oxygen, and delivering him over to the
leathery mercies of an unintelligently learned zealot, scrupulously
unclean.

The literature and history Solomon really cared for was not of the Jews.
It was the history of Daredevil Dick and his congeners whose surprising
adventures, second-hand, in ink-stained sheets, were bartered to him for
buttons, which shows the advantages of not having a soul above such.
These deeds of derring-do (usually starting in a __school-room period in
which teachers were thankfully accepted as created by Providence for the
sport of schoolboys) Solomon conned at all hours, concealing them under
his locker when he was supposed to be studying the Irish question from
an atlas, and even hiding them between the leaves of his dog-eared
Prayer-book for use during the morning service. The only harm they did
him was that inflicted through the medium of the educational rod, when
his surreptitious readings were discovered and his treasures thrown to
the flames amid tears copious enough to extinguish them.

CHAPTER VI.

"REB" SHEMUEL.

"The Torah is greater than the priesthood and than royalty, seeing
that royalty demands thirty qualifications, the priesthood
twenty-four, while the Torah is acquired by forty-eight. And these
are they: By audible study; by distinct pronunciation; by
understanding and discernment of the heart; by awe, reverence,
meekness, cheerfulness; by ministering to the sages; by attaching
oneself to colleagues; by discussion with disciples; _by_
sedateness; by knowledge of the Scripture and of the Mishnah; by
moderation in business, in intercourse with the world, in pleasure,
in sleep, in conversation, in laughter; by long suffering; by a
good heart; by faith in the wise; by resignation under
chastisement; by recognizing one's place, rejoicing in one's
portion, putting a fence to one's words, claiming no merit for
oneself; by being beloved, loving the All-present, loving mankind,
loving just courses, rectitude and reproof; by keeping oneself far
from honors, not boasting of one's learning, nor delighting in
giving decisions; by bearing the yoke with one's fellow, judging
him favorably and leading him to truth and peace; by being composed
in one's study; by asking and answering, hearing and adding thereto
(by one's own reflection), by learning with the object of teaching
and l