The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, June 12, 1904, Page 4

THE SAN FRANCISCO SUNDAY CALL. sive us clgarettes, you parasitical 1" one of the swineherds ordered, nd the rest joined in the demand, brandishing their whips in my face. I begged for mercy in the softest, most supplicating tone I could command. I had no clgarettes, I told them, and added that I was almost fainting from starvation. “Then give us money for cigarettes, you devil of & Jew, Christ-killer, Judas, parasite!” all burst out at once, press- ing closer about me and punching me with their whips. 1 declared piteously that I had only & few coppers, which 1 would willingly give them for & plece of bread “Cigarettes or morey!” all exclaimed. Several struck me with the butts of thelr whips, and I heard their whole vocabulary of vituperation against my race. “Let me go!” I begged of them, feel- ing eo weak that I cowld scarcely walk or ery. The biggest of them tore off my arba- kanfas and kicked my shins, felling me to the ground, and the others laid their whips over my body and face. “Give us money or cigarettes!” they shouted. I put my hand in my pocket to pull out my last few coppers. But they were gone. I must have lost them in the woods. They thought I was trying to deceive them and went through my pockets themselves. On finding nothing the biggest one struck me in the jaw with his fist and sald: “Give us cigarettes, anyhow, you Christ-killer!" I could make no answer. My sight grew dimmer and dimmer and my head whirled. The last I remember of that incident are sharp cuts of whips, furious dogs jumping upon me, tearing at my already torn clothes, and the shrieking and whistling and laughing of the swineherds. CHAPTER VIL I FALL AMONG GENTILES. I was in a stupor, half-waking, half- dozing, when my ear caught the sound of a voice. I wished to open my eyes, but I felt so fatigued and rested so pleasantly that I did not care to open them, as we often feel on & cool morn- ing when the alarm-clock strikes to waken us. The faint sound became clearer and clearer—it seemed to me that the owner of the volce was draw- ng nearer to me until I could hear dis- tinctly words. “He is stirring.” This was not in a peasant's dialect, but in pure Russian, which I was not accustomed to hear. “Sh—sh!” another voice cautioned, I opened my eyes, turning them one way, then anather, and stared about ne in amazement. “I must be dream- ng,” I said to myself incredulously, as I glanced at the fine bed on which I 3y and at the soft pilllows and snow- white sheets, the like of which I had ubbed my eyes again and surveyed he room. It was spacious, with large 1dows on two sides, and its walls re hung with paintings and etchings. 'How did I come here?” I asked my- self. I recalled my adventure with the ieherds, and I realized, though half-consciously, that a long period had intervened between that incident and the present, but I could not remember anything that took place during the apse. “How do you feel?” was asked of me in a soft feminine voice. I only smiled in reply. I could not erstand the meaning of all this; it recurred to my mind that perhaps I vas dreaming, after all. I sald something In ¥Yiddish, my mother tongue, but the people about seemed not to understand it. Then a sickly looking woman asked me in Russian whether I wished for any- thing. ‘I should pened to me and where I am. sponded in the peasant’s dialect. She smoothed my forehead and said gently: “Lie still. The doctor says you must have rest.” I closed my eyes again. Gradually my memory strengthened, gnd I began to trace back step by step to the time when I lost consciousness. I had a dim recollection of being taken in a car- riage, of giving my name, and having suffered great pain, but the rest was a mist. A few days later I was strong enough to sit up In bed propped up with pil- lowe. How I had come here was now clear to me, thanks to the information of my good nurse. Morovoyl Sudya (Justice of the Peace) Alexis Bialnick,.the owner of the big forest in which I spent the night after the fire, found me lying in the outskirts of the woods, half-naked and unconsclous. Finding his own ef- forts to revive me of no avail he or- dered me to be taken to his home. As feeble as I was I had a strong inclina- tion to rise and leave the house. My benefactor was a gentile, his food was trief (ritually unclean), and I feared lest he should force me to baptism in compensation for his kindness. 1 had heard of such crafty proselytism, and besides, who had ever heard of a gen- tile showing disinterested kindness to a Jew? 1 remembered the warning written by my grandfather on the fly- leaf of the Testament my mother had left me, that we should shun gentile favors, because they would be invaria- bly followed by losse or injury. However, these prejudices weakened the longer I stayed in the house of the sudya. He appeared to me llke an angel coming to my rescue; and who could tell but that he was Elijah met- amorphosed to the form of & boy (gen- tile)? My brain, always full of super- stitions and trusting in miracles, easily credited the thought, and for 2 moment I held my breath. One morning, after I had become able to move about the room, I was asked to step into the sudya's study. He was sezted In a large arm-chair 4and was in the act of tossing a rubber like to know what hap- I re- ball to & girl who had occasionally come into my room to ask after my health. My appearance interrupted her from flinging it back, and faintly color- ing she remained standing with hand uplifted. “Good morning, my good little fel- ‘low,” the sudya said, turning his ner- vous soft gray eyes upon me. “I hope you are feeling better now,” and he smiled graclously. I faltered some words of thanks. The gir], standing with the ball in her hand, looked at me with curiosity. My eyes met hers and my embarrassment increased. “Come nearer,” and the pointed at & chair by his side. is your name?’ “Israel Abramowitch.” The judge’s long, blonde-bearded face grew slightly pale, and he turned it from me just a trifle. “Yes—so you told me before.” “Who s your after a ghort stlenc “I have no fathe “Your mother?"” “I have none.” “Where is your home?" “My home burned down.” “Where do you come from?" I mentioned my native place. Again he was silent for so long a time that I thought he was displeased with me. But when he spoke his voice reassured me. “I lived In your town for some time— perhaps you do not remember me. I was sledevatel. I must have known all your people. Who was your father?” un “Yudel ‘Abramowitch.” The sudya leaned b: and for a f 5 eyes and high ction I thought was by way of straining his memory to recall my father; and clear- ing his throat he said: “Yes, I remem- ber your father well. Er—he used to come to my house quite often and I also called at his a number of times.” Pride filled my heart. This illus- trious personage in my father's house! The judge again passed his hand over his eyes and forehead, and throwing one leg over the other and nibbling at his long, pink finger-nails he added: “That's right. Your father died eight or nine years ago. What has become of your mother?” Again tears rushed to my eyes. “My mother died,” I responded lugubrious- ly; but just then my eves fell upon the girl, who was still regarding me with absorbed interest, and with a throb- bing heart I added: “Yes, she died in misery and poverty, and as I had no relatives or friends to take care of me sudya ‘“What father?” he asked his chair 1 was sent to a charity school and pro- cured my meals every day in a differ- ent family.” He asked some more questions about the fire and my escape. Then he resumed absent-mindedly: ‘“Where do you expect to go from here?” “Why, I'll go to a Jewish community and resume my ‘day eating’ and study the Talmud;” and I added gloomily: “I have no other place to go to.” The little girl came up to her father and slipped her arms around his neck; her blonde curls fell softly about his ghoulders. I thought I detected tears in her eyes. After my last answer the judge seemed to be lost in thought. I stood with bowed head waiting for him to speak again. “How would you like to stay in this house, Israel?’ he asked arter a while. “You will have the same teacher who gives instructions to my Katfa. Isn't Feodor Maximowitch a good teacher, gclubtchick?” His daughter answered by tightening her arms. “You will be clothed and taken care of as my own child until you grow old enough to choose for yourself.” . Could I remain in the house of a gol, even though he offered me all these things and asked nothing in return? I hesitated. Instantly the Talmud-Torah appeared before my imagination, and T recalled the tattered clothes which I had hitherto worn, the humiliating system of “day eating,” the grim pov- erty of the people about me, In con- trast there was the kind gentleman who now spoke to me as If I were his equal, the beautiful house and, the richly furnished rcoms, fine clothes and the best of food, a teacher to instruct me in Russian literature and perhaps even French—which I then imagined to be the language of angels. Ralsing my eves I found Katia’'s gaze fixed at me as if she were asking me to accept her father's offer. Could I do anything but stay? CHAPTER VIIL When I fully recovered, autumn, Russian autumn, had fairly set in. Zamok, as my benefactor’s estate was called, stood isclated from the rest of the world by vast stretches of snow- covered plains, like a single ship on the ocean. The nearest village was three-quarters of a mile away, and the nearest town, which had no more than four hundred Inhabitants; was a dis- tance of aboutstwenty miles. Had it not been for the peasants and Jews who came to attend trials or settle their disputes before the sudya (for his .though innocently, residence was also his courthouse), Zamok would have been as secluded and unfrequented as an undiscovered island. Mr. Bialnick seemed to be averse to soclety, and appeared to en- joy nothing except his child’s company. My teacher accounted for the judge’s excessive melancholy by his grief for his wife, who had died about a year and a half before. However, I did not feel lonesome. For besides Katia—with whom I would not have felt lonesome had we been the only beings on a de- serted island—there was Feodor Maxi- mowitch Kremlin, our teacher; Olga Ossipovna Shtchedrin, Katia's gover- ness; Vinitzki, the coure clerk; and a number of good jolly servants. Katla had come to be like a loving younger sister to me.” The kindness, the simplicity, the