They slept on benches, on tables, on the floor; they picked up their meals wherever they could.

They had come from distant cities, so as to be under good teachers in Polotzk; and the townspeople were proud to support them by giving them food and clothing and sometimes money to visit their homes on holidays.

But the poor students came in such numbers that there were not enough rich families to provide for all, so that some of them suffered privation.

You could pick out a poor student in a crowd, by his pale face and shrunken form.
There was almost always a poor student taking meals at our house.

He was assigned a certain day, and on that day my grandmother took care to have something especially good for dinner.