nt to be flattering,
to convey the sense of--"Excuse me, your snuff is surely good." And,
"Excuse me, give me a pinch of snuff, and go in peace."

Isshur understood the compliment, and also the hint. He knew the people
loved him like sore eyes. He knew the people wished to take away his
office from him as surely as they wished to live. But he heeded them
as little as Haman heeds the "_Purim_" rattles. He had them in his
fists, and he knew what to do.

* * *

He who wants to find favour with everybody will find favour with nobody.
And if one has to bow down, let it be to the head, not to the feet.

Isshur understood these two wise sayings. He sought the favour of the
leaders of the community. He did everything they told him to, lay under
their feet, and flew on any errand on which they sent him. And he
flattered them until it made one sick. There is no need to say anything
of what went on at the elections. Then Isshur never rested. Whoever has
not seen Isshur at such a time has seen nothing. Covered with
perspiration, his hat pushed back on his head, Isshur kneaded the thick
mud with his high boots, and with his big stick. He flew from one
committee-man to another, worked, plotted, planned, told lies, and
carried on intrigues and intrigues without an end.

Isshur was always first-class at carrying on intrigues. He could have
brought together a wall and a wall. He could make mischief in such a way
that every person in the town should be enraged with everybody else,
quarrel and abuse his neighbour, and almost come to blows. And he was
innocent of everything. You must know that Isshur had the town very
cleverly. He thought within himself: "Argue, quarrel, abuse one another,
my friends, and you will forget all about the doings of Isshur the
beadle."

That they should forget his doings was an important matter to Isshur,
because, of late, the people had begun to talk to him, and to demand
from him an account of the money he had taken for the synagogue. And who
had done this? The young people--the young wretches he had always hated
and tortured.

They say that children become men, and men become children. Many
generations have grown up, become men, and gone hence. The youngsters
became greybeards. The little wretches became self-supporting young men.
The young men got married and became householders. The householders
became old men, and still Isshur was Isshur. But all at once there grew
up a generation that was young,