Yekl: A Tale of the New York Ghetto

ound asleep in the lodgers' double bed, in the smallest of the three tiny rooms which the family rented on the second floor of one of a row of brand-ne

herself up to going about "in her own hair, like a Gentile woman." Even the expostulations of Mrs. Kavarsky-the childless middle-aged woman who occupied with her husband the three rooms across the narrow hallway-failed to prevail upon her. Nevertheless Jake, succumbing to Mrs. Kavarsky's annoying sol

will make a Fifth Avenue lady of her, and you shall see if she does not give in. If she is then n

predictions had not yet come true, save for Gitl's prying once or twice into the pasteb

a lapse of some ten or fifteen minutes she re-emerged, attired in her brown holiday dress in which she had first confronted Jake on Ellis Island, and with the tall black straw hat on her head. Walking on tiptoe, as though about to commit a crime, she crossed over to the looking-glass. Then she paused, her eyes on the door, to listen for possible footsteps. Hearing none she faced the glass. "Quite a panenke!"[10] she thought to herself, all aglow with excitement, a smile, at once shamefaced and beatific, melting her features. She turned to the right, then to the left, to view herself in profile, as she had seen Mrs. Kavarsky do, and drew back a step to ascertain the effect of the corset. To tell t

r examined herself, as she fixed her glance on the ceiling. This time the answer was slow in coming, and her heart grew faint. "And what was it Yekl called that?"-transferrin

greenhornsh learn to speak American shtyle very fast; and she-one mi

n ich,"[11] she hasten

and took no more notice of it. Now, however, Jake's tone of voice, as he had rebuked

as she thus sat in solitude, with his harsh voice ringing in her ears and his icy look before her, a feeling of suspicion darkened her soul. She recalled other scenes where he had looked and spoken as he had done the night before. "He must hate me! A pain upon me!" she concluded with a fallen heart. She wondered whether his demeanour toward her was like that of other people who hated their wives. She remembered a woman of her native village who was known to be thus afflicted, and she dropped her head in a fit of despair. At one moment she took a firm resolve to pluck up courage and cast away the kerchief and the wig; but at the next she reflected that God would be sure to punish her for the terrible sin, so that instead of winning Jake's love the change would increase his hatred for her. It flashed upon her mind to call upon some "good Jew" to pray for the return of his favour, or to seek some old Polish beggar woman who could prescribe a love potion. But then, alas! who knows whether there

and announcing the advent of his famous appetite. She seized him in her arms and covered his warm cheeks with fervent kisses which did her aching heart good. And by-and-bye, as she admiringly watched the boy making savage inroads into a generous slice of ry

ushing away at a cloak and singing to it so

ince a week or two previous to Gitl's landing. As to the scene which had greeted him in the shop after the stirring news had f

ushing crimson, against his shopmates' taunts. "And am I obliged to give you a repor

ed by the presser, who volunteered to fetch the beverage. Jake obeyed with alacrity, and if there had

ng a sleepless night she felt that she could not bring herself to face Jake in the presence of her other shopmates, to whom her feelings for him were an open

hear an un-American piece of Yiddish pronounced with Gitl's peculiar lisp-that very lisp, which three years ago he used to mimic fondly, but which now grated on his nerves and was apt to make his face twitch with sheer disgust, insomuch that he often found a vicious relief in mocking that lisp of hers audibly over his work. But can it be that he is doomed for life? No! no! he would revolt, conscious at the same time that there was really no escape. "Ah, may she be killed, the horrid greenhorn!" he would gasp to himself in a paroxysm of despair. And then he would bewail his lost youth, and curse all Russia for his premature marriage. Presently, however, he would recall the plump, spunky face of his son who bore such close resemblance to himself, to whom he was growing more strongly attached every day, and who was getting to prefer his company to his m

usually good spirits. Little Joey-for such was Yosselé's name now-with whom his father's plays were for the most part of an athletic character, welcomed Jake by a challenge for a pugilistic en

he said. "He became as pale as the wall and his teeth were chattering as if he had been shaken up with fever, 'pon my void. And how quiet he became all

