"We do not wish to sow the weeds of Chauvinism, the thorns of fanaticism, the tares of scholastic philosophy. "We want to pull up the weeds by the roots, to cut down the briars, to burn the tares, and to sow the pure grain of human ideas, human feelings, and knowledge. "We will break up our bit of land, and plough and sow, because we firmly believe that some day there will be a great common store, out of which all the hungry will be fed alike. "We believe that storm and wind and rain will have an end, that a day is coming when earth shall yield her increase, and heaven give warmth and light! "And we do not wish _our_ people, in the day of harvest, to stand apart, weeping for misspent years, while the rest make holiday, forced to beg, with shame, for bread that was earned by the sweat and toil of others. "We want to bring a few sheaves to the store as well as they; we want to be husbandmen also." Whenever, in the course of translation, I have come across a Yiddish proverb or idiomatic expression of which I knew an English equivalent, I have used the latter without hesitation. To avoid tiresome circumlocutions, some of the more important Yiddish words (most of them Hebrew) have been preserved in the translation. A list of them with brief explanations will be found on page 453. Nevertheless footnotes had to be resorted to in particular cases. To conclude: I have frequently, in this preface, used the words "was" and "were," because I do not know what kaleidoscopic changes may not have taken place in Russo-Jewish life since these tales were written. But they are all, with exception of the legend "The Image," tales of the middle or the end of the nineteenth century, and chiefly the latter. HELENA FRANK January, 1906 CONTENTS PAGE PREFACE 5 I. IF NOT HIGHER 13 II. DOMESTIC HAPPINESS 21 III. IN THE POST-CHAISE 29 IV. THE NEW TUNE 53 V. MARRIED 59 VI. THE SEVENTH CANDLE OF BLESSING 89 VII. THE WIDOW 95 VIII. THE MESSENGER 101 IX. WHAT IS THE SOUL? 117 X. IN TIME OF PESTILENCE 135 XI. BONTZYE SHWEIG 171 XII. THE DEAD TOWN 185 XIII. T_HE DAYS OF THE MESSIAH 201