Page 41 - The Legacy of Abraham Rothstein - text

The move to Pelcovizna

six children. Living in the country, with three boys and a floor lower
than street level made of worn and cracked boards, it was not an easy
job to keep out mud in the winter and dust in the summer. But
Hannah had strength and determination; she washed the floor,
scrubbing it on her knees and spreading white sand over it, as was the
custom in that country—especially to honor the Sabbath.
We boys, who had been playing in the fields, would make fishing
rods from willow branches, using dress pins for hooks and flies for
bait. So we would come into the house searching for a pin on the
females’ dresses or a knife to trim the stick, bringing in mud or dirt
on that washed floor into which Hannah had put her strength and
education. This was more than trespassing; it was destroying a
commodity, her hard work. I was not strong at that age and the other
two boys were much younger, so Hannah would pounce on us like a
tiger, slapping us and hitting us over the head right and left without
mercy, throwing us out of the house with an encore on our backs.
As a rule, mothers like their sons better than their daughters, so my
mother would get after Hannah and the house would fill with cries
and quarreling.
To get even with her we would throw into the house a black June
bug of good size, a thing she was afraid of. Hannah had long black
hair and Chaia had long blond hair. When a beetle gets in the hair, it
is hard to pull out because its legs have so many barbs—that was
what scared my sisters. Another thing which scared them were
thistles, which grew in the fields around us; when caught in a
woman’s hair or a Jewish man’s beard it was torture pulling them out.
Many times I threw thistles in a man’s beard on Tisha b’Av in the
synagogue and had to run away. This was a youthful prank and not
considered a bad offense, as the other fellows who had beards and
were spared had a laugh, too. Another revenge on Hannah was to call
her tziganer, or gypsy in English, because she had black hair and
looked much like a Mexican. That would set her aflame and we could
not come in the house until nightfall.

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