carrying their party banners. Long before they reached the town they had
been befuddled by liquor to the degree that they were not afraid of
infantry or cavalry, and boldly declaring their party, entered the left
half of the square. The Government side, it is true, had in it the
gentle folk;--well-to-do merchants and landowners, and although their
votes counted for more than the peasants', their numbers were few. The
Opposition's side of the square was fairly bulging from its
ever-increasing human mass, so that the soldiers had a hard time to keep
it within bounds. Each voter had to pass through the voting booth and,
much to the chagrin of the Government party, the Opposition had
appointed watchers, who surrounded the ballot box. When night came, the
Opposition candidate was declared elected in spite of various
subterfuges of the Government party. It was a hideous and sleepless
night in the town, for nearly everybody was drunk, and the police took
especial delight in beating the peasants with the butts of their guns.
Yet the men sang and shouted, the successful candidate appeared and made
a rousing speech and it was long after daylight when the last reveller
was silenced and the town sank into its normal stupor.
Ever since, the Opposition candidate has been in the Hungarian
Parliament and it is a pleasure to relate that, on the whole, he has
been one of its ablest and most honest members, occupying many positions
of trust and prominence, visiting the United States on a mission of
peace and received as an honoured guest at the White House. He does not
know, however, that he owes his first election to a Jew who learned his
earliest lessons in the game of politics in a certain town in the Middle
West of the United States; a town famous for its brand of whiskey and
its corrupt city government.
The daughter of the American, three years my senior, took the place of
the miller's daughter in my heart, and I think I loved her more than I
loved Martha; for I was at the edge of a new life which came to me so
early as to nearly overwhelm me by its force and power. While Maud was
something of a "tomboy," she could think seriously, and to her I owe my
first glimpse of Dickens. She had a copy of "Dombey and Son" in German
and I devoured it in a few days, shedding countless tears over it. With
her I discussed my own problems of religion and race which overshadowed
everything else in my life.
Her romantic vein was manifested when she inveigled me into going with
her to visit the witch to have our fortunes told.
I was still mortally afraid of the old woman, for she was the typical
witch, bent double, leaning on a staff, and ugly, with her face seamed
by deep and curiously shaped wrinkles. She owned two ferocious black
cats that were to me the personification of evil spirits. She lived in
an isolated house by the creek and to reach it one had to pass a clump
of ill-shaped willow trees, which fitted well into the gruesome
atmosphere.
With fear and trembling I followed my American guide, for superstition
is much more universal and more deep-seated than race characteristics. I
felt like running away when we were in the circle of the willows, for in
those crooked, gnarled, forked tree-tops, the witch was supposed to work
her evil deeds. Maud drew me after her and we passed over the threshold,
in doing which I stepped on one of the cats, thereby receiving a nervous
shock from which it took me long to recover.
A fish-oil lamp filled the room with its vile odour, and when our eyes
penetrated the semi-darkness, we saw the witch on top of the bake-oven.
With many awful groans, she let herself down to the ground, and after
receiving her fee, which the reckless American girl had made unusually
generous, she proceeded to shuffle a greasy deck of cards; then laid
them on the dirty floor to discover what fate had in store for us.
Like all fortunes that are told to sentimental young women, and
romantically inclined youths, the prophecy culminated in marriage. The
cards told that I would travel very far and marry a rich young woman.
Maud was to marry a poor man but was promised that happiness in love
which is better than gold.
The prophecy had a marvellously stimulating effect on us both; we lost
all fear, and a strange new feeling began to manifest itself, as we
walked hand in hand into the oncoming night. When I reached home I
dreamed my first dream about the future and the far-away land to which I
was to travel. That of course would be America and the rich young bride
would be Maud.
Our peasants used to say that dreams of marriage bring misfortune, and
misfortune came apace. Suddenly Maud's father recovered his health and
the family prepared to return to the large and luxurious home that had
been so often described to me, from the big, sweeping lawn to the public
school where Jews and Gentiles mingled, and from books and games to
pop-corn and tomato salad, which latter seemed to me rather barbaric
luxuries. I was tragically unhappy and so gloomy that I threw myself on
the bed, and mother, fearing illness, sent for the doctor. He felt my
pulse, looked into my throat, prescribed some harmless pellets and left
me to my gnawing agony which grew greater and greater as the hour for
the departure of the omnibuses drew near. Now we had to speak of these
in the plural; for the American visitor had financed a new omnibus, with
cushioned seats and a regular door.
