elds were like witnesses to their friendly agreement. And
little Avrohom lay and rejoiced in the goodness and all the work of God.
Suddenly, as though he had received a revelation from Heaven, he went
home, and asked the youth who was his teacher, "What blessing should
one recite on feeling happy at sight of the world?" The youth laughed,
and said: "You stupid boy! One says a blessing over bread and water, but
as to saying one over _this world_--who ever heard of such a thing?"

Avrohom wondered, "The world is beautiful, the sky so pretty, the earth
so sweet and soft, everything is so delightful to look at, and one says
no blessing over it all!"

At thirteen he had left the village and come to the town. There, in the
house-of-study, he saw the head of the Academy sitting at one end of the
table, and around it, the scholars, all reciting in fervent, appealing
tones that went to his heart.

The boy began to cry, whereupon the head of the Academy turned, and saw
a little boy with a torn hat, crying, and his hair coming out through
the holes, and his boots slung over his shoulder, like a peasant lad
fresh from the road. The scholars laughed, but the Rosh ha-Yeshiveh
asked him what he wanted.

"To learn," he answered in a low, pleading voice.

The Rosh ha-Yeshiveh had compassion on him, and took him as a pupil.
Avrohom applied himself earnestly to the Torah, and in a few days could
read Hebrew and follow the prayers without help.

And the way he prayed was a treat to watch. You should have seen him! He
just stood and talked, as one person talks to another, quietly and
affectionately, without any tricks of manner.

Once the Rosh ha-Yeshiveh saw him praying, and said before his whole
Academy, "I can learn better than he, but when it comes to praying, I
don't reach to his ankles." That is what he said.

So Reb Avrohom lived there till he was grown up, and had married the
daughter of a simple tailor. Indeed, he learnt tailoring himself, and
lived by his ten fingers. By day he sat and sewed with an open
prayer-book before him, and recited portions of the Psalms to himself.
After dark he went into the house-of-study, so quietly that no one
noticed him, and passed half the night over the Talmud.

Once some strangers came to the town, and spent the night in the
house-of-study behind the stove. Suddenly they heard a thin, sweet voice
that was like a tune in itself. They started up, and saw him at his
book. The small lamp ha