!.
L.
PERETZ
420
on the price, or they buy in partnership.. .but when it comes to
paying, all ten scrape their pockets... they have no money to buy
the grain and end up borrowing at interest...And one hundred
tailors for one pair of overalls, fifty shoemakers for one small re–
pair. ..Such poverty! I've never seen anything like it!
...We isolated ourselves as much as possible from the life of
the town ...the fortunate are self-centered...
...But across from us, vis-a-vis our house, we noticed a young
woman, probably no more than eighteen, twenty at the most.
And neither of us could take our eyes off her. .. nor she from
us...
An
unusual phenomenon .. .Imagine a beauty, a picture in a
shabby frame , as only a Jewish window can be seen in a small
town, under a dilapidated, crumbling roof.. .imagine a pair of sor–
rowful, dreamy, tear-filled eyes in an alabaster-white face, under
a kerchief.
...God she made a poignant impression on us!
...For hours on end she would lean over the windowsill, her
arms bent, looking mournfully at us, or at the stars above, swal–
lowing her tears! We saw that she was always alone, forlorn–
your men never have time-always despondent, homesick... she
had unhappiness written all over her pale face ...She probably
came from far off, from a better, less confined home. She always
gazed yearningly into the distance ... her heart craved a freer
life...she wanted to live, to love and be loved.
...Say what you will, there is an injustice among you. You
sell your daughters...it is true that with time they become accus–
tomed to their fate, with time they forget...they are pious, they are
good, they are long-suffering...but who can count the bitter tears
which fall on their woeful faces before their eyes dry up? Who
can measure the suffering in their breasts before they become
reconciled to a living death? Is this their reward for being good
and pious women?
...You should see the woman's husband; hunchbacked, sal–
low..
.!
saw him twice a day.. .when he left in the morning and
when he returned at night...A crime ...
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