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About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (March 4, 1917)
THE SUNDAY FICTION MAGAZINE, MARCH 4, 1917 you find it here," repeated the old man lubbornly. ? 3 But the boy was full of the passion of youth, youth that knows! He set his lips. "Men of wisdom do not stop in in herited prejudice. There must be some better reason. Perhaps some of the fault Is 'ours !" iThen his mother put down her hands and stared in great pain at him. He was in truth denying his people! That was all her understanding-. But the old man procured, a small bag, which he. handed -toj the boy. "For all thy expenses till thy return, my son," he said. He. paused, to finish. Thou art about to deny thy name' and thy faith but thou art also a pood Jew!" ; XIICOLAJ NOVIKOFF" entered the 1 v university successfully. With cun- rimg he had laid his plans. And then. ins lauin ciuv utai vi icaiuica awvtu not to betray him. Step by step he had movedVvUh caution and far-seeing- pos sibilities. He could anticipate no possi ble chance of detection even" where pass ports, spies, censorship of mail prevailed. He had forbidden letters from home. He sent no word. ,With his masters he found Immediate favor, for he had a keen desire for knowl edge, and he studied with fine intelli gence. He made his impressions, stand ing out, a commanding figure, from among many mediocres. His fellows - sought his help. He was listened to re spectfully, looked up to. He saw deep wit an understanding smile for the frailties of humanity. His teachers said of him: 1 "He was born for something great!" His young companions loved him, turned to him. He kept his mind clear, tried to find truths. He saw boys of his own race "-.kept back by individual prejudice. He, Nicoali Novikoff, was called "upon to re cite when another, the Jew, was kept in his seat, tingling with injustice, not al ; lowed to give his lesson. Xicolai went into another class and found the Jew equal in every way with the Gentile, because the master could in his breadth 'make no distinctirn except the mental distinction. - And he thought, studied, and learned a little arid knew that intolerance was in the mass mind; not in the free soul. He never lost his ardor to help his people within the pale. These people, : full i of smallness and nobility, shot throngh with the majestic tragedy of an old race panting for life.' His soul re . - mained on fire to help them, even though' ' 4i knew quite well that all they could - know of him was that he was an apos tate.! He had sworn his' mother to se crecy: as to his whereabouts - (from his grandfather he extracted no oath). Yet he knew his mother could but go about with pain-filled eyes, for all to see; with , lamentations for her long absent son. He knew his people better because he was cut off from them. Callous they would be to his concealment of his iden tity were material benefit to come from ' that concealment; bitter would they be x if they gained from eloquent silence that hs Hi ii ttnAotata an4 hesl TAMvsttan his mother. " So he understood them bet- -ter understood to what they had been driven and what reacting qualities had been bred into them. On: Good Friday he knelt for one long black hour while the minister inrawl ing intonation spoke of the black, mo . . ments when Christ hung upon the cross. Piercing through the dimness came the "CTi Trl! lima miVa nVtnnf - , -- : And Aaron stirred, and, for the first .- time felt a great pity witbin him for that miration. HeTmew he heard the history : of One set apart! 1" , ji-, : . :v :" The .most wonderful day to Nicolai - Novikoff vas not the one on which he - entered 'into the university. It was the k day before he was to be graduated. In the afternoon he ran buoyantly uplhe stairs to his dormitory. He paused at the sound of his name. Themaster, he was told, wished to see him. He hastened to the big study, and was there cordially greeted by'tbe white haired man at the desk near the win dow. . "I wished to say personally to you, Nicolai," said the master, "tliat you have 6een a good student. You came to us one out of hundreds with a purpose to make the best of the years you had to spend with us. You are valuable in your possibilities. I am' proud of you. So, you will let me hear from you when you are out in the world putting your mark upon it?" - The boy did .not answer, was gazing- with a peculiar searching expression at his master. ' "I shall bestow your diploma upon you tomorrow," the master went on; "and shall rejoice in doing so." '. . Curiously while the man was speaking there came to the boy memory of the moment when he smashed the