study as never was, always at it, day
and night, and repeating to himself between whiles! That's all right
then, is it? Was it all right? When it came to the point, and they hung
out the names of all the children who were really entered, we
looked--mine wasn't there! Then there was a screaming and a commotion.
What a shame! And nothing but fives! _Now_ look at her, now see her go,
see her run, see her do this and that! In short, she went and she ran
and she did this and that and the other--until at last they begged her
not to worry them any longer, that is, to tell you the truth, between
ourselves, they turned her out, yes! And after they had turned her out,
then it was she burst into the house, and showed for the first time, as
it were, what she was worth. "Pray," said she, "what sort of a father
are you? If you were a good father, an affectionate father, like other
fathers, you would have found favor with the director, patronage,
recommendations, this--that!" Like a woman, wasn't it? It's not enough,
apparently, for me to have my head full of terms and seasons and fairs
and notes and bills of exchange and "protests" and all the rest of it.
"Do you want me," say I, "to take over your Gymnasiye and your classes,
things I'm sick of already?" Do you suppose she listened to what I said?
She? Listen? She just kept at it, she sawed and filed and gnawed away
like a worm, day and night, day and night! "If your wife," says she,
"_were_ a wife, and your child, a child--if I were only of _so_ much
account in this house!"--"Well," say I, "what would happen?"--"You would
lie," says she, "nine ells deep in the earth. I," says she, "would bury
you three times a day, so that you should never rise again!"

How do you like that? Kind, wasn't it? That (how goes the saying?) was
pouring a pailful of water over a husband for the sake of peace. Of
course, you'll understand that I was not silent, either, because, after
all, I'm no more than a man, and every man has his feelings. I assure
you, you needn't envy me, and in the end _she_ carried the day, as
usual.

Well, what next? I began currying favor, getting up an acquaintance,
trying this and that; I had to lower myself in people's eyes and swallow
slights, for every one asked questions, and they had every right to do
so. "You, no evil eye, Reb Aaron," say they, "are a householder, and
inherited a little something from your father. What good year is taking
you about to places where a Jew