seht nischt sejer Arumtanzen arum ihm, er entwert nischt Awrohom
Owinu auf'n herzlichen Scholem-aleechem, un'--geführt zum
Bess-din-schel-majle, sāgt er ihm kein "Gut Morgen" nischt....
Bonzje is' ausser sich var Schreck!
Un' sein schreckliche Schreck is' noch grösser gewor'en as er hāt,
nischt willendig, unter seine Füss' dersehn die Podloge vun
Bess-din-schel-majle. Ssame Alabaster mit Brilljanten! "Auf asa
Podloge stēhen meine Füss'!" Er wert in Ganzen verstarrt. "Wer
wēisst, welchen Gwir, welchen Row, welchen Zadik män mēint ... er
wet kummen, wet sein mein finsterer Ssof!"
Var Schreck hāt er afile nit gehört, wie der Präses hāt befeeresch
ausgerufen: "Die Djele vun Bonzje Schweig!" un', derlangendig dem
Meeliz-jōscher die Akten, gesāgt: "Les', nor bekizer!"
Mit Bonzjen drēht sich der ganzer Salon, es rauscht ihm in die
Ōheren, nor in'm Gerausch hört er alle Māl scharfer un' scharfer
dem Malech-meeliz's süss Kol wie a Fiedel:
--Sein Nāmen, hört er, hāt ihm gepasst, wie zum schlank Leib a
Klēid vun an Artist a Schneider's Hand."
--Wās redt er? frägt sich Bonzje, un' er hört, wie an umgeduldig
Kol hackt ihm über un' sāgt:
* * * * *
--Nor ohn' Mescholim!
--Er hāt kēin Māl, hēbt weiter ān der Meeliz-jōscher, auf Kēinem
nischt geklāgt, nischt auf Gott, nischt auf Leut'; in sein Äug' hāt
kēin Māl nischt aufgeflammt kēin Funk' Ssine, er hāt es kēin Māl
nischt aufgehōben mit a Pretensje zum Himmel.
Bonzje verstēht weiter nischt a Wort, un' dās harte Kol schlāgt
weiter über:
the angels, does not see their dancing around him, does not reply to
Father Abraham's hearty "Peace be with you!" and being led before the
Supreme Court he does not say "Good morning" to them.
Bontsie is beside himself with terror.
And his terrible fear is still increased when by accident he notices the
floor of the Court Hall under his feet. Pure alabaster and brilliants!
"On such a floor do my feet tread!" He grows stiff with fright. "Who
knows what rich man, what Rabbi, what saint they mean!... I shall fare
ill when he will come!"
* * * * *
In his terror he did not even hear the Presiding Officer's call: "The
case of Bontsie Silent!" and his saying to the Advocate, as he handed
him the documents: "Read, but be short!"
The whole hall is turning around with Bontsie, there is a din in his
ears, and through it he can distinguish more sharply and more sharply
the voice of the Advocate as sweet as a violin:
"His name," he hears him saying, "has fit him like an artist-tailor's
gown on a graceful body."
"What is he talking about?" Bontsie asks himself. And he hears an
impatient voice interrupting him, and saying:
"Pray, without similes!"
"He has never, proceeds the Advocate, complained against any one,
neither against God nor against man! There has never flamed up a spark
of hatred in his eyes; he has never uplifted them with any pretensions
to Heaven."
Bontsie again does not understand a word, and the harsh voice interrupts
him:
--Ohn' Retorik!
--Iow hāt nischt ausgehalten, er is' umglücklicher gewesen--
--Fakten, truckene Fakten! ruft noch umgeduldiger der Präses.
--Zu acht Tāg' hāt men ihm male gewesen--
--Nor ohn' Realism!
--A Mōhel, a Fuscher hāt dās Blut nit verhalten--
* * * * *
--Weiter!
--Er hāt alls geschwiegen, führt weiter der Meeliz-jōscher, afile
wenn die Mutter is' ihm gestorben un' er hāt zu dreizehn Jāhr a
Stiefmame bekummen ... a Stiefmame--a Schlang, a Marschaas....
--Mēint man doch efscher fort mich? tracht Bonzje.
* * * * *
--Ohn' Insinuazjes auf dritte Personen, boesert sich der Präses.