The bells on this new omnibus were twice as big as that on the old one,
but they sounded funereal to me that morning. I meant to stay in bed and
cover my head with a pillow, that I might see and hear nothing; I even
hoped that I might die of suffocation; but as the bells drew nearer, the
love of life--and the love of love gripped me. Leaving my bed, I dressed
quickly, and before mother could prevent me I was running after the
omnibus at breakneck speed. It had a fair start but I knew that at the
Oresco Hill it would begin the slow climb upwards and I could catch it.
Breathlessly I reached it after a run of miles. I jumped onto the step
and when Maud saw me her face flushed from pleasure or anger, I cared
not which. I clung to the door and looked piteously at her, begging her
to take me to America. Her father and mother laughed at me and the boys
laughed too; but she came close to me while the vehicle swayed from
side to side, and kissed my cheek, saying: "Good-bye; remember the
prophecy." Then I lost my hold and slid to the ground.
For a long, long time the kiss burned upon my cheek; for it was not like
the kiss of the miller's daughter.
XVI
THE CUP OF ELIJAH
"Where shall I put the chair for the Prophet Elijah, motherkin?" I was
helping my mother prepare the Passover. This was no easy task, for the
supper is a religious service as precise and solemn as high mass in a
cathedral.
"Opposite the host and nearest the door, that he may step in and out
unobserved," my mother replied, a wee bit of a smile playing upon her
sad face. It was sadder to-day than usual, for the Passover is a family
festival; the father is the high priest and master of ceremonies, and my
father being dead, his brother, our pious Uncle Isaac, was to preside at
the feast.
With a deep sigh, mother placed the shining brass candlesticks. In their
graceful curves I could see my elongated face, much to my amusement.
Then she arranged the dishes in their proper places, filling the huge
pewter platter with unleavened bread which she covered with a bright
cloth. On this in her maiden days, she had embroidered the triangular
shield of David, and in Hebrew letters, the blessing spoken before the
breaking of the bread. Then with skillful fingers she divided the
portions of bitter herbs and knowing my aversion to them, put at my
plate the smallest quantity possible.
"Israel has had enough bitter herbs, in Egypt and out of it," she said.
"I think the rabbis might have spared us this memorial. Do you hear
those Gentile youths talking? That is our bitter herbs, and we may get
more of them than we can eat."
There was danger of a mob that night, for the entire Gentile community
was agitated over the alleged disappearance of a Gentile girl. Yet the
Jews were hurrying past our house to the synagogue for the evening
service. They were greeted by such pleasant words as: "How many Gentile
children have you slaughtered?" "We'll drive you back to Jerusalem,
where you belong."
No, we did not belong here. In spite of the fact that generations of
mothers reared their children in this valley of the Carpathians, and
generations of the young buried their aged in the God's Acre at the edge
of the far-stretching town, we were still strangers and sojourners. To
live here was a privilege grudgingly granted, and although death
regarded neither Jew nor Gentile, our graves were dug in alien soil, and
the God's Acre stood in disputed territory. We were such strangers in
the land of our birth, that as a child I scarcely knew the colour of the
sky above me or the shape of the mountains which girdled the valley.
The spring wind wakened flowers that never bloomed for me, and the song
of the thrush and the nightingale was drowned in the chirp of the
sparrows and the cawing of the ravens, of which alone I was conscious,
because every man's hand was against them as it was against us.
Mother did not wish me to go to the synagogue service, so I helped her
with the Passover feast. After the doors were bolted and the windows
barred, she brought out the silver goblets from which generations of our
ancestors had partaken of the Passover wine. With especial care, she
unwrapped the richest and most massive one and giving it to me said:
"Put it at the prophet's place." It was his goblet and never had been
touched by the lips of a mortal.
"The Prophet Elijah," my mother continued, more to herself than to me,
"is a guest whom we shall need to-night as never before." Even while she
spoke, a stone was hurled against the shutters, the concussion breaking
several window-panes.
