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Y a n k e e Ō s S t o r y by Joseph Meltzer Early years 1889-1898 I was born into a family of father, mother, 2 sisters, 4 brothers, a
half aunt, an uncle, maternal grandfather, step grandmother, paternal
grandmother and step grandfather. The town we lived in was mostly
Jewish (about 80%) of about 13,000 population, 3 synagogues, 3 churches,
Hebrew schools, private schools, 2 Christian public schools (primary and
grammar), one hotel, 2 parks, a river, some wooded section, a large hill, an
army garrison, police station and a court. I remember vividly that at 2
or 3 I was outfitted with a new suit and overcoat and displayed on the
counter of the store to all and sundry. I was a midget with a funny
face. My brothers, Sam (2 years older), David (5 years older), Nathan
(10 years older) and Leon (11 years older) were my bosses, not counting my
sister Rose (3 and a half years older) and Beckie
(9 years older.) |
Joseph and Donald in |
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I was the youngest and therefore the clothing I wore was handed down
to me step by step. My mother told me that I didnÕt start talking until
I was 3 years old and that Mother and Dad were much concerned about this and
even contemplated calling in an expert physician, but suddenly I came in and
told a story to Mother as smooth as anything. I was never conscious of
it. (I made up for the lost time in later years!) but
I never aspired to be an orator. My Hebrew and Jewish education began in a private school conduced by
Herr Katz where Sam and all my friends attended (at the age of 5). There we learned the meaning of Hebrew
words, reading, writing, arithmetic, in both Hebrew and Yiddish, also a bit
of folklore and a very small bit of geography. At home we had rabbis to teach both
Sam and myself Tanach (the story of the Hebrew
kings and Gammorah, the study of Hebrew law). I took to it like a duck to water,
admired and almost worshipped the teachers, especially Katz. We also had appropriate math teachers. As we grew up (the kids) held carnivals and make-believe circuses in
imitation of the circuses which came to town. I always did the heavy work,
constructed the swings etc. and did some fancy trapeze stunts. When I became older, I helped in the store. My folks carried on a retail business
like the present general store except that we sold no piece goods. We sold everything from needles to
kerosene lamps and from cotton in bales to fine silk netting for brides. Mother always said that I knew all the
customersÕ names, could sell umbrellas to the peasants and was especially
useful in opening bundles, string and nails. Life in general was smooth and protected and all in all it was a very
peaceful existence. My father and
mother were pious orthodox folks observing all holidays and Saturdays. My father was rather learned in the
Hebrew tradition while Mother, who had no education whatsoever, learned from
her husband everything she knew.
She was, by far, the shrewder of the two and the most industrious. Father was most loving to his children,
honest, hardworking, considerate, charitable, just, understanding, capable of
handling businessmen, employees and customers. Mother was quick tempered and at times
intemperate, shrewd, hardworking, charitable where it showed and loving to
the family. My brothersÉ to begin with: Nathan was a dreamer.
Practical matters were foreign to him. Arithmetic was Greek, geography was a
nightmare. Music was his
love. Women were out. When I was about 8 years old, he began
to take violin lessons to our great dismay. He was terrible. But he was persistent and finally when
I was about 10, he went to Vilna, a town about 40 miles away to study in the
conservatory. He was gentle,
philosophical and tried to follow an intellectual life but was not too
bright. I loved him in spite of
all this. I also loved David was a rough and ready young man, refused to learn anything, out
for a good time. He belonged to
the Ōstrong-armÕ gang, had affairs with girls, was one of the protectors
during the progroms, was
loveable, shrewd but incorrigible.
Father neve spared the rod on either him or
Leon, but only slapped Nathan when he made stupid mistakes. Sam was exactly 2 years older and my constant companion; his friends
were my friends. He was much
better looking, had more push and spark, was popular with boys and girls,
more pushing, forward and alert, smart, quick at learning and gave promise of
possessing leadership. I was his
shadow. My sisters Beckie and Rose were again two
different personalities. Beckie was selfcentred and
selfish, good natured, stout and spoiled by my mother. She had a very loving nature and my
relationship with her was a constanat physical
cuddling. She loved me very
much. I loved Rose most. Rose was a serious, sweet considerate
girl and bore the brunt of MotherÕs constant nagging and bossing and
belittling for the benefit of Beckie. Rose was the drudge in spite of 2
servants who worked for us in the house.
