Chapter VII

All summer long the family toiled, and in the fall
they had money enough for Jurgis and Ona to be married
according to home traditions of decency. In the latter
part of November they hired a hall, and invited all their
new acquaintances, who came and left them over a hundred
dollars in debt.

It was a bitter and cruel experience, and it plunged
them into an agony of despair. Such a time, of all times,
for them to have it, when their hearts were made tender!
Such a pitiful beginning it was for their married life;
they loved each other so, and they could not have the
briefest respite! It was a time when everything cried
out to them that they ought to be happy; when wonder
burned in their hearts, and leaped into flame at the slight~
est breath. They were shaken to the depths of them,
with the awe of love realized -- and was it so very weak
of them that they cried out for a little peace? They had
opened their hearts, like flowers to the springtime, and
the merciless winter had fallen upon them. They won~
dered if ever any love that had blossomed in the world
had been so crushed and trampled!

Over them, relentless and savage, there cracked the
lash of want; the morning after the wedding it sought
them as they slept, and drove them out before daybreak to
work. Ona was scarcely able to stand with exhaustion;
but if she were to lose her place they would be ruined, and
she would surely lose it if she were not on time that day.
They all had to go, even little Stanislovas, who was ill
from overindulgence in sausages and sarsaparilla. All
that day he stood at his lard-machine, rocking unsteadily,
his eyes closing in spite of him; and he all but lost his

[[86]]

p085 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p086w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p087

v?