As you are supposed, if possible, to send back to the sender
something similar to what is sent to you, things cannot be made ready
beforehand. To the poor you always send useful presents as well as
delicacies which are likely to last them for months or longer.
"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.
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