Friday, April 4, 1947 bETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE and The Legal Chronicle Page Two Beanut and Seder: a Short Story (Continued from page 9, Sec. 2) the third story of our house and goyim lived on either side of us. One of these—to reach their house you had to cross a meandering stone and rubble patch—was the Jamiesons, an Irish immigrant family who still spoke with the North Ireland brogue. They were many and poor, the house they lived in was decrepit, but they all possessed that pecu- liar personal dignity which is typ- ical of most people who are op- pressed by conditions they do not understand or control. Of none of them was this more correct than Dan, the eldest son, who dulled in mind because of perpetual ailments since child- hood, held the only steady job of the lot: A street-cleaner working for the city. I remember his brothers less vividly. .They worked only spas- modically; employment in 1930 was scarce. One of them had twin bons; who their mother was and what happened to her I do not know. Mr. Jamieson had died just af- ter emigrating' here, and the whole brood was governed by the matri- arch, a stocky woman with fiery vocabulary. She cared mainly for her daughters. Catherine, the old- er, was a gaunt girl incurably ill from malnutrition. • • • I was madly in love with the younger one. This infatuation was nurtured by two unique qualities. Her name—Beanut—was alone extra- ordinary. It fascinated me. I would spend hours in my father's stable, stroking the black horse that my father owned, and rol- ling her name around ray tongue endlessly. Her second gift was even more extraordinary. With a temerity and adventurousness far beyond my ken, she would trap mice that thrived in the stable and leave them for the disposition of a lazy old cat. We did not wait to see the end, but our young imagina- tions worked overtime on the de- mise of the animals. Such episodes sent my mother into a bristling fury and she pleaded incessantly with Mrs. Jamieson to set her errant daugh- ter on the path of rectitude. Beatings, lectures, and supper- .ess evenings failed to daunt tither of us. Mrs. Jamieson became indiffer- mt. My mother was baffled. With unpredictable illogic she trans- /erred the blame to Mrs. Jamie- son. "Those goyim," she wailed. 'They'll ruin him yet. They'll make a goy of him yet." , "Is that what you want to be?" she demanded of me. "You'll grow up and all you'll know is how to catch mice. A fine future you have. A mouse catcher. For that I should have a son." • • • Winant Asserts Need for Brotherhood mrsr,7707--,--1 1.11111111117 who JOHN G. WINANT, wartime ambassador to Great Britain Week, served as national chairman for American Brotherhood tells Detroit citizens why real brotherhood is the "Pattern for Peace." Listeners at the speakers' table are left to right, the Rev. Joseph Q. Mayne, executive secretary of the Detroit Round Table of Catholics, Jews and Protestants; Judge Ernest A. O'Brien, Catholic co-chairman of the Round Table; Henry Wineman, be- hind Judge O'Brien, Jewish co-chairman of the Round Table; Winant; Frank N. 1sbey, chairman for Michigan Brotherhood Week; Detroit Council President George Edwards; and Calton W. Gaines, president of the Booker T. Washington Association. I dashed out of my chair and ran after them through the brooding darkness. • • • It was not a pretty sight. I have already mentioned that the Jamie- sons were poor, but description is futile. Beanut slept in the kitchen. An oil-lamp cast a morose glow over the room. Beanut was lying on the couch, clasping her belly and moaning. Catherine and the brothers stood by helplessly. My mother took immediate com- mand. It was obvious that the girl was critically ill. She shunted the brothers into another room, calmed Mrs. Jamieson and In- structed my father to summon a doctor at once. Then she and Catherine undressed Beanut and put her to bed. I watched in trembling silence. Fear had touched me for the first time. The minutes passed with agon- izing infirmity. My mother had been busy meanwhile. She kept placing cold compresses on the girl's fevered brow. When she discovered how little there was to cat she sent my father over to our house. He came back with enough soup and chicken for everyone. Sight of the edibles re- minded me of the Seder and I be- gan to sob loudly. "What's he doing here?" my father asked. He beckoned to me. "Don't worry, she'll be all right. The doctor is coming any time." We sat huddled around the bed, listening to the girl's painful, soured breathing. • • diversion. "Oy, Fanye, you're so with us tonight," my father sighed. beautiful when you're angry; you He donned his glasses, looked around to see if we had our Ha- should be angry all the time." "Flattery will get you nowhere." gadahs open at the right place, But my father knew her vulner- and was about to utter the first prayer of the Seder when— ability. A sharp, heavy knock at the "Such an angry woman," he hooted. "When I married you I door punctured the mood. "Who can that be?" he won- didn't expect you had such a dered irritably. temper." "I'll go," Bess, the younger sis- "Are you going to do something The doctor was young, crisp, about it or are you not? He's ter, offered. and very professional. "This girl your son too." "You stay where you are," my has pneumonia," he announced. "So quiet you were, so demure. mother said. "Perhaps it is Mrs. "She has to go to the hospital." I thought ice would turn to water Malkin. She said this afternoon I felt sick and scared. I rushed just by your looking at it. How she might not have enough wine," into the next room and flung can such a beautiful woman