f the household but is driven about the streets. And as he
leaves the schoolroom this evening, Josek is consumed with indignation
and sorrow and resolves not to flee from his mother the next time he
meets her. On his way home he meets her. The tears flow from her eyes;
when she embraces him he again runs away. But that evening he steals a
plate of meat from his home and brings it to her. That night he does
not sleep. The next noon, coming home from school he sees Trajna
standing near the well surrounded by street urchins:

"One pulls her bonnet from her head. Another jerks at
her apron. A third tears the prayer book from her
hand. Some boys cry loudly,

"'Hurrah! The crazy one, the crazy one!'

"She looks at her son in surprise. Josek can stand it
no longer; he goes to his mother and with his fists
drives away the urchins that torment her.

"They have run away. Without saying a word Josek
reaches out both his hands. His face is deathly pale.
His eyes gleam with fever. The boys laugh. . . . Their
loud calls press themselves to his ears. . . . Another
moment and the hands of his mother reach around him as
in a cramp.

"The 'crazy one' hugs him, kisses him, now laughing,
now crying. Suddenly she clutches him and begins to
dance with him. 'Hurrah! Hurrah! The crazy one is
dancing with her son!'

"Josek casts a confused glance at the urchins. He
draws himself together, tears himself from the embrace
of his mother with a quick movement and runs away. He
does not even think of the cap which remains in her
hand.

"Even from a distance he hears the calls, 'Hurrah!
Hurrah! The crazy one dances with her son!'"

* * * * *

"DER Wunderrabbi." He is a very stupid shepherd boy. He will not learn
his Hebrew lessons nor prayers. When in the fields he often feels near
to God--and whistles. He is taken to the synagogue on a holiday. His
parents are ashamed of him. He cannot repeat the prayers from the
prayerbook, yet he feels a great desire to praise God. To the
consternation of his parents he walks to the altar, and placing two
fingers in his mouth he voices his praise in a loud, shrill whistle.

"All stand as though struck by lightning. Who dared to
whistle in this holy place? The father