them from the world. It was too far off for Santa Claus
in Lithuania, but it was not too far for peace and good
will to men, for the wonder-bearing vision of the Christ~
child. And even in Packingtown they had not forgotten
it -- some gleam of it had never failed to break their dark~
ness. Last Christmas Eve and all Christmas Day Jurgis
had toiled on the killing-beds, and Ona at wrapping hams,
and still they had found strength enough to take the
children for a walk upon the avenue, to see the store
windows all decorated with Christmas trees and ablaze
with electric lights. In one window there would be live
geese, in another marvels in sugar -- pink and white canes
big enough for ogres, and cakes with cherubs upon them;
in a third there would be rows of fat yellow turkeys, deco~
rated with rosettes, and rabbits and squirrels hanging; in
a fourth would be a fairy-land of toys -- lovely dolls with
pink dresses, and woolly sheep and drums and soldier
hats. Nor did they have to go without their share of all
this, either. The last time they had had a big basket with
them and all their Christmas marketing to do -- a roast of
pork and a cabbage and some rye-bread, and a pair of
mittens for Ona, and a rubber doll that squeaked, and a
little green cornucopia full of candy to be hung from the
gas jet and gazed at by half a dozen pairs of longing eyes.

Even half a year of the sausage-machines and the fer~
tilizer-mill had not been able to kill the thought of Christ~
mas in them; there was a choking in Jurgis's throat as
he recalled that the very night Ona had not come home
Teta Elzbieta had taken him aside and shown him an old
valentine that she had picked up in a paper store for three
cents -- dingy and shop-worn, but with bright colors, and
figures of angels and doves. She had wiped all the specks
off this, and was going to set it on the mantel, where the
children could see it. Great sobs shook Jurgis at this
memory -- they would spend their Christmas in misery
and despair, with him in prison and Ona ill and their
home in desolation. Ah, it was too cruel! Why at
least had they not left him alone -- why, after they had
shut him in jail, must they be ringing Christmas chimes
in his ears!

[[