Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-02-24

But" / added, "she is a Jewess."
l had heard so many things Of
Jews that I was rather afraid, on
second thought, to live under the
same roof with a Jewess. NV
mother Gained my fears on that
score and went to the grocery to
have a talk with the proprietress.
She came back satisfied, and I en-
tered upon my apprenticeship to
Nastasia Leontievna.
1t was not an easy life. ! learned
to wait on customers, to run err
rands, to do everything in the house
from cooking and sewing to scrub
bing floors. All day l shaved with
out rest, and at night / slept on a
box in the passageway between the
store and house. My monthly earn
ings went to my mother, but thew
never suficed to drive the specter
of starvation away from my home.
My father earned little, but drank
much, and developed his severe
temper even more.
In time | got a raise to two rubles
a month. But as | grew / required
more clothes, which my mother had
to supply me from my allowance.
Nastasia Leontievna was exacting
and not infrequently punished me.
But she also loved me as though
l had been her own daughter, and
always tried to make up for harsh
treatment. ] owe a great deal to
her, as she taught me to do almost
everything, both in her business and
in homework.
| must have been about eleven
when, in a fit of temper, / quarreled
with Nastasia Leontievna. Her bro
ther frequented the theatre and con-
stantly talked of it. | never quite
understood what a theatre was like,
but it allured me, and l resolved
n evening to get acquainted with
that place of wonders. I asked Mas
tasia Leontievna for money to go
there. She refused.
You little moujitchka Ia peasant
woman), what do you want with the
theatre?" she asked de~risively.
you I'D Jewess!" threw
into her face fitfully, and ran out
of the store. | went to my mother
and told her of the incident. She
was Mortified.
"But now she won't take you back.
What will we do without your
wages, Marusia? How will we pay
the rent? We will have to go begging
again" And she cried.
After some time my employer
came after me, rcbuking me for
my quick temper.
"How could | have known that
you were so anxious to go to the
theatre? ?" she asked. "All right,
III give you fifteen kopecks every
Sunday so that you can GO"
l became n steady Sunday attend
ant of the gallery, watching with
intense interest the players, their
strange gestures and manners Of
speech.
Five years | worked for Nastasia
Leontievna, assuming greater duties
with the advance of my years.
Early in the morning | would rise,
open the shutters, knead the dough.
and sweep or scrub the floors. /
finally grew weary of this daily
grind and began to think of find
ing other work. But my mother
was sick and father worked less
and less, drinking most of the time.
He grew more brutal, beating US all.
numerically, My sisters were forced
to stay away from home. Shura
married at sixteen, and |, fourteen
years old, became the mainstay of
the family. 1t was often necessary
to get my pay in advance in order
to keep the family from starving.
The temptation to steal came to
me suddenly n day. l had never
stolen anything before, and Nastasia
Leontievna repeatedly pointed out
this virtue in me to her friends.
Here is a moujitchka who
doesn't ~steal,' she would say. But
one time, on ~unpacking a barrel of
sugar delivered at the store, l found,
instead of the usual six sugar.
~loaves, wen. The impulse to take
the extra loaf of sugar was ire
sistible. At night l smuggled it
stealthily out of the store and took
it home. My father vas astonished.
"What have you done, Marusia?
Take it back Immediately" he or
dered. ! began to cry and said that
the sugar was not really Nastasia
Leontievna's, that the error had been
made Mt the refinery. Then mv