divulge a secret; but I know you so well, we are all intimate friends, so if you promise that you will keep it a profound secret, I will tell you the little I know about this scandalous and atrocious affair."

"Tell us, tell us, Geetl Leben!" they all shouted in chorus.

"I swear! Not a word shall pass my lips, so may my son become a 'roof'— rabbi (highest aspiration)."

"So may I be granted to bring up my children in joy," cried another.

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So may I lead my daughter under the Choope!' (canopy of matrimony)," assured a third.

So each in turn vowed never to repeat what she would tell them.

The writer, like Geetl, is not a gossip, but deems it not a transgression to relate the happenings, more fully perhaps, and with regard for the truth, which Geetl the "Secretive" told her friends many years

ago, and which are vividly recalled to his mind by the reading in the press of recent date of the prominence of Reb Chatskel's son, an issue of this second marriage, — for he is no less than a " Geeter Yid," "Wonder Rabbi."

On account of the inadequate mail system, and mainly because of the untrustworthiness of the officials, the Jews in Poland seldom send their letters of importance through the mail. They either avail themselves of the accommodation of one who just happens to go to the place of the addressee, or, in very urgent cases, if the sender possesses the means, he hires a "Sh'leeach" (messenger). Seldom is the letter inclosed in an envelope, but is folded and addressed on the outer fold, and in but few instances is sealed. To insure the contents not being read by the bearer, however, the Hebrew words "V'chal b'chadrag" are written beneath the address.

These words are comprised of the "Roshay tayvos (beginning letters) of the words "V'choots l'zooloso-b' chayrem d'rabbenoo Gershom" (none but he, the addressee, under ban of our Rabbi Gershom).

Rabbi Gershom Ben Judah (called also Gershom ha-Zakon," Gershom the Elder " and Me'or ha-Golah, “Light of the Exile ") was a French rabbi, born at Metz, 960, and died at Mayense, Germany, 1040. He called, about the year 1000, a synod which decided among other rules the one concerning the prohibition against opening correspondence addressed to another. The trustee of a letter thus fearing to bring upon himself the ban of Rabbi Gershom, rarely, if ever, opens the missive in order to familiarize himself with its contents. The circumstance that not many of those who for pay carry the letters are able to read, may also be a factor that their con

tents do not become known to any save the parties concerned.

Zalmen was a "Sh'leeach." He was, at the time of this episode, about forty years of age. The writer, a mere child at the time, calls to mind how, in his eyes, Zalmen towered up to gigantic height. He was, in reality, about seven feet tall, and owing to the slimness of his body, appeared much taller. His yards of legs well qualified him for the physical essentials of a " Sh'leeach," and it is recorded in the annals of the congregation that when once attacked by four highway robbers, just as they were about to despoil him of a letter containing a considerable sum of money, he wound, snakelike, each one of his long arms and legs around each of the robbers, respectively, and held them so tightly in that manner that one after the other their souls were expedited to Gehenna. This according to Zalmen's own deposition. He was ex

tremely pious. To this the writer himself can conscientiously testify, for he still feels the sting of the terrific blow he once received from him for having been so degraded, despite his six years of age, as to bite into an apple, presented to him by Zalmen, before saying the "B'rocho (benediction). He also was very sparing of words. All these were moral qualifications which stamped Zalmen as an ideal messenger. Small wonder then that he was intrusted with the delivery of all letters containing casuistic questions, which required the opinions of different rabbis, and with other most important epistles which called for absolute privacy.

Reb Chatskel, the contractor, a man of great wealth, had been left a widower with seven ungrown children for whom he found it necessary to provide a caretaker. He decided therefore to marry again. Hence he dispatched Zalmen with a letter