In the same house where she lived there was a certain girl who was learning to become a midwife. She saw that the girl was not terribly clever, so she said: What this one can do I can do too. And it may very well be that the idea had already been awakened in her during the evacuation, for a woman had given birth on the road and had been in danger because there was no midwife to be found.
You may well say that if she could not manage with her wages while she was working, how much less so if she had to spend her time in training. But before her husband went out to the army he had given her two thousand crowns to pay a debt. Before she could manage to send the money the town where the creditor lived was destroyed and all trace of him was lost. So she hit on the idea of borrowing from his money and learning a trade with which to make a living. Besides, she had taken her jewels with her, and even they were worth money. At first she used to pawn them and redeem them over and over again, but in the end they were left in the pawnbroker’s. And here Mrs. Bach told me that she was the granddaughter of Shifrah Puah the midwife, whose coffin was followed by nine hundred and ninety-nine men and one woman; Shifrah Puah her grandmother had helped to bring them all into the world, and when she died they came to pay her honor and accompany her to her eternal home.
One of those that Shifrah Puah her grandmother had helped bring into the world was a distant relative of her family called Shulkind, a very rich man and the owner of a factory for paper products. The government used to give him unlimited quantities of coal, because he supplied the army with goods, and when he heard that Shifrah Puah’s granddaughter was living in Vienna he sent her some coal. When she came to thank him he asked her what she was doing. She told him that her husband had gone to the war and she was living with her daughters, her father-in-law, her brother-in-law, and an orphan she had adopted, and was learning to become a midwife. Immediately he allotted her enough to support herself and her household, as well as to study and train for her work. He also took her father-in-law into his house and gave him bed and board, in return for which he should teach Mishna to Shulkind, for Shulkind’s only son had gone out for a hike in the mountains and had fallen and been killed, his wife — namely his son’s mother — had been blinded by her weeping, and he, the boy’s father, had diverted his attention to Torah. He also helped Erela and Yeruham the father-in-law’s son and Yeruham the Lithuanian’s son to study in a teacher-training school. Good men like him no longer exist in the world. Had he not died he would have set them on their feet and they would not have come to the pass they did.
That Mr. Shulkind died in this way. It happened that once someone claimed a large sum of money from him, someone to whom he owed nothing or had already paid. The judge ordered Shulkind to take an oath. He took a Bible, laid his hand on it and said, “Here let me die if I owe anything to this man.” Before he could move from the spot he fell and died.
And why was he so good to her? Mrs. Bach said Mr. Shulkind had once told her that one night he had seen Shifrah Puah’s coffin in a dream, and all the mourners were naked and barefoot, except for himself, who was well dressed. It seemed reasonable that because he was rich they should give him a place at the head of the coffin-bearers. And he himself thought that was fitting; and indeed they did do so. They honored him and placed him in front. But he was angry and said to himself, “What do these people think, that they have it in their power to give me honor? Even my janitor would not let such beggars set foot in my house.” The dead woman’s coffin shook; because he was in the grip of his anger his hands had weakened, and the coffin slipped. Along came a certain man and stood in his place and said, “It doesn’t matter, sir, nothing has happened.” And it seemed to Mr. Shulkind that this fellow was smiling, as a man smiles to his neighbor, meaning, “Although you have behaved abominably, I like you.” Mr. Shulkind was angry at this man who dared to behave as if they were equals. He looked at him and saw that he was ragged and barefoot. He was moved with pity for him and said to himself: After all, I am very rich and I will lose nothing if I give this poor man five or ten crowns — even if all the mourners for Shifrah Puah stretch out their hands and ask for charity too. But he must first investigate whether the man deserved charity, for impostors pretend to be poor and extract money from the rich. Or perhaps he should not give them anything, but donate a thousand crowns to a charitable society, which investigates a poor man seven times before it gives him one copper. But if he gave to the poor himself the entire donation would reach them, whereas a society fritters away money on wages for officials and clerks, offices and letters, not to speak of thefts — and not much is left for the poor. He was moved with pity for the poor, for even the money the rich devote to them does not reach them intact. And even though it was only a dream, Mr. Shulkind took upon himself to pay heed to the poor, especially the exiles from his own town, who, he had heard, were wasting away with hunger.
His affairs were many, however, and his mind was not free. When he remembered the poor of his town, it was only to put them off. “Can one man support a whole town?” he said. But he made a vow in his heart that if his fortune reached this-and-this sum he would give such-and-such for the needs of the many. When his fortune reached that sum, he was in need of money, because he was about to undertake a large contract. So he relied upon the Holy One, blessed be He, and on the charitable societies, although he did not like them: that the One should lengthen the lives of the poor and the others should support them until he could become very rich and attend to their needs himself.
He went to the supply official to receive the contract. While he was sitting and waiting he thought about his constantly growing business, and his constantly passing years, and his only son, who followed his fancy and sought all kinds of pleasures. Only yesterday his son had received the degree of doctor and today he had gone on a trip to the mountains with his friends. If he would put aside his pleasures and apply himself to his affairs, he could double his possessions and make a great name in the world. But before examining the deeds of our sons, let us examine our own deeds. After all, he too, namely old Mr. Shulkind, had left his father’s affairs and gone to Vienna. If he had listened to his father he would have been a small shopkeeper and would have suffered with all the exiles of his town here — or, even worse, in the exiles’ camps in Nikolsburg.
While he was sitting and thinking, he looked at the door of the official’s room, which was still closed to him though he had been waiting an hour or more — which was not usual, for whenever he used to enter, the official would immediately come out to meet him and take him into his room. He pulled out his watch from his pocket and looked at it, although he did not need to, for there was a clock hanging on the wall.
As he was looking at his watch it occurred to him that perhaps it was not really made of gold, although he had bought it from an expert watchmaker and paid him the price of gold, and, after all, experts are not in the habit of deceiving. In order to put this thought out of his mind, he began thinking of other matters. Suddenly he saw that the sleeve of his coat was getting threadbare, as was common with the cloth made in wartime. He said to himself that if the official saw him he would imagine that he was a poor man, or perhaps he had already seen him and that was why he was not taking him into his room.