BY ORDER OF THE CZAR. 7
Vesuvius. Every man is mortal but oneself. There might be troubles in other villages of Southern Russia, but to Nathan Klosstock Czarovna was safe. Life is a matter of habit ; one may become used to anything. Happiness is a question of comparison. A prisoner having been sub- ject to a severe discipline is awakened one morning with the companionship of his dog ; in future he is to have books, there is a jar of flowers in his cell, he may take exercise, and he is to suffer no more hard labor : he thinks himself the happiest man in the world. Nathan Klosstock, though recognized in a friendly way by the Governor, had to cringe and grovel before the great landlords, and he dared not resent the bold looks and insolent compliments which were now and then paid to Anna by some of his noble patrons. But oh, my brethren, to what a gulf of misery and death he was walking all this time, he and his ! the way strewn with flowers, as if to enhance the horrors of the impending gulf walking hand in hand to the music of their own grateful hearts, at which every fiend in hell might have laughed, so grim, so awful was the pit that Fate had cast in their way.
During some years past a few of the later generations of Jews had ventured, with proper authorization, to live in the town proper and its outskirts, where they could see the sky and have the privilege here and there of something like rural occupation. There were troubles now and then with such of, these as the Governor permitted to hold taverns or public-houses, and it was no doubt a legitimate complaint on the part of the poorer class of farmers that these miserable Jews, having lent money to the even more miserable mujiks, encouraged them to drink and spend the money they had borrowed. But whenever anything like a serious situation was developed in this direction Nathan Klosstock came forward and settled it. He had also propitiated the few nobles and better class of land
