Wallace, Ellen’s sweetheart, had not sold his play, but he expected to
any day. He was, however, impatient to be married--they had now been
engaged over a year--and he wrote Ellen that he could not wait, anyway
more than two or three months longer. Meanwhile Ellen secured a better
position.
The new position was at a much greater distance from our house, and as
she had to be at the office early, she decided to take a room farther
down town. Papa at first did not want her to leave home, but Ellen
pointed out that Hochelaga was too far away from her office, and then
she added, to my delight, that she’d take me along with her. I could
make her trousseau and cook for us both, and it wouldn’t cost any more
for two than for one.
Mama thought we were old enough to take care of ourselves. “For,” said
she, “when I was Ellen’s age I was married and had two children.
Besides,” she added, “we are crowded for room, in the house, and it will
only be for a month or two.”
So Ellen secured a little room down town. I thought the house was very
grand, for there was thick carpet on all the floors and plush furniture
in the parlor.
We were unpacking our trunk, soon after we arrived, when there was a
knock at our door, and in came Mrs. Cohen, our landlady and a big fat
man. Mrs. Cohen pointed at us with a pudgy finger:
“There they are!” she explained. “Ain’t they smart? Look at that one,”
pointing to Ellen, “she is smart like a lawyer, and the sister,”
pointing to me, “she is come to work and sew like she was the wife,
see.”
She turned about then and yelled at the top of her voice:
“Sarah! Sarah! Where is that lazy Sarah? Come! Directly!”
A young, thin girl with a clear skin and enormous black eyes came slowly
up the stairs and into the room.
“See, Sarah,” cried Mrs. Cohen, “there is two girls that is more smart
than you. That one, she is just the same age as you, and she makes good
money, yes. She makes twelve dollar a week. _You_ cannot do that. Oh,
no!”
Sarah looked at us sullenly, and to our greeting: “How do you do?” she
returned: “How’s yourself?” Then turning savagely on her father and
stepmother, she snarled:
“And if I can’t make money, whose fault is it? I have to work more hard
than a servant even, with all those children of yours!”
“Sarah, Sarah! be more careful of your speech!” cried her mother. “Did
not the God above give to you those six little brothers? You should
thank Him for His kindness.”
She started down the stairs, followed by her husband. Sarah, however,
stayed in the room, and now she smiled at us in a friendly way.
“Say, Miss-- What’s your names?”
“Ellen and Marion.”
“Well, say, my stepmother is the limit. Gosh! I wish we were not Jews.
Nobody likes us.”
“You ought not to say that,” said Ellen, severely, “the Jews were God’s
chosen people, remember.”
“Gosh!” said Sarah, “I wish He didn’t choose me.”
That evening, Sarah thrust her face in at our door, and called in a loud
whisper:
“Say, girls, do youse want to see two old fools? Come on then.”
She led us, all tiptoeing, into a room next to one occupied by a little
English old maid named Miss Dick, who gave music lessons for twenty-five
cents a lesson, and who always spoke in a sort of hissing whisper, so
that a little spit came from her lips. Mrs. Cohen called it the
“watering can.”
“Kneel down there,” said Sarah, pointing to a crack in the wall. I
peeped through, and this is what I saw: Seated in the armchair was a
funny little old man--I think he was German--with a dried, wrinkled
face. Perched on the arm of the chair was Miss Dick. They were billing
and cooing like turtle doves, and she was saying:
“Am I your little Dicky-birdie?” and he was looking proud and pleased.
Ellen and I burst into fits of laughter, but Sarah pulled us away, and
we covered our mouths and stifled back the laughter. When we got to our
room, Sarah told us that the old man, Schneider, had come to her father
and mother and asked them to find him a wife. Her mother agreed to do so
for the payment of ten dollars. She had spoken to Miss Dick, and the
latter had also agreed to pay ten dollars.
About a week after we had been there, Miss Dick and Mr. Schneider were
married. They had packed up all Miss Dick’s things and were going down
the stairs with bags in their hands, when Mrs. Cohen ran out into the
hall.
“Now please, like a lady and gentleman, pay me the ten dollars each as
we made the bargain, for I make you acquainted to get married.”
“Ten dollars!” screamed Miss Dick.
“Yes, you make the bargain with me.”
“I made no such bargain,” cried the bride shrilly. “We met and loved at
first sight.” Turning to Schneider, who was twirling his thumbs, she
said: “Protect me, dearie.”
He said:
“I say nutting. I say nutting.”
“_Will_ you pay that debt?” demanded Mrs. Cohen and then, as Miss Dick
did not answer, she pointed dramatically to my sister Ellen, who was
standing with me laughing at the head of the stairs. “You see that lady.
She is just the same as a lawyer, and she say you should pay. Pay for
your man like a lady, that smart lady up there say you should.”
“Oh, oh! you old Shylock!” screamed Miss Dick hissingly. Mrs. Cohen was
obliged to wipe her face and, backing away, she cried:
“Don’t you Shylock me with your watering can.”
Ellen and I were doubled up with laughter, and Mrs. Cohen seized hold of
a broom, and literally swept bride and groom from the house, shouting at
them all sorts of epithets and curses.