have she went out. My father rapped myself down on the bed. such a temper, I ask myself." his fingers on the table impa- It was after midnight when my This seemed to placate her. tiently; to start the Seder with- father woke me. "Come," he said Cheeks flushed, she turned back out her was unthinkable. gently. "We are going home." I on me. sat up in alarm. "How's Beanut?" "Why are you behind that "She's going to be all right," We heard the door open. "Why stove?" she wanted to know. "It's he said. "She is getting good Mrs. Jamieson." not warm enough for you, hah? Words tumbled nervously from care." Go outside, you mashumed, and Silently we walked over to the our neighbor's lips, "I'm sorry to has play with your shikse. God house. My mother, worn and bother you—but my Beanut—the sins." punished me for my weary, met us. Before such excoriation I fled. poor child's awful sick—she's "Such a Seder he's had," she sweating and crying—please come Usually Beanut was waiting for said. over." me. When we were not at our The lights in the living-room I began to cry. games we often did our home- were still on. Their arms clasped "Shut up," said my father an- work together. We were really together, my sisters sat on the quite fond of each other, in spite grily; at which peremptory order chesterfield sound asleep. My I subsided to a sniffle. of her disdain for my cowardice. My mother came rushing in. brothers had gone to bed several • • • Before she could say anything my hours before. The candles had We came home from the syna- father anticipated her. "Let her gone out. The magic of the Seder gogue that Passover in a glorious- call a doctor," he advised. seemed to have vanished; the ly festive mood. "But, Dave, Beanut has a fever. room looked big and bleak. My father, tall, broad-shoul- You know they can't afford a We woke my sisters. My father dered, had never looked more hand- doctor." thought for a minute and then some. We clung to him proudly. "Not tonight," my father in- declared, "We will say the Ha- The house was deceptively quiet sited. "Not tonight. Be quiet you," in all-embracing joy. My mother, he shouted as my sniffles became incredibly lovely in her best holi- louder. "Fanye, perhaps we could day clothes, and my sisters call the doctor." awaited us in the living-room. Passover Greetings I can do just as much as any "Gut Yom Tov," my father said doctor," she answered confidently. genially." My father was obviously weaken- "Gut Yom Tov," my brother and ing. "But it's Pesach," he mut- DISPATCH - HUDSON I carrolled. tered. "And a goy—" "Gut Yom Tov," my sisters "Goy, schmoy," my mother re- LAUNDRY echoed. "Gut Yom Tov, Gut Yahr," torted. "She's a human being." He deliberated. "Well, I won't sang my mother coming forward and kissing us each in turn. "Was start the Seder without you. 43 CORTLAND That's a fact. We'll go over to- there a big crowd in shul?" gether. Mrs. Jamieson," he called TOwnsend 8-4220 My father sat at the head of It did not help that my father the gleaming table; the burning out, "don't you think Beanut invariably found her concern candlesticks threw wonderful flick- needs a doctor, too?" I began to cry again. "Beanut's amusing. This would incite her to ering shadows. "Packed," he said expansively. sick, I want to see Beanut." new tirades. Before my sisters could inter- "And what are you laughing at," "The Rabbi was in perfect voice." As eldest son I sat next to him. vene—my brother was still ab- she challenged. "Do you find what Passover Greetings your son is doing funny? Are Our age-old questions hovered an- sorbing this strange new event— you proud of him for it?" ticipatingly on my lips. Our prayer-books were already "But he doesn't do it," my father answered. "Besides, they'll both be on the table. We selected ours and GORMAN AUTO too old for it soon." He tried a opened them. "How I wish all our family was PARTS GREETINGS gadah, but this time we shall have the big Seder tomorrow night. Do you still know your four questions?" * • • I had never known them so well. I had never heard my father read with such feeling. When it was all over, when we had finished the token meal, and read the last prayers, my mother's eyes suddenly filled with tears. "Ach, those goyim," she said. "They couldn't even let us enjoy the Seder in peace." "But Beanut's going to be bet- ter," I chimed in happily. Those were prophetic words. Shortly af- terward we moved to another part of the city and our com- panionship was never renewed. They didn't hear me. My father said mildly, "that was a fine thing you did." She lifted her eyes to his. "Fine?" she repeated in genuine puzzlement. "They're p e o p 1 e, Menschen. What difference does it make?" She surveyed the table ruefully. "But the Seder's been spoiled and I had such a fine meal ready." My father rose and took her hand, "Never mind," he smiled, up "We'll have bigger and better ones." And we did. Yet, of those happy days which recollection has etched imperishably in my mind, this is the Seder I remember best. • • • • Passover Greetings and Best Wishes To All CHIC DRESS SHOP * * * * 9035 TWELFTH ST. from at Clairmount Passover Greetings Passover Greetings 2438 GRAND RIVER CL. 4183 DAVIDSON'S DURABLE METAL CO. CARL'S CHOP HOUSE 3020 GRAND RIVER 9150 RUSSELL TO. 8.3260 TEmple 2-8600 Steaks, Chops, Lobsters TYLER 6-7161 Women's Apparel Passover Greetings 19512 LIVERNOIS Detroit To Our Friends and Entire Woodward Ave. Birmingham, Mich. Jewish Community a Passover Greetings Passover Greetings J. TRAURIG & SON WHALING'S GUNSBERG Star Kosher Sausage Co. 8823 12th Street 3010 Puritan TY. 4.6728 1743 PINGREE a Men's Wear SIX SEVENTEEN WOODWARD TR. 2-2940 Ji