e
congregation into his house and told them all about the Governor and his
schemes. Great was the surprise of these worthy men and unanimous their
approval of Mendel's course in the matter.

"I believe," said the Rabbi, in conclusion, "that we have gained a
friend in the Governor, and I see rising above the horizon a new era of
security and prosperity for Israel."

"God grant it," cried the listeners, fervently.

CHAPTER XX.

NEEDED REFORMS.

If Governor Pomeroff abandoned his original plan of Christianizing the
Jews, he did not relinquish his friendship for Mendel. The Rabbi was
frequently summoned to appear before him, professedly for the purpose
of giving an account of this or that good work which he had undertaken,
but in reality to entertain the Governor by his brilliant conversation.
So frequent had these visits become that the guards about the palace
were no longer surprised at the strange companionship and the term
"Jew," with which they were wont to designate Mendel, gave place to the
more respectful appellation of "The Rabbi."

As Mendel became better acquainted with his powerful friend, his
appreciation of his noble qualities steadily increased and they became
warmly attached to each other.

"Would that all the Jews were like you," Pomeroff occasionally remarked,
to which Mendel would reply: "How fortunate would be our lot if all
Christians possessed your nobility of character."

Then came the glorious year 1861, the year in which Russia freed
millions of serfs and removed the shackles of slavery from a debased
people.

While much praise should be accorded to the liberality and humanity of
Alexander, the main cause of the emancipation act was the
unprofitableness of serf labor. Public opinion, too, had demanded the
change. What "Uncle Tom's Cabin" accomplished in this country Gogol's
"Dead Souls" and Tourgenieff's "Recollections of a Sportsman" did for
the Russian slaves. The disasters of the Crimean War were attributed to
the corrupt condition of all classes, caused, it was claimed, by this
pernicious institution of serfdom. By the edict of 1861, in the same
year in which our own struggle for the emancipation of our Southern
slaves began, the peasants were made free and were granted the right to
purchase the lands occupied by them at the time. "Enfranchisement was
effected in Russia in a manner far more skilful than in our own country,
where it was accomplished through the terrible agency