FACING THE NEW WORLD 37 



belongings were never claimed. He must have been 

 lost trying to find his way home. The confusing same- 

 ness of the streets and houses must have misled him, 

 and owing to his inability to speak either English or 

 Jewish, he was swallowed up in the mammoth city. 

 All our search for him was fruitless. Whoever has 

 read that wonderful story of Korolenko's "After 

 Bread," will remember that the plot deals with a very 

 similar incident, except that there the central figure 

 is a girl. 



We stayed for several days at my cousin's, who 

 did his utmost to make us comfortable. The first 

 evening the little flat was breathlessly hot. When bed- 

 time came, my cousin, draping herself in a sheet and 

 taking a pillow in his hand, casually remarked that he 

 and his boarder were going up to the roof to sleep, 

 and if we wished, we could follow him, as it really was 

 airier there! It looked so novel so funny to me, 

 that we decided to follow his example. And when, 

 wrapped in sheets, our pillows in hand, we reached 

 the roof, we saw, as far as the eye could reach, white 

 figures stretched out on all the adjoining roofs. Cer- 

 tainly it would have been stifling to sleep indoors, so, 

 after another laugh, I settled down to the good night's 

 rest which our fatigue insured us. 



A few nights later, when we went to sleep at another 

 friend's place, Krimonts, the same funny thing hap- 

 pened. Towards midnight, young and old, wrapped in 

 white sheets, made a procession toward the roof. These 



