Returning to Polotzk they went to storekeeping on their own account, but failed in this also, because my father was inexperienced, and my mother, now with the baby to nurse, was not able to give her best attention to business.

Over two years passed in this experiment, and in the interval the second child was born, increasing my parents' need of a home and a reliable income.
It was then decided that my father should seek his fortune elsewhere.
He travelled as far east as Tchistopol, on the Volga, and south as far as Odessa, on the Black Sea, trying his luck at various occupations within the usual Jewish restrictions.

Finally he reached the position of assistant superintendent in a distillery, with a salary of thirty rubles a month.

That was a fair income for those days, and he was planning to have his family join him when my Grandfather Raphael died, leaving my mother heir to a good business.

My father thereupon returned to Polotzk, after nearly three years' absence from home.
As my mother had been trained to her business from childhood, while my father had had only a little irregular experience, she naturally remained the leader.