such a one want here? There is something wrong, for without good reason no one would come to this place! There is some secret in it which I must find out.... And each one wants to show his wisdom, his skill, and all kinds of speculations come as fast as hail. All tell stories and make allusions to strangers who had visited them in such and such a year; jesters relate anecdotes about it, and they are not always within the bounds of propriety; men twirl their beards and smile; old women jokingly scold the jesters, angered and laughing at the same time; young married women stealthily look upwards with their drooping eyes, hold their hands before their mouths and choke with laughter. The conversation in regard to that matter rolls on from house to house like a snowball and rolling grows larger, larger, until it rolls into the synagogue near the stove, the very place where find their final abode gossips of all kinds, whether domestic secrets, or politics in regard to Stamboul, in regard to the Mogul and Cyrus, or money matters regarding the wealth of Rothschild as compared with that of great lords and the other well-known millionaires, or reports of persecutions and the tribe of the Red Jews, and so forth. And there these matters are discussed one after the other by a special committee of pious Jews advanced in years, who sit there whole days until late into the night, who abandon their wives and children and earnestly devote themselves to those affairs, doing their business in peace, just for the glory of God, without receiving a broken penny for their labor and their work. Vun dem dāsigen Komität gēhen oft die Injonim aweg in Bād auf der öberster Bank, un' in a polner Ssobranje vun Stādt-balebatim wer'en see dort utwerdet, "wehakol schorir wekajom," as dernāch sollen afile kummen kol Malchej Misrach un' Majrew, sich stellen mit dem Kopp arāb un' mit die Füss' arauf, wellen see gār nischt pōeln. Der Tōger is' schier ein Māl nischt umglücklich gewor'en in asa Ssobranje auf der ōberster Bank, wenn etliche juste Balebatim sollen nischt gewe'n halten mit ihm Blatt, wer wēisst, wu er wollt' itzt āngesparrt. Rothschild nebech hāt schier nit varlōren dort eppes a zehn, fufzehn Milljon; derfar hāt ihm Gott geholfen in a Pāar Wochen arum: der Ōlem is' gewe'n, wie män sāgt, begelufin; auf der ōberster Bank is' grād' gewe'n a Bissel leblich; die Besemlich hāben sich gehōben,--un' män hat ihm mit a Māl zugelāst rēin Vardienst akegen a kan Milljon Kärblich!