My Childhood

On November 7th, 1867 in Warsaw, Poland, my life officially began. I was a shy, small girl living with my four siblings and parents. The one sibling I was especially close to my sister Bronya.

My fellow siblings and I went to a school where the teachers were Russian and all they taught about were things relating to Russia. You couldn't even speak in Polish or you would find yourself in some serious trouble. Life as a child at school was not pleasant, especially for me.

In my class, I was of course the youngest, only ten years of age, but also the smartest. Every so often Mr. Hornberg, the school inspector, would come and visit our classroom and ask questions. My teacher always called on me to answer the questions because I always got the answers right. I hated it because not only did I not like answering questions all the time, but I hated how my teacher was always taking advantage of me.

Early in my childhood, my oldest sister Sophia, and my mom died. I was devastated, but grew away from the sadness by reading.

Later, Bronya and I attended what was called, "The Floating University." There, we learned many things, until Bronya went to real college in Paris, France. I helped her afford to go there by becoming a governess, or a lady who takes care of people's houses and teaches their children, when I was eighteen years old. This was the end to my childhood. I was now working as a grown adult.