h Hayye, dear--and no answer. Lost, as if in the sea!"

And after the application of a corner of her shawl to eyes and nose,
Hayye Dvoshe, continuing:--

"So you will go into the newspaper, and ask them what has become of my
Moeshele, and if he isn't in Castle Garden, maybe he went up to
Balti-moreh,--it's in the neighborhood, you know,--and you can tell
them, for a mark, that he has a silk handkerchief with his monogram in
Russian, that his betrothed embroidered for him before the engagement
was broken. And may God grant you an easy journey, and may you arrive
in a propitious hour, and may you find your husband well, and strong,
and rich, and may you both live to lead your children to the wedding
canopy, and may America shower gold on you. Amen."

The weeks skipped, the days took wing, an hour was a flash of thought;
so brimful of events was the interval before our departure. And no one
was more alive than I to the multiple significance of the daily drama.
My mother, full of grief at the parting from home and family and all
things dear, anxious about the journey, uncertain about the future,
but ready, as ever, to take up what new burdens awaited her; my
sister, one with our mother in every hope and apprehension; my
brother, rejoicing in his sudden release from heder; and the little
sister, vaguely excited by mysteries afoot; the uncles and aunts and
devoted neighbors, sad and solemn over their coming loss; and my
father away over in Boston, eager and anxious about us in Polotzk,--an
American citizen impatient to start his children on American
careers,--I knew the minds of every one of these, and I lived their
days and nights with them after an apish fashion of my own.

But at bottom I was aloof from them all. What made me silent and
big-eyed was the sense of being in the midst of a tremendous
adventure. From morning till night I was all attention. I must credit
myself with some pang of parting; I certainly felt the thrill of
expectation; but keener than these was my delight in the progress of
the great adventure. It was delightful just to be myself. I rejoiced,
with the younger children, during the weeks of packing and
preparation, in the relaxation of discipline and the general
demoralization of our daily life. It was pleasant to be petted and
spoiled by favorite cousins and stuffed with belated sweets by
unfavorite ones. It was distinctly interesting to catch my mother
weeping in corner cupboards over precious ru