“As to the beggars, I never imagined there could be so many in one country.  We generally get enough beggars coming to us on Fridays and before holy days, but at Yom Kippur and Purim they come in crowds.  Most of them are Sephardim and Yeminites.  It is true you give each of them only a para, which is about a quarter of a farthing, and they give you a blessing for it; but, if they come to a rich class of home and are not given there according to the style of the house, they upbraid the people, and even curse them, so the children are told to stand at the doors with paras and cakes, etc.  At some houses they are invited in.  Each carries a sack on his shoulder, expecting, I suppose, that it will be filled with good things by the time Purim is over; and, as they never pass a door without begging, they are not likely to be disappointed.

“The fun I enjoyed best was the uncovering of our plates and seeing what Shalach-monus had been sent to us.  A cap had been sent to Father, made of velvet, with tails of sable and other skins round it.  Father felt very downcast, for he did not at all like the idea of giving up wearing the high hat that he always wore in London on Sabbaths and holidays.  Whether he will wear the velvet schtramel or not I cannot tell, but I will wait and see who wins—­Father or the community—­for we have some idea who sent it.

“Mother received a beautiful, soft silk kerchief to wear on her head, and it seemed a sign that the community wanted her to put her wig aside and wear a kerchief instead.  I was most thankful they did not send me a pair of scissors.  If they had, I should have thought they wanted me to cut my plaits off.  Well, I should have fought for my hair as I would for life!

“In the afternoon I went to visit some friends, and I found a house full of men, young and old, with their schtramel on their heads, and their kaftans tied back, singing at the very top of their voices (and some have very fine voices); others were clapping their hands, while eight men, four on each side, were dancing what looked like a pantomime ballet that I once went to.  It was simply grand to watch them, for some were old men with long, white beards, while others were serious-looking young men who are to be seen daily in the street walking to and from their homes and Shules, always deep in thought and so very serious-looking that you would imagine that they did not know how to smile.  Here they were, on this Purim afternoon, dancing with all their might, and with bright, smiling eyes!  You could see it was not wine that had made them bright and cheery:  it was the spirit, or fire, of their religious zeal commemorating with thankfulness the anniversary of the day when their nation was saved from destruction.  Of course I was too fascinated watching them at the time to think this was the reason for this unusual sight.

“After a while, they went to pay visits to the Rav and to others who were scholars or pious men in the community.  Often when walking to the various houses they would catch hold of others and dance with them in the open streets as you see children doing when an organ-grinder plays.