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HUNGRY HEARTS
BY
ANZIA YEZIERSKA
BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
The Riverside Press Cambridge
1920
COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY ANZIA YEZIERSKA
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
The Riverside Press
CAMBRIDGE . MASSACHUSETTS
U . S . A
To Mrs. Henry Ollesheimer
CONTENTS
| Wings | 1 |
| Hunger | 35 |
| The Lost “Beautifulness” | 65 |
| The Free Vacation House | 97 |
| The Miracle | 114 |
| Where Lovers Dream | 142 |
| Soap and Water | 163 |
| “The Fat of the Land” | 178 |
| My Own People | 224 |
| How I found America | 250 |
WINGS
“My heart chokes in me like in a prison! I’mdying for a little love and I got nobody—nobody!”wailed Shenah Pessah, as she looked outof the dismal basement window.
It was a bright Sunday afternoon in May,and into the gray, cheerless, janitor’s basementa timid ray of sunlight announced thedawn of spring.
“Oi weh! Light!” breathed Shenah Pessah,excitedly, throwing open the sash. “A littlelight in the room for the first time!” And shestretched out her hands hungrily for the warmingbit of sun.
The happy laughter of the shopgirls standingon the stoop with their beaux and the sight of theyoung mothers with their husbands and babiesfanned anew the consuming fire in her breast.
“I’m not jealous!” she gasped, chokingly.“My heart hurts too deep to want to tearfrom them their luck to happiness. But whyshould they live and enjoy life and why mustI only look on how they are happy?”
She clutched at her throat like one stifledfor want of air. “What is the matter with you?Are you going out of your head? For what isyour crying? Who will listen to you? Whogives a care what’s going to become fromyou?”
Crushed by her loneliness, she sank into achair. For a long time she