Noch schwerer far der Arbeit is' gewesen sie zu gefin'en,--er hāt geschwiegen! Bādendig sich in kalten Schwēiss, zusammengedrückt unter der schwerster Last, beim grössten Krampf vun'm lēdigen Māgen, hāt er geschwiegen! Bespritzt vun fremder Blote, bespiegen vun fremde Maüler, gejāgt vun Trotuaren mit der schwerster Last arāb in Gassen zwischen Droschkes, Kareten un' Tramwajs, kuckendig jede Minut dem Tōdt in die Äugen arein,--hāt er geschwiegen! Er hāt kēin Māl nischt übergerechent, wieviel vun Masse es kummt aus auf a Groschen, wieviel Māl er is' gefallen bei jeden Gang far a Dreier, wieviel Māl er hāt schier nischt die Neschome ausgespiegen, māhnendig sein Verdienst, er hāt nischt gerechent, nischt sein, nischt Jenem's Masel, nor geschwiegen! "He did not complain!" the Advocate concludes his sentence. "And eternally alone, he proceeds,--no friend, no religious instruction, no school ... not a whole garb ... not a free minute!" "Stick to facts!" calls out the President. "He was silent even later, when his father, in a drunken fit, once grabbed him by his hair and kicked him out of the house into a stormy winter night. He quietly picked himself up and ran whither his eyes carried him. "He was silent on his whole journey ... in the greatest frost he begged only with his eyes. "In a nasty, wet spring night he arrived in a large city; he fell in like a drop in the Ocean, and yet he passed that very night in the police jail.... He was silent, did not ask why. He came out of it, and looked for the hardest work! And he was all the time silent. * * * * * "Much harder than the work was the finding of the same,--and he was silent. "Bathing in cold sweat, bent under the heaviest burdens, during the severest cramps of his empty stomach,--he was silent! "Besmutted by strangers' mud, bespit by strangers' mouths, driven with his heavy load from the sidewalks into the streets among buggies, coaches, and street cars, looking every moment into the eyes of death,--he was silent! "He never calculated how many pounds of load came to every penny, how many times he stumbled on every three kopeks' errand, how many times he almost exhaled his soul collecting his pay; he did not beseech or curse,--he only was silent! Sein ēigen Verdienst hāt er nischt hōch gemāhnt. Wie a Bettler hāt er sich bei der Thür gestellt, un' in die Äugen hāt sich a hüntische Bakosche gemālt! "Kumm' später!" un' er is' wie a Schātten still verschwunden gewor'en, kedee später noch stiller auszubettlen sein Verdienst! Er hāt afile geschwiegen, wenn män flegt ihm ābreissen vun sein Verdienst, oder ihm areinzuwarfen a falsche Matbeje ... er hāt alls geschwiegen.... --Mēint män doch take mich! troest't sich Bonzje. * * * * *