bread in
the shape of hearts, of soldiers, of cradles, all of which was soon
bought up by the young men and fathers of families and taken home to
sweethearts or children, as the case might be. In one word, there was a
fair at Babaszek. And for centuries every inhabitant has divided the
year and its events into two parts, one before the fair, and one after
it. For instance, the death of Francis Deak took place just two days
after the fair at Babaszek. And the reason of all this was, that the old
kings of Hungary who lived during the hunting season in the castles of
Zolyom and Vegles, instead of making grants to the inhabitants, raised
the villages to the position of towns.

Well, of course, it was a privilege, for in a town everything seems
grander than in a village, and is worth a good deal more, even man
himself. The little straw-thatched house in which questions of moment
are discussed is called the Town Hall, and the "hajdu" (town-servant)
must know how to beat a drum (for the town has a drum of its own), the
richer ones even have a small fire-engine. After all, position is
position, and one must do all one can to keep it up. Zolyom and
Tot-Pelsoec were rivals.

"That's not a town," said the latter of the former; "why, they have not
even a chemist there!" (Well, after all, not every village or town can
be as big as Besztercebanya or London!)

Pelsoec could not even leave poor little Babaszek alone.

"That is no town," they said. "There is not even a single Jew there. If
no Jew settle in a town, it cannot be considered as such; it has, in
fact, no future."

But it is not my intention now to write about the quarrels of two small
towns, I only want to tell you how Mrs. Muencz came to live in Babaszek.

Well, they sent word to her in Besztercebanya, to come and take
possession of the little shop just opposite the market-place near the
smithy, the best position in the town. On either side of the door was
written in colored letters: "Soap, whips, starch, scrubbing-brushes,
nails, salt, grease, saffron, cinnamon, linseed oil;" in fact, the names
of all those articles which did not grow in the neighborhood, or were
not manufactured there. So that is how Mrs. Muencz came to live in
Babaszek, where she was received with great honors, and made as
comfortable as possible. It is a wonder they did not bring her into the
town in triumph on their shoulders, which would have been no joke, for
she weighed at least two hundredwe