e rocked to and
fro and beat her forehead with her clenched fist, while at intervals
she made inarticulate sounds through her nose significant of intense
suffering.

"I should drop dead in this chair if she didn't," she contended. "Why
should I lie to you, Mr. Seiden? My own daughter, which I called her
Bessie for this here Pesach Gubin, should never got a husband and my
other children also, which one of 'em goes around on crutches right
now, Mr. Seiden, on account she gets knocked down by a truck."

"Well, why didn't she sue him in the courts yet?" Seiden asked. "From
being knocked down by a truck many a rich feller got his first start in
business already."

"Her luck, Mr. Seiden!" Mrs. Saphir cried. "A greenhorn owns the truck
which it even got a chattel mortgage on it. Such _Schlemazel_ my family
got it, Mr. Seiden! If it would be your Beckie, understand me, the
least that happens is that a millionaire owns the truck and he settles
out of court for ten thousand dollars yet. Some people, if they would
be shot with a gun, the bullet is from gold and hits 'em in the pocket
already--such luck they got it."

"That ain't here nor there, Mrs. Saphir," Seiden declared. "Why should
I got to give your Bessie a job, when already I got so many people
hanging around my shop, half the time they are spending treading on
their toes?"

"_Ai, tzuris!_" Mrs. Saphir wailed. "My own husband's Uncle Pesach is
from his wife a cousin and he asks me why! Who should people look to
for help if it wouldn't be their family, Mr. Seiden? Should I go and
beg from strangers?"

Here Mrs. Saphir succumbed to a wave of self-pity, and she wept aloud.

"_Koosh!_" Mr. Seiden bellowed. "What do you think I am running here--a
cemetery? If you want to cry you should go out on the sidewalk."

"Such hearts people got it," Mrs. Seiden sobbed, "like a piece from
ice."

"'S enough!" said Mr. Seiden. "I wasted enough time already. You took
up pretty near my whole morning, Mrs. Saphir; so once and for all I am
telling you you should send your Bessie to work as a learner Monday
morning, and if she gets worth it I would pay her just the same wages
like anybody else."

Mrs. Saphir dried her eyes with the back of her hand, while Mr. Seiden
walked into his workroom and slammed the door behind him as evidence
that the interview was at an end. When he returned a few minutes later
Mrs. Saphir was still there waiting for him.

"Well," he demanded, "what d'ye