Rose was a hard worker in connection with the store; she sewed, waited
on customers and did some housework.
But in spite of all, she kept herself neat and clean and loved every
one of us. I loved her very
dearly and preferred her greatly over Beckie and
IÕm afraid I showed it. So now you have a good picture of my family and surroundings. Of all my teachers I loved and looked
up to Herr Katz most. My first day at his school, one of the boys who misbehaved was
punished by Herr Katz. The
punishment consisted of baring his buttocks to which Katz applied a switch
consisting of twigs. It must have
hurt but there was not a sound out of the boy (about 3 years older than I
was). My face flamed and I got
hot all over. At lunch time I
kept looking at the boy and thinking that I might have felt ashamed. To my great surprise, he seemed to
have forgotten all about it, was cheerful and
laughed with the rest of the boys about some incident. I could not understand it and kept
thinking that if it was myself that was involved, I
couldnÕt face any of my friends.
This incident is so vivid that I think about it quite often. The boyÕs name was Grushkin. My family occupied a good position in the community. My father had a separate section in
the school, was very well thought of as a good, honest, upright, charitable
person. People came to him for
advice and he was well connected with all the activities of the community and
was generally well thought of.
Our customers, who were mostly peasants who came to the city to barter
and trade, would come in, place a bag of silver and paper money on the
counter and ask my father to count the money, credit it to his account (the
peasantÕs) and sell him whatever the peasant needed and return whatever money
was left over. Such was my
fatherÕs reputation that there was never an argument about prices, count, or
change. The peasants trusted him
implicitly. On Friday nights and Saturdays when the store was closed, Father would
always bring home and ŌOrchanÕ, a guest, or 2 or 3,
mostly strangers who visited the city and temple and who needed a place to
eat and sleep. Among the pious
Jews it was the deep seated belief that the strangers were Holy and must be
treated with the utmost solicitude.
Our house on the Sabbath was always the haven of the ŌRabonimÕ who visited the city and those who acted as
visiting preachers in the temple. Father was loving to his children,
progressive, understanding, pious, took religion pragmatically, considerate
and above all, JUST. He was not
overly strict but insisted on certain formalities and observances. He did not drink or smoke. He loved us all in spite of some of
our faults and was in turn loved by us and the needy. Mother was charitable, mixed into all
matters of helping the poor, the sick and the needy. She was very energetic and spared no
effort to help anyone. She danced
at all the weddings and mourned at all the funerals. She not only was involved in every
communal affair but in fact bossed it all. She was good and loving but too
bossy. Putting it all together
and viewing the period from 1887 when I was 1 or 2 years old to 1898 when we
left for The years between age 6 to 12 were relatively
uneventful. My greatest attention
was to my brother Sam, who was two years older to a day and was a dashing
young fellow, a good mixer, much taller than I, made friends easily and began
to speak Russian at an early age (we all spoke Yiddish) and was sent to a
primary school. My attachment to
my other brothers was close since I was the youngest in the family of seven
children. I was always protected
by everyone. My sister Rose I
loved dearly. My brothers I
looked up to in more or less of degrees.
As I recall, I was always a hero-worshipper Š so that all my teachers
were super and my friends were always better than I was. My paternal grandmother was the
outstanding person, a fine goodnatured woman full
of love and consideration. She
never spoke harshly of anyone and always found excuses for everyoneÕs
actions. Sam always used me for everything. He was my protector and
spokesman. I was always rather
taciturn and expressing myself clearly came with
difficulty. I think I stammered a
little at times. I was good at
studies and wanted things explained thoroughly. I took lots of time to let it sink in
and came up with curious questions which sometimes got me in difficulties. Up to the age of 10 I knew nothing of
sex, was not stirred by small boysÕ stories, was curious and heard some funny
stories about the prostitutes in the town without much gless. I could never understand smutty jokes
and therefore could never repeat them.
I still am that way.
