The New Land: Stories of Jews Who Had a Part in the Making of Our CountryLevinger, Elma Ehrlich
Religion
The New Land: Stories of Jews Who Had a Part in the Making of Our Country
Levinger, Elma Ehrlich
Jews -- America
Hand in hand, they walked slowly back to the dusty street that led to
the governor's house. At the gate, Samuel was about to bid his little
friend good-bye, but she caught his hand and drew him in after her.
"Oh, you must stay," she protested, "you must stay and let Uncle Peter
thank you for bringing me home. And I want you to tell me another
story after supper. You must come in!"
"But my mother will be worried," declared Samuel, "and father----"
"We'll have Daniel go and tell them you are here," she solved the
problem easily. Then she ran up the broad stairs, crying gaily, "Oh,
Uncle, I've had the loveliest time," as a short, stern-faced man
appeared in the doorway; a man with a silver-banded wooden leg and
leaning on a heavy cane.
"Katrina!" he exclaimed with some sternness, but she pulled his hard
face down to hers for a kiss.
"I've had such a lovely time," she cooed, "and this nice boy found me
and brought me home. Thank him, Uncle Peter, and have him come in and
tell me some more stories."
Samuel drew back; but the governor nodded for him to enter, and,
feeling miserably shy and uncertain of himself, he followed the pair
into the house. The room they entered was richly furnished, but
gloomy. Samuel, boy that he was, felt how much lovelier his mother's
simple living room was with its shining brass and the few plants
blooming at the window. The governor sat down behind a long table
littered with papers and drew Katrina to his knee, at the same time
motioning Samuel to be seated. Then he spoke, stroking the child's
golden curls, his keen eyes growing gentle as they rested upon her
pretty face.
"You have been of service to my little girl and I will do my best to
reward you," said Governor Stuyvesant, kindly. "What will it be, my
lad, a velvet suit brought over in the last cargo from Holland, or a
golden chain?" Suddenly the eyes he turned upon Samuel grew cold and
keen again. "You are not one of us, yet I have seen you before. Who is
your father and what is his trade?"
"I am Samuel, the son of Jacob Barsimon," answered Samuel, and
suddenly all his shyness left him and he gazed fearlessly into the
governor's face. "And my father is an honest merchant of New
Amsterdam."
"Yes--and of the tribe of Israel," muttered the old man, his brow
darkening. "I wish my little one might have been indebted to another
this day; but I am as honest a man as your father and what I promise,
I keep. So name what reward you will for the favor you have rendered
me--and be off."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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