"And it _was_ a madness. He had inherited the narrow strip of land you have seen from a great-grandfather, and not a farthing in money. The wife's trash, which was afterwards sold for fifty-four gulden, used to be in pawn the whole year round, except on Sabbaths and holidays, when Yeruchem took them out on tick. "When the desire calls the imagination to its help--who shall withstand? "No sooner has he a house, than all good things will follow. "People will place confidence in him, and he will borrow money to buy a goat, and there will be plenty in the home. He will let out one room as a drink-shop, and he, God helping, will keep it himself. Above all, the children will be provided for. The little boys shall be sent one way or the other to a rabbinical college, the girls shall be given a deed as their dowry, promising them, after his death, half as much as the boys will get, and the thing's done. "'And how is the building to be paid for?' "He had an answer ready: "'I,' said he, 'am a teacher, and thou art a huckstress, so we have two Parnossehs: let us live on one Parnosseh, and build on the other.' "'Was there ever such an idiot! We can't make both ends meet as it is!' "'God helps those who help themselves,' said he, 'here's a proof of it: the teacher, Noah, our neighbor, has a sickly wife, who earns nothing, and six little children, and it seems they are well and strong--and he lives on nothing but his teaching,' "'There you are again! He is a great teacher, his pupils are the children of gentlefolk.' "'And why do you think it is so? What is the reason? Can he "learn" better than I do? Most certainly not. But God, blessed be His Name, seeing that he has only one Parnosseh, increases it to him. And then, another example: Look at Black Brocheh! A widow with five children and nothing but a huckstress--' "'Listen to him! _That_ one (would it might be said of me!) has a fortune in the business, at least thirty rubles--' "'That is not the thing,' he gives her to understand, 'the thing is that the blessing can only reach her through the apples. The Creator governs the world by the laws of nature.' "And he manages also to persuade her that they can economize in many ways--one can get along-- "And so it was decided: Yeruchem gave up taking snuff, and the entire household, sour milk in particular and supper in general--and they began to build. "They built for years, but when it came to the fire-wall, Malkah had no wares, Yeruchem had no strength left in him, the eldest son had gone begging through the country, the youngest had died, and there was a fortune wanting--forty rubles for a fire-wall. "Well, what was to be done? A coin or two changed hands, and they moved into the new house without building a fire-wall."