"Mother!" I cried in great fright, "are you sure that the prophet will
come?"
"I am quite sure he will come," she replied, "although I have never seen
him."
I did not ask any more questions, for I knew her heart was heavy and I
could see that she was not far from tears. She now lighted the candles,
thanking God that He had thus commanded, and then went to look after
affairs in the kitchen; for prayers and Psalms were to alternate with
delicious soup, fish, and roast lamb with all its accompaniments. At
least a week is spent in preparation for the Jewish Passover. The home
must be cleansed from cellar to attic, that even the slightest particle
of leaven be removed. House cleaning before the Passover is an exacting
religious ceremony, a marvellous provision for an Oriental people to
which personal cleanliness came as the fiat of Heaven.
My mother was a daughter of Israel, who "looked well after the ways of
her household," but as she lighted the match to set fire to the gathered
leaven, I heard her say the usual prayer with great fervour. "We praise
Thee, Lord our God, King of the whole world, for commanding us to burn
the leaven."
At last my uncle came, his three sons with him, and breathlessly they
told of the gathering mob and of stones crashing through the synagogue
windows. Yet in spite of all this apprehension, my uncle put on the
robes of his priestly office, girded his loins and praised God loudly
for having delivered His people out of the bondage in Egypt. As we
praised Him in prayers and hymns, so we praised Him in eating of the
food He had provided; for were we not protected by the invisible guest,
the Prophet Elijah? Was not his goblet filled, although his chair was
still empty?
Clearly and triumphantly my uncle sang the jubilant notes of Israel's
redemptive journey from Egypt to the Promised Land while the rest of us
timidly chanted the amens and hallelujahs. The villagers, attracted by
the service, had gathered in front of our house in increasing numbers.
Stones began to fly against the shutters and a crowbar was being applied
to the bolts and hinges; yet undisturbed, my uncle, this high priest of
Jehovah, continued the service, while we, more and more frightened,
tremblingly murmured our parts.
At a certain point in the service, just before drinking the wine, a door
is opened to the Prophet Elijah. This was my task and I always felt it a
somewhat awful one. Now when the critical moment came, I could not move.
I seemed petrified by fear, for the crowd, growing impatient, was making
a fierce assault upon our front door. Then, at the moment of greatest
suspense, the miracle occurred.
"Hello, good Christians!" cried a strong, resonant voice. "Is this your
Easter celebration? Is this the way the risen Lord has taught you to
treat your neighbours?"
"Your Reverence," we heard one of the mob reply, "they have slaughtered
Anushka, the daughter of the stone-mason, and they are now drinking her
blood out of silver goblets. We want to avenge her death."
"You lie! It's a black, dastardly lie!" the voice replied. "Go to the
Black Eagle inn, and you will find your Anushka in the arms of the
judge. Now drop that crowbar, you young brute, and go to the Black
Eagle, and if it isn't as I have told you, you may brand your pastor a
liar. You youngsters, drop those stones and go home to your beds and
thank God if you do not end your days in jail, you young ruffians!"
Slowly the crowd dispersed and our fears were quieted.
Then mother said to me: "My son, open the door for the Prophet Elijah."
Without fear I sprang to obey and a man passed over the threshold, a
gentle-faced man who walked softly towards the Passover table as though
afraid of disturbing us. We looked at him in gratitude and astonishment.
"It is the pastor!" mother said, smiling her grateful welcome. "Sit
down;" and he sat down in the chair of the Prophet Elijah. Then mother
said: "Drink;" and he lifted the cup of the prophet reverently, glancing
at the Hebrew letters engraved upon it. His lips barely touched it and
he put it down again.
The pastor we knew only as a grave and gentle man who passed our house
daily. He always greeted my mother and she acknowledged the greeting by
her prettiest courtesy; yet they had never spoken a word to each other.
I had heard him preach in his church in my race unconscious days when,
hidden among the bellows, I pumped the organ; and I knew the quality of
his voice. I never knew what he preached about, or that his religion and
ours had anything in common.
My uncle knew not what to do. Grateful he was for this timely
interruption. Yet I think he would rather have been torn by the mob than
have a Christian pastor interrupt our Passover service, sit in the
hallowed seat of the prophet and drink from his cup, too sacred even for
our lips. Mingled gratitude and displeasure were written on his face.