--Sie flegt ihm žalewen dem Bissen ... ēher-nächtig verschimmelt
Brōt ... Hāar-flachs far Flēisch ... un' sie hāt Kawe mit Schmetten
getrunken--
--Zu der Sach'--schreit der Präses.
--Sie hāt ihm far dās kēin Nägel nischt gekargt un' sein
blo-un'-blo Leib flegt arauskucken vun alle Löcher vun seine
verschimmelt-zurissene Klēider.... Winter, in die grösste Fröst',
hāt er ihr bārwess auf'n Hōf Holz gehackt, un' die Händ' senen zu
jung un' schwach gewesen, die Klötzlech zu dick, die Hack zu
stumpig ... nischt ēin Māl hāt er sich die Händ' vun die Stawes
ausgelenkt, nischt ēin Māl hāt er sich die Füss' ābgefrōren, nor
geschwiegen hāt er afile sich var'n Vāter--
--Var'n Schiker! lacht arein der Katēgor, un' Bonzje werd kalt in
alle Eewrim--
"Please, without rhetoric!"
"Job did not endure, but he has been more unfortunate--"
"Facts! Dry facts!" the President calls out more impatiently.
"On the eighth day he was circumcised--"
"Pray, without realism!"
"The surgeon was a quack, and he did not stanch the blood."
"Go on!"
"He was always silent," the Advocate proceeds, "even when his mother
died, and he got upon his thirteenth year a stepmother ... a
stepmother--a snake, a witch."
"Maybe he really means me?" Bontsie thinks to himself.
"Leave out insinuations against third persons!" says the President,
angrily.
"She begrudged him every morsel.... Musty bread, three days old ...
tendons for meat ... and she drank coffee with cream...."
"Let's come to business!" cries the President.
"And she did not spare him her finger nails, and his blue-and-black body
peeped through all the holes of his musty clothes.... In winter, in the
severest frosts, he chopped wood for her in his bare feet, and his hands
were too young and too weak, the blocks too large, the axe too dull....
More than once he had sprained his wrists, more than once he had frozen
his feet, but he was silent, and even to his father--"
* * * * *
"The drunkard!" the Prosecuting Attorney laughs out loud, and a shiver
passes over Bontsie's body.
--Nischt geklāgt,--endigt der Meeliz-jōscher dem Satz.
--Un' ständig elend, führt er weiter, kēin Chawer, kēin
Talmud-tōre, kēin Cheeder, kēin Schkole ... kēin ganz Beged ...
kēin freie Minut--
--Fakten! ruft weiter der Präses.
--Er hāt geschwiegen afile später, wenn der Vāter hāt'n schikerhēit
a Māl āngechappt bei die Hāar un' in Mitten a schneewindiger
Winternacht arausgeworf en van Stub'! Er hāt sich still aufgehōben
vun Schnee un' is' entloffen, wu die Äugen hāben ihm getrāgen....
Auf'n ganzen Weg hāt er geschwiegen ... beim grössten Hunger hāt er
nor mit die Äugen gebettelt.
Erscht in a schwindeldige, nasse Wjosne-nacht is' er in a grōsse
Stādt areingekummen; er is' arein wie a Troppen in a Jam un' doch
hāt er die ēigene Nacht in Kose genächtigt.... Er hāt geschwiegen,
nischt gefrägt far wās, far wenn? Er is' araus un' die schwerste
Arbēit gesucht! Nor er hāt geschwiegen!
Noch schwerer far der Arbeit is' gewesen sie zu gefin'en,--er hāt
geschwiegen!
Bādendig sich in kalten Schwēiss, zusammengedrückt unter der
schwerster Last, beim grössten Krampf vun'm lēdigen Māgen, hāt er
geschwiegen!
Bespritzt vun fremder Blote, bespiegen vun fremde Maüler, gejāgt
vun Trotuaren mit der schwerster Last arāb in Gassen zwischen
Droschkes, Kareten un' Tramwajs, kuckendig jede Minut dem Tōdt in
die Äugen arein,--hāt er geschwiegen!
