So after his dinner he despatched his ser-
vant to see if aught be wrong with her.
And Mirl returned with this report:

" So may something be wrong with me
as it is wrong with Genendel ! A new silk
apron she has — brown silk — a Gulden the
yard — and a new lace cap with a purple
ribbon in it, and stewed apples and raisins
she is eating, — I tell you by the table-
spoonful."

R)eb Yoshe eyed his servant gravely.
" Envy is the rottenness of the bones,"
he said; whereat Mirl fled to the kitchen.
But to his wife he said :

" What is this about Genendel? "
194



GENENDEL THE PIOUS



" Do I know? Do I listen to the gossip
of the people? They say her son Berl
sends her much money from America,"
said the Rebbetzin.
Reb Yoshe looked perplexed.
" For more than twenty years, — in her
widowhood, — in her poverty, — when her
children died, she has been going to Schul
— and now in her prosperity — " He
stroked his beard thoughtfully. " I think
I'll go see Genendel," he said.
Then word went forth that the Rav, the
great Reb Yoshe Levisohn, who rarely
went into another's house, was coming to
Genendel, and oflficious ones ran to tell her
of it, and also to see her wither. But she
did not wither. No, she laid a new white
cloth upon the table; placed thereon her
Kiddush-cup, and rolled beside it her own
arm-chair. And when he came, she said,
" God's welcome, Rebbe Leben," bade him
be seated, and gave him wine and cake.