sympathy of this mere child of 13 awoke all that was best in me—my emotions, imagination, energy, ambition. Whether in the house or out, throwilng snowballs or skating, I had to be at her side. The first few months she would sometimes, make fun of my pronunciation, which lacked the sono- rous Russian ring. She would slap and scold me and mock my talk, and all this gave me delight. Both of us seemed to feel instinctively that her father would not have us too Intimate; and so In her father's presence she gave no signs of the friendship which existed between us, and I Itkewise as- sumed a distant manner. That spring my feelings budded and blossomed. I did not stop to analyze my new sensations. I was merely aware that my Imagination, my thoughts, 'my every-day existence was brighter, and that my blood ran warm- er and faster. All nature seemed to share In my gladness; the birds seemed to have more cheerful notes, and the flelds, the meadows, the forest, the very blades of grass never before wore such a green as they put on that spring. Scarcely a year from “day eat- ing” and the wretched Talmud-Torah, and everything connected with the past seemed to be effaced from my memory. Sometimes I would tremble at the thought that I was gradually drifting away from Judaism. What would my mother have said to this? At the theught of her I would shudder for shame; and often I decided to steal away at night and never come back. But Katia! Katla, with those long, blonde curls, which she began to wear in a braid this spring—with those smil- ing, sparkling eyes—with those tender, teasing ways—Katia! How could I go and leave her behind me? I knew that she was a shigselke (a little gentile girl) and I a poor wandering Jewish orphan, but I was so happy when she teased me or ordered me about that I forgot my race and my faith. Besides, I was enjoying my studies immensely, and new-born thoughts began to sqrout fn my brain. 1 began to nave aspira- tions; my ambition stirred me to more activity; I began to compare con- ditions and situations; I appreciated the beauty of Japhet and loathed the tents of Shem:. The sudya treated me 2s kindly and generously as ever. It is true, I ob- served him frown when he found K leaning on my arm as we read one ¢ Krilloff's fables; but otherwise he showed me almost paternal affection There was a benign expression on his face, and his soft gray eyes seemed to have smiles concealed in them, despite the depressing gloom that always hov- ered over him. He smiled very often— he very rarely laughed; but what sad- ness in his smile! That spring I also noticed that the delicate skin of his fair cheeks was be- coming marred here and there by fine lines, and that his nose was turning purple. And one time, as I found Rim standing by the sideboard with a de- canter of rum in his hand. I started to turn back, but he noticed me, and replacing the decanter he stammered confusedly: “You may stay here, Is- rael.” On another occasion I found him reclining unconsclous in his large arm-chalr and the same decanter of rum on a little round tabie at his el- bow. At first, fright seized me. I thought he was dead. But I soon dis- covered differently. He was drunk. I locked the door and, moving on tiptoe, adjusted him comfortably without arousing him. I shivered lest Katia, who had gone ‘with her governess to visit a neighboring hamlet, should find her father in this state. Leaving the door locked on the inside, I crept out through a window. During the summer Katia took a va- cation from her books, but I studied even more assiduously than before. My ambition was rising every day. Katla had once told me, when we were chat- ting all alone in the garden in the rear of the house, that she would marry no one but a great man—as great as Ng- krasoff or Pushin or Lermontoff. I re- member distinctly that I felt dizzy for a while after she had said this, and that, in spite of my repeated efforts to speak, my words remained stuck in my throat. However, when a little later she told me I was to be a great poet like Lermontoft, I felt my blood rush- ing to my face and a peculiar thrill shot through all my frame. I sat oppo- e — ¥ OUR - EXT Tuesday will be the one hundred and twenty-seventh anniversary of the adoption of the Stars and Stripes by Con- gress. “We want a clean flag,” is the cry to-day from thousands of patriotic voices in the United States of Amer- ica. The imperative demand comes not only from the National Association of the Sons and Daughters of the Ameri- can Revolution, the Grand Army of the Republic, the Loyal Legion of the United States and the American Flag Association, whose fifty-six different or- ganizations co-ordinate all the patriotic socleties of the country, but from ewery soldier who has followed the sacred ‘mbol in our battles for freedom, from y schoolhouse where the act of sa- luting the flag is taught and required from our millions of children as a deed of reverence second only to that of honoring the name of God, and from every home in our mighty land whose peace and protection are secure be- cause of what that flag represents. Our Star-Spangled Banner, our Old Glory, is desecrated by the spirit of commercialism of the present age, and “as it catches the gleam of the morn- ing’s first beam” it