And Elzbieta would call upon Dede Antanas to support
her; there was a fear in the souls of these two, lest this
journey to a new country might somehow undermine the
old home virtues of their children. The very first Sunday
they had all been taken to mass; and poor as they were,
Elzbieta had felt it advisable to invest a little of her re~
sources in a representation of the babe of Bethlehem, made
in plaster, and painted in brilliant colors. Though it was
only a foot high, there was a shrine with four snow-white
steeples, and the Virgin standing with her child in her
arms, and the kings and shepherds and wise men bowing
down before him. It had cost fifty cents; but Elzbieta
had a feeling that money spent for such things was not to
be counted too closely, it would come back in hidden ways.
The piece was beautiful on the parlor mantel, and one
could not have a home without some sort of ornament.

The cost of the wedding-feast would, of course, be re~
turned to them; but the problem was to raise it even
temporarily. They had been in the neighborhood so
short a time that they could not get much credit, and
there was no one except Szedvilas from whom they could
borrow even a little. Evening after evening Jurgis and
Ona would sit and figure the expenses, calculating the
term of their separation. They could not possibly man~
age it decently for less than two hundred dollars, and
even though they were welcome to count in the whole
of the earnings of Marija and Jonas, as a loan, they could
not hope to raise this sum in less than four or five months.
So Ona began thinking of seeking employment herself, say~
ing that if she had even ordinarily good luck, she might be
able to take two months off the time. They were just
beginning to adjust themselves to this necessity, when
out of the clear sky there fell a thunderbolt upon them
-- a calamity that scattered all their hopes to the four
winds.

About a block away from them there lived another
Lithuanian family, consisting of an elderly widow and
one grown son; their name was Majauszkis, and our
friends struck up an acquaintance with them before long.

[[76]]

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v?