"All the furniture is put out of doors, not even a pin is left in the
house. As everyone does the same, a stranger passing by would think
there must be a 'jumble sale' going on.
"Passover time is usually like lovely English summer weather. As very
little water can be got, guess how everything is scrubbed and rubbed!
"Outside Meah Sheorim there are large holes from which clay has been
taken for building purposes, and during the winter-rains they get filled
with water and they look nearly as large as ponds.
"We carried or pushed all the furniture to one of these ponds, took sand
moistened with a little water, and rubbed the furniture till it was
white and clean. This we have to do three times: such is the rule. If
any of the furniture was polished, you can imagine that not much of the
polish was left after all this scrubbing and rubbing.
"We threw into the pond whatever we could, and as it was not deep, we
pulled up our trousers, and washed those pieces of furniture in the
water. Some threw in boards, and we made see-saws and played on them
till one of us fell in. It was such fun! Sometimes the furniture got
mixed, and it was hard to tell to whom it belonged. Indeed, I never
enjoyed myself so much as on this Erev Passover. Even more than in
London when I went to see _Sindbad the Sailor_. There is plenty of fun
going on when we are left free, but that is not often, you may be sure.
The best fun we had was when someone threw a chair into the pond and sat
on it while other boys pushed it along. Somebody else threw in a barrel
and a few of us got on it, and then over we went into the water.