To the Reader, pp. 135-136, Competitors, pp. 136-143 , The Happiest Man in Kodny, pp. 143-152 Summary

In To the Reader, the narrator is a commercial traveler who spends lots of time riding trains. He decides to take notes on the people he meets and things that happen to him.

In Competitors, two impoverished people, a man and a woman, compete to sell oranges, rolls and so on to passengers on a train. They always sell in the same car and charge the same prices. They beg passengers to buy from them, and not from their competitor. Then one day a mob goes into the train with the two competitors and Russian officials overturn their baskets. A young man and an older one argue over what Jews do to make a living...