'A Republic without Socialism!' interrupted a girl with a laundry basket. 'What good's that? Wait till the N.S.'s----' 'The D.R.'s are the only----' interrupted a phylactery-pedlar. 'And who but the Labour group promises equal rights to all nationalities?' interrupted a girl in spectacles. 'Trust the _Trudowaja_----' 'To the devil with the Labour Parties!' said an old-clo' man. 'Look how the Bundists have betrayed us. First they were bone of our bone; now it is they who by their recklessness provoke the _pogroms_.' The blacksmith brought his hammer down upon the stall. 'There is only one party to trust, and that's the C.D.'s,' he repeated. 'Bourgeois!' simultaneously hissed the Republican youth and the Socialist lass. 'My children!' It was the bland voice of Moses the _Shamash_ (beadle). 'Violence leads to naught. Even the Viborg Manifesto was a mistake. As a member of the Party of Peaceful Regeneration----' 'Peaceful Regeneration?' shouted the blacksmith. 'A Jew ally himself with the Reactionary Right, with the----!' A Cossack galloped recklessly among the serried stalls. The Jews scattered before him like dogs. The member of the P.P.R. crawled under a barrow. Even the blacksmith froze up. David drew the moral when the Cossack had disappeared. 'Peaceful Regeneration!' he cried. 'There will be no Regeneration for you till you have the courage to leave Russian politics alone and to fight for yourselves.' 'Ah, you're a Maximalist,' said the beadle. 'No, I am only a Minimalist. I merely want the minimum--that we save our own lives.' It was asking too little. The poor Russian Jews, like the rich Russian Jews, were largely occupied in saving the world, or, at least, Holy Russia. Crushed by such an excess of Christianity, David wandered round the market-place, looking into the bordering houses. In one of the darkest and dingiest sat a cobbler tapping at shoes, surrounded by sprawling children. 'Peace be to you,' called David. 'Peace have I always,' rejoined the cobbler cheerily. David looked at the happy dirty children; he had seen their like torn limb from limb. 'But have you thought of the danger of a _pogrom_?' he said. 'I have heard whispers of it,' said the cobbler. 'But we _Chassidim_ have no fear. Our wonder-rabbi, who has power over all the spheres, will utter a word, and----' [Illustration: The Jews scattered before him like dogs.] 'A _Tsaddik_ (wonder-rabbi) was killed in the last _pogrom_,' said David brutally. 'You must join a Self-Defence band.' The cobbler ceased to tap. 'What! Go for a soldier! When the _Rebbe_ caused me to draw a high number!' 'Our soldiering is not for Russia, but to save us from Russia. We must all join together!' 'Me join the _Misnagdim!_' cried the cobbler in horror. 'Never will I join with those who deny the Master-of-the-Name.'