Page 173 - The Legacy of Abraham Rothstein - text

At the secondhand shop

policeman would tell him to move, but he would give him a tirade in
good French, then tell him in English that in “mon cher” France the
policemen are polite, and become quite angry.
Usually the police left him alone, or had some fun with him, but
he was so destitute that the only place he could sleep at night was in a
restroom at some all-night show or under the stairs in a hotel. When
he was found out, they called the police and took him away in the
Black Maria. The judge gave him fifteen days in jail, which was a
blessing for he had to take a bath and wear a clean shirt and overalls.
He would not stand for such impoliteness, of course, so he was great
entertainment for the jailer and the inmates—who were mostly
drunks. One time he came before a judge and argued that he was not
a vagrant, but a professor. The judge wanted to know where he
taught, and he said that Mr. Rothstein was his private student. I was
summoned to testify. His appearance and his outbursts in French and
English made the courtroom lively. Thereafter, when a policeman
bothered him, he referred him to his benefactors, the Rothsteins.
This store of ours was a sort of gathering place for all the
suffering and dejected of humanity, and we had a lot of trouble
getting rid of the pests who hung around us. Of course, we took it,
and had some fun and gained some popularity out of it, and
sometimes sold a few goods and made a few dollars from those
cranks, but we lost a lot of time when we should have been
aggressive and strived for more and improved business. Our family
has always been community workers; that is, forgetting their own
affairs and working for others comes first. Had my father given his
attention to his business instead of helping every Tom, Dick and
Harry, he would probably have made a better living and we would
have gotten a better education. That store was in the best location for
that line of business, but my aggressiveness was towards the Zionist
work. I do not regret that. After all, it was a matter of life and death
to our people: we had to build the foundation, which has materialized
today. I was able to live, bring up my children the right way, and
provide my wife and children with food, clothing, and shelter—not,
perhaps, to the present standard, but in the period of which I am
writing it was a decent living and a good home.

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