accused of all manner of sorcery. The _Cabala_ is the principal
religious authority of the lower classes among the Russian Jews, and
this may perhaps inspire such a preposterous notion. The Jews,
themselves, frequently believe that some one of their own number is in
possession of supernatural secrets which give him wonderful and awful
powers. Many were the tortures which these poor people were doomed to
endure for their supposed influence over nature's laws.

It was an easy matter to find little Jacob. His hours at the _cheder_
(school) were over. He was sure to be playing upon the streets, and his
capture was quickly effected. Seizing the innocent little fellow by the
arm, the irate peasant lifted him off his feet, and dragged him by sheer
force into the barn, where he confronted the malefactor with his victim.

"So, you thought you could bewitch my cow," he hissed. "But I saw you,
Jew, and, by our holy Czar, I swear that, unless you repair the damage,
I shall feed your carcass to the dogs."

Poor Jacob was too terrified to understand of what crime he had been
accused. He looked piteously at his tormentor, and burst into tears.

"Well?" cried the peasant, impatiently; "will you take off the spell, or
shall I call my dog?"

The child, knowing that such threats were not made in vain, endeavored
to plead his innocence, but the bellowing of the hungry calf outweighed
the sobbing of the boy, and with an angry oath Jacob was struck to the
ground, and a ferocious bull-dog, but little more brutal than his
master, was set upon the helpless little fellow.

"Please, Mr. Farmer, don't kill me," he pleaded, groaning in pain.

"Will you cure my cow?" demanded the peasant.

"I'll try to; I'll do my best," sobbed the boy, whose pain made him
diplomatic at last.

The dog was called off, and the child, after promising to restore the
cow to her former condition, was turned out into the lane, where his
mother found him an hour later, unconscious, his body lacerated, one arm
broken, and a portion of his right ear torn off.

When Reb Mordecai concluded his sad narration, all about him were in
tears.

"Just God!" exclaimed the uncle; "hast Thou indeed deserted Thy people,
that Thou canst allow such indignities? How long, O Lord! must we endure
these torments?"

"Nay, brother," sobbed the poor mother, while she caressed her ailing
boy; "what God does is for the best. It is not for us to peer into his
inscrutable actions. But com