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Updated: May 28, 2025
In the living-rooms she did cooking and washing and sweeping; in the shop above, whenever a hand fell sick or work fell heavy, she was utilized to make buttonholes, school hours or no school hours. Bloomah was likewise the errand-girl of the establishment, and the portress of goods to and from S. Cohn's Emporium in Holloway, and the watch-dog when Mrs. Beckenstein went shopping or pleasuring.
Yet these sins of omission were virtues of commission elsewhere; for if Bloomah's desk was vacant, it was only because Bloomah was slaving at something that her mother considered more important. 'The Beckenstein family first, the workshop second, and school nowhere, Bloomah might have retorted on her mother. At home she was the girl-of-all-work.
School did not break up between the two attendances; there was a mere dinner-interval in the playground at midday. Nobody could get away, and whoever scored the first mark was sure of the second. Bloomah was up before dawn on the fateful winter morning; she could run no risks of being late.
Bloomah had an inspiration. 'The Law of Moses! Pooh! Don't you know this is written by the Meshummodim? The crowd looked blank, fell silent. If, indeed, the handbill was written by apostates, what could it hold but Satan's lies? Bloomah profited by her moment of triumph. 'Go home, you Narronim! she cried pityingly from her perch.
Her case was even worse than her mother imagined, for sometimes it was ten minutes to nine before Bloomah could sit down to her own breakfast, and then the steaming cup of tea served by her mother was a terrible hindrance; and if that good woman's head was turned, Bloomah would sneak towards the improvised sink which consisted of two dirty buckets, the one holding the clean water being recognisable by the tin pot standing on its covering-board where she would pour half her tea into the one bucket and fill up from the other.
'Bloomah Beckenstein, do you want me to pull you out by your plait? 'Mrs. Beckenstein, really you mustn't come here like that! said the teacher in her most ladylike accents. 'Tell Bloomah that, answered Mrs. Beckenstein, unimpressed. 'She's come here by runnin' away from home.
'Your little carrot is all right, said Bloomah testily. 'They've only vaccinated her. The woman caught at the only word she understood. 'Vaccinate, vaccinate! she repeated. Then, relapsing into jargon and raising her hands heavenward: 'A sudden death upon them all! Bloomah turned despairingly in search of a wigless woman. One stood at her elbow.
Bloomah remorsefully redoubled her exertions. The hope of the Banner flamed anew in every breast. But the other classes were no less keen; a fifth standard, in particular, kept the Banner for a full month, grimly holding it against all comers, came they ever so regularly and punctually. Suddenly a new and melancholy factor entered into the competition.
This time the break-down was even crueller, for every pinafored pupil, not excluding Bloomah, was in her place, red-marked. Upon this saintly company burst suddenly Bloomah's mother, who, ignoring the teacher, and pointing her finger dramatically at her daughter, cried: 'Bloomah Beckenstein, go home! Bloomah's face became one large red mark, at which all the other girls' eyes were directed.
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