" Ha," laughed Loebele, " hear the little
impudence ! He has not yet the potatoes,
and wishes already butter thereto."

It was yet three days until the opening
of the Fair, but Loebele started ofif early
next morning, for he was going to walk,
and moreover he was always on time.
The sun was hot, and the roads lay deep
in dust, but he trudged on in great content.
" The Lord helps, — I have always said
it, — a little patience only," he mused.
Pictures of the future loomed bright be-
fore him, and the fairest one was his son
Yossel with shoes on, that he might go to
school even in the coldest weather, and be-
come some day — who knows? — chief-rabbi
of Prague.
It was the day of the opening of the Fair
when Loebele with a great crow'd of people
96



LOEBELE SHLEMIEL



arrived at its gates. He was crowding in
with the rest, when he felt himself thrust
violently in the side. It was the butt end
of a gensdarme's gun, and the gensdarrae
himself was crying roughly, " Can't he
read?" and pointing to a placard. There,
at the foot of a list of admonitions to the
public, Loebele read in large letters :

Dogs and Jews are Not Allowed Within.
Loebele stared open-mouthed. For a
moment he thought he should fall. He
stepped aside and sat down by the road-
side. What had happened? His mind was
dazed with the suddenness of the shock.
He could not go within; he dared not ped-
dle without; he could not sell his watches.
He gazed at the throngs of people passing
in at the gates, all laughing, joking, happy.