Er hāt kēin Māl nischt übergerechent, wieviel vun Masse es kummt
aus auf a Groschen, wieviel Māl er is' gefallen bei jeden Gang far
a Dreier, wieviel Māl er hāt schier nischt die Neschome
ausgespiegen, māhnendig sein Verdienst, er hāt nischt gerechent,
nischt sein, nischt Jenem's Masel, nor geschwiegen!
"He did not complain!" the Advocate concludes his sentence.
"And eternally alone, he proceeds,--no friend, no religious instruction,
no school ... not a whole garb ... not a free minute!"
"Stick to facts!" calls out the President.
"He was silent even later, when his father, in a drunken fit, once
grabbed him by his hair and kicked him out of the house into a stormy
winter night. He quietly picked himself up and ran whither his eyes
carried him.
"He was silent on his whole journey ... in the greatest frost he begged
only with his eyes.
"In a nasty, wet spring night he arrived in a large city; he fell in
like a drop in the Ocean, and yet he passed that very night in the
police jail.... He was silent, did not ask why. He came out of it, and
looked for the hardest work! And he was all the time silent.
* * * * *
"Much harder than the work was the finding of the same,--and he was
silent.
"Bathing in cold sweat, bent under the heaviest burdens, during the
severest cramps of his empty stomach,--he was silent!
"Besmutted by strangers' mud, bespit by strangers' mouths, driven with
his heavy load from the sidewalks into the streets among buggies,
coaches, and street cars, looking every moment into the eyes of
death,--he was silent!
"He never calculated how many pounds of load came to every penny, how
many times he stumbled on every three kopeks' errand, how many times he
almost exhaled his soul collecting his pay; he did not beseech or
curse,--he only was silent!
Sein ēigen Verdienst hāt er nischt hōch gemāhnt. Wie a Bettler hāt
er sich bei der Thür gestellt, un' in die Äugen hāt sich a
hüntische Bakosche gemālt! "Kumm' später!" un' er is' wie a
Schātten still verschwunden gewor'en, kedee später noch stiller
auszubettlen sein Verdienst!
Er hāt afile geschwiegen, wenn män flegt ihm ābreissen vun sein
Verdienst, oder ihm areinzuwarfen a falsche Matbeje ... er hāt alls
geschwiegen....
--Mēint män doch take mich! troest't sich Bonzje.
* * * * *
--Ēin Māl, führt weiter der Meeliz-jōscher noch a Trunk Wasser, is'
in sein Leben a Schinui gewor'en ... es is' durchgeflōgen a Kotsch
mit gummene Räder mit zuploschete Ferd' ... der Schmeisser is'
schōn lang vun weitens gelegen mit a zuspaltenem Kopp auf'n Bruk
... vun die derschrockene Ferd's Maüler spritzt der Schaum, vun
unter die Podkowes jāgen sich Funken, wie vun Lokomotiw, die Äugen
blischtschen wie brennendige Sturkatzen in a finsterer Nacht,--un'
in Kotsch sitzt nischt tōt, nischt lebedig, a Mensch.
Bonzje hāt die Ferd' verhalten!
Der Gerateweter is' gewesen a Jüd, a Balzdoke, un' hāt Bonzjen die
Tōwe nischt vergessen.
Er hāt ihm dem Gehargenten's Kelnje übergegeben; Bonzje is' a
Schmeisser gewor'en! Noch mehr,--er hāt ihm Chassene gemacht, noch
mehr,--er hāt ihm afile mit a Kind versorgt,--un' Bonzje hāt alls
geschwiegen!
--Mich mēint män, mich! befestigt sich Bonzje in der Deje, un' hāt
sich die Hose nischt, an Äug' zu warfen auf'n
Bess-din-schel-majle....
Er hört sich weiter ein zum Malech-meeliz:
"He did not ask loud for his pay. Like a mendicant he stood at the door
with a doglike prayer in his eyes. 'Come later!' and he disappeared
quietly like a shadow, in order to ask later still more quietly for his
dues!
* * * * *
"He was silent even when they knocked off something from his pay, or
paid him in a counterfeit coin ... he was silent...."
"It seems they really mean me!" Bontsie consoles himself.
