As a child (long ago!) I read a book of short stories by Russian
author (or authors) from m y parents' library.  One was about a
younger daughter who, jealous of the fuss over her older sister who
was about to make her debut, through into the sewer. all the
invitations with which she was entrusted.  The parents had spent all
their money on a lavish reception, hoping that the girl would make an
advantegous music that would salvage their position in society.  The
day came, the ice sculptures melted, and the hired waiters snickered
behind their white gloves as the parents became more and more frantic.

The other was about a Jewish family whose home was attacked during a
progrom.  They managed to close and bolt the door over the arm of a
Cossack who was trying to break in.  Then the placed a candle on  a
table under the arm, and waited and listened as the man died.

Plese help me find this book or books.  Thanks, Mendy

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Request for Question Clarification by markj-ga on 04 Aug 2004 10:44 PDT

mendy9 --

I have found references to be three collections of Russian short
stories that were first published in the first half of the 20th
century, and I think that the book you remember is very likely to be
among these three. All are available at reasonable prices on the used
book market.

A nearby library has one of them, and I will take a look at it this
afternoon to see if it contains the stories you remember.  If that
doesn't pan out, any further recollections you might have about the
book and its contents would be very useful.

markj-ga

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Clarification of Question by mendy9-ga on 10 Aug 2004 06:25 PDT

I couldn't have dreamed them, but I regret I have no more clues  to
the authors/sources of the Russian stories I inquired about.  Thanks
for your trip, Marki-ga.  I'll be grateful for anything further you
can find.

For the benefit of other researchers --

Nothing resembling the two described stories appears in the following two volumes:

Best Russian Short Stories (Seltzer, 1925)
Treasury of Great Russian Short Stories (Yarmolinsky)


And, from a review of the title of the stories in this volume from
various Web sources, I don't think this one is it either:

Short Stories by Russian Authors: Pushkin to Sologub (Townsend, 1934).