Part 21 (2/2)

'Then my wretched example cannot lead the congregation away. I am glad of it. You do them much more harm by your way of Sabbath-breaking.'

'My way!'

'Yes, my dear old father--peace be upon him!--would have been scandalized to see the burden you carry on the Sabbath.'

'What burden do I carry?'

'Your snuff-box!'

The _Parna.s.s_ almost dropped it. 'That little thing!'

'I call it a c.u.mbrous, not to say tasteless thing. But before the Almighty there is no great and no small. One who stands in such a high place in the synagogue must be especially mindful, and every unnecessary burden----'

'But snuff is necessary for me--I can't do without it.'

'Other Presidents have done without it. As it is written in Jeremiah: ”And the wild a.s.ses did stand in the high places; they snuffed up the wind.”'

The _Parna.s.s_ flushed like a beetroot. 'I'll teach you to know _your_ place, sir.' He turned his back on the scoffer, and strode towards the door.

'But if you'd care for a smaller snuff-box,' said Simeon Samuels, 'I have an artistic a.s.sortment.'

XV

At the next meeting of the Synagogue Council a notice of motion stood upon the agenda in the name of the _Parna.s.s_ himself:

'That this Council views with the greatest reprobation the breach of the Fourth Commandment committed weekly by a member of the congregation, and calls upon him either to resign his seat, with the burial and other rights appertaining thereto, or to close his business on the Sabbath.'

When the resolution came up Mr. Solomon Barzinsky moved as an amendment that weekly be altered into 'twice a week,' since the member kept open on Friday night as well as Sat.u.r.day.

The _Parna.s.s_ refused to accept the amendment. There was only one Sabbath a week, though it had two periods. 'And the evening and the morning were one day.'

Mr. Peleg supported the amendment. They must not leave Mr. Simeon Samuels a loophole of escape. It was also, he said, the duty of the Council to buy a barometer the rogue had foisted upon him.

After an animated discussion, mainly about the barometer, the President accepted the amendment, but produced a great impression by altering 'twice a week' into 'bi-weekly.'

A Mr. John Straumann, however, who prided himself on his style, and had even changed his name to John because Jacob grated on his delicate ear, refused to be impressed.

Committed _bi_-weekly _by_ a member sounded almost jocose, he argued.

'Buy! buy!' it sounded like a butcher's cry.

Mr. Enoch, the _kosher_ butcher, rose amid excitement, and asked if he had come there to be insulted!

'Sit down! sit down!' said the _Parna.s.s_ roughly. 'It's no matter how the resolution sounds. It will be in writing.'

'Then why not add,' sarcastically persisted the stylist, '”Committed _bi_-weekly _by_ a member _by buying_ and selling.”'

'Order, order!' said the _Parna.s.s_ angrily. 'Those who are in favour of the resolution! Carried.'

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