g, and pitying the poor Jew who was so afraid of
death. "The Jewish faith is the same as the Mahommedan!" and it seems to
him a very foolish one. And Fishel is thinking almost the same thing,
and pities the Gentile on account of _his_ religion. "What knows he, yon
poor Gentile, of such holy promises as were made to us Jews, the beloved
people!"

And Fishel the teacher hastens uphill, through the Chaschtschevate mud.
He perspires with the exertion, and yet he does not feel the ground
beneath his feet. He flies, he floats, he is going home, home to his
dear ones, who are on the watch for him as for Messiah, who look for him
to return in health, to seat himself upon his kingly throne and reign.

Look, Jews, and turn respectfully aside! Fishel the teacher has come
home to Chaschtschevate, and seated himself upon the throne of his
kingdom!

AN EASY FAST

That which Doctor Tanner failed to accomplish, was effectually carried
out by Chayyim Chaikin, a simple Jew in a small town in Poland.

Doctor Tanner wished to show that a man can fast forty days, and he only
managed to get through twenty-eight, no more, and that with people
pouring spoonfuls of water into his mouth, and giving him morsels of ice
to swallow, and holding his pulse--a whole business! Chayyim Chaikin has
proved that one can fast more than forty days; not, as a rule, two
together, one after the other, but forty days, if not more, in the
course of a year.

To fast is all he asks!

Who said drops of water? Who said ice? Not for him! To fast means no
food and no drink from one set time to the other, a real
four-and-twenty-hours.

And no doctors sit beside him and hold his pulse, whispering, "Hush! Be
quiet!"

Well, let us hear the tale!

Chayyim Chaikin is a very poor man, encumbered with many children, and
they, the children, support him.

They are mostly girls, and they work in a factory and make cigarette
wrappers, and they earn, some one gulden, others half a gulden, a day,
and that not every day. How about Sabbaths and festivals and "shtreik"
days? One should thank God for everything, even in their out-of-the-way
little town strikes are all the fashion!

And out of that they have to pay rent--for a damp corner in a basement.

To buy clothes and shoes for the lot of them! They have a dress each,
but they are two to every pair of shoes.

And then food--such as it is! A bit of bread smeared with an onion,
sometimes groats, occasionally