The pastor rose and apologizing for his intrusion, said:
"I came in to tell you that the mob has gone and that I have found the
girl whose disappearance caused all this trouble. I also wanted to tell
you that I tried hard to keep the people from gathering; but I could do
nothing to prevent it until I found Anushka. Of course you know that our
religion does not teach hatred of the Jews."
My uncle, who had visibly shrunk from the pastor while he was speaking,
said: "But, your Reverence, you have been sitting in the chair of our
Prophet Elijah and drinking from his cup!"
"I drink of a cup like this at every Passover celebration in my
church," the pastor replied. "It is a cup hallowed by the lips of One
greater than Elijah, One who believed that there should be no hate or
war among God's children, and who gave His life to seal that truth."
"But there still is war, your Reverence, and there still is hate, and
they are ready to kill us."
"I cannot answer for the mob, Isaac Bolsover, I can only speak for
myself. I have faced a dozen mobs to-day to save your people, because
this Prophet who was greater than Elijah has taught me to love my
neighbours and even my enemies. I am here to-night in obedience to His
command of love. I preach it, and I trust you believe that I practice
it. I certainly did to-night. Some day all men are going to obey this
command."
"You did that for our sakes? For Israel's sake?" asked my uncle with
much feeling. "Then sit down."
The pastor lifted the prophet's cup, saying: "Isaac Bolsover, some day I
hope we will be able to drink out of the same cup, in the kingdom of
God." Then he sat down.
With wide-open eyes I watched this man who spoke a new language; a man
of alien faith and blood, yet who spoke the things which were music to
my young soul. He was not handsome, this Slavic pastor; yet that night
he seemed to me supremely beautiful. My uncle's theological interest
had been aroused, and closing the prayer-book, open before him, he
asked: "Your Reverence, what do you mean by the kingdom of God?"
"I mean," the pastor answered, "that a day will come when all the
scattered shall be gathered again; when no barriers of race and religion
shall divide; when the strong shall serve the weak, the rich shall
succour the poor and when the chief delight of men will be to do the
will of God. Then the word of the prophet shall be fulfilled, when he
said: And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the
mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will
teach us His ways and we will walk in His paths: for out of Zion shall
go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He shall
judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall
beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning-hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn
war any more."
"That is our Prophet _Yesias_, whom you are quoting," exclaimed my
uncle. "Do you know what the rabbis say? Why that day of the Lord has
not come? Let me tell you."
The pastor had risen, but he sat down again, and my uncle began his
story from the Talmud, and being a Talmudist, he swayed back and forth
in rhythmic motion as the words of simple eloquence passed his lips.
"Rabbi Chamina, son of Pappa, taught thus: One day, the Holy One,
blessed be His name, took the book of the law and said:
"'Every nation which has wrought for the sake of the fulfillment of the
law may now appear before me and receive its reward.
"'Then all the nations gathered together and the Holy One, blessed be
His name, spoke, saying: Let them come nation by nation, and that which
is the worthiest shall receive the reward and shall lead the nations of
the world, that they may become one.
"'The Assyrians came first, because they are the most ancient; and the
Lord asked the Assyrians, What have you done to receive this reward of
leading the nations of the earth, that they may become one? And they
said, Lord of heaven and earth, we swept the earth with the besom of
fury and broke the nations to pieces with the hammer of Thy wrath. We
carved our name upon the hearts of men by fear, and chiselled upon the
rocks with tools of iron, and we did it all that we might fulfill Thy
law. And the Lord answered them and said, Ye have swept the earth with
your fury that men might fear you; ye have broken the nations to exult
in your own strength, and ye have carved your name upon the hearts of
men and upon the rocks that it may not be forgotten, but I am the Lord
whom the nations shall fear, and ye were not afraid of Me, saith the
Lord. And the Assyrians left the presence of the Almighty trembling and
sighing.
"'The Roman nation came next because it is the mightiest and its fame is
carried over the whole earth. And the Lord asked the Romans, What have
you done to deserve this reward of leading the nations of the earth?
