Page 78 - The Legacy of Abraham Rothstein - text

Makova

someone would offer us a bowl of soup and a crust of bread, which
we were glad to get.
It was a disappointment causing us a lot of suffering. We did not
have money, so we had no lodging. We slept in the classroom on
benches, on bare wood like trees. Benches were few, not enough to
keep one’s body from pushing up against another’s on the same
narrow bench. For several weeks we kept up that life until the fire
department prohibited sleeping in the classrooms. In the beginning
of winter one cannot sleep in unheated rooms in that country, yet we
were put into a barracks vacated by a company of soldiers who had
left the town. No heat or beds, just boards on trestles, with wheat
straw for mattresses. For several weeks I slept in that freezing place
without undressing, and covered myself with my long overcoat. The
boys slept close together for warmth, and the result was lice, a
common insect with the poor in Russia. In a few days we had
increased the vermin population by several thousand. My diet was
poor, and I fed the insects more than I took into my own body. We
lived on black bread and murky tea, paying one cent a glass. The
bread was the cheapest kind sold by a bakery, made from the lowest
grade of flour with lots of bran. I became weak and emaciated.
The prodigal son did not like to return home. I, the great
adventurer, could not face the boys in the bet hamidrash. I could live
on tea and half-baked black bread, and was willing to sleep on straw,
but my cousin David always had plenty of meat at home and could
not stand such hardships. I was acting as his big brother, so I had to
go back with him to Pelcovizna. At any rate, being eaten up by lice
was more than we could stand. Our return journey was not as
eventful as the trip to Wisoka. We picked up another covered wagon
going empty to Warsaw for merchandise. It carried many passengers,
so we got in for fifty kopeks, all we had between us. It was pretty
cold; snow was on the ground. We huddled in between some men
with big fur coats and kept warm. At times everyone had to get out
of the schooner and walk for a mile to warm up.
At about seven o’clock in the morning the wagon stopped in front
of our house, which was right on the highway. My mother was
surprised to see me heading toward her. I was looking for a
comfortable spot to put down my overcoat and change my clothes,
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