widow's lamp. Then he had let no sentiment de ter him from his desire. But sharply he remembered the widow had died that night. The time had come now. Out of his soul he knew the moment was at hand for revelation. He spoke ina ringing voice: "Stanislav Alexandrovitch, 1 am a Jew!" Alexandrovitch sat perfectly still, but he did not take his eyes from the boy's face. At last he spoke: "That is abso lutely impossible. You could not have concealed such a thing!" "It is true.' And is it still true that you are proud of me? Oh, you cannot take back those words. You believed them." His voice deepened. He revered Stanislav Alexandrovitch. "You cannot change your opinions because you know my race. That is not fair, it is not jUst, it is jiot even honest!" And when Alexandrovitch did not an swer. "Oh, Stanislav Alexandrovitch, you are fair. You must be. And out of this your true knowledge of me, use your Influence with those about you to be fair to the Jew." Alexandrovitch moved then a 'little. It was a strange situation. . And some new instinct pushed itself into action. He rose and faced the lad, while he held out his hand. "I shall always remember you, my boy, and be glad that I have known you. But I shall be compiled to tell the faculty." The boy remained silent. "Yourname?" "Aaron Polinsky." t "Aaron, I'm going to help you. And I shall remember what you have said to me. You shall have your' diploma if I can manage it." But the faculty would .have none of excuaa, palliation. Should the story crop, out it would do great harm; they would be censured. Alexandrovitch, with the - memory of that beseeching young face before him, spoke warmly, but he could not say too much. At 'length a decision .was reached and a letter penned to Aaron. He read it later, while he was sitting on the edge of his bed. It ran: We are sorry that you have practiced such deceit. And we can not, even though the master has spoken for you, award you your diploma. Nor may you take part in the exercises tomorrow. The master will add a further word to you. The master did. - The faculty, he said, wishing to prevent leakage of the decep tion, suggested that,AaronPolinsky re main for a while Nicolai Novlkoff. Aaron gave his answer in writing to the mas- ter. ' The faculty, one by one, read the let ter. It said: You hold contempt for me for what I have done. Yet you are ask ing me to continue the way you de plore, so you may be spared. You are asking me to do that which you condemn in Peter who denied Christ, the Jew. I am a Jew, yet here I have been well liked. The traits I have in part inherited from my fa there patience, sympathy, Imagin ' ation have been called upon by my teachers and my fellows. Are these., traits less valuable because now 'tis known they dwelt within a Jew? The education I have you cannot take from me, nor can it fail to put itself to good use. I have found among you fine souls, and I see the problem lies with the individual. Each one to think for himself!' To think not in terms of race, the Jew, the non- - . Jew, but in terms of man and man. And I know this. That my having been here in the way I have been will result sooner or later in broad er privileges for my people. You must make-it so! And that letter was filed away, inad vertently, and later read by a man of breadth and 'Understanding, and some of the ban lifted from the Jew, some of the restrictions torn away. THERE was no one to meet Aaron when, he arrived at his home sta tion. The walk to his mother's place was a long one, but he desired the walk. It was morning, so he believed his grand father might be at the Beth Hamadrash. An hour's brisk walk and he was at the end of the lane where the house of learn ing stood. He went down the narrow path and up the stairs leading to the old, worn door. He looked within. Yes, there was his grandfather, dominant by his fine pres ence. He wore the Twlllem," the straps around his arm. There were straps, too, about his head, holding firmly upon his . forehead, incased in a small leather cube, the writings of the ten commandments. Aaron called: "Grandfather!" The old man turned, went a little pale, and then moved forward without taking off his Twillem. "Shall I take you home, grandfather?" Aaron began with tender love. "I. am here to stay now." "Aye, and if thou wilt." The others stood staring. A certain. Commandments Failing's of the Short Story THE short story, taken in the aggre gate, is a collection of 6,000 words that tell how the hero happened to marry the girl. It seldom mentions the enor mous number of girls that the hero has kissed prior to the affair in hand, nor . does it bear heavily on the overwhelm : ing number of