"What is all this about?" say I.--"It's about that which should be first and foremost with you," says she.--"But I have to be the one to think of everything--even about sending the boy to the Gymnasiye!"--"Where," say I, "is it 'written' that my boy should go to the Gymnasiye? Can I not afford to have him taught Torah at home?"--"I've told you a hundred and fifty times," says she, "that you won't persuade me to go against the world! And the world," says she, "has decided that children should go to the Gymnasiye."--"In my opinion," say I, "the world is mad!"--"And you," says she, "are the only sane person in it? A pretty thing it would be," says she, "if the world were to follow you!"--"Every man," say I, "should decide on his own course."--"If my enemies," says she, "and my friends' enemies, had as little in pocket and bag, in box and chest, as you have in your head, the world would be a different place."--"Woe to the man," say I, "who needs to be advised by his wife!"--"And woe to the wife," says she, "who has that man to her husband!"--Now if you can argue with a woman who, when you say one thing, maintains the contrary, when you give her one word, treats you to a dozen, and who, if you bid her shut up, cries, or even, I beg of you, faints--well, I envy you, that's all! In short, up and down, this way and that way, she got the best of it--she, not I, because the fact is, when she wants a thing, it has to be! Well, what next? Gymnasiye! The first thing was to prepare the boy for the elementary class in the Junior Preparatory. I must say, I did not see anything very alarming in that. It seemed to me that anyone of our Cheder boys, an Alef-Bes scholar, could tuck it all into his belt, especially a boy like mine, for whose equal you might search an empire, and not find him. I am a father, not of you be it said! but that boy has a memory that beats everything! To cut a long story short, he went up for examination and--did _not_ pass! You ask the reason? He only got a two in arithmetic; they said he was weak at calculation, in the science of mathematics. What do you think of that? He has a memory that beats everything! I tell you, you might search an empire for his like--and they come talking to me about mathematics! Well, he failed to pass, and it vexed me very much. If he _was_ to go up for examination, let him succeed. However, being a man and not a woman, I made up my mind to it--it's a misfortune, but a Jew is used to that. Only what was the use of talking to _her_ with that bee in her bonnet? Once for all, Gymnasiye! I reason with her. "Tell me," say I, "(may you be well!) what is the good of it? He's safe," say I, "from military service, being an only son, and as for Parnosseh, devil I need it for Parnosseh! What do I care if he _does_ become a trader like his father, a merchant like the rest of the Jews? If he is destined to become a rich man, a banker, I don't see that I'm to be pitied."