en years and the youngest five. It was difficult to see
their dresses in the darkness, but from beneath their caps and long
curls of hair, their eyes shone with the passionate fire of mischief
and perhaps some other excited sentiment.

"Guten abend! karaime!" shouted at once the rabble, kicking at the
locked door with their feet, and shaking the frames of the windows.

"Why don't you show some light on the Sabbath? Why are you sitting in
a black hole like the devil? Kofrim, uberwerfer!" (You unbeliever!
heretic!) shouted the older ones.

"Aliejdyk giejer! oreman! mishugener!" (rascal, beggar, mad-man!)
howled the young ones at the top of their voices.

The insults, laughter, and shaking of the door and windows increased
every moment, when from within the hut resounded the girl's voice,
quiet and sonorous as before, but so strong that it pierced the
noise--"Zeide! speak further!"

"Aj! aj! aj!" answered the old voice, "how can I speak when they
shout so loudly."

"Zeide! speak further!"

This time the girl's voice sounded almost imperatively. It was no
longer childish. In it could be heard grief, contempt and struggle
for the preservation of peace.

As sad singing is blended with the noise of stormy elements, so with
the wild noise of the mob of children, insulting, mewing, howling,
and laughing, the sobbing words were mingled.

"And during the day of Sabbath, Jehovah--may His name be
blessed--gives rest to the holy river of Sabbation. The gravel ceases
to flow, the big waves of stones do not roar like the forest--only
from the river, which lies quiet and does not move, a thick mist
rises--so great that it reaches the high clouds, and hides again from
the enemies, the four tribes of Israel: Gad, Assur, Dan and
Naphtali."

Alas! around the hut with bent walls and dark interior, the holy
river of Sabbation did not flow; neither did high waves or gravel nor
thick mists hide its inhabitants from the enemies.

These foes were small, but they were numerous. By a last effort of
mischievous frolic several of them pulled at the frames of the
windows so strongly that several panes broke. A shout of joy sounded
far over the field. Through the openings the interior of the hut
became strewn with small clods of earth and stones. The old voice,
from the most remote part of the room, trembling, and still more
hoarse, cried:

"Aj! Aj! Aj! Jehovah! Jehovah!"

The girl's voice, always sonorous, repeated:

"Zeide, keep q