The Denver Jewish news. [volume] (Denver, Colo.) 1915-1925, 1920-09-08

he WAS Sluu was iot III evening,
dress. and so could save himself the
trouble of even deliberating whether
he should join the gay throng. When
/ he reached home he found waiting for
him perfumed note from Madame
Councillor Rothmal, wherein she de-
sired the favor of his company at tea
| that evening-quite en- famille-oniy
she and her daughter would be pre-
sent. With a grimace of disgust he tore
| the missive into shreds. How tired he
felt of it all--the artificiality, the
hollowness, the shallowncss, the sur
face-smilcs His heart had been be.
ginning to beat true and in tune with
itself. because deft fingers had been
thrown back into the OLE ia" and
! jingle and discord. If only he could
slecp-a natural sleep, not this num-
led narcotic languishing which lay
like lead in all his limbs. And as lac
tcssSh rcstlessly thru the long and
cyer-lenshtening night, a suggestion
entered his head, as yet dim and III
defined. because it seemed so strange
and purposeless: for he could hardly
trust himself that it would survive
its conception. And yet it grew
steadily, developing in fullness and
strength, and by the morning it had
take1 to itself shape and substance.
About ten o'clock he sailed out to-
wards the synagogue whcr" he knew
Saul worshipped. He hal accompa-
MED him there once before. only as
far as the entrance, of course, when
Saul was commemorative the ami
versary of his mothers death. On the
pretense of being a newspaper report
err, Gregor gained admission. Near the
door he stopped and surveyed the
scene. He had never witnessed the
like before. Never before had he seen
that look of joyous resignation, of
submissive hopefulncss, on human
Countenances. 1t came home to him.
in a flash of comprehension. that if
he had had more cf.ea occasion and
opportunity to see his discarded breth-
rem thus lifting themselves above their
ordinary. everyday selves. he would
have been more slow to set them down
for brood of sprrlwlinS groundlings,
of dust eating seIf-seckers. Were they
merely that. they would not bear on
their faces this pride OF race. the
memory of their traditions. the i'm
press Of quiet grandeur stamped up.
OF them by pain-quivering centuries.
They knew and felt who they were ;
but they guarded their self-knowlctlge
zealously, for to divulgc It would be
sacrilege sJnan
So the service went on. solemn and
more solemn still. until Gregor felt IL
shiver Jingle thru him from crown
to foot Loud and long and resonant
rang out the ram's-hOrn's blast Gregor
had not heard it since his childhood.
but he remembered how his frighten-
ed hand had sought his fathers. to
assure himself some protecting pres
ence in the midst of this strange
alarm. And again, despite the long
| interval, the same feeling took hold
of him. the urgent craving for kith
and kildred. the desire TO be part of
whole. to merge himself intlissolubly,
so that he might never again stand
alone That was, no doubt, the call
of which Saul had spoken, the call to
summon the stragglers back to the
fold. to remind all Israel that its sal
walton lay in its unity. And now that
he listened to it. it seemed to him
so easy to answer its bidding: it drew
him gently. lovingly. for it had touch
ed long-slumbering echo in his heart.
and had stirred it nightly into life.
Why had he come to the synagogue?
What had been his purpose? He had
hardly known: but dimly, divinely. he
had fathOmed that one :Ieed but set
out on his quest for light. and sooner
or later God would hold out to him
His beacon.
Curiously the adjoining wOrshippers
glanced at his rigid figure as he stood
there as one petrified-his eyes raised
aIoft, his lips set as in II wise. So
he remained till IA sudden commotion
told him the service was over. He was
among the first to leave: outside in
the courtyard he turned and waited
he was waiting for Saul: he had some
thing to tell him. And presently he
saw the tall stoop-shouldered form OF
his friend issuing. Quickly he went
nm IN bin, SnizaI him Nv thp hand and
whispered:
Saul, if you cannot follow, will you
| lead?"-The Sentinel.