"'And they said: Lord, we have established many cities and have
destroyed many; we have built market-places to buy and to sell; we have
erected magnificent bathing-places and have heaped up silver and gold,
and all this for the sake of fulfilling the law.
"'And the Holy One, praised be His name, answered them, saying: Ye fools
of this world! Ye have done all this for your own sakes. Ye have
established cities for your own glory and market-places for your own
enrichment; ye have built baths for your own sensuous enjoyment and have
heaped the silver and the gold for yourselves; but the gold and the
silver are Mine, and ye have not brought them unto Me.
"'And the Romans left the presence of the Almighty, and the Persians
appeared, and the Lord asked them, saying: Ye Persians, what have ye
done to receive the reward of leading the nations of the earth to become
one nation?
"'And they answered Him, saying: Lord of the world, we have built
bridges and fortresses and have fought many bloody battles; we have led
nations captive and wiped them from the face of the earth--all, that we
might fulfill the law.
"'And the Lord answered them: Ye have done all this for yourselves. Ye
have built bridges to gather the toll, and fortresses to exact tribute;
but I am the God of war, and ye have never made Me the captain of your
hosts.
"'And the Persians left the presence of the Almighty with fear and
trembling.
"'Then the Greeks appeared before Jehovah, and He asked them, saying:
What have ye done to deserve this reward? And the Greeks answered Him
and said: Lord of Heaven and Earth, we have built costly temples upon
the mountains and planted groves in the valleys and filled them with
beauty. We emptied the cup of wisdom and filled it with the wine of joy,
all that we might fulfill Thy law. Then the Lord answered them: Ye have
built the temples for the creatures of your imagination; ye have filled
the silence of the groves with the children of your passion. Ye have
drained the cup of wisdom and filled it with the wine of pleasure, and
ye have forgotten that I am the God of wisdom, and that in doing My will
is pleasure for the soul. And the Greeks also went away, and shame and
confusion covered them.
"'So the Lord gathered all the nations and found none which had done
aught because it wanted to fulfill the law. All had lived, struggled,
fought and heaped up wealth to satisfy their own selfish desires.'
"The words of the prophet," my uncle concluded, "shall not be fulfilled
until a nation arises which lives to do His will, which obeys His law;
which if it creates cities, creates them for His glory; if it builds
bridges, builds them to serve Him better; if it goes to war, goes to
liberate the oppressed."
"There is such a nation, Isaac Bolsover," the pastor said, evidently
astonished by this quotation from the Talmud so eloquently elaborated by
my uncle,--"just one. It has fought a great war to liberate slaves, it
professes to build cities to His glory; it receives all the strangers
who come to it, when they flee from the wrath of the mob or the avenger.
That nation is America. It is far away from us and we know little about
it; but I believe it is the nation which will keep itself worthy to
receive the reward, and that it will lead the nations into brotherhood.
"Good-night," he said, rising from the prophet's chair, with the
prophet's glow upon his face. "May you have a peaceful Passover, and
remember that the prophet's word shall be fulfilled."
I had never seen my uncle so erect as when he stood to say good-bye to
the pastor. For a moment he seemed caught by a great current, which
lifted him from his isolation into a large world movement. "Good-night,
and may God reward you for the kindness you have done to Israel this
night."
I held out my hand to the pastor and he took it gently; it was a soft
hand, almost like a woman's, but its touch was full of throbbing life,
and by a sudden impulse I kissed it.
Hardly had the pastor gone, when my uncle resumed his chanting and read
the closing prayers. Sleepily but happily we responded with hallelujahs
and amens.
Before he left us my uncle pointed to the cup of Elijah and said to my
mother: "That wine is unclean and so is the cup. The lips of a Gentile
have touched it."
Ah, mother of mine! how she rose in her gentle, womanly dignity as she
replied: "He had a right to drink from it. Was he not our Prophet
Elijah, and was he not sent from Jehovah to deliver us?"
When my uncle had gone and I was in bed, my eyes almost closed in sleep,
my mother came to me, bearing in both hands the cup of Elijah.
"Drink from this cup, my son," she said; "for the lips of a living
prophet have touched it"--and I drank from the cup of Elijah.
XVII
THE TRAGEDY OF RACE