thing!'

'I call it a cumbrous, not to say tasteless thing. But before the
Almighty there is no great and no small. One who stands in such a high
place in the synagogue must be especially mindful, and every
unnecessary burden----'

'But snuff is necessary for me--I can't do without it.'

'Other Presidents have done without it. As it is written in Jeremiah:
"And the wild asses did stand in the high places; they snuffed up the
wind."'

The _Parnass_ flushed like a beetroot. 'I'll teach you to know _your_
place, sir.' He turned his back on the scoffer, and strode towards the
door.

'But if you'd care for a smaller snuff-box,' said Simeon Samuels, 'I
have an artistic assortment.'

XV

At the next meeting of the Synagogue Council a notice of motion stood
upon the agenda in the name of the _Parnass_ himself:

'That this Council views with the greatest reprobation the breach of
the Fourth Commandment committed weekly by a member of the
congregation, and calls upon him either to resign his seat, with the
burial and other rights appertaining thereto, or to close his business
on the Sabbath.'

When the resolution came up Mr. Solomon Barzinsky moved as an
amendment that weekly be altered into 'twice a week,' since the member
kept open on Friday night as well as Saturday.

The _Parnass_ refused to accept the amendment. There was only one
Sabbath a week, though it had two periods. 'And the evening and the
morning were one day.'

Mr. Peleg supported the amendment. They must not leave Mr. Simeon
Samuels a loophole of escape. It was also, he said, the duty of the
Council to buy a barometer the rogue had foisted upon him.

After an animated discussion, mainly about the barometer, the
President accepted the amendment, but produced a great impression by
altering 'twice a week' into 'bi-weekly.'

A Mr. John Straumann, however, who prided himself on his style, and
had even changed his name to John because Jacob grated on his delicate
ear, refused to be impressed.

Committed _bi_-weekly _by_ a member sounded almost jocose, he argued.
'Buy! buy!' it sounded like a butcher's cry.

Mr. Enoch, the _kosher_ butcher, rose amid excitement, and asked if he
had come there to be insulted!

'Sit down! sit down!' said the _Parnass_ roughly. 'It's no matter how
the resolution sounds. It will be in writing.'

'Then why not add,' sarcastically persisted the stylist, '"Committed
_bi_-weekly _by_ a member _by buying_ and selling."'