POVERTY
I was living in Mezkez at the time, and Seinwall Bookbinder lived there too.
But Heaven only knows where he is now! Even then his continual pallor augured no long residence in Mezkez, and he was a Yadeschlever Jew with a wife and six small children, and he lived by binding books.
Who knows what has become of him! But that is not the question—I only want to prove that Seinwill was a great liar.
If he is already in the other world, may he forgive me—and not be very angry with me, if he is still living in Mezkez!
He was an orthodox and pious Jew, but when you gave him a book to bind, he never kept his word.
When he took a book and even the whole of his pay in advance, he would swear by beard and earlocks, by wife and children, and by the Messiah, that he would bring it back to you by Sabbath, but you had to be at him for weeks before the work was finished and sent in,
Once, on a certain Friday, I remembered that next day, Sabbath, I should have a few hours to myself for reading.
A fortnight before I had given Seinwill a new book to bind for me. It was just a question whether or not he would return it in time, so I set out for his home, with the intention of bringing back the book, finished or not. I had paid him his twenty kopeks in advance,
