Pioneers: A Tale of Russian-Jewish Life in the 1880s

Chapter 31

96 | Pioneers “I can . . . show them . . . to him,” Sonya muttered in a lowered, trembling voice. “Go over there!” her father commanded her. He pushed her powerfully, almost shoving her away into a small room behind the counter. “I’ll deal with this customer myself!” Casting an inquisitorial glance at Faevich, he repeated maliciously, “So, you need a scarf, eh?” “Yes!” Faevich replied with the boldness of despair. “Better than this one!” he added, examining the scarf that Sonya had shown him. Seeing that all was lost, Kornblat and Tsiporin began looking for an easy means of retreat. “No, no! Not that kind of linen!” Kornblat said hurriedly. “We need a . . . a different one, a very different sort of linen. . . . Linen . . . with polka dots, with black polka dots!” he added with deep embarrassment. “Linen with . . . polka dots?” Sonya’s mother asked in surprise. “Perhaps you’re thinking of chintz. . . .” “Oh, no! You don’t know! You don’t have anything like that! Let’s go!” He left speedily, together with Tsiporin. “Maybe you need a scarf with black polka dots, too? Huh?” Beryashev asked in a threatening tone and stood up straight. “Go to hell, you old fool!” Faevich shouted at him with fury and rushed out of the shop. “Ah, you apostate!!!” cried Beryashev in a rage, advancing as if to chase Faevich, but not going any further than the threshold of his shop. The distraught conspirators, flushed from shame and anguish, gathered in the garden. “Well? So? Should I congratulate you?” Uler rushed to meet them. “We made a mess of it!!” Faevich and Kornblat shouted in despair. “The old buzzard guessed what we were up to!” 31 Thecomrades,discouragedanddefeated,madetheirwaybacktotheOreMiklet. Faevich had gone into the shop too early. . . . Kornblat began to explain their failure. Pioneers | 97 1. The “Rabbis’ Kaddish,” a Jewish prayer, the central theme of which is the magnification and sanctification of God’s name. 2. The capital of Moldova. “We should’ve done it in a very different way,” Uler echoed. “We should’ve waited until her father had left. . . .” “Well, it’s no use talking about what we should’ve or shouldn’t have done,” Faevich interrupted him. “Now we have to consider what to do next.” “What will we do now? It’s all over!” Kornblat lamented. “All that’s left is to recite the Kaddish d’Rabbanan,1 and that’s that!” Uler supported him. “Ah! What angers me most is the fact that the old buzzard’s now rejoicing !” “What infuriates me is that as I left, I didn’t think of punching him in the chest!” Tsiporin added. “If Sonya Beryasheva is in fact a serious person,” Mirkin suddenly inserted, “then she really doesn’t need this ‘betrothal’ at all. She can escape from her tormentors by an easier and more reliable means. . . . Why can’t she just run away from home?” he asked in a loud voice, looking around inquiringly at all his comrades . This proposal surprised everyone by its unexpectedness; no one was able to reply at once. “Why indeed?” Mirkin continued heatedly. “We’re simply not used to the notion that girls can run away from their parents. At first glance it seems like a strange and wild idea to us. But what’s so terrible about it? Why is it any worse for a woman to run away from home than for a man? Beryasheva has to run away. Not merely to escape from her intended, but in order to study and develop .” “Where can she run?” Uler asked perplexed, scratching his head. “Such an idea seems new only to us,” Mirkin continued, not hearing Uler’s question. “There are girls . . . perhaps not Jewish, perhaps stronger than Beryasheva , who plan to escape abroad, to enter university. . . .” “What are you saying?” cried Uler in astonishment. “What sort of university is there where girls can study?” “That’s not what we’re talking about!” Mirkin said, interrupting him swiftly. “We have to discuss this plan seriously.” “What’s she going to study? Where will she prepare?” Faevich asked bewildered . “She could study to be a midwife!” Mirkin managed to reply. “That’s right!” Uler confirmed gladly. “I myself have seen Jewish girls studying to become midwives. . . . Why didn’t we think of that before?” “There’s an institute for midwifery in Kishinev,”2 Mirkin replied. “She could go there.” 98 | Pioneers Hillel arrived, flushed, agitated, and...