others, smiling bravely and saying that it would be his
turn another day.
Their good luck, they felt, had given them the right to
think about a home; and sitting out on the doorstep that
summer evening, they held consultation about it, and
Jurgis took occasion to broach a weighty subject. Pass~
ing down the avenue to work that morning he had seen
two boys leaving an advertisement from house to house;
and seeing that there were pictures upon it, Jurgis had
asked for one, and had rolled it up and tucked it into his
shirt. At noontime a man with whom he had been talk~
ing had read it to him and told him a little about it, with
the result that Jurgis had conceived a wild idea.
He brought out the placard, which was quite a work of
art. It was nearly two feet long, printed on calendered
paper, with a selection of colors so bright that they shone
even in the moonlight. The center of the placard was
occupied by a house, brilliantly painted, new, and dazzling.
The roof of it was of a purple hue, and trimmed with
gold; the house itself was silvery, and the doors and
windows red. It was a two-story building, with a porch
in front, and a very fancy scrollwork around the edges;
it was complete in every tiniest detail, even the door~
knob, and there was a hammock on the porch and white
lace curtains in the windows. Underneath this, in one
corner, was a picture of a husband and wife in loving
embrace; in the opposite corner was a cradle, with fluffy
curtains drawn over it, and a smiling cherub hovering
upon silver-colored wings. For fear that the significance
of all this should be lost, there was a label, in Polish,
Lithuanian, and German -- _"Dom._Namai._Heim."_
"Why pay rent?" the linguistic circular went on to
demand. "Why not own your own home? Do you
know that you can buy one for less than your rent? We
have built thousands of homes which are now occupied
by happy families." -- So it became eloquent, picturing
the blissfulness of married life in a house with nothing to
pay. It even quoted "Home, Sweet Home," and made
bold to translate it into Polish -- though for some reason
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