* * * * *
"Once," proceeds the Advocate, after taking a drink of water, "there
came a change in his life ... a coach with rubber wheels and frightened
horses rushed by ... the driver lay way back on the pavement with his
head split open ... foam spurted from the mouths of the frightened
horses, and sparks flew from under their feet, as from a locomotive;
their eyes sparkled like glowing coals in a dark night,--and in the
coach there was sitting, more dead than alive, a man!
* * * * *
"Bontsie stopped the runaway.
"The person thus saved was a Jew, a charitable man, and he did not
forget Bontsie's kindness.
"He transferred to him the seat of the killed man; Bontsie became a
driver! More than that,--he got him married; still more, he provided him
with a child ... and Bontsie kept silent all the time!"
* * * * *
"They mean me, they mean me!" Bontsie strengthens himself in his belief,
and he has no courage to raise his eyes on the Supreme Judge.
He listens again to the Advocate.
--Er hāt geschwiegen afile, wenn sein Baltōwe hāt in Kurzen
bankrottirt un' ihm sein S-chires äuch.... Er hāt geschwiegen
afile, wenn dās Weib is' ihm entloffen un' übergelāst ihm a Kind
vun der Brust....
Er hāt geschwiegen afile mit fufzehn Jāhr später, wenn dās Kind is'
aufgewachsen un' genug stark gewesen,--Bonzjen arauszuwarfen vun
Stub'....
--Mich mēint män, mich! frēut sich Bonzje.
* * * * *
--Er hāt afile geschwiegen, hēbt ān wēicher un' traueriger der
Malech-meeliz, wenn der ēigener Baltōwe hāt sich mit Alle
ausgegleicht, nor ihm kēin Groschen S-chires nischt
zurückgegeben,--un' afile demelt, wenn er is' Bonzjen (weiter
fāhrendig auf a Kotsch mit gummene Räder un' Ferd' wie Loeben)
übergefāhren....
--Er hāt alls geschwiegen! Er hāt afile der Polizēi nischt gesāgt,
wer es hāt ihm zurecht gemacht....
* * * * *
--Er hāt geschwiegen afile in Spital, wu män mäg schōn schreien!
Er hāt geschwiegen afile, wenn der Doktor hāt ohn' fufzehn Kop.
nischt gewollt zu'n ihm zugēhn, un' der Wächter ohn' fünf
Kop.--tauschen die Wäsch'!
Er hāt geschwiegen beim Gōssen, er hāt geschwiegen in der letzter
Rege, beim Starben....
Kēin Wort gegen Gott, kēin Wort gegen Leut'! Dixi!
* * * * *
Bonzje hēbt ān weiter zu zittern auf'n ganzen Leib. Er wēisst, as
nāch'n Meeliz-jōscher gēht der Katēgor. Wer wēisst, wās der wet
sāgen? Er allēin hāt sein ganz Leben nischt gedenkt, noch auf jener
Welt hāt er jede Minut die früherdige vergessen ... der
Meeliz-jōscher
"He was silent even when his benefactor became bankrupt and did not pay
him his wages.... He was silent even when his wife ran away and left him
with a nursing babe....
"He was silent even fifteen years later when the child grew up, and was
strong enough to throw Bontsie out of doors...."
"They mean me, they mean me!" Bontsie says joyfully.
"He was silent," the Advocate begins again with a softer and sadder
voice, "when his benefactor resumed business, but did not pay him a
cent, and even then, when he ran over him, again riding in a carriage
with rubber tires, and horses like lions.
* * * * *
"He was all that time silent! He did not even tell the police who had
maimed him so.
* * * * *
"He was silent even in the hospital, where one may cry!
"He was silent even when the doctor would not come to him unless he was
paid fifteen kopeks, and the janitor would not change his shirt without
five kopeks!
"He was silent during the last moments of his life, he was silent in his
death agony....
"Not a word against God, not a word against man! Dixi!"
* * * * *
Bontsie begins again to tremble in his whole body. He knows that after
the Advocate comes the Prosecuting Attorney. Who knows what he will say?
He himself had never, during his whole life, preserved the memory of
anything ... in the other world, he forgot
hāt ihm All's dermāhnt ... wer wēisst, wās der Katēgor wet ihm
dermāhnen!
* * * * *
--Rabōssai! hēbt ān a scharf-stichedig, brühendig Kol--