soft and was quite distinct from the mixture of Yiddish, German, English,
and slang which her neighbours spoke. English, which she read
easily, she spoke rarely and haltingly, and Jewish in a prettily
pedantic manner, learned from her mother, whose father had been a
Rabbi. Aaron lent her books in these three languages, which straightway
carried her into strange and glorious worlds. Occasionally the twins
stole and sold the books, but their enlightenment remained. To
supplement the reading he took her to lectures and to night schools,
and thus one evening they listened to an illustrated "talk" on
"Contagion and Its Causes." There had been an epidemic of smallpox in
the quarter and Panic was abroad. Parents who spoke no English fought
wildly with ambulance surgeons who spoke no Jewish, and refused to
entrust the sufferers to the care of the Board of Health. Many
disturbances resulted and the authorities arranged that, in all the
missions, night schools, and settlements of the East Side, reassuring
lecturers should spread abroad the folly of resistance, the joys of
hospital life, the surety of recovery in the arms of the board, with
a few remarks upon the sources of contagion.

Leah and Aaron listened to one of the most calming of these orators.
The lecturer spoke with such feeling--and such stereopticon slides--that
smallpox, scarlet fever, measles, and diphtheria seemed the "open
sesame" to bliss unutterable, and the source of these talismans rather
to be sought for diligently than shunned. "Didst hear?" Leah asked
Aaron as they went home. "For a redness on the skin one may stay in
bed for a week and rest."

"Ay, but one is sick," said Aaron sagely.

"Not if one goes where the gentleman said. One lies in bed for a