Aaron the Jew: A NovelFarjeon, B. L. (Benjamin Leopold)
General
Aaron the Jew: A Novel
Farjeon, B. L. (Benjamin Leopold)
Adopted children -- Fiction; Jews -- England -- Fiction
"Do you like it?"
"Do I like it?" echoed Aaron, With a sly chuckle. "Should I speak to
you as I am doing if I didn't? I think it is very nice of you; very
nice, very nice indeed!"
"Oh!" said Ted, in a crest-fallen tone. As Aaron took pleasure in the
persecution, it was not half such good fun as it had been. "He says he
likes it," he said to his comrades, when he was among them.
"How much did he give yer?" they inquired, feeling as he did in
respect of the fun of their proceedings.
"He didn't give me nothink."
"We sor him hold out his hand to yer," they protested.
"You sor us shake hands, that's what yer saw. Let's get on with the
game; we don't want to be kept waiting here all night."
They went on with the game, calling "Jew! Jew! Jew!" half-heartedly.
Putting the pecuniary reward out of the question, it was a game that
was becoming rather monotonous. They had to call for quite a quarter
of an hour before Aaron paid them; and this time he paid them with two
pennies only. The children fell on the ground, and scraped the stones
for more, but found none; and they retired grumbling, discontented,
and suspicious of each other's honesty.
On Friday night, the Sabbath eve, Aaron and Rachel had peace; and on
Saturday night the children made their appearance again and gave forth
their chorus. Aaron came to the door, and stood there, smoking his
pipe, and smiling at them; but he did not throw any pennies to them.
They did not know what to make of it. Their voices grew weaker and
weaker, they wandered about discontentedly, they declared it was not
fair on Mr. Cohen's part. "We'll try him agin on Monday night," they
said.
They tried him again on Monday night, and he stood on his steps,
commending them, but he gave them no more pennies. There was no heart
whatever now in their invectives. They were not philosophers, and did,
not know that the course Aaron had pursued had taken the sting out of
their tails. "He likes it," they said to one another, as they strolled
off moodily, "and he wants us to come here and scream our throats dry
without being paid for it. Well, we ain't going to do it. We won't
call him Jew any more, if he wants us ever so much. It ain't likely,
now, is it? What does he mean by treating us so shabby?" These young
rapscallions thought the world was out of joint.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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