a family of
children was to serve God. Every Jewish man and woman had a part in
the fulfilment of the ancient promise given to Jacob that his seed
should be abundantly scattered over the earth. Parenthood, therefore,
was the great career. But while men, in addition to begetting, might
busy themselves with the study of the Law, woman's only work was
motherhood. To be left an old maid became, accordingly, the greatest
misfortune that could threaten a girl; and to ward off that calamity
the girl and her family, to the most distant relatives, would strain
every nerve, whether by contributing to her dowry, or hiding her
defects from the marriage broker, or praying and fasting that God
might send her a husband.

Not only must all the children of a family be mated, but they must
marry in the order of their ages. A younger daughter must on no
account marry before an elder. A houseful of daughters might be held
up because the eldest failed to find favor in the eyes of prospective
mothers-in-law; not one of the others could marry till the eldest was
disposed of.

A cousin of mine was guilty of the disloyalty of wishing to marry
before her elder sister, who was unfortunate enough to be rejected by
one mother-in-law after another. My uncle feared that the younger
daughter, who was of a firm and masterful nature, might carry out her
plans, thereby disgracing her unhappy sister. Accordingly he hastened
to conclude an alliance with a family far beneath him, and the girl
was hastily married to a boy of whom little was known beyond the fact
that he was inclined to consumption.

The consumptive tendency was no such horror, in an age when
superstition was more in vogue than science. For one patient that went
to a physician in Polotzk, there were ten who called in unlicensed
practitioners and miracle workers. If my mother had an obstinate
toothache that honored household remedies failed to relieve, she went
to Dvoshe, the pious woman, who cured by means of a flint and steel,
and a secret prayer pronounced as the sparks flew up. During an
epidemic of scarlet fever, we protected ourselves by wearing a piece
of red woolen tape around the neck. Pepper and salt tied in a corner
of the pocket was effective in warding off the evil eye. There were
lucky signs, lucky dreams, spirits, and hobgoblins, a grisly
collection, gathered by our wandering ancestors from the demonologies
of Asia and Europe.

Antiquated as our popular follies was the org