The Jew Part 56

"Why?"

"One never knows why in these times. I bring you a pa.s.sport. I procured it yesterday, before the authorities at the chateau had warned the police against pa.s.sports. Come, do not tarry!"

"Where shall I go?"

"Where you will."

"Would it not be possible for me to wait, and prove myself innocent?"

"You jest! They would answer you by sending you to the extreme borders of the Russian empire. They are doing it every day."

"Be it so! They would send me back."

"And you would submit to Russian brutality when you can avoid it?"

"To leave my country at such a supreme moment would be to compromise my Israelite acquaintances, which Mann has recently reproached me for. I would be accused also of cowardly motives, of excessive prudence, of calculating egotism, and my flight would justify the accusation."

"The moments are precious. Keep yourself for better times. Captivity would ruin you, and unfit you for the future. The insurrection is strengthening. No one can foresee the result. European diplomacy may interfere. It is true that the uprising is premature, but it is possible that this time they may obtain some concessions. You can be useful to us. Keep your intelligence, your relations, and your fortune for Poland."

"Intelligence falsified by mysticism. Every one says 'relations,' but with whom? My ideas are always in contradiction with those around me; there remains to me only a fortune. Alone, whom can I serve?"

"Come on! This is no time for pessimism. You must decide."

"My resolution is taken. I will go and make my farewells to my mother, and leave her in charge of the house. I will go far away, and there reflect as to what is the best course to pursue. I can give myself up to the gendarmes at any time, but not just yet. I will accompany you.

Do you know of a safe place for a few hours?"

"Yes. Come with me."

Jacob lost no time in changing his clothes and ran to embrace his mother. He filled his pocket-book with bank-notes, and a quarter of an hour later was in the streets with Kruder. By many devious ways they arrived at the poorer quarter of the town. The fugitive had for a moment entertained the idea of seeking the hospitality of Segel, of Bartold, or of his guardian, but after reflection he feared to compromise them.

"We are going to the 'Kafarnaum,'" said Kruder smiling.

"The Kafarnaum? What is that?"

"A sobriquet of my own invention to designate the place where the revolutionists meet."

"You belong to them, then?"

"I belong to everybody and to n.o.body," answered he. "I enter, I listen.

I give my advice and I engage in arguments, and I wait. With me you will be welcomed at the Kafarnaum."

"Is it a safe asylum?"

"Excellent, no one suspects, and therefore it has nothing to fear from the police. It is in the house of the _commissaire_ of the ward."

"Let us go there, then."

Kruder turned into an alley. It was growing light, but the city was still quiet and deserted, and the only people abroad were the milkmen and the hucksters. They stopped before a house. At the entrance were some gendarmes, police, and individuals in citizens' dress. By a staircase which opened on the court they ascended to the second story.

The house was new, and the apartment at the door of which they stopped had a fine external appearance. A servant who was half asleep let them in, and without question indicated a second door. This led them to a s.p.a.cious _salon_. Two men were writing at a large table by the light of a lamp. The couches and easy-chairs were occupied by young men, whose fatigued air bore witness that they had pa.s.sed a sleepless night.

Kruder whispered some words into the ears of the two men at the table.

These persons, whose faces were somewhat familiar to Jacob, offered him their hands.

"Here," said they, "no one can come to seek you. As we have no secrets from honest men, we will continue our work before you. We conspire even in the open air, in the public streets, and as yet we have not fallen under suspicion. Be seated, take part in our deliberations, give us your advice,--we ask it. Today it is necessary to combine all our forces to arm, to rouse enthusiasm and practise strategy. Do not be disturbed, monsieur; do as you would in your own house."

Kruder, whose custom was to take no sides, went from one to another, read the order of the day over the secretary's shoulder, listened to short dialogues between different persons, and then hastened to some other meeting.

