the wall.

The young man had to bend his head in order to enter the low doorway
leading into the dark entrance where two goats were dimly visible,
thence to the room where the air, in spite of the open window, felt
heavy and oppressive. A thin woman with a wrinkled face passed him on
the threshold. It was Shmul's wife, who carried a piece of brown
bread to the child outside, Lejbele's supper when he came home from
school.

The whole family were eating a similar supper, with the exception of
the elder and grown-up people, who seasoned their bread with pinches
of chopped raw onion, of which a small quantity was lying on a
battered plate. Besides Lejbele, there were two younger boys sitting
on the floor, a two-year-old child crawled about on all fours, and a
baby a few months old was suspended in a cradle near the ceiling, and
rocked by one of the elder girls. Another girl was busy with the
goats, and a third was feeding a blind old woman, Shmul's mother. She
broke the bread in pieces, sprinkled onion upon it, and put it into
the grandmother's hand, sometimes into her mouth. The blind mother
was the only one in the family who possessed a bed; the others slept
on the floor or upon the hard benches. She looked well cared for, the
crossover on her shoulders was clean and whole, and on her head she
had a quilted cap of black satin, profusely trimmed.

The grand-daughter seemed quite absorbed in task of feeding the old
woman. She patted wrinkled hand encouragingly when she perceived
difficulty in masticating the hard food.

As in the prosperous household of Saul, so in the dirty hut of the
tailor, Shmul, the mother occupied the first place, and was the
object of general care and reverence. Such a thing as a son, be he
rich or poor, neglecting those who gave him life, is never seen in
Israel. "Like the branches of a tree, we all sprang from her," said
the head of the house of Ezofowich.

The tailor, Shmul, could not express his feelings like Saul, but when
his mother lost her sight, he tore his long, curly hair in despair,
fasted with his whole family for three days, and with the money thus
saved bought an old bedstead, which he put together with his own
hands against the wall; and when Sarah Ezofowich, Ber's wife, gave
him an order to sew a black satin dress for her, he cut a goodish
piece from the material to make a quilted cap for his mother.

When Shmul saw Meir coming into the room, he jumped up, bending his
flexib