FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104  
105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   >>   >|  
se. His whole face had an expression of impudence. Nevertheless, I liked his face, and we became friends the first hour we met. We met for the first time at "_Cheder_," at the teachers' table. When my mother took me to "_Cheder_," the teacher was sitting at his table with the boys, teaching them the book of Genesis. He was a man with thick eyebrows and a pointed cap. He made no fuss of me. He asked me no questions, neither did he take my measurements, but said to me-- "Get over there, on that bench, between those two boys." I got on the bench, between the boys, and was already a pupil. There was no talk between my mother and the teacher. They had made all arrangements beforehand. "Remember to learn as you ought," said my mother from the doorway. She turned to look at me again, lovingly, joyfully. I understood her look very well. She was pleased that I was sitting with nice children, and learning the "_Torah_." And she was pained because she had to part with me. I must confess I felt much happier than my mother. I was amongst a crowd of new friends--may no evil eye harm them! They looked at me, and I looked at them. But the teacher did not let us idle for long. He shook himself, and shouted aloud the lesson we had to repeat after him at the top of our voices. "Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field." Boys who sit so close together, though they shake and shout aloud, cannot help getting to know one another, or exchange a few words. And so it was. Benny "_Polkovoi_," who sat crushing me, pinched my leg, and looked into my eyes. He went on shaking himself, and shouting out the lesson with the teacher and the other boys. But he threw his own words into the middle of the sentence we were translating. "And Adam knew (here are buttons for you) Eve his wife. (Give me a locust-bean and I will give you a pull of my cigarette.)" I felt a warm hand in mine, and I had some smooth buttons. I confess I did not want the buttons, and I had no locust-beans, neither did I smoke cigarettes. But I liked the idea of the thing. And I replied in the same tones in which the lesson was being recited: "And she conceived and bare Cain. (Who told you I have locust-beans?)" That is how we conversed the whole time, until the teacher suspected that though I shook myself to and fro, my mind was far from the lesson. He suddenly put me through an examination. "Listen, you, whatever your name is, you surely
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104  
105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

teacher

 

lesson

 

mother

 
locust
 
buttons
 

looked

 
confess
 

Cheder

 

friends

 

sitting


sentence
 

translating

 

middle

 

shaking

 

crushing

 
exchange
 

pinched

 

Polkovoi

 

shouting

 
conversed

suspected

 
surely
 

Listen

 

examination

 

suddenly

 

conceived

 

recited

 
cigarette
 

replied

 

smooth


cigarettes

 

measurements

 

doorway

 

turned

 

Remember

 

arrangements

 

questions

 

teachers

 

Nevertheless

 

expression


impudence

 

teaching

 

pointed

 

eyebrows

 

Genesis

 

lovingly

 
repeat
 

shouted

 

voices

 

serpent