he did so Jake and Charley interchanged a wink. As to themselves, they dispensed with all devotional preliminaries, and took their seats with uncovered heads. G

is plate of borshtch[13]-his favourite dish-with a radiant face; and as he

melts in every limb!" he kept rhapsodizing, between mouthfuls. "It oug

rley chimed in. "It is worth ten

ed, beaming with pride. "What is there to be laughing

ie. "I tell you it is a--" The remainder of the sentence

onful. Mr. Bernstein, you shall be kind enough to be the bookkeeper. But

of merriment. Otherwise he was busily engaged cramming borshtch into his mouth, and, in passing, also into his nose, with both his plump hands

espattered face. "To think of such a crumb having as much sense as that!" She was positive

kes you laugh, Joey?" The boy had no time to spare for an answer, being too busy licking his emptied plate. "Loo

y rustic r's, which he had mastered shortly b

Jake said, facetiously. "A -- shig

serving the meat, coloured, bu

to be Presdent 'Nited Sta

t be American born," Jake explained, sel

n Gitl, now at the child, on whose plate she was at this moment carving a piece of meat into tiny morsels.

on was absorbing. "He does not need to be a pesdent; he is growing to be a rabb

rnstein demurred. "I wi

u will have one," s

cked it, remaining with an embarrassed grin on his face, as though anxious to swallow the question.

psia, his books, and staid, methodical habits. Recently, however, they had got wind of his clandestine visits to a marriage broker's, and the temptation to chaff him on the subject had proved resistless, all the more so because Bernstein, whose leading foible was his well-controlled vanity, was quick to ta

d herself with the dishes, and Jake took to romping about with Joey and had a hearty laugh with him. He wa

ly, flourishing her proficiency in American manners

!" repea

nd straight-laced and resplendent in a waist of blazing red, gaudily trimmed, and with puff sleeves, each wider than the vast expanse of white straw, surmo

!" she said, with o

his feet and violently reddening, as if suddenly

ip as she did so. Gitl, with the pot in her hands

meech you,'" Jake u

as more than Gitl co

," Jake apologized

green herself," Mamie remarked

ke explained bashfully, his hand feeling

eless she mustered a hospitable air, and drawing up the rocking chair, she said, with shamefa

overdone American accent in the dialect of the Polish Jews, affectedly Germanized and profusely interspersed with English, so that Gitl, whose mother tongue was Lithuanian Yiddish, could scarcely catch the meaning of one half of her flood of garrulity. And as she thus rattled on, she now examined the room, now surveyed Gitl from head to fo

embarrassment. The consciousness of Gitl's unattractive appearance made him sick with shame and vexatio

" he presently nerved himself up to say

ough!" Mami

sh, Mamie, as sure

gh. Vy, a married man!"-with a chuckle. "You got a -- of a lot o' t'ings to pay for. You took de foinit

akin'," he besought her, in accents which implied intimac

t'ing. Dot's right! A husban' dass'n't hide not'ink from his vife!"-with another

e!" he interrupte

nge goil a feller might bluff dot he ain' married, and skin her out of tventy-five dollars." In point of fact, he had ne

you ev'ry shent. Shpeak Jewesh, pl

is afraid of deir vifes. But vy didn' you say you vas married from de sta't, an'

ingly. "Shtop to shpeak English, an' shpeak shomet

re?" she asked, with sudden

nted I can gu dere more ash I ushed t

you forget? Vot a sho't mind you got! Vill you come? N

ash sure a

don' come an' pay me at least ten

t they were having a heated altercation, and that Jake was begging about something or other, and was generally the under dog in the parley. Ever and anon she strained her ears in the effort to fasten some of the incomp

y presenting Joey with the

ay 'danks, sir!'" G

Jake overruled her. "'Shi

ng out, as she majesti

ke returned, wit

Gitl and Joey

cull a

lye

bowed herself out of the door with what s

a momentary silence. Jake felt as

n the same shop,"

Gitl inquired. "It is not for nothing that it is ca

explained, at the same moment cast

d heard it used in connection with the sumptuous life of the Russian

,"[15] she remarked, with hidd

sh like one American born. We are used to speak in Eng

of talking shop in Yiddish, although the boarder could