19
THE JEWISH CHRONICLE
A HAPPY NEW YEAR, GERTY
(Continued front page 8)
as Dave struggled for wind and utter
The evening ended all too soon, and,
ance "don't talk, sit down and let me like the previous evening, Kroner joined
talk." Dave reluctantly obeyed.
her after the class had left.
"You're a fine business boy, Dave, a
"I'm very glad you came, Miss —."
settled boy,' such a boy on my Jennie
"Gerty," she added simply.
beschert," she began purringly. "Gerty
"How do you feel tonight ?"
is young yet, a narasche Calloh. She
"I," laughingly, "I never sick more.
wants to go to night-school? Let her go. Here," pointing to her head, "a little sick,
Two months, three months, and she'll but get more strong in your school every
stop, you see. Dave, I tell you, on my
day."
ehrenwort by Rosh Hashanah you can
I know you will," was the hearty re-
buy that diamond ring from Goldstone." sponse. "Here is the book I promised to
Her husband, an attentive listener, broke bring. Try to read the first few pages—
in.
I have marked all the new words—write
"Sure, Dave, what my Libbie says is
as much as you can, and let me see
right. Tend to your butcher shop, and '' hen you've done." Murmuring a thanks
stop worrying your head. My Libbie
she could not express she bade him good
says there'll he a Timini Rosh Mishima/I night at the corner.
and there'll be a Tnaim."
I f Gerty wondered why Dave wasn't
Dave was a simple, honest butcher with in his usual place on the bench, she asked
but few ideas. He had one trade and he
no questions. She went about her ac-
followed it, one religion and he observed customed tasks with a freshness and
it; he loved one girl and wanted her. heartiness that surprised her aunt, who,
Now, reassured, he adjusted the bandage after a pleasant nod of welcome, had re-
that had slipped from his linger during
sumed with Mr:. Rosenthal her discus-
the wordy battle and dismissed the sub-
sion, of canning, what and when. Gerty
ject completely and finally from his had expected p. more than usually heated
mind.
Dave-talk and was therefore pleasantly
"The skin they're tearing from us,"
surprised. Nor did anyone breathe a
he said, "flank is already two cents more murmur of disapproval when, after the
on a pound, and lebedicke chickens?— Peishige dish-rag had been put on the
Who can touch !" •
fleishige nail to dry, Gerty seated herself
Gerty, happily unconscious of the dis-
at the kitchen table and worked at her
posal of her future, was sitting at her lesson earnestly and steadily until one
desk, wide-eyed, alert, blind to every- o'clock.
thing but the night-school teacher before
"Shah, shah, Abram," her aunt had
her. With a hunger almost visible she whispered to her spouse about to make an
was devouring the lecture, storing away
irrelevant remark concerning nieces in
in that active brain of hers all the queer- general who keep lights burning until
sounding phrases. "To pronounce 'th' day-break, "Shah, Abram, don't bother
as in 'three' you must put your tongue yourself. You'll see in a month if Gerty
between your teeth—so! Parrot-like she touches a book."
was imitating the speaker when he
But Gerty touched and studied and
glanced at her, as he had often done be- learned. Kroner found in his pupil a de-
fore. She caught the glance in transit, lightful, intelligent companion, with a
intercepted it, blushed, and began to mind that absorbed, understood and re-
scribble nothings on the tablet in her membered. Their nightly walk became a
hand.
customary thing, an event eagerly looked
forward to and relunctantly terminated.
She learned to read, and the knowledge
acquired opened vistas once thought for-
ever closed to her. Her starved mind,
properly nourished, produced a keen in-
tellect and a sparkling ready wit that
was both pleasing and refreshing. They
exchanged pasts and compared futures.
Kroner became afraid to admit how
much his little pupil meant to him ; and
life grew very dear and precious to the
girl. She was learning. She was living.
But the happy course of her life, en-
chanted these last few months soon be-
came cruelly disturbed by vague, ominous
forebodings. The black clouds of war
were hovering over America. Its imin-
ence was the consuming subject on the
pages of the Jewish press ; the topic of
excited and heated conversation at every
turn of Gerty's world. But to Gerty all
this was but the babble of a nervous peo-
ple. She knew what war was causing
in Russia. The unleashing of the furious
forces of destruction in this land of free-
dom and democracy? Never
Then, as if to mock her faith, war was
declared. Compulsory military service,
erstwhile but a rumor, was now a law
and the day set for the registration of
the strength, youth and pride of the na-
tion. What an appalling shock to Gerty
Miles Theater
was this overwhelming cataclysm How
Griswold St. Bet.
and Mabloy's
it shattered her dawning hopes of better
things, her dreams and ideals of this land
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