The Jews live under very crowded conditions. Often several
families live in one small room. Uncleanliness inside and
outside is the sign of great poverty. Their financial resources
are very small. In the morning they eat radishes, onions,
garlic, or herring with bread. Those who are a little better off
drink tea. Midday they may have soup, fish, or meat and in the
evening the same menu. There are workers whose families fast all
day until the family wage earner comes home and brings his
earnings. (Written Kovno Gubernia (region), St. Petersburg, 1861
page 582.)These dreadful descriptions are not an exaggeration
and can be confirmed in the writing of the Hebrew writer
Popernow, who wrote about the Lithuanian shtetl at the same time
as the above quote. (Perezhitoya, Vol. II, page 39). The
following is a quote from his writing: The workers and merchants
operated with 50 or 100 rubles, barely earning a bitter
livelihood. Not finding any opportunity in the shtetl for their
skills and professional training, many sht