y on
the Sabbath preceding the wedding, a good-night-play performed by the
musicians, and a bridegroom's-dinner in his native town, with a table
spread for the poor.

Reb Yitzchok-Aizik Berkover had made a feast for the poor at the wedding
of each of his children, and now, on the occasion of the marriage of his
youngest daughter, he had invited all the poor of the little town
Lipovietz to his village home, where he had spent all his life.

It is the day of the ceremony under the canopy, two o'clock in the
afternoon, and the poor, sent for early in the morning by a messenger,
with the three great wagons, are not there. Lipovietz is not more than
five versts away--what can have happened? The parents of the bridal
couple and the assembled guests wait to proceed with the ceremony.

At last the messenger comes riding on a horse unharnessed from his
vehicle, but no poor.

"Why have you come back alone?" demands Reb Yitzchok-Aizik.

"They won't come!" replies the messenger.

"What do you mean by 'they won't come'?" asked everyone in surprise.

"They say that unless they are given a kerbel apiece, they won't come to
the wedding."

All laugh, and the messenger goes on:

"There was a wedding with a dinner to the poor in Lipovietz to-day, too,
and they have eaten and drunk all they can, and now they've gone on
strike, and declare that unless they are promised a kerbel a head, they
won't move from the spot. The strike leaders are the Crooked Man with
two crutches, Mekabbel the Long, Feitel the Stammerer, and Yainkel
Fonfatch; the others would perhaps have come, but these won't let them.
So I didn't know what to do. I argued a whole hour, and got nothing by
it, so then I unharnessed a horse, and came at full speed to know what
was to be done."

We of the company could not stop laughing, but Reb Yitzchok-Aizik was
very angry.

"Well, and you bargained with them? Won't they come for less?" he asked
the messenger.

"Yes, I bargained, and they won't take a kopek less."

"Have their prices gone up so high as all that?" exclaimed Reb
Yitzchok-Aizik, with a satirical laugh. "Why did you leave the wagons?
We shall do without the tramps, that's all!"

"How could I tell? I didn't know what to do. I was afraid you would be
displeased. Now I'll go and fetch the wagons back."

"Wait! Don't be in such a hurry, take time!"

Reb Yitzchok-Aizik began consulting with the company and with himself.

"What an idea! Who ever heard o