had never before visited the haunts of poverty, felt a
positive repugnance to the system, or rather lack of system, that could
countenance such a condition of affairs. He hurried away from the
uninviting neighborhood, and, having again reached a spot where the air
was fit to breathe, he promised to exert his influence with the Czar to
have the boundaries of the Jewish quarter extended.

Nobly did he keep his word. He journeyed to St. Petersburg and sought an
audience with Alexander. What happened at the interview the Jews of Kief
never discovered, but the result was extremely gratifying. At the end of
a fortnight there came a ukase extending indefinitely the limits of the
Jewish quarters of all large cities, granting permission to all Jewish
merchants who had been established in some branch of trade for
twenty-five years or over, and to all rabbis and teachers, to reside in
the city proper, in such streets as they might select, and permitting
merchants of ten years' standing to dwell on certain streets carefully
specified in the proclamation. It also made it lawful for Jews and
Christians to live in the same building, a privilege hitherto withheld.

Many were the Jews who availed themselves of their new privileges.
Bensef was among the first. His house, since the arrival of Mendel's
parents, had been too small for comfort and the wealthy man desired a
dwelling befitting his means. Haim Goldheim, the banker, found that
there was not enough room in his house for the works of art it
contained. He took a house in the fashionable Vladimir quarter, where,
to the intense disgust of the aristocrats, he established himself in
princely magnificence. A hundred families, at least, followed the
example thus set, leaving the crowded streets, in order to breathe the
purer air of the more select quarters of Kief. To their credit be it
said, however, few went far from their old homes; the synagogue still
formed the rallying centre of their community. About it revolved their
daily thoughts and actions and the greatest recommendation a new home
could have was that it was near the _schul_.

Upon Mendel, who had brought about this change, the greatest honors were
showered. His congregation almost worshipped him. There were envious
detractors, however, who contended that it did not behoove a Jew to
become so intimate with a _goy_, and a Governor at that. They claimed
that the Rabbi labored only to promote his own private ends; but, as
the