Yekl: A Tale of the New York Ghetto

he Immigration Bureau of Ellis Island. He was freshly shaven and clipped, smartly dressed in his best clothes and ball shoes,

skirt of grotesque cut, and her hair was concealed under a voluminous wig of a pitch-black hue. This she had put on just before leaving the steamer, both "in honour of the Sabbath" and by way of sprucing herself up for the great event. Since Yekl had left home she had gained considerably in the measurement of her waist. The wig, however, made her seem stouter and as though shorter than she would have appeared without it. It also added at least five years to her looks. But she was aware neither of this nor of t

presence of the surging crowd around him, before it was inevitable. He dared not even survey that crowd to see

m, and in another little while Gitl, hugging Yosselé with one a

t in a piteous high key

elves upon the stern functionary and the questions he bethought himself of asking before finally releasing his prisoners. The contrast between Gitl and Jake was

!" Gitl ejaculated to herself as she scrutiniz

he turned his frightened little eyes-precise copi

boy looked stunned, then he burst out crying and fell to kicking his father's chest with might and main, his reddened little face appealingly turned to Gitl. Jake continuing his way tried to kiss his son into tolerati

e performance had an effect of something done to order, which, it must be owned, was far from being belied by the state of their minds at the moment. Their kisses imparted the

a poritz,"[7]

you? How

so. She sends you her

g was fa

. He cost us h

Presently, however, the illusion took wing and here he was, Jake the Yankee, with this bonnetless, wigged, dowdyish little greenhorn by his side! That she was his wife, nay, that he was a married man at all, seemed incredible to him. The sturdy, thr

ese three years never been absent from her mind. And while she was once more examining Jake's blue diagonal cutaway, glossy stand-up collar, the white four-in-hand necktie, coquettishly tucked away in the bosom of his starched shi

ecognise a certain movement of his upper lip-an old trick of his. It was as if she had suddenly disc

ntleness, pushing away her arms.

loured

wigs here," he

she asked,

It is quite a

kerchief," she faltered. "It is of silk-I bought it

s not wear ev

th their own hair?" she querie

right, put i

could see her bareheaded while she was replacing the wig by the kerchief. He obeyed. All the while the operation

d part of her forehead were hidden under a kerchief of

Jake thought that it made her look like an

he said in despair, reflecting that the wig

Gitl was shocked to see him

Why, it is Sabb

ile stopping in Hamburg, and knew that no orthodox Jew would use them on the seventh day. At length Jake, losing all self-control, fiercely commanded her not to make him the laughing-stock of the people on the street

with a violently throbbing heart. If she had been a culprit on the way to the gallows she c

maur as tree years, de liddle feller!" And so great was the impression which his dashing manner and his English produced on Gitl,

ore his wife, Jake all at once

be hungry?

re do you eat yo

rrected her complaisantly;

ecomes fatter?" she confusedl

e five or six score English words and phrases which the omnivorous Je