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Payc 24 The Southern Israelite “A Lilllr Saved Is A Lillie Ear nod” There is no better way to save for a rainy day or begin to lay a foundation for a home than the Building and Loan way We Solicit Your Membership Progressive Building & Loan Association 222 Princess Wilmington, N. WM. HARRIS, |»re»i<lrnt O. E. TODD, Srcy.-Tren. I'he Home <#/ Thrift George W. Huggins Company .1 E W E I. E H S Silv<‘i*uur<‘, (.ill Glua*, Oiainomld, WuU'lir^ 117 N. FRONT ST. The Gateway Port of North Carolina WILMINGTON, N. C. From the Frying Pan into the Fire A Story in whieli Love and Laughter Meet Adapted from the German ( ill Riuht. Raterved ) liy OSCAR LEONARD Chapter 2. The following morning Reb Ben- yaojx acted as if a transfiguration had taken place in him during the night. Sleep seemed to have erased the hap penings of the past day from his memory. As usual he called Esterka to his room and instructed her about the day’s correspondence and told her about a number of things that were to be entered in the books. He re minded her that he would soon start on his extended and important busi ness trip. In fact, he tried to be pleasant to her, something which had not happened for a rather long time. At the dinner table while taking his meal with Esterka and her mother, ht* brought up the subject of her marriage and spoke in a tone which surprised them. ‘*1 had different plans for you, Es terka,” he said, “but what can I do? The children want to he wiser than the parents in these days, and I cannot put my own head on you. After all 1 must admit that this Sigmund, as far as I know him, is a nice young man, but he is somewhat to inde pendent to suit me. Of course, 1 would have preferred the son of a wealthy family as husband for my daughter, even if he did not know anything about business. You know how the saying is: Money Talks. As far as business is concerned one can learn in time .... Rut you insist on know ing better than I what the best course is. Let it be as you wish. I submit to it because, as I said, I have really nothing against this Sigmund. As you know, I am going to start on my business journey this week. 1 shall be in Odessa, where he is now in charge of a branch for his Berlin em ployer. I shall make inquiries there about his financial situation, his con duct, and if the information I get is favorable, I shall bring him here with me and we shall celebrate Esterka’s betrothal. Well, are you satisfied, both of you, now?” Mrs. Gerdhaber approved this plan with pleasure, and Esterka fell on her father’s neck and thanked him with tears of joy in her eyes, for his father ly love, in which he was going to bring fulfillment to her heart’s de sire. A few days later Reb Benzion start ed on his yearly business trip, ac companied by the good wishes of his wife and daughter, who were made happy by this sudden turn of fortune which pictured the future full of bright promises. Horn that day on the town saw- something which it had never had the pleasure of seeing before. The two antipodes of the town, namely, "Piety” and "Wisdom”, who were never seen happy or well disposed in the same time, as the joy of one meant the sor row of the other, these two walked the streets of the town holding their heads as if each triumphed over the other. Itzik Hersh’s red beard encircled his face like a fan of fire, while Benjamin Hoeker raised his hunch so high that it seemed to grow over his head. All this caused many members of the Jewish community to look with questioning eyes, which seemed to ask: “What does it all mean?” ***** Chapter 3 That the reader may better under stand the spirit of the time during which this story develops, it is neces sary for us to say that in those days the telegraph and the railroad were not know-n to the inhabitants of our little Galician town. A journey from Galicia to Germany, or especially to the heart of Russia, meant then as much as a journey to the North Pole means to us now. From city to city one had to drag along on rented vehicles and be delayed by thousands of incidents and accidents, now an axle broke while travel ing through a lonely field, there the horse fell and was injured, in another place a wheel broke, again showers kept the traveler from continuing his journey, and innumerable unforseen difficulties came up to keep one from progressing for days at a time. No wonder the days and weeks grew long. No won- der few merchants dared to make busi ness journeys and that those who did dare to face difficulties came home laden with gold. They dealt with people on their own basis for they had hardly any competition. If travel was in a deplorable condition, the postal system was even worse. It used to be in the hands of unscrupulous con tractors, who did not hesitate to open letters or even sell letters to any one who might pay for them. Under these circumstances Esterka and her mother could hardly be sur prised at not hearing from Reb Ben zion in spite of the fact that he had been away from home for two months. They also knew that it was one of his habits not to write letters when he was away, except in case his busi ness required it. He used to say, if asked why he did not write: “What is the use of writing? 1 know for myself that wherever I am 1 am in good health and I presume that is the case with my family. If anything bad should happen to me or my family, what is the use of writing about it? What good does it do? Such knowledge can only trouble ami disturb one. And on top of it all, the confounded postage stamps are not given away in this country. This writing back and forth is nothing but expensive luxury, nothing else.” From a man with such philosophic principles the family could hardly ex pect to receive a letter, as it was not likely that he would change his views on his journey. But it was rather remarkable that Deborah the widow, mother of Sigmund, who always re ceived letters from her son regularly, had not heard from him for nearl> two months. She consoled herself and Esterka who asked her daily f° r news from Sigmund, that he was prob ably too busy to write. Suddenly ru- mors spread about town which maoe the absence of letters appear in a peculiar light. Sigmund had become