has ceased to re- flect the “full glory™ of the magnificent sentiment by which it was concelved, born, baptized and flung aloft. In Honolulu and Manila—our new posses- sions—our flag Is permanently nalled up on the front of liquor saloons and brothels; two brewing companies in the State of New Jersey print across its folds the words, “Stands for the best beer,”” and a pharmacist.in Milwaukee sprinkles among Its stars in great white letters, “Magic headache wafers.” Recently a scavenger in Boston sew- ed a flag on the outside of a burlap bag in which he gathered coals from ash barreis and went through the streets carrying it upon his back. He was arrested at the instance of one cf the flag committees, taken before a magistrate and fined twenty dollars. He was a Russian who would not ha dared commit such an outrage in his own country, but ours is “the land of the free” and freedom in it—especially on the part of some foreign-born citi- zens—is sometimes construed into M- cense. Not only is the flag itself thus dese- crated. but pictures of it—its represen- tation—cause it to “trail In the dust” of cheap trafic. Its imprint upon pa- per is used In stores to wrap up cheese, ham, dried fish and tobacco. It ar- rests thought on business cards, letter heads and newspaper columns. It her- alds the superior merits of certain transportation cars and railroad routes; it forecasts the quality of a certain brand of cigars; it calls attention to the fact that “John Johns sells roast- ed peanuts at the Old Stand”; it en- wraps the oranges and lemons of Ital- fan fruit vendors; it glorifies the prod- ucts of a ginger ale manufacturing company in Massachusetts and empha- sizes nearer home the superiority of a certain brand of belting and twine; it ! is found in an advertisement upon {i backs of transfer tickets on trol cars and lends a halo to porcelaif® cuspidors and tin refuse barrels. The flags of no other nation are thus dis- graced. When General Fred Grant was Am- erican Embassador to Austria he was By Nellie Blessing Eyster DESECRATED FLAG ¢ waited upon by the custom-house of- ficers to aspertaln whether the United States veriitted the use of her flag upon merchandise. Austria did not and assuming that enlightened America was equally as respectful they forbade the entrance of an invoice of merchan- dise thus branded. The Grave and Statue of Francis Scott Key, Mount Olivet Cemetery, Frederick, Md. | General Grant admitted that it was & new question to him and he did not know whether there was a law on the subject. Like him, very many of our best citizens are ignorant of even the necessity for such a law. Immersed in other matters the indignities heaped upon our beloved flag have escaped their notice, but again thousands of others have watched with anxious hearts the increase of this Irreverence for what they hold most dear. For five or six years the American Flag Association has been engaged in obtaining State legislation relative to’ this matter and nineteen States have enacted laws to prevent further dis- honoring of our flag, but when an ef- fort to suppress the use of a flag brand upon canned goods was made in the local courts of Chicago, the Judge ruled that the act came under the jurisdic- tion of Congress instead of a State and should be decided by national legisla- tion. As yet there has been nome. It remained for a San Francisce citi- gen, W. H. Murray, a member of George H. Thomas Post No. 2, to make a direct personal effort to obtain it and thereby forever erase this blot upon our national honor. Senators George A. Perkins, Quay, Hanna and Caldwell of Ohie (the latter being the first to introduce the flag bill In Con- gress) were all persistently inter- viewed by him and caught his enthu- siasm. Traveling over the United States he made a special feature of enlisting sympathy with this righteous cause. The officers of Faneuil Hall, Boston; those of Independence Hall, Philadelphia; the Betsey Ross Me- morial Assoclation, the Francis Scott Key socleties, all were visited and aroused to new activity. A document, known as bill 229, was drafted, altered dosens of times to make it very com- prehensive and finally “perfected” (as reported by Senator Quarles) by the Daughters of the American Revolu- tion, who have strenuously endeavored to bring It to the attentfon of the pa- triotic people of the country, North and Bouth. March 18, 1904, s bill prohibiting the desecration ef the American flag passed the Senate, but not the House of Representatives. We will hope that the crowded condition of affalrs at that period of the Fifty-eighth Con- gress was the cause of the apparent oversight. The act contains flve divi- sions, that of No. 4 Imposing & heavy penalty upon “any person, persons, corperation or company using the flag or coat of arms of the United States for any advertisement, trademark, la- bel, inscription, etc.” which the genil of this artistio (?) age can Invent. At the next Congress the bill will have to be introduced again. Let us hope that California will lead the pa- triotic van ih protest against such an ifmportant matter being longer de- ferred. Were resolutlons to that effect passed as soon as possible by each Grand Army post, each woman’s club and each parlor of the Native Souns and Daughters