Jacob, left there by his friend, a.s.sisted at a strange, and to him novel, spectacle. Every instant the door opened; it was a continual going and coming of individuals of all ages and of all ranks of society. Among them were women, children, Jews, and ecclesiastics. Some brought good or bad news, messages and money, while others came to receive orders or to bring letters, and in this crowd appeared some in uniforms which bore the insignia of high rank in the army. They showed by their faces and bearing traces of a long and fatiguing military career. The b.r.e.a.s.t.s of many were covered with decorations gained in the Caucasus or in the Taschkend. In contrast with these officers were workmen, artisans, idlers, and vagabonds. The movement was incessant, and the crowd was continually changing.

A youth who had been wounded came to relate the particulars of the combat, where he had received a bullet in his leg. He asked for a surgeon to extract it, and seemed impatient to return to the seat of war. His face was lighted up with heroism, and the fever of his patriotism exceeded the fever of his wound.

A workman came in haste to announce that the police had made a raid on a clandestine printing-house where he was employed, and from which he had escaped through the roof. Immediate decision was taken to establish another printing-office in another hiding-place.

The revolution displayed an immense activity which, notwithstanding, was defective. Necessary funds were not forthcoming, in spite of the threats and prayers employed to procure them. Every moment there arrived from the insurgents scattered in the forests complaints of lack of arms, powder, ambulances, medicines, and surgeons. There were rumours that this or that emissary had fallen into the hands of the Russians, or that a knavish contractor, who had been paid in advance, had delivered a cargo of guns which proved to be utterly useless, the refuse of the Austrian a.r.s.enals. These difficulties did not daunt the committee, for it was composed of men of unheard-of audacity and bravery, who had already accomplished miracles with their scanty resources. Russian surveillance was relaxed, and this fact, which should have made the revolutionists suspicious, encouraged their efforts. Their confidence increased daily. From all the Polish provinces, and even from the districts incorporated with the Russian empire in 1772, came a.s.surances of warmest sympathy, but each accompanied by an urgent prayer to delay the uprising. It was too late.

The duchy of Posen, annexed to Prussia, and Galicia, with the city of Cracow, which was subservient to Austria, viewed the situation with the deepest interest, but did not revolt for fear of drawing down on Poland two more adversaries. These remnants of the old republic sent volunteers and money, and at the same time procured some arms from Austria, not always openly, though the government at Vienna closed its eyes and let them pa.s.s.

Gromof had the right of entrance to the Kafarnaum. Here he continued to oppose the insurrection, and excited general ridicule.

"Instead of blaming our enthusiasm," replied they, "do something for us. Work the army. Work the dissenters from the orthodox church."

"Alas!" replied Gromof, "that is what we are doing. But our people do not respond to the first appeal. We have yet to instruct them and teach them their rights."

"And you desire us to remain inactive and wait for these babes to grow up? Oh, no! You cannot expect that any more than for us to return to the Greek calendar."

"But you are going to your own destruction. You are on the brink of an abyss."

"An abyss! To h.e.l.l! rather than your yoke," cried an impetuous youth.

This argument was interrupted by a woman who came to tell that her son had been sent to the citadel, and that she had succeeded in saving some very compromising papers that he carried on his person. After the woman came a youth almost a child. He told how he had fled from the soldiers who had seized him for the Russian service.

Amid this noisy crowd came and went women chatting tranquilly, carrying important despatches hidden in their stockings or their corsets, and messengers waited while cobblers drew the nails from the heels of their boots where messages had been inserted.

Jacob saw before him an admirable tableau of devotion. To him the spectacle was most pitiful, for he was convinced that all these efforts could only result in a final catastrophe. Kruder returned. He informed his friend that one hour after their departure the police had invaded his dwelling, searched his papers, demolished stoves, had even taken up part of the floor, and carried away as sole trophy a pocket pistol, a prohibited weapon. The house was placed under strict supervision, and the search for Jacob was now going on in the streets.

There remained to him the choice between flight or prison; but whither should he fly? He thought of some obscure streets where the poor Jews lived. He had among them many friends whom he had aided in their distress. He had often penetrated into these houses of misery with the idea of devoting himself some day to their total extinction. With this end in view he had organized a Jewish school, for in his opinion popular instruction was the basis of moral reform and material improvement.

