are willing to devote their
time and money to the great cause, and we will there discuss the ways
and means of driving out the cholera, and thus avenging the death of our
beloved and regretted Rabbi Jeiteles."

Such enthusiasm as greeted the speaker when he descended from the pulpit
had never been known in the synagogue. His manner as well as his words,
his beauty and imposing presence as well as his profound and magnetic
intellect, had carried the hearts of his auditors. The men clasped him
warmly by the hand and promised their co-operation, and the women in the
gallery gave vent to their approval in a no less hearty manner. When the
Sabbath service came to a close, the only sentiment among the members of
the congregation was in favor of immediate action.

The news of the sermon spread rapidly through the community, and the
other congregations became interested and promised their support.

The young Rabbi still lived with his mother-in-law, and a large company
assembled at the house to carry out the plans suggested by him that
morning. The meeting included all the wealthy and influential men of the
quarter, and they entered into the spirit of the new ideas with as much
enthusiasm as they had displayed in the superstitious observances of a
few days before. Those willing to take an active part in the great
hygienic work were divided by Mendel into committees, one of which was
to undertake the arduous work of isolation and of providing willing and
capable nurses to wait upon the sick; another to superintend the
disinfection or removal of the wretched hovels in the lower portion of
the Jewish quarter; a third to visit the families into which the scourge
had already forced an entrance, and inculcate such lessons of
cleanliness as would materially lessen the chances of further contagion.

Mendel placed himself at the head of all these bodies, so that he might
the better direct their actions. He then explained to them in detail the
various theories that had been advanced throughout the civilized world
as to the cause of the cholera and the methods employed in western
countries to combat the disease. He had read much and his powerful
memory had retained all that was useful and important, and he spoke with
such decision that all those pious men, among whom any delving outside
of the sacred limits of the Talmud was strictly prohibited, now
listened, in open-mouthed wonder, to the instruction of their youthful
sage without onc