The Nezperce herald. (Nezperce, Idaho) 1900-1957, 1923-04-19
BY ERNEST LEVINE

~ underwear dlOuS lnc stiSclS Va 1AAe
y East side. But the habits Of life
y time are difficult to eradicate, and
. Mendel had been doing 1t for thirty
. five years.
D. He had come over from Poland In
= the prime of life. determined to make
q q fortune and then send for his wife,
) Rachel. They had been married ten
! years, and, though they had no chill
Z dren, they had always been happy
2 together, since they first became sweet
2 hearts MS boy and girl.
. Mendel had not prospered at first.
, It had taken him two years in
b sweatshop to save up enough money
}, TO acquire pushcart, and then the
saving up for the steamship fare was
slow process. At last, however. he
was able to send the money.
A letter came back incosing 1t.
1 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 Mendel had had such a strange
dream of her.
He had dreamed he was home, but
in a strange house and holding Rach-
els hand, and she had told him that
she could not come over immediately,
but that she would come soon and
all would be well.
Old Mendel was ,Iazed by the news.
For week he did something that no
self-respectlng 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 askance
at him. why doesn't Mendel get |
married again?" they asked. They !
knew he had tidy sum put by.
Mendel did not marry again, and |
after a 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 dendel had twelve thousand
dollars In the bank 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 Mendel, for all his goods were out
Of style. They only said, There goes
Old Mendell"
Old Mendel loved the streets, the
swarming children, for whom he had ]
a pat on the head, and sometimes a
penny He loved the sights and smells {
of the East side. 1t was his life, it
was the life to which he had meant :
to bring Rachel. He often fancied
that she was with him. Sometimes
people would hear him muttering but t
they did not know he was talking to t
her. They only said, "Old Members T
getting queer" l
The day was so bright and warm
Old Mendel sat down on doorstep,
his pushcart standing in the road. The r
policeman, who knew Old Mendel,
looked the other way when he saw
that Old Mendel was sleeping Grad
ually the hum of conversation, the roar
of the traffic passed into a dull mono.
tone, and Old Mendel dreamed. 7,
1t 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 1t was not Rachel as she
would have been, not even as she had
been when they kissed each other sc
yood-by before he sailed, but Rachel tr
rs she was when he first courted her.
And the first thought that came to 5,
Did Mendel was, Il am too old. Why el,
hasn't she changed In all these yearsf" az
But Rachel kissed him and said. TITS -;
'een long waiting for you, my dear, -,
tut I've managed to come at last" ~
Mendel forgot that 1t was dream =,
God bless you, Rachel!' he said. "Im iu
'oing to take such nice apartment NO
or you--four rooms and bath. And LIE
We got twelve thousand saved up. SO Is,
We can buy our furniture outright col
tut dreamed you were dead. and I've Gle
cen so unhappy" !
There's no such thing as death. nv
80 h sne ansmeleu siniilngiy. Here AZ
treet beside you for years, trying to
Tx TO you, and sometimes you an.
wered me, but you were never quite A
Ire IL was l." Oil,
Mendel remembered that he had M .,
lllen asleep. Promise me that this -.
MT dreaml" he pleaded. Have :, =.
~ really come back to me foreverr 'ne'
Forever and ever" answered Rach OF
softly, as she drew his head down In
her breast Ten
The policeman, returning on his ma day
oil, glanced at Mendel again. .sThe
mans having long Sleep" he r.
ought. He crossed the road an6 ed !
ucheo MN lightly on the shoulder. last
Hey, Mendel. wake upl" he said wbe
lime to go home for supper. Y 70 ,
usn't leave your cart standing IL sout
Q street." oei''
But Mendel didn't wake up or an :,
er him. Nj
from
He Remembered. 70 "a
Inc Japanese word for ss0oo5 NOS soutr