summer evenings during : which the girl has sat on the porch and allowed other yourig men to strain her passionately to their bosoms. The short story would have us believe that the heroine is having her first fling ; at love. This state of affairs, however, it manifestly impossible, since Juliet was 'the last successful heroine to be wooed during her thirteenth year. The chief I trouble with the short story is that it fills the reading public with the idea that to be happy one needs only to be mar ried. This idea is erroneous; for the suc cess of a courtship depends not on the marriage but on the manner in which the contracting parties readjust their, ideas and peculiarities, in order that there may not be a wholesale interfer ence of Ideas and peculiarities, and a consequent stripping of mental gears and wrecking of hopes. Every short story should have foot notes attached, explaining the status quo of the hero and heroine at the end ef five years, together with the condensed but honest reason for the unsatisfactory (or satisfactory) results. Puck. coldness in their demeanor struck neav ily upon Aaron's heart. At the gate of the Beth Hamadrash a small boy, seeing the two, darted off with his tongue primed. So it was that as the man and the boy went down the' lane wemen and children and a few men awaited them. .v At last. Laving passed a dozen, and no word of greeting having been given Aaron stopped at a gate where a nan, two women, one old and the other young, stood and stared coldly at him though from his childhood had! they known him. "Why stare you all so malignly?" he asked straight. It was the old woman who answered. "Wouldst expect warmth and a welcome, apostate?" she cried. Others approached; a small crowd stood before the young man. He spoke, his face white and set. "Wilt tell me what I have done that you rise up against me; pronounce me so glibly an apostate?" One answered: "We know thjr moth er hath sat in sorrow. And thou wert always an alien in spirit to thy people. As a boy thou dlsobeyest often the law." Aaron's head sank. "Alien to thy people!" rang itself in his heart. . But he felt the steadying pressure of his grand lather's hand upon his arm, and bis head raised itself. VAnd does it never occur to you that you look beneath to find the motive?" He paused. What Is It, then, the Talmud in satire says: "Tis better to have ten inches to stand upon than a hundred yards to fall.' "So all of you stand square and afraid upon these mere ten inches." He beat his breast "The ten inches pruned and craped, hedged in by your forefathers." He fell into his grandfather's way of speech, even though he was young and jnost of his listeners old. "Thou wouldst not adventure from it, lest thou fall a hundred yards. You are cowards, all of you!" He stopped. A voice rose: "Thou hast fallen thy hundred yards and then come back to thy home dishonored and dis credited; the son who went away for . years and left his mother repining. And he sent no word." Aaron winced. "Yes, 'tis I who leaped the hundred yards Into the alien's, coun try. Tls I who had the curiosity to go to him, and not stay isolated and curse him. And I shall put to fine uses the knowledge I have .brought from him. Narrow, prejudiced he may be. still I have learned from him." "Thou art good at thine own inter pretations, and always were." cried a woman; "but what thy father Selig knew and what thy learned grandfather knows should be good enough for thee." - He turned to her gently. "And thou art good at blindness,", he answered. "Thou puttent thy finger on' one com mandment and wink eat at another. Tis , also written, 'Do not confine your chil dren to your own learning, for they were , born in another time.' " A long silence greeted this saying. Then Into its void the boy's voice thrust itself with passion. "To mine own peo ple have I returned, ss always I meant to return. To them I come armed with understandings of .them and of their needs. You are all of one humanity! Tbis I willahow you. "You need me, my people. Utter s word more,' but seek me ; in that little house of the widow whose lantern 'ever hung burning for her wandering son. "I shall relight her lamp! "Seek me there, ' I say. where my abode shall be. For 'tis understood I am to be thine advocate, thy friend. For years I have dwelt away from thee, from thy teachings and thy customs, and I return like a fresh wind." ) " ' So he ended. His' grandfather, with' mighty pride and great love, looked upon him. "Come, my son!" he cried. And the people, strangely tongue-tied, v parted and made a clear path for the old man and the young one to walk in. , Copyright, lit?, by J. j Kcclryl