of California alone, be- fore another Flag day the matter would be accomplished. site her and gazed and gaz translucent eyes, frank in th ckildish e. Then I seized with the ness of m. fi . and I felt so hopelessly unt 1 abruptly ran away to my locked the door. m ar CHAPTER IX. THE END OF HAPPINES 1 did not swe urpe become a great man, and pored my books arduous My finstructor was highly pleased with my pr I could see his face beammg with uine delight as I recited lesson “splend se t over rve from my p good d dowr ixcellent,” 3 he would remark, pacing up the room as I was reading a composi- tion or reciting a page of Cicero. Onl half.a year before Katia had been fa: ahead of me in composition, but now was reading the masterpleces of Rus- sian literature, while she still used a Khrestomatia— a book of selections. Mr. Kremlin told me that if I- would study assiduously till the following summer I could easily take the exami- nations of the fourth and perhaps of the fifth—he referred to gymnasium grades. Of course I wished to go to the gymnasium and there study harder and harder, that I might become a great man like Nekrasoff or Pushkin or Lermontoff and—marry Katla. And Katia would listen to Mr. Krem- lin's praises of me without the least jealousy. When the teacher was gone she would put her hand on my shoulder in her childish way and, looking Into my eyes, would say: “Israel, you will go to the gymnasium the coming year | and take away all the prizes. I am sure you will get a gold medal on graduation. My cousin Mishka got one, and he is not half as bright as you Oh, what a great man you will be some day! Your picture will be in the Novosti and in the Sviet and In the Novi Vremia, and you will be so proud, with your head erect—you will not want to talk to me.” Here I shut her mouth with the palm of my hand. “You mean you will be proud,” I would retort enviously, with no little rancor in my heart, “and go away to your relatives In Moscow or Kieff and mix with colonels and generals, and you will be ashamed to talk to me.” I really meant every word I said, be- cause Judge Bialnick talked of being promoted or installed either in Kieff or Moscow, where most of his near rela- tives lived. And so life passed tfll fall had come again. Again the sky was constant overcast with heavy dark clouds t dripped cold drops; again drizzly showers dismally washed the window- panes; again heaps of withered leaves lay around trunks of trees; again flower-stalks stood lke gravestones where once was glory; again the sigl ing winds howled and moaned drearily One gloomy afternoon, while the sudya was in the courtroom adminis- tering justice to peasants, Katia and I sat In her father’s study reading to- gether and engaging In such chat as made me at the same time jealous and happy. We were on a couch near a window. Katia sat with one foot under her and the other hanging down, her lesson-book In her lap. We ceased talking for a minute or two, while we gazed at the rain, which was becom- ing mixed with melting snow. “Papa sald he 1s sure to be promoted and® will get an appointment in Kieff. You will go with us, won't you, Is rael?” She sald this abstracted'y as looked through the window at the snow, which was becoming more and more noticeable In the falling rain. I swallowed a lump; my emotions al- most throttled me. How innocently she asked me this! She could see no difference in our stations; to her we were equals. I began to realize now more than ever that I was a vagabond, a mere beggar. Will I go with them? My tears rushed to my eyes. Will I go with them?—as If I belonged to their circle, & member of her family. It was all I could do to refrain from putting these incoherent thoughts into words. She looked greatly surprised at my silence. My emotions suddenly found expression in tears—I ever cried as readily as a girl. I turned and cov- ered my face with both hands. “Israel,” she Implored, attempting to remove my hands, “why do you cry? ‘What did I say that hurt you?" And she clung to my hands, removing finger by finger. “Listen, Katia,” I blurted out pas- sionately. “I shall study day and night until I become & great man—as great a man as you ltke; and then—then—ah, then”—I became consclous of what I was about to say and dropped my head in despalr. “Oh, you foolish Isrmel” she sald, ralsing my head by the chin, “then I'll marry you." How candidly and naively she ut- tered these words! Without the faint- est blush, without the least excitement, with the simplest understanding of what she said. Impulsively, without being fully con- sclous of what I was doing, I threw my arm around her neck and kissed her on the mouth again and again. “Katla! Katla!™ It was Judge Bialnick’'s volce that called me to my senses; it sounded stern and harsh—almost cruel. 1 raised my eyes frightfully and be- held Katia's father standing In the doorway, with a relentless expression on his countenance. “Katia!" he called again; and he stood cold and erect until Katia, with downcast eyes, walked past him into the adjoining room. Then he also turned around and walked out, leaving me alone with my head drooped over my chest, and tears—large, boiling tears—burning my cheeks as they rolled down and dropped upon my shirt and vest. Continued Next Sunday.