they were good friends and true, were isaac and alice. to be sure, they were not exactly what most people would consider a well-assorted or naturally allied pair; for isaac was a great strapping fellow of about thirty, who could speak yiddish much better than english, while alice was a sweet little girl of not quite five, whose childish prattle had a decidedly yankee twang, and whose cradle had stood many thousands of miles from the spot where isaac’s infantile eyes had first opened upon a strange and troublesome world. yet that they were close friends was an undeniable, if somewhat unaccountable, fact. people who saw the stalwart young lithuanian hebrew carpenter, with the dark ringlets and raven beard and the golden-haired and blue-eyed little down east maiden as they sat together and conversed during the midday hour when isaac was eating his frugal lunch, or as they sauntered hand in hand through the streets of the little massachusetts town, would 169often smile and wonder and make comments, sometimes jocular and sometimes sarcastic to each other; but neither isaac nor alice cared what anybody said. they were not afraid of scandal and were sublimely indifferent to public opinion. they were just good friends and that was all about it. they had been good friends from the first moment they met, several weeks after isaac had set foot upon the hospitable shore of america, and had exhausted the greater part of his physical energy and about all of his financial resources and of his store of courage and hope in the effort to persuade the land of the free and the home of the brave to provide him with a livelihood. he had entered at the port of new york and tried for a week or so to find employment at his trade in the metropolis. but there must have been a plethora of carpenters in the great city at that time; for wherever he applied, the answer was the same, “no one wanted.” he had then determined to try the smaller towns and cities, and had wandered on foot through connecticut, and had applied at hundreds of shops in the many industrial communities of that state, all the time growing fainter and weaker and more discouraged; and had never heard any other response to his request for work than the same monotonous 170refrain, which had now grown terrible in its suggestion of despair, “no one wanted.”
at last he had drifted, he hardly knew how, into massachusetts and had entered the little town of atbury. hope had almost left him, and grim thoughts of suicide filled his mind while he wandered aimlessly through the neat and well-kept streets of the town. in the course of his wanderings he saw a wooden building, upon the front of which a large sign proclaimed that within was a carpenter shop, and that the owner’s name was thomas jones. mechanically isaac entered the large open doorway on his usual quest. he had no anticipation of success; and when mr. jones, who was a handsome middle-aged man of typical yankee appearance and very brusque and short-spoken, returned the usual answer to his timid query, he turned to go away with a sinking heart, in which the dull pain was not perceptibly keener than it had previously been.
but this time an unprecedented incident occurred. a pretty little blond-haired, blue-eyed girl, a mere tot, was standing next to the proprietor when the stranger entered the shop, and she gazed at his handsome though careworn features while he made his pitiable appeal for work, with an expression of evident liking, 171mingled with sympathy and pity. when he turned to depart, surprise and sorrow showed themselves plainly in the face of the child; and turning to her father—as you have, no doubt, already guessed, sweet reader, it was alice, thomas jones’s only and dearly beloved child—she said: “why, aren’t you going to give the poor man work, papa? just see how sad he looks. don’t let him go.”
“do you want me to keep him, little one?” asked the father, gazing at the pleading face of his little daughter with amused parental fondness.
“yes i do, papa,” said alice. “i think he is a very good man and i want you to keep him.”
“well,” said thomas jones, “for your sake i’ll give him a chance.”
