Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1922-11-22
Old Mendel Goes
to Rachel
By ERNEST LEVINE
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llG. 1922. Western Newspaper Unlon.l

Menuel should continue at seventy
five to pSsh his cart laden with cheap
underwear along the streets OF the
East side. But the habits OF life
time are difficult to eradicate, and
NIendel had been doing it for thirty
tive years.
He had come over from Poland In
the prime of life, determined to make
a fortune and then send for his wife,
Rachel They had been married ten
years, and, though they had no chill
.dren, they had always been happy
together, since they first became sweet
hearts as boy and girl.
Mendel had not prospered at first.
1t had taken him two years in a
sweatshop to save up enough money
to acquire pushcart, and then the
saving up for the steamship fare was
a slow process. At last, however, ne
was able to send the money.
A letter came back inclosing 1t.
Rachel had died OF typhus about the
time Mendel was buying the draft on
the Warsaw bank.
She had died, fancying that he was
standing beside her bed, and that same
night AIendel had had such strange
dream of her.
He had dreamed he was home, but
in strange house and holding Rach..
els hand, and she had told him that
she could not come over Immediately,
but that she would colae soon and
all would be well.
Old NIendel was dazed by the news.
For week he did something that no
self-respecting Jew would think Of do
ing; he got drunk. Then he was found
in Hester street with his pushcart
again.
Time passed. The neighbors who
had pitied him, began to look askanfe
at him. "Why doesn't Mendel get
married again?" they asked. They
knew he had a tidy sum put by.
Mendel did not marry again, and
after while he was accepted as
confirmed old widower. And he was
growing Old, so that the girls no long
er looked at him. His hair whitened,
he let his beard grow long.
Old Mendel had twelve thousand
dollars in the oank. There was no
reason why he should have continued
to push his cart. But every day he
was seen in the streets, calling his
wares mechanically. Nobody bought
of Aendel, for all his goods were out
of style. They only said, "There goes
Old Mendel!'
Old Mendel loved the streets, the
sWarming children, for whom he had
q pat on the head, and sometimes
penny. He loved the sights and smells
of the East side. It was his life, 1t
was the life to which he had meant
TO bring Rachel. He often fancied
that she was with him. Sometimes
people would hear him mutterlng, but
they did not know he was talking to
her. They only said, "Old Mendels
getting queer"
The day was so bright and warm
Old Mendel sat down on doorstep,
his pushcart standing in the road. The
policeman, who knew Old Mendel,
looked the other way when he saw
that Old Mendel was sleeping. Grad
uaily the hum Of conversation, the roar
of the traffic passed into dull mono
tone, and Old Mendel dreamed.
II was so vivid dream that he might
have been living. He saw. Rachel
standing before him with outstretched
arms and such sweet smile on her
face. And it was not Rachel as she
would have been, not even as she had
been when they kissed each other
.good-by before he sailed, but Rachel
as she was when he first courted her.
And the first theHght that came to
old Mendel was, 81 am too old. Why
hasn't she changed in all these yearsT
But Rachel kissed him and said, "It's
been long waiting for you, my dear,
but I've managed to come at last"
Mendel forgot that it was dream.
."Gol bless you, Rachel!" he said. "Im
going to take such q nice apartment
for you-four rooms and bath. And
I've s,ot twelve thousand saved up, so
we can buy our furniture outright.
But dreamed you were dead, and I've
been so unhappy"
"There's no such thing as death, my
DEAR" she answered smilingly. "Here
I've been walking up and down Hester
street beside you for years, trying to
talk to you, and sometimes you an
swered me, but you were never quite
ssure it was /"
Mendel remembered that he had
fallen asleep. promise me that this
isn't dream!" he pleaded. "Have
you really come back to me forever"
"Forever and ever" answered Rach-
el softly, as she drew his head down
to her breast.
The policeman, returning on his pa