d on account of my religion, the authorities being unwilling to
appropriate money for the tuition of a Jewish child. But little it
matters now what the reason was; the result is what affected me. I was
left without teacher or book just when my mind was most active. I was
left without food just when the hunger of growth was creeping up. I
was left to think and think, without direction; without the means of
grappling with the contents of my own thought.

* * * * *

In a community which was isolated from the mass of the people on
account of its religion; which was governed by special civil laws in
recognition of that fact; in whose calendar there were twoscore days
of religious observance; whose going and coming, giving and taking,
living and dying, to the minutest details of social conduct, to the
most intimate particulars of private life, were regulated by sacred
laws, there could be no question of personal convictions in religion.
One was a Jew, leading a righteous life; or one was a Gentile,
existing to harass the Jews, while making a living off Jewish
enterprise. In the vocabulary of the more intelligent part of Polotzk,
it is true, there were such words as freethinker and apostate; but
these were the names of men who had forsaken the Law in distant times
or in distant parts, and whose evil fame had reached Polotzk by the
circuitous route of tradition. Nobody looked for such monsters in his
neighborhood. Polotzk was safely divided into Jews and Gentiles.

If any one in Polotzk had been idle and curious enough to inquire into
the state of mind of a little child, I wonder if his findings would
not have disturbed this simple classification.

There used to be a little girl in Polotzk who recited the long Hebrew
prayers, morning and evening, before and after meals, and never
skipped a word; who kissed the _mezuzah_ when going or coming; who
abstained from food and drink on fast days when she was no bigger than
a sacrificial hen; who spent Sabbath mornings over the lengthy ritual
for the day, and read the Psalms till daylight failed.

This pious child could give as good an account of the Creation as any
boy of her age. She knew how God made the world. Undeterred by the
fate of Eve, she wanted to know more. She asked her wise rebbe how God
came to be in His place, and where He found the stuff to make the
world of, and what was doing in the universe before God undertook His
task. Finding fr