Between 10 and 13 Sam got me in several scrapes. He taught me and egged me on to take
money from the till and we both spent it on foolish things. In fact, at one time we buried the
silver pieces in the ground so they would not be found on us and never could
find the place where we had hid the loot. I was very loyal to my teachers and
always took their part if any blame was put on them by my father for not
getting better results. When I was past 12 (1987) our business began to fall off and Pop
failed, but managed by hocking everything to save the store. After that things went from bad to
worse. My father urged my mother
to move to FatherÕs departure with David was a secret and sad affair. Mother told us that she would soon
follow with Sam and me, leaving Beckie and Rose
behind to live with their cousins in Vilna (these are the cousins who emigrated to So when I was almost 13, Mother, Sam and I secretly departed for OUR TRIP TO In December 1897, Mother, Sam and I set off to lands unknown after
tearful goodbyes to Beckie, Rose and Moishe Becker, our cousin. We three traveled by horse and wagon
to Yaneva with our many bundles and packages and
whatever belongings Mother could gather together. Yaneva was a
railroad junction so we slept there.
In the morning I went outside and came
running back to Mother because I heard an unworldly noise. Mother explained to me that it was
only the whistle of a steam locomotive (the first I eve heard.) From then on we traveled by train to a
small town near the border of We spent the day there without much excitement except that a Jewish
spy wanted to hold Mother up for some money to keep him quiet,
otherwise he said he would report us.
But Mother who was always full of spunk, gave
him Hell and talked him out of it.
We proceeded from there by rail to When we arrived in However on arrival, I felt better and after my breakfast of herring,
bread and water, the world looked bright again. We were now ready to continue our journey to As we were walking along she made inquiries but got no
directions. Then she spied a
young boy about 14 and yelled to him.
She told us that he looked like a Kopanz. Sure enough she was right; he was one
of the children and he took us to their house. So without an address, Mother found
her destination and was accepted by the relatives. This family happened to be in ordinary
circumstances but we managed to obtain a furnished room and ate at the
relationsÕ house. The boys were
about our own age and we became acquainted and hit it off pretty good. SamÕs ability to make friends
helped. On the second day, I was
brought to a school and sat in as a beginner in the English system of
learning. Sam didnÕt have to
because of being two years older. This was the first time I attended a Christian school and it was a
novelty. The girl teachers were
very young, about 17 or 18, and very strict. Mother began to correspond with Nathan in He trip was not bad except for a few days. We all slept in one large compartment
with 6 or
7 other passengers on one large shelf.
The food was bad and the treatment worse. However, we were going to All in all it took about 3 months to get there. I remember that DadÕs eyes were full
of tears when he clasped us three in his arms. I was very happy. We are now in 1905 to 1910 I remember that in my first year of day school (Cooper Union), I had
to make up four subjects which I had had in evening
school, but the Ōday brassÕ would not give me credit for these subjects. So I had to take three of them in the
evening and one I had to squeeze in somewhere. Well, I did it at the expense of 27
pounds around my waist and elsewhere and at the cost of a great deal of self
assurance. There were Sundays
when I hated to see anyone because I thought IÕd never be able to carry it
through. I still remember that in
order to make some sort of living, I managed two jobs (a bookkeeper in an
ashcan manufacturing establishment at $2 per week for 5 two hour sessions and
as a night telephone operator for the New York Staats
Zeitung at $1.50 per evening from 5pm to 2am
and on Saturdays I gave lessons in English (donÕt laugh) and one lesson in
Math. And when you understand
that I had to make 14 drawings for the first year and 20 drawings for the
second, each one consuming about 4 hours, you must realize that I slept very
little. And that together with
meager rations, is it a wonder that after 8 months of the grind, I was 27 pounds
shy? But the summer came and the sunshine and the leisure of Saturdays and
Sundays. And my good friends of
both sexes encouraged me. I soon
recovered Š not my weight but my geist
(spirit). And so the first year
of school passed and I had a summer job at $6 per week at an umbrella
factory. Some more hard work but
no more night work and I could visit with the girls.
Donald with his parents in
Egypt Photo: Abbot Bronstein |
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