e
respect and good-will of the entire community. The young man had never
been guilty of actual wrong-doing, but had in a thousand petty ways
displayed his utter disregard of the customs that were so dear to the
hearts of his co-religionists. The Sabbath found him strolling through
the city instead of attending divine service at the synagogue. Of the
Talmud he knew very little, having preferred to play with his gentile
friends to wasting his hours in the _cheder_. He had been known to eat
_trefa_ at the house of a _goy_, and with a fastidiousness that was
without parallel in the annals of Kief, he had shaved off all of his
beard, leaving only a jaunty little mustache. So it happened that his
name became a terror to all pious Israelites. There was but one
attraction in Judaism which still fascinated Pesach, and that was his
charming cousin Miriam. She alone possessed the power of bringing him
back when he had strayed too far from the fold and her bright eyes often
recalled him to a sense of duty. He loved the girl, and had she shown
him any encouragement he might still have reformed the evil of his ways.
But even had Miriam favored his advances, her father, one of the most
pious men of Kief, would have dispelled all hope of an alliance between
the two. Old Reb Kohn, after endeavoring in vain to bring the reprobate
to his senses, finally forbade him the house. Shortly after, the
betrothal of Miriam Kohn with the learned and wealthy Hirsch Bensef was
announced. Pesach became despondent and put the finishing touch to his
ungodly career by becoming intoxicated with beer on the Passover. In
consequence of this and former misdeeds, he was ostracized from good
Jewish society, and finding himself shunned by his former associates he
departed from Kief to seek his fortune in a foreign land.

After wandering about Germany for a year or two, picking up a precarious
living and a varied experience, he set sail for America, where he
arrived without a penny. Fortune smiled upon the poor man at last. He
drifted into an inland city, Americanized his name to Philip Harris, and
succeeded, through honesty, thrift and perseverance, in building up a
large business and accumulating a respectable fortune. It was only after
success had been assured that he communicated with his parents in
Russia, and in spite of his past record great was the rejoicing when the
first letter was received. He whom his friends had mourned as dead was
alive and thrivin