on the altar of the Temple, but was strictly forbidden
as an article of diet. The animal is slaughtered in a manner which will
drain off the greatest amount of the life-giving fluid, and great
importance is attached to the processes for extracting every particle of
blood from the meat which is brought upon the Jewish table. A thorough
rubbing with salt and an hour's immersion in water are necessary to its
preparation. Scientists who acknowledge that the blood is the general
vehicle for conveying the parasites and germs of disease, recognize in
this command of Moses a valuable sanitary measure, worthy of universal
imitation.

Miriam heard her husband's distant call and, with her hands full of
salt, she ran to the door.

Hirsch entered, completely out of breath.

"Who do you think has arrived?" he gasped.

"How should I know?"

"Guess."

"I might guess from now until the coming of _Meschiach_ and still not be
right."

"Pesach Harretzki, your cousin and old admirer."

Miriam sank into a chair and a smile rippled over her pretty features.

"Pesach Harretzki here? When did he arrive?"

"To-day. This morning. Itzig Maier, who knows all the news in town, has
just told me. He has come back from America to visit his old parents and
take them with him across the ocean."

"Has he changed much?" asked Miriam.

"No doubt of it! Itzig says he is without a beard and looks more like a
_goy_ (gentile) than like one of our own people. I suppose he has lost
what religion he once possessed, which by the way was not much."

"You will invite him to call on us, of course."

Hirsch looked askance at his wife and frowned.

"I don't know," he answered, reflectively; "we shall see."

Hirsch Bensef, the _parnas_ of the chief congregation, and whose
reputation for piety overtopped that of any other man of the community,
might well pause before inviting the new arrival to his house. Pesach
Harretzki was one of those perverse lads that one meets occasionally in
a Hebrew community, who, feeling the wild impulse of youth in every
vein, throws over the holy traditions of his forefathers and follows
rather the promptings of his own heart than that happiness which can
only be found in a firm adherence to the law and its precepts.
Unrestrained by his parents' anxious pleadings, bound by no will save
that of momentary caprice, he overstepped the boundary which separates
the pious Jew from his profane surroundings and thereby forfeited th