34 ALTER BRODY
��I can see him even now,
My Grandfather —
Bending over me, tall and sad-eyed and thought- ful- Lifting me up and seating me on his knees
Lovingly,
And listening to all my childish questions and con- fessions ;
Pardoning, admonishing, remonstrating —
Satisfying my interrogative soul with good-humored indulgence —
And my Grandmother,
Dear little woman !
I can never dissociate her from plum-pudding and apple dumplings.
And raisin-cakes and almond cakes and crisp potato- pancakes
And the smell of fish frying on the fire —
And then there is my cousin, Miriam,
Who lived in the yellow house across the lane —
A freckle-faced, cherry-eyed little girl with a puckered- up nose.
I was very romantic about her ;
And then there is my curse, my rival at school, my arch-enemy —
Jacob,
The synagogue sexton's boy,
On whom I was always warring —
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