l the supper, we took our places and
waited. Soon the cook came in and filled some glasses with wine from two
bottles,--one yellow, one red. Then she gave to each person--exactly one
and a half matzos; also some cold meat, burned almost to a coal for the
occasion.

The young man--bless him--who had the honor to perform the ceremonies,
was, fortunately for us all, one of the passengers. He felt for and with
us, and it happened--just a coincidence--that the greater part of the
ceremony escaped from his book as he turned the leaves. Though strictly
religious, nobody felt in the least guilty about it, especially on
account of the wine; for, when we came to the place where you have to
drink the wine, we found it tasted like good vinegar, which made us all
choke and gasp, and one little girl screamed "Poison!" so that all
laughed, and the leader, who tried to go on, broke down too at the sight
of the wry faces he saw; while the overseer looked shocked, the cook
nearly set her gown on fire by overthrowing the candles with her apron
(used to hide her face) and all wished our Master Overseer had to drink
that "wine" all his days.

Think of the same ceremony as it is at home, then of this one just
described. Do they even resemble each other?

Well, the leader got through amid much giggling and sly looks among the
girls who understood the trick, and frowns of the older people (who
secretly blessed him for it). Then, half hungry, all went to bed and
dreamed of food in plenty.

No other dreams? Rather! For the day that brought the Passover brought
us--our own family--the most glorious news. We had been ordered to
bring our baggage to the office!

"Ordered to bring our baggage to the office!" That meant nothing less
than that we were "going the next day!"

It was just after supper that we received the welcome order. Oh, who
cared if there wasn't enough to eat? Who cared for anything in the whole
world? We didn't. It was all joy and gladness and happy anticipation for
us. We laughed, and cried, and hugged one another, and shouted, and
acted altogether like wild things. Yes, we were wild with joy, and long
after the rest were asleep, we were whispering together and wondering
how we could keep quiet the whole night. We couldn't sleep by any means,
we were so afraid of oversleeping the great hour; and every little
while, after we tried to sleep, one of us would suddenly think she saw
day at the window, and wake the rest, who also