From Plotzk to Boston | Page 8

depot again, to be always on hand. I remember that mamma and the
father of the little family went at once to the only good man on earth (I
thought so) and that the party of three were soon gone, by the help of
some agent that was slower, for good reasons, in helping us.
I remember that mamma came to us soon after and said that Herr
Schidorsky had told her to ask the Postmeister--some high official
there--for a pass to Eidtkunen; and there she should speak herself to our
protector's older brother who could help us by means of his great power
among the officers of high rank; that she returned in a few hours and
told us the two brothers were equal in kindness, for the older one, too,
said he would not wait to be asked to do his best for us. I remember
that another day--so-o-o long--passed behind the mist, and we were still
in that dreadful, noisy, tiresome depot, with no change, till we went to
spend the night at Herr Schidorsky's, because they wouldn't let us go
anywhere else. On the way there, I remember, I saw something
marvellous--queer little wooden sticks stuck on the lines where clothes
hung for some purpose. (I didn't think it was for drying, because you
know I always saw things hung up on fences and gates for such
purposes. The queer things turned out to be clothes-pins). And, I
remember, I noticed many other things of equal importance to our
affairs, till we came to the little house in the garden. Here we were
received, I remember with much kindness and hospitality. We had a
fire made for us, food and drink brought in, and a servant was always
inquiring whether anything more could be done for our comfort.
I remember, still through that misty veil, what a pleasant evening we

passed, talking over what had so far happened, and wondering what
would come. I must have talked like one lost in a thick fog, groping
carefully. But, had I been shut up, mentally, in a tower nothing else
could pierce, the sense of gratitude that naturally sprung from the
kindness that surrounded us, must have, would have found a passage
for itself to the deepest cavities of the heart. Yes, though all my senses
were dulled by what had passed over us so lately, I was yet aware of
the deepest sense of thankfulness one can ever feel. I was aware of
something like the sweet presence of angels in the persons of good
Schidorsky and his family. Oh, that some knowledge of that gratitude
might reach those for whom we felt it so keenly! We all felt it. But the
deepest emotions are so hard to express. I thought of this as I lay awake
a little while, and said to myself, thinking of our benefactor, that he was
a Jew, a true "Son of Mercy." And I slept with that thought. And this is
the last I remember seeing and feeling behind that mist of lazy
inactivity.
The next morning, I woke not only from the night's sleep, but from my
waking dreaminess. All the vapors dispersed as I went into the pretty
flower garden where the others were already at play, and by the time
we had finished a good breakfast, served by a dear servant girl, I felt
quite myself again.
Of course, mamma hastened to Herr Schidorsky as soon as she could,
and he sent her to the Postmeister again, to ask him to return the part of
our passports that had been torn out, and without which we could not
go on. He said he would return them as soon as he received word from
Eidtkunen. So we could only wait and hope. At last it came and so
suddenly that we ran off to the depot with hardly a hat on all our heads,
or a coat on our backs, with two men running behind with our things,
making it a very ridiculous sight. We have often laughed over it since.
Of course, in such a confusion we could not say even one word of
farewell or thanks to our deliverers. But, turning to see that we were all
there, I saw them standing in the gate, crying that all was well now, and
wishing us many pleasant things, and looking as if they had been
receiving all the blessings instead of us.

I have often thought they must have purposely arranged it that we
should have to leave in a hurry, because they wouldn't stand any
expression of gratefulness.
Well, we just reached our car in time to see our baggage brought from
the office and ourselves inside, when the last bell rang. Then, before we
could get breath enough