GYMNASIYE 163
sense into my heel than into your head, no more am I to blame for that !"
"What is all this about?" say I. "It's about that which should be first and foremost with you." says she
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"But I have to be the one to think of everything even about sending the boy to the Gymnasiye !" "Where," say I, "is it 'written' that my boy should go to the Gymnasiye? Can I not afford to have him taught Torah at home?" "I've told you a hundred and fifty times," says she, "that you won't persuade me to go against the world! And the world," says she, "has decided that children should go to the Gymnasiye." "In my opinion," say I, "the world is mad!" "And you," says she, "are the only sane person in it ? A pretty thing it would be," says she, "if the world were to follow you !" "Every man," say I, "should decide on his own course." "If my enemies," says she, "and my friends' enemies, had as little in pocket and bag, in box and chest, as you have in your head, the world would be a different place." "Woe to the man," say I, "who needs to be advised by his wife!" "And woe to the wife," says she, "who has that man to her husband !" Now if you can argue with a woman who, when you say one thing, maintains the contrary, when you give her one word, treats you to a dozen, and who, if you bid her shut up, cries, or even, I beg of you, faints well, I envy you, that's all ! In short, up and down, this way and that way, she got the best of it she, not I, because the fact is, when she wants a thing, it has to be !
Well, what next? Gymnasiye! The first thing was to prepare the boy for the elementary class in the
