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To a pious Jew letters and oysters are alike forbidden--at least letters may not be opened on our day of rest.
VERA I'm sure I couldn't rest till I'd opened mine.
[_Enter from the kitchen FRAU QUIXANO, defending herself with excited gesticulation. She is an old lady with a black wig, but her appearance is dignified, venerable even, in no way comic. She speaks Yiddish exclusively, that being largely the language of the Russian Pale._]
FRAU QUIXANO _Obber ich hob gesogt zu Kathleen_----
MENDEL [_Turning and going to her_]
Yes, yes, mother, that's all right now.
FRAU QUIXANO [_In horror, perceiving her Hebrew book on the floor, where KATHLEEN has dropped it_]
_Mein Buch!_ [_She picks it up and kisses it piously._]
MENDEL [_Presses her into her fireside chair_]
_Ruhig, ruhig, Mutter!_ [_To VERA_]
She understands barely a word of English--she won't disturb us.
VERA Oh, but I must be going--I was so long finding the house, and look! it has begun to snow!
[_They both turn their heads and look at the falling snow._]
MENDEL All the more reason to wait for David--it may leave off. He can't be long now. Do sit down.
[_He offers a chair._]
FRAU QUIXANO [_Looking round suspiciously_]
_Wos will die s.h.i.+kseh?_
VERA What does your mother say?
MENDEL [_Half-smiling_]
Oh, only asking what your heathen ladys.h.i.+p desires.
VERA Tell her I hope she is well.
MENDEL _Das Fraulein hofft da.s.s es geht gut_----
FRAU QUIXANO [_Shrugging her shoulders in despairing astonishment_]
_Gut? Un' wie soll es gut gehen--in Amerika!_ [_She takes out her spectacles, and begins slowly polis.h.i.+ng and adjusting them._]
VERA [_Smiling_]
I understood that last word.
MENDEL She asks how can anything possibly go well in America!
VERA Ah, she doesn't like America.
MENDEL [_Half-smiling_]
Her favourite exclamation is "_A Klog zu Columbessen!_"
VERA What does that mean?
MENDEL Cursed be Columbus!
VERA [_Laughingly_]
Poor Columbus! I suppose she's just come over.
MENDEL Oh, no, it must be ten years since I sent for her.
VERA Really! But your nephew was born here?
MENDEL No, he's Russian too. But please sit down, you had better get his answer at once.
[_VERA sits._]
VERA I suppose _you_ taught him music.
MENDEL I? I can't play the violin. He is self-taught. In the Russian Pale he was a wonder-child. Poor David! He always looked forward to coming to America; he imagined I was a famous musician over here. He found me conductor in a cheap theatre--a converted beer-hall.
VERA Was he very disappointed?
MENDEL Disappointed? He was enchanted! He is crazy about America.
VERA [_Smiling_]
Ah, _he_ doesn't curse Columbus.
MENDEL My mother came with her life behind her: David with his life before him.
Poor boy!
VERA Why do you say poor boy?
MENDEL What is there before him here but a terrible struggle for life? If he doesn't curse Columbus, he'll curse fate. Music-lessons and dance-halls, beer-halls and weddings--every hope and ambition will be ground out of him, and he will die obscure and unknown.
[_His head sinks on his breast, FRAU QUIXANO is heard faintly sobbing over her book. The sobbing continues throughout the scene._]
VERA [_Half rising_]
You have made your mother cry.
MENDEL Oh, no--she understood nothing. She always cries on the eve of the Sabbath.
VERA [_Mystified, sinking back into her chair_]
Always cries? Why?
MENDEL [_Embarra.s.sed_]
Oh, well, a Christian wouldn't understand----
VERA Yes I could--do tell me!
MENDEL She knows that in this great grinding America, David and I must go out to earn our bread on Sabbath as on week-days. She never says a word to us, but her heart is full of tears.
VERA Poor old woman. It was wrong of us to ask your nephew to play at the Settlement for nothing.
MENDEL [_Rising fiercely_]
If you offer him a fee, he shall not play. Did you think I was begging of you?
