THE EXILE

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXVII, Issue 7876, 26 April 1902, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE EXILE

(By Eniilie Rock de Scbell.)

'■Rargs. bottles a'd ole ia'a, raigs!" The strident calf rans char and strong on tha afternoon air. Old Rachel dropped her knitting, a flatter of excitement stirring htr heart. Two long weeks she had been listening for that cry. and now that it had corns the voice was thsi of a stranser. VTiiat did it mean? Where was little Ikr, with his song-call, sweeter to her poor o!fl tars than matin psalm or choir chant 5 What had income of old Aaron, raucous of voice, whom she herself had established in business? Vainly she had been watching the alley behind her spacious home. 'Wliy had the ragcarts ceased to come that war"? There was nothing for her to do in the masTiiticent home her sons had reared. Hirelings ministered to her children's wants. To her a little knitting or embroidery was permitted; and oh, bow she loathed it all! Vet sdie bad learned how futile it is to cry out against the established order of things. Her sons -were prosperous merchants, whose fingers glittered with diamonds large as hailstones. Her daughters adorned the best Hebrew society and did credit to their satins. Assursdly "their old mother should not humiliate them by reminding them ind others of the cruel davs of their childhood. She had everything the flesh could desire. Why was she not content ? that cry, "Raigs, bottles a'd -jTs ia'a". raigs !'• resounded far down the alley. Rachel arose and tiptoed to the back window of her room. Softly she turned the ivory blinds and peered out. There was no on® in sight. The man must have stopped at the alley gate of some mansion fanner down the street, to barter with a servant for a few old bottles or discarded cloi'.-.es. Would be turn, after he bad made his purchase, and go the other way? Tears sprang to the old woman's eyes.' She longed to t!<ar off the veJret house gown, the lace mitts that did their best to conceal her hard, misshapen hands, the cap of ribbons and bee that covered her scan; ?r,iy lock?. Her roiil wr.s filled with a_ wi!u yeaminc to pursu? the filthy cart and its unwashed, nnkcmrt driver. Fie would take ii-r to her friends—friend* avrains; whom the doors of her hom» wer-» forivsr birred._ To :hem .-he hid g---ne. blor.nirnz yoitpr w»jr..-!t\ d< -:' i Ind s'ridwn :it* watches ofer ths fatherless, had Kosp'-TL-d !

r. raid in rin:-- a donkey and carr had to | ry.-.cur-.d. I: wrung her soul to part } *•••:, ;h>- s:iinin»- ve'.low' coins, the price of C, v outtl* : ba; bt-r children were grow. ; \ i.._- put to school. Again L-r-i -T.-r-.d her. and she sent out r.u:u-.r-.u-» '<r:r;'?. each one to her i:t r..i.'h:f ill preciotii freight. With her • sii-,- s.ned ..uc the cotton ;.r. i wo-'Hc-r. r.-.-.s the b/f-ks and fragmnew of ir'r, the u-iriiu-nus that with a iiftkmer.dmi- co i'/.i be roll to the second-hand ch.thing de:i!vr. Then change come. Her :or.s iii-i gr..wn v, manhctsj a'.jnvst br-f-.r-:- file r-.A--.'i it, ctn i prosperii.y had run wi:h op- n arms to m-.-t-t them At first the o.k, Myra, with a fewextra copper? in her ]>ockst, had cc-nnived at cljjidestine meetings at the alley gate, or stolen vis; 6 in iky's cart t> tiie faMwn-y Little Jerusalem. But young Gabriel's go'd coins were more persuasive than o"d Rachei's pennies, and fo the loDely exile had been driven to content herseif with listening daily for the cry—the slender plink that spanned the gulf between her and the past. Now for two weeks do ragpicker's cart had invaded ite neighborhood of her home. Strain her keen ears as she would, no call was borne «>ven from the neighboring alleys. Had Gabriel forbidden h:r old friends to come near his house? Had he perhaps even done violence to them?

T rtured -with fesr and yearning, she waited and listened. Then a greater fear clutched tit hir heart, and a reckless longing for liberty dashed to earth the -walls of prudence and self-control that s'he had reared a*bont herself. As the cart clattered over the alley stones she turned, and, -with trembling limbs and palpitating heart, fled down the back stairs and out across the bit- of lawn. Uttering a lew, gurgling cry, whereat the ragpicker startled and brought bis home up with a sudden jerk. Who in this fashionable neighborhood possessed that call? To his amazement, a little stooped -woman in lace cap and -velvet gown stood in the gateway, beckoning to him. In Yiddish such as he had not heard since he left his mother's knee she greeted him, demanded his name and news of her friends. A pestilence had broken out among the ragpickers, be told her.—a dread disease r iif. r..-trritf»d fliPTn n-wn-t* 1 ike chaff before tile

A pestilence had broken out among the ragpickers, be told her.—a dread disease t hat carried them away like chaff before the flail. Iky's mother had already perished, and now the poor boy lay tossing in wild d'-'lirium. with no one to give him so much as a cup of cold -water. Suddenly Rachel stnughteneld herself to her full height, and all the servile resignation w.is gone from her haughty old face. "I will go back to mine own people!" she cried. "These bo flesh of my flesh, and bbocd of my blcxvd, and yet are they stmngers to me. Would I had reared them a» bones: ragpickers! Go thou but tc> the next ?-llty and wait. I will join thee." A half hour later the ragpicker lifted to the seat of his cart a little old creature wrapped n a dingy black shawl. iXo lace mitts covered her wrinkled hands. Her feet felt again the airstere cars® of sabots that had lain for years at the bottcm of her chest of sacred tilings. Under the seat of the cart was a basket filled with foiod and wine for her suffering people. Bachel thought not, cared not, for the consternation "(hat would fill the cold, handsome liouss when sons and daughters returned at nightfall to find the mother gone. Her p?op!e were in distress, and she was going to them.

'■Raigs, raigs, got any raigs!" The cry burst from her lip? before she could suppress it. A light of ecstasy shonein her faded brcrwn eyes. Oh, this was heaven, heaven itself! The captive -was reluming to Jerusalem. As the oid, beloved call quivered on the air, a wsll-drefsed mas on the pavement stc-ppeid and stared at the cart. It. was Gabriel, md at hi? side wa? a handsome woainn, a Gentile, who would willingly barter her faith for the Hebrew's gold. ■•Quick! down the alky ! Don't spare the r.n.g. My fon discovered m?. He will take m? back," the oM wom-in whispered. fu l of terror, yet iir..«ubdued. Away they went, thr.-iugh alleys and Hid?

streets. 2so more n*gs wena purchased that day. At dusk the filthy, dilapidated houses "of Little .TenifaUm "wire before them. Palaces these, yea, and temples, wherein the returned txile could worship forever. On. the joy of ministering to th? pick, of iiftenins to their s'rident- patois 'A German and Hebrew, of mining cooling- drinks for their fevered throats! Two days and nights she toiled among her people, and then ibe pestilence laid its burning fingeron her heart. There was no one left to minister to her. A!! -were sick or dead. Xo one resisted when an officer in blue uniform, with Gabriel at his heeifl, entered the low door of the hovel. "Mother, what does this mean? How dare you"— "Xay, my son. rebuke me not," the parched lip* nrarrnnred. "I am come out cf exile to min; own p: j> ; e. Already ilie cnt-ss of Zlon stand njar, and thy father beckons. Return rhoii to the Babylon of tity love ; but for me the years of captivity are con•nmed."