troyed, and scarcely admitted a stray beam of sunlight into the
room. The door, which was partially sunken into the earth, suggesting
the entrance to a cave, opened into the one room of the house, which
served at once as kitchen and dormitory. It was damp, foul and
unhealthy, scarcely a fit dwelling-place for the emaciated cat, which
sat lazily at the entrance. The floor was innocent of boards or tiles,
and was wet after a shower and dry during a drought. The walls were bare
of plaster. It was a stronghold of poverty. Misery had left her impress
upon everything within that wretched enclosure. Yet here it was that
Itzig Maier, his wife, and five children lived and after a fashion
thrived. In one respect he was more fortunate than most of his
neighbors; his hut possessed the advantage of housing but one family,
whereas many places, not a whit more spacious or commodious, furnished a
dwelling to three or four. The persecutions which limited the Jewish
quarter to certain defined boundaries, the intolerance which prohibited
the Jews from possessing or cultivating land, or from acquiring any
trade or profession, were to blame for this wretchedness.

A brief review of the past career of our new acquaintance, Itzig Maier,
will give us a picture of the unfortunate destiny of thousands of
Russian Jews.

Itzig had studied Talmud until he had attained his eighteenth year. But
lacking originality he lapsed into a mere automaton. His eighteenth year
found him a sallow-visaged, slovenly lad, ignorant of all else but the
Holy Law. His anxious and loving parents began to think seriously of his
future. Almost nineteen years of age and not yet married! It was
preposterous! A _schadchen_ (match-maker) was brought into requisition
and a wife obtained for the young man. What mattered it that she was a
mere child, unlettered and unfit for the solemn duties of wife and
mother? What mattered it that the young people had never met before and
had no inclination for each other? "It is not good for man to be alone,"
said the parents, and the prospective bride and bridegroom were simply
not consulted. The girl's straggling curls succumbed to the shears; a
band of silk, the insignia of married life, was placed over her brow,
and the fate of two inexperienced children was irrevocably fixed; they
were henceforth man and wife.

Both parents of Itzig Maier died shortly after the nuptials and the
young man inherited a small sum of money, the meagre earn