Joy endureth but a little while.
After this digression on the study of the Talmud I return to my story.
As already mentioned, I was sent to school at Iwenez. My father gave me
a letter to the chief rabbi of this place, who was a relation of ours,
requesting him to give me in charge to an able teacher, and to give some
attention to the progress of my studies. He gave me however in charge to
a common schoolmaster, and told me I was to visit him every Sabbath in
order that he might examine me himself. This injunction I punctually
followed; but the arrangement did not continue long; for at one of these
examinations I began to dispute about my lessons and suggest
difficulties, when, without replying to them, the chief rabbi asked me
if I had stated these difficulties to my teacher also.
"Of course," I replied.
"And what did he say?" asked the chief rabbi.
"Nothing to the point," I replied, "except that he enjoined silence on
me, and said, 'A youngster must not be too inquisitive; he must see to
it merely that he understands his lesson, but must not overwhelm his
teacher with questions.'"
"Ah!" said the chief rabbi, "your teacher is altogether too easy, we
must make a change. I will give you instruction myself. I will do it
merely out of friendship, and I hope that your father will have as
little to say against it as your former teacher. The fee which your
father pays for your education, will be given to your teacher without
deduction."
In this way I got the chief rabbi for a teacher. He struck out a way of
his own with me. No weekly lessons repeated till they are impressed on
the memory, no tasks which the pupil is obliged to perform for himself,
and in which the course of his thoughts is very often arrested for the
sake of a single word or a figure of speech, which has little to do with
the main subject. His method distinguished itself from all this. He made
me explain something from the Talmud _ex tempore_ in his presence,
conversed with me on the subject, explained to me so much as was
necessary to set my own mind in activity, and by means of questions and
answers turned my attention away from all side-issues to the main
subject, so that in a short time I passed through all the three
above-mentioned stages in the study of the Talmud.
My father, to whom the chief rabbi gave an account of his plan with me
and of my progress, went beside himself with joy. He returned his
warmest thanks to this excellent man for putting himself to so much
trouble with me out of mere friendship, and that notwithstanding his
delicate state of health, for he was consumptive. But this joy did not
last long; before a half year was ended, the chief rabbi had to betake
himself to his fathers, and I was left like a sheep without a shepherd.
This was announced to my father, who came and fetched me home. Not,
however, to H----, from which I had been sent to school, but to Mohilna,
about six miles from H----, whither my father had meanwhile removed.
This new change of abode had taken place in the following way.
Mohilna is a small hamlet in the territory of Prince Radzivil four miles
from Nesvij, his residence. The situation of this place is excellent.
Having the river Niemen on one side, and on the other a large quantity
of the best timber for ships, it is adapted equally for trade and for
shipbuilding. Moreover the district in itself possesses great fertility
and amenity. These facts could not escape the attention of the Prince.
The farmer or _arendant_ of the place, whose family for some generations
had been in possession of this lucrative farm, and had become rich by
means of the shipbuilding trade, and the numerous fine products of the
district, took all possible pains to prevent these great advantages from
being observed, in order that he might be able to enjoy them alone
without being disturbed. But it happened once that the prince was
travelling through the place, and was so taken with its beauty, that he
resolved to make a town of it. He sketched a plan for this, and made an
announcement that the place was to be a _Slabode_; that is, every one
was to be at liberty to settle in the place, and drive any kind of
trade, and was even to be free from all taxes for the first six years.
For a long time, however, this plan was never carried out, owing to all
sorts of intrigues on the part of the arendant, who went so far as even
to bribe the advisers of the prince to turn his attention away from the
subject.
My father, who saw clearly that the miserable farm of H---- could not
support him and his family, and had been obliged to remain there
hitherto only from want of a better abode, rejoiced very much at the
announcement, because he hoped that Mohilna would offer him a place of
refuge, especially as the arendant was a brother-in-law of my uncle. In
this connection he made a journey to the place with my grandfather, had
a conversation with the arendant, and opened to him his proposal to
settle in Mohilna with his consent. The arendant, who had feared that,
on the announcement of the prince's wish, people would stream in from
all sides, and press him out of his possession, was delighted that at
least the first who settled there was not a stranger, but related to his
family by marriage. He therefore not only gave his consent to the
proposal, but even promised my father all possible assistance.
Accordingly my father removed with his whole family to Mohilna, and had
a small house built for himself there; but till it was ready, the family
were obliged once more to take up their quarters in a barn.
The arendant, by whom at first we were received in a friendly manner,
had unfortunately meanwhile changed his mind, and found that his fear of
being pressed out of his possession by strangers was wholly without
ground, inasmuch as already a considerable time had passed since the
announcement of the prince's wish, and yet nobody had presented himself
besides my father. The prince, as a Polish chief and _Voivode_ in
Lithuania, was constantly burdened too much with State affairs in
Warsaw, to be able to think on the carrying out of his plan himself; and
his subordinates could be induced by bribes to frustrate the whole plan.
These considerations showed the arendant that the new-comer could not
only be spared, but was even a burden, inasmuch as he had now to share
with another what he had before held in possession alone. He sought
therefore to restrict my father, and to disturb him in his settlement,
as much as possible. With this view he built for himself a splendid
house, and succeeded in obtaining a command from the prince, in
accordance with which none of the newcomers should enjoy the rights of a
burgher till he had built a similar house. My father saw himself
therefore compelled to waste his little fortune, which was indispensably
required for the new arrangements, wholly and solely on this useless
building.