Strangers at the Gate (Volume 1901); Tales of Russian Jewry (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1902. Excerpt: ... DAUGHTERS OF SHEM A Study In Sistebs I The shop stood in the very centre of the town. One could determine this with almost mathematical precision, for the place was styled a town less on its merits than by geographical courtesy; as a matter of fact it consisted of a single street, all frontage, which, starting from the shop, took a few strides to the right, as many, or as few, to the left, and then broke off abruptly. It enjoyed, however, the distinction of being one of the half dozen frontier stations within the railway radius, the main object of which is to render the lives of travellers passing in and out of the land of the shadow of the Czar as much a burden to themselves as possible. Woe to the improvident passenger whose passport shows the slightest flaw or discrepancy. The double-headed eagle of Russia has sharp eyes and sharper claws, and he can strike hard, unless one has the means and the presence of mind to soothe the ruffled feelings of his myrmidons. As a rule, palm oil will be found very effective. If you succeed in running the bureaucratic gauntlet, you are allowed to get off with the fright, and the conviction that the Bussian frontier is a beautiful thing in the retrospect. If you do not, you become an object of tender solicitude to sundry gendarmes, till advices arrive whether and whither you are to be expedited by special escort. To begin again, then. The shop stood in the middle of the town. It was a miscellaneous depot of salt herrings, treacle, Limburg cheese, and everything else that could go to make it a large-sized spice-box. Its atmosphere, in consequence, was a downright extravagance; condensed in jars, it could have been sold as an original kind of condiment. But Zillah was used to it by now. She had been born into it, though s...