n the other hand--if you want to buy, you will be esteemed and
respected, everyone will flatter you, and be ready to sell to you on
credit--everyone is ready to take money, and with very little capital
you can buy the best and most expensive ware." The great thing was to
get a good name, and then, little by little, by means of credit, one
might rise very high.

So it was settled that I should buy. I had a little money on hand for a
couple of newspaper articles, for which nowadays they pay; I had a bit
of reputation earned by a great many articles in Hebrew, for which I
received quite nice complimentary letters; and, in case of need, there
is a little money owing to me from certain Jewish booksellers of the
Maskilim, for books bought "on commission." Well, I am resolved to buy.

But what shall I buy? I look round and take note of all the things a man
can buy, and see that I, as a Jew, may not have them; that which I may
buy, no matter where, isn't worth a halfpenny; a thing that is of any
value, I can't have. And I determine to take to the old ware which my
great-great-grandfathers bought, and made a fortune in. My parents and
the whole family wish for it every day. I resolve to buy--you understand
me?--earth of Palestine, and I announce both verbally and in writing to
all my good and bad brothers that I wish to become a purchaser of the
ware.

Oh, what a commotion it made! Hardly was it known that I wished to buy
Palestinian earth, than there pounced upon me people of whom I had never
thought it possible that they should talk to me, and be in the room with
me. The first to come was a kind of Jew with a green shawl, with white
shoes, a pale face with a red nose, dark eyes, and yellow earlocks. He
commenced unpacking paper and linen bags, out of which he shook a little
sand, and he said to me: "That is from Mother Rachel's grave, from the
Shunammite's grave, from the graves of Huldah the prophetess and
Deborah." Then he shook out the other bags, and mentioned a whole list
of men: from the grave of Enoch, Moses our Teacher, Elijah the Prophet,
Habakkuk, Ezekiel, Jonah, authors of the Talmud, and holy men as many as
there be. He assured me that each kind of sand had its own precious
distinction, and had, of course, its special price. I had not had time
to examine all the bags of sand, when, aha! I got a letter written on
blue paper in Rashi script, in which an unknown well-wisher earnestly
warned me against buying of _tha