and
for other reasons--there are no curtains or blinds to draw down--we were
able to go through all Meah Sheorim and stop a minute or two at every
lighted window and watch the goings on. We heard nothing but singing and
clapping of hands, while the children danced. Sometimes one of the
elders looking on could not resist joining in the fun, and tied his
kaftan behind his back so as to leave his legs free, put one of the
youngsters on his shoulders, and danced like a chassid or a jolly
Irishman.

"As we went from house to house peeping in at the windows, sometimes
some of the family would come out and drag us in by force, and make us
drink wine and eat cakes. If we did not wish to join in the dancing, but
wanted to leave, they would just say 'Shalom'--'go in peace but come
again.' I can tell you it was jolly, and nowhere else in all the world
could Yomtov be kept up as it is here.

"We were given wine in so many houses that from the eldest to the
youngest we were beginning to feel rather funny. Next morning, after
being well shaken up by Father, and after we had had a wash with cold
water in the open air, we made up our minds to be firmer at the next
Purim.

"After going in the morning to hear the Chazan again, and coming home
and enjoying the Hamantaschen and other good things, then begins the
pleasure and excitement of sending Shalach-manoth to friends,
acquaintances, and chiefly to the poor, and even to enemies if you have
any. As you are supposed, if possible, to send back to the sender
something similar to what is sent to you, things cannot be made ready
beforehand. To the poor you always send useful presents as well as
delicacies which are likely to last them for months or longer.

"As to the beggars, I never imagined there could be so many in one
country. We generally get enough beggars coming to us on Fridays and
before holy days, but at Yom Kippur and Purim they come in crowds. Most
of them are Sephardim and Yeminites. It is true you give each of them
only a para, which is about a quarter of a farthing, and they give you a
blessing for it; but, if they come to a rich class of home and are not
given there according to the style of the house, they upbraid the
people, and even curse them, so the children are told to stand at the
doors with paras and cakes, etc. At some houses they are invited in.
Each carries a sack on his shoulder, expecting, I suppose, that it will
be filled with good things by the time Puri