more!
Sundays he devoted to the edu-
cation of his children, always with
one of us on guard outside the
door. 1t was then that / learned
to read English. Father had taught
himself with great thoroughness,
because he was determined some
day to go to America. America
that a his dream! But how to
get there! 1t seemed certain that
he could never save money enough
to pay for so many. That prob
lem was soon to be settled"
She paused and put her hand to
her throat, shivering a little.
Are you cold?" Dan asked.
mo; / am trembling at the
Thought Of what remains to tell. A
case Of cholera appeared in our
village. 1t was reported to the
magistrate. At once all the Rus
sian officials removed to Warsaw,
and a Gordon Of Russian troops
was thrown about the village. No
one was permitted to enter or to
leave. The cholera spread. The
people were ignorant; they did not
know what to do, and there was no
one to tell them; they could only
wait and pray. AT the end of a
month, the disease had spent itself,
but of those who had lived in the
village, only one in 10 remained.
Of our family, there were left only
my father and myself"
Dams hand went out to hers.
She did not draw away.
For a time" she went on,
father was stunned by the blow;
| have always believed that he was
very near madness. But he shook
off. his sorrow and decided that
the time had come to seek Amer
lea. We could not depart openly;
that was not permitted; SO n
night he dug up the little hoard of
money he had concealed, cut off.
my hair and dressed me in boys
clothes, arrayed himself in the rags
of a goat herd, and about mid
night we set off. / was Ill years old
at the time, and | remember every
incident distinctly. We could tray
ell only at night, hiding at every
sound. By day, we concealed our
selves under culverts, in bitches,
under heaps of brush. Luckily,
Polish people are eager to help
each other, so we did not starve,
and we got forward a little every
night. At the end of six weeks, we
crossed the frontier and were safe.
There is not much more to tell.
We reached New York; and / was
placed il schoolI wish you could
realize all that meant to me! For
along time, Z could not go out into
the street without being afraid. 1t
seemed impossible that there was
no longer anything to fear. When
at last I understood, it was as
though q great load we're lifted.
That was 10 years ago. For the
past three years, i have been a
teacher in the Hester street
Ischool.
She sat silent for q moment, then
II uyifh - 1Nnn hwaafh Irn,rv Mo- hn-l