Mr. Monday and other tales of Jewish Amsterdam

WEEKDAYS AND SABBATH 87

the house.' So I say again 'No, I mean, do you have sufficient bowel movement?'And she says 'Well, doctor, a mouthful now and then.' Ha, ha, ha!"

Doctor Lamb is a keen judge of character, his insight in psychology has furnished him with certain secret medicines. For instance, when he has to visit a particularly gloomy patient, he asks an organ grinder to play on his street organ in front of that patient's house. Then Doctor Lamb arrives. He knocks on the patient's door. When he enters the room she is lying in bed looking at him mournfully.

"Good day to you, Mrs.Stein. And how are you today?"

"Ach doctor, I'm afraid I am finished. What can I tell you, my legs are stiff and my arms are racked with pain. My back aches and I have stitches in my behind. And I myself don't feel so good either."

Says Doctor Lamb "Let us begin by opening the window."

Through the open window they hear the music of the street-organ. Then Doctor Lamb becomes merry, he starts to waltz around the room.

"Ta-ta-ta, ta-ta-ta..."

After a few steps he says "My dear, come out of bed. Let us waltz together. I do so want to dance with you, Mrs. Stein."

In nine out often cases the woman gets out of bed and waltzes with Doctor Lamb around the little room. Usually she is cured the same day of her dreadful disease.

While they sit in the doctor's waiting room, the patients chat among themselves. In the course of their conversations they sometimes discover that they are distant relatives.