One man in particular in this quarter he knew well. A certain Rebe Schmul, a petty merchant who had been on the verge of bankruptcy when Jacob had set him once more on his feet. His back loaded with old clothes, he walked in the cold or the heat crying in the streets, "_Hendel! Hendel!_" ("Old clothes! old clothes!") Nothing escaped his glance or his hearing. He heard the calls from the garrets, and introduced himself into the courts at the risk of being harshly treated. It was a laborious business, and often scarcely sufficed to sustain existence. At the most it permitted him to buy a little fish and a morsel of white bread for the Sabbath.

Rebe Schmul and his wife were growing old; they had five daughters, two of whom were married, while three remained at home. In all, five mouths to feed. To do this it was necessary that each day, in all seasons, the pedler should tramp from early morning until nightfall. He must also be careful not to make a bad bargain in buying old clothes, which often appeared so well that a hole would pa.s.s unperceived. There lies the danger of the business, and Schmul, although experienced, had been taken in more than once. Tall and thin, he did not look his age, for, as he said, he had no time to think of it. In this business, which he had followed for more than thirty years, he had become a keen observer of men; and from this study was born in his soul not contempt, but compa.s.sion, for his fellow-creatures. Although he was very poor, he often found some one more unfortunate, who drew from him the last sou in his pocket in charity. Besides this sensibility, he was distinguished by a jovial humour. His natural gayety served him well in trading. A smile always attracts, and he by his bright ways encouraged men who were obliged to sell their best garments, and softened the bitterness of the sacrifice. Schmul always had a joke to tell, and a smile on his lips, when he left home in the early morning or when he returned weary and footsore at night. He treated his sick wife with pleasantry; by pleasantry he consoled his daughters in their chagrins; and lastly he fortified himself thereby, when he felt that a sigh was likely to escape his breast.

No one celebrated with more enjoyment the feast of the Sabbath than did Schmul, in his narrow and crowded lodging, by the light of a tallow candle. His business did not prosper, although he worked so hard. This was a disappointment to him, for he had dreamed of enlarging his stock by the addition of blacking and matches; but circ.u.mstances had not as yet permitted the realization of his hopes. Then he bought tickets in the lottery, and each time hoped to gain the grand prize. In vain did his wife beg him to renounce this delusion, and use the money in buying the necessaries of life for his family. When she had scolded him well, his only reply was that he must not shut his door against the good G.o.d.

Schmul lodged with his family on the third floor of a large house inhabited by many other Jewish families, all equally poor. This building, it is needless to say, did not shine with neatness. It was constructed in a rectangle with a narrow front, and opened upon a court. On each story a wooden gallery served for the workroom of the household. Here they washed and dried the linen. Here they split the wood, and cooked the food, and dressed the children. What did they not do here? Old clothes of all kinds were stretched on ropes, and the odours of the cooking, the steam from many wash-boilers, the waters from which ran through the court, produced a perfume which the lodgers endured from force of habit only. The inhabitants were like one family, many of whom had been born and were destined to die in this receptacle of misery.

Schmul occupied three dark rooms, where the air and the light came only from the court. You can imagine what air and what light! Both had to filter through the wet clothes and the rags which hung on the ropes stretched from one gallery to another.

One of these rooms served for a parlour, and possessed a rickety sofa and two old arm-chairs. The other apartment was the bedroom for the old couple; the third, the chamber of the three girls. It was here that the Schmul girls cleaned, patched, and mended the old clothes. A memorable event happened here. The father loved to tell of it as a proof of the protection of Providence.

Ten years before, the pedler's position was desperate. He had been so unfortunate as to buy some clothes that proved to be stolen. He was obliged to give back the goods, beside paying a large fine. To raise the money for this he had appealed to several friends in vain. Seeing no way out of his embarra.s.sment, he had gone out and had succeeded in selling an old cloak for a few florins. He had just returned home when a soldier came and wished to sell him an old velvet waistcoat. He refused to buy it; but the man insisted, and seizing him by the arm, made such a noise that Schmul gave him a small sum for the garment. He soon perceived that he had made a poor purchase, for it was nearly worthless. He gave it to one of his girls to patch, who presently uttered a great cry of joy, for under each b.u.t.ton she had found a piece of gold, the total of which was sufficient to pay the fine.