nothing pleased them better than a “horsey-back” ride
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isaac was not yet out of the shop and the loud voice of the master carpenter at once brought him back. he speedily demonstrated his ability in his trade and was retained, his employer impressing upon him that it was the intercession of the little girl which had given him his opportunity. isaac bowed low before the child with reverential gratitude and imprinted upon her tiny hand a grateful kiss. thus began their friendship, and it became very warm and sincere indeed. alice took naturally to the broadshouldered, 172pleasant-faced young foreigner; and isaac, who was not only deeply grateful to the child for having steered the almost shipwrecked vessel of his life into the safe harbor of employment and bread, but was also thoroughly social and companionable by disposition, did all in his power to amuse and entertain his young benefactor. they were not allowed to meet during work hours, for father jones, though a loving and indulgent parent, was a strict and uncompromising task-master, and would tolerate no unbusiness-like interruptions during the time allotted to work; but during the noonday intermission for meals, when alice would seek isaac in whatever part of the town he happened to be employed after the close of work in the late afternoon, when isaac returned to his master’s house where was his home, they were sure to be together, and would romp and “carry on” to their heart’s content. nothing pleased them better than a “horsey-back” ride, when isaac would act as the fiery though remarkably docile steed, and alice rode her mount in greater security than the most practised equestrienne. isaac would trot and gallop, and pace and paw, and prance and snort, and whinny and neigh, like the very war-horse of job, all the time holding his little rider in a firm and loving grasp; while 173alice, with streaming locks and flashing eyes, would cry “gee-up!” and “whoa!” and pull his hair for reins and belabor his shoulders with her tiny fists, according to the most approved rules of the equestrian art. there were plenty of other forms of amusement as well. sometimes they would play “blind-man’s buff,” when isaac would begin the game by permitting himself to be tightly bandaged across the eyes, and would then grope around the room in an endeavor to catch alice. but somehow or other he was always very clumsy in this game; and alice never had the least trouble to avoid his aimless reachings out, and would enjoy herself highly, slipping in and out right in front of his very face and touching him on all sides. and when finally his hand would land on alice, apparently by accident, and capture her, and it would be her turn to submit to be bandaged and to try to capture him, he seemed even clumsier in his movements. he never seemed to know how to evade the “blind man,” but was continually getting in the way; and in two or three minutes at the utmost, alice’s tiny hands would seize him in their firm grasp, and her shrill cry of triumph would proclaim that he was a prisoner. he also taught alice some queer russian games, which were a source of never-failing amazement and 174amusement (about equally divided) to all the boys and girls in the neighborhood. then sometimes on a holiday, or when work happened to be slack, they would go out together berrying, and would come home with big canfuls of blackberries, or blueberries, or huckleberries, or raspberries, or some of the other sorts of berries which grew at the roadsides or in the fields, alice looking very happy, and isaac rather tired and scratched about the hands; for it was an open secret that while alice had most of the fun, isaac had most of the trouble, and worked his very hardest to fill the can with the ripest and finest berries that could be found, so that the expedition should be properly fruitful of results. in these and a hundred other ways isaac endeavored to please his employer’s little daughter, and his efforts were highly successful, so successful, indeed, that the child grew to look upon him with warm affection, and was never so happy as when in his company.
nor was alice the only one who regarded isaac with affection. her parents were almost equally warm in their sentiments. thomas jones thought much of him because he was a thorough master of his trade, tremendously strong, and absolutely faithful and reliable. any task assigned to him, however arduous, 175was always performed with scrupulous exactness and conscientiousness, and no complaint or objection ever escaped his lips. mrs. jones liked him because he was sober, polite, and cleanly in his habits, and because he took such pains to please and amuse her little daughter. to be sure, there were some points about him which they did not exactly like, but his many good qualities counterbalanced these defects. one of these points was that he would not labor on the sabbath or jewish holidays. this difficulty had arisen the very first week of his employment, but the superior character of his work had induced mr. jones then to retain him, and afterward he had grown accustomed to dispensing with the services of isaac on saturdays or on any other day when he declared the rules of his religion required abstention from labor. another matter which seemed very peculiar to both mr. and mrs. jones was that, although isaac boarded with them, he never ate flesh in any form and refused to partake of many other dishes which appeared on their table. but, as the joneses were kind-hearted and tolerant people, and had besides a genuine liking for isaac, they overlooked these matters, and, if they reflected on them at all, merely thought them the natural result of his religious views.
176many were the arguments which the joneses had with some of their neighbors on account of isaac and the peculiar position which he occupied in their household. bigotry and narrow-mindedness are not unknown even in free america, where, theoretically, a man’s race and religion should have no influence, favorable or unfavorable, upon the opinion which is held concerning him, and where, if anywhere, the principle enunciated by the rabbis in the talmud should prevail—“thy deeds shall recommend thee, thy deeds shall condemn thee.” some of the good christian people of atbury, who thought, like sancho panza, that the most essential characteristic of a christian was a sound hatred of the jews, could not conceal their amazement, nay, their righteous indignation, that a jew should be a favored member of a christian household, and, worse yet, the trusted friend and companion of a little christian maiden.
“how can you permit an unbeliever to dwell in your home?” they would say, with much show of holy horror. “aren’t you afraid that in course of time he may seduce you or your little daughter, with specious reasoning, away from the true faith, and lead you into the error of judaism?” but the joneses would only laugh at these pious apprehensions and answer 177that isaac never spoke to them on religious subjects; that, while he was undoubtedly sincerely religious in his own way, he never obtruded his views on others; and that, in fact, it would not have been a bad thing if some people whom they knew would have imitated him in this particular.
the neighbors would then try another tack, in which they hoped to be more successful. “how can you trust alice to such a person?” they would ask, with the solemn air of those who warn friends against impending dangers which they are rashly incurring. “aren’t you afraid that he may do her some harm? you never can tell what such a jew might do. why, in some parts of europe they even accuse them of slaying christian children in order to use their blood for the passover. it isn’t safe to leave alice in his charge.”
but when they came with this argument they received a fitting response, which was not lacking either in clearness or emphasis. the joneses, particularly mrs. jones, told them that they might be at better business than calumniating one of whom they knew no evil; that isaac was the kindest, best-hearted, most devoted fellow in the world; that he was deeply grateful to alice because she had been the means of saving 178him from starvation, and, as for her being in any danger at his hands, why they, the joneses, were convinced that he would at any time be ready to give his life rather than see a hair of her head harmed.
sooner than any one anticipated the opportunity came which demonstrated that isaac was indeed ready to lay down his life to save his little friend from harm. a few days after an unusually warm debate of the kind outlined above between thomas jones and an especially zealous neighbor, who had warned isaac’s employer that all kinds of dreadful things would certainly happen if this unholy friendship were permitted to continue, jones summoned isaac to him. “come here, you jew!” he said half jocularly, half angrily, for the remembrance of the uncharitable words of his officious neighbor was still strong in him. “i want to show you what i think of you.” isaac at once advanced and waited with deferential air for the further words of his employer. “i’ve got a job in the outskirts of the town,” continued jones, gazing with satisfaction at the brawny figure and submissive attitude of his most reliable workman, “and, as i can’t spare any men from the other work, i’m going to put the whole thing in your hands. there’s a little cottage on the prentice 179place that’s got to be jacked up to make room for the masons to build a new foundation, and then all the board work and carpentering generally must be renovated and fixed up. i’ve sent up all the necessary wood already, so you can go right up and attend to the whole job alone. when you get there you can see for yourself what is to be done, and if you don’t understand anything, why, just ask old man prentice, and he’ll tell you what to do.”
isaac picked up his box of tools and was about to depart when little alice, who had been listening to the words of her father, skipped up and, laying her hand on isaac’s arm, asked eagerly: “won’t you take me along, isaac? i want to be with you when you’re doing the work.”
“ask your papa, alice,” said isaac, smiling pleasantly at his little friend. “if he will let you go, then i’ll be glad to take you.”
alice did not need to ask her father, for the latter, without giving her the opportunity to speak, at once gave her the desired permission. “yes, indeed, you can go with isaac,” he said, with rather more emphasis than was apparently necessary. “i’ll just show those numbskull bigot neighbors of mine what i think of their fanatical suspicions and insinuations. just trot 180along, little one, and i wish you lots of pleasure seeing isaac at work.”
thus duly authorized and permitted, isaac and alice went off together to the scene of his solitary task, which they reached in about half an hour. the prentice place was a little farm of two or three acres, in the centre of which stood the cottage. it was not a very large structure, but isaac’s practised eye at once perceived that his employer had set him a task sufficient to try the strength of three men. old man prentice was of the same opinion, and very emphatically expressed his dissatisfaction that jones had sent only one man to do the work of three. nothing daunted, however, isaac at once set about the performance of his task. the first thing to do was to lift the structure, which was done by means of appliances called jacks. isaac inserted one of the jacks under each of the four corners of the house and screwed it up until that part of the building was elevated to the desired height. in the mean while alice stood near her favorite and watched him at his arduous task, chatting and prattling all the while with the careless innocence of childhood; and isaac, though engrossed in his labor, did not fail to answer her childish queries, and kept his little friend interested and 181amused. all went well until isaac came to the fourth and last corner and proceeded to jack it up as he had done the others. here, by some miscalculation, he raised the corner a foot or so more than was necessary. at once the frame structure began to careen. isaac instantly perceived that the building would certainly topple to the ground, and a pang of agony shot through his heart as he thought of the loss which his mistake, unaccountable even to himself, would cause. his next thought was to save himself from harm; but, as he turned to flee from under the falling structure, what horrible sight met his eyes! little alice, petrified apparently by fright, was standing motionless under the tottering building. a sickening picture flashed up instantly before his mental retina of her little body lying crushed and bleeding under the ruins of the building, its life crushed out by the overwhelming weight. how could he save her? she was too far away for him to seize her and flee with her to safety, neither would it avail aught to shout to her to flee. before she could have recovered control of her faculties and impelled her limbs to motion, the blow would have fallen and all would be over. there was but one way to save alice, and, though isaac knew it meant almost certain 182death for himself, he instantly determined to do it. placing his powerful shoulders under the tilting woodwork, he shouted in a great and terrible voice to alice to run—run for her life. for a minute or so he stood, like fabled atlas upholding the world, supporting with his tremendous strength the falling structure, while his muscles stood out like whipcords and the sweat of agony poured all over his body. in that minute alice recovered herself and toddled out of harm’s way. a second later the heavy framework crushed out the man’s strength and bore him to the ground with a sickening thud, while the harsh crackling of the beams and boards as they were torn from their fastenings mingled with his awful shriek. he did not need to lie there long. poor little alice, with an intelligence beyond her years, ran to seek help from the neighbors; but her frenzied efforts were not necessary. the frightful crash of the falling building and the fierce, agonized shriek of the stricken victim had aroused all the neighborhood, and from all sides assistance speedily came. the united efforts of old man prentice and a number of laborers who hastened from a neighboring field speedily succeeded in removing the mass of beams and boards and odds and ends of woodwork from 183the body of isaac, and tenderly they laid him upon a temporary couch formed of their coats. he was crushed and maimed and bloody, every limb broken, and his features disfigured almost beyond recognition, but he was conscious and a happy smile played upon his face when he saw that alice had escaped all injury and was safe and sound.
“come to me, little darling,” he said, in barely audible tones, gazing wistfully at the child-friend for whom he had given his life; “come and bid me good-bye, for i feel that i must go. i do not complain because god is calling me away, but i am glad your young life is spared to be a joy to yourself and your dear parents for many years to come.” and his young friend, with strangely grave and solemn face, went to her dying protector and clasped his hand and kissed his blood-stained and distorted features, and called him her own dear isaac, and begged him not to die, while the strong men who stood around bowed their heads in reverent sorrow and silently wept. then they bore him home, and alice’s parents, when they heard the story of what he had done, knew not of which feeling their hearts were fuller—of gratitude that their darling daughter was safe or of admiration for the pure and self-sacrificing 184friendship which isaac had so heroically displayed and sorrow for his untimely end. he had relapsed into semi-consciousness and lay for several hours without speaking on his couch. then he stirred uneasily and feebly beckoned to his employer, indicating that he desired to communicate something to him. thomas jones, who had not left the room since first isaac had been brought home, at once went to the bedside, and putting his ear to the mouth of the dying man, heard him say in a feeble voice: “dear master, promise me one favor. i die a jew. have me laid away among my people.”
and thomas jones answered: “isaac, i promise.”
a look of infinite content and gratitude lit up isaac’s face. then, rising slightly on his side, he recited in hebrew, in a clear though feeble voice, the words of the jewish ritual for the dying: “hear, o israel, the lord our god, the lord is one. blessed be the glorious name of thy kingdom for ever and ever. into thy hands i deliver my spirit. thou hast redeemed me, o lord, god of truth.” and so he passed away.
every year, on the anniversary of isaac’s death, alice, now a maiden ripening into womanhood, 185visits isaac’s grave in the jewish cemetery in boston in which he rests; and if sincere tears and true sorrow are acceptable in the sight of god, then is her offering indeed acceptable and holy.
