a little longer. They could not possibly get along upon
his wages alone, and the family could not live without
hers. He could come and visit her, and sit in the kitchen
and hold her hand, and he must manage to be content
with that. But day by day the music of Tamoszius's
violin became more passionate and heart-breaking; and
Marija would sit with her hands clasped and her cheeks
wet and all her body a-tremble, hearing in the wailing
melodies the voices of the unborn generations which
cried out in her for life.

Marija's lesson came just in time to save Ona from a
similar fate. Ona, too, was dissatisfied with her place, and
had far more reason than Marija. She did not tell half
of her story at home, because she saw it was a torment
to Jurgis, and she was afraid of what he might do. For
a long time Ona had seen that Miss Henderson, the fore~
lady in her department, did not like her. At first she
thought it was the old-time mistake she had made in ask~
ing for a holiday to get married. Then she concluded
it must be because she did not give the forelady a present
occasionally -- she was the kind that took presents from
the girls, Ona learned, and made all sorts of discrimina~
tions in favor of those who gave them. In the end, how~
ever, Ona discovered that it was even worse than that.
Miss Henderson was a newcomer, and it was some time
before rumor made her out; but finally it transpired that
she was a kept-woman, the former mistress of the superin~
tendent of a department in the same building. He had
put her there to keep her quiet, it seemed -- and that not
altogether with success, for once or twice they had been
heard quarreling. She had the temper of a hyena, and
soon the place she ran was a witch's caldron. There
were some of the girls who were of her own sort, who
were willing to toady to her and flatter her; and these
would carry tales about the rest, and so the furies were
unchained in the place. Worse than this, the woman
lived in a bawdy-house down-town, with a coarse, red-faced
Irish man named Connor, who was the boss of the loading-

[[125]]

p124 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p125w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p126

v?