Edwin Björkman

“ It was faint at first, but grew steadily in volume and intensity. A woman's wail I made it out to be—long-drawn, rising as if it were to last forever, and then coming to an abrupt end in a short, sharp scream. ”

“ The Will To Live
ABOVE me, where the towering tenements ended, the stars of a summer night were barely visible, dimmed not by clouds, but by the fetid breath of the overheated city. Around me the narrow street swarmed with human beings that could not stay indoors, and the noise made by this restless multitude filled the air with a shrill, deafening whir. But at my feet, in an areaway sunk a few feet below the level of the street, there lay six children asleep in a row, stretched side by side on a single mattress. ”