I played lotto with Mendele and let him beat me; I found him when he was lost, and I helped him play tricks on our elders.

Perele, the baby, was at times my special charge, and I think she did not suffer in my hands.

I was a good nurse, though my methods were somewhat original.
Uncle Solomon was often away on business, and in his absence Cousin Hirshel was my hero.

Hirshel was only a little older than I, but he was a pupil in the high school, and wore the student's uniform, and knew nearly as much as my uncle, I thought.

When he buckled on his satchel of books in the morning, and strode away straight as a soldier,--no heder boy ever walked like that,--I stood in the doorway and worshipped his retreating steps.