means of support only
increased the stolidity of the sufferers. And if, like some
stepchildren, they were first beaten till they cried, and then beaten
because they cried, like some stepchildren they rapidly forgot their lot
in the happiness of home and the studies of the bet ha-midrash, and
could sing[48] without bitterness even of the behalah-days, when

Little boys and little girls
Together had been mated,
Tishah be-Ab, the wedding day,--
Not a soul invited.
Only the father and the mother,
And also uncle Elye--
In his lengthy delye (caftan),
With his scanty beard--
Jump and jig with each other
Like a colt afeared.

(Notes, pp. 314-317.)

CHAPTER IV

CONFLICTS AND CONQUESTS

1840-1855

The charges brought against the Jews of Russia by henchmen of the czar
were grave, indeed, only they did not contain a particle of truth. In
Russia itself, not only Jews and non-Russians but even many Christians
testified to the innocence of the Jews, and protested against their
oppressors. Bibikov, the Governor-General of Podolia and Volhynia;
Diakov, the Governor-General of Smolensk; and Surovyetsky, the noted
statesman, all write in terms of such praise of their unfortunate
countrymen of the Jewish faith that their statements would sound
exaggerated, were it not that many other unprejudiced Russians confirm
their views.[1] The fact that Nicholas thought the Jews reliable as
soldiers speaks against the imputation that they were mercenary and
unpatriotic. Neither was the conventional accusation, that they were a
people of petty traders, applicable to the Jews in Russia. Laborers of
all kinds were very common among them. It was they, in fact, who
rendered all manner of service to their Gentile neighbors, from a
cobbler's and blacksmith's to producing the most exquisite _objets
d'art_ and gold and silver engraving. They were equally well represented
among the clerks and bookkeepers, and the bricklayers and stone-cutters.
They took up with the most laborious employments, if only they furnished
them with an honest even though scanty livelihood.[2]

But most unfounded of all was the allegation that Jews were opposed to
education. The _Memoirs_ of Madame Pauline Wengeroff indicate that even
among the very strict Jews of her time children were not denied
instruction in the German, Polish, and Russian literatures. We have seen
how they availed themselves of the permission, granted to them by
Alexander