boys could stand, especially in those beautiful summer days.

Meanwhile the Catcher came to town, and set his eye on the
son-in-law of the rich Reb Yossel, peace be unto him. The name of
the young man was Avremel Hourvitz--a fine, genteel young man. He
had run away from his home in Poland and come to our town, and was
spending his time at the Klaus studying the Torah. And Reb Yossel,
may he rest in peace, had to spend a pile of money before he got
Avremel for his daughter. From the same Polish town came the
Catcher, to take Avremel as the recruit of the family Hourvitz due
to the Jewish community of his city. When he laid his hand on
Avremel, the town was shocked. The rabbi himself sent for the
Catcher, and promised to let him have, without any contention, some
one else instead of Avremel. Then they began to look for a
household with the family name of Hourvitz, and they found my
father's. Before that happened I had never suspected that my father
had anything like a family name. For some time the deal remained a
deep secret. But no secret is proof against a mother's intuition,
and my mother scented the thing. She caught me by the arm--I do not
know why she picked me out--rushed with me to the rabbi, and made it
hot for him.

"Is this justice, rabbi? Did I bear and rear children, only to give
up my son for the sake of some Avremel?!"

The rabbi sighed, cast down his eyes, and argued, that said Avremel
was not simply "an Avremel," but a "veritable jewel," a profound
Lamdan, a noble-hearted man, destined to become great in Israel. It
was unjust to give him away, when there was someone else to take his
place. Besides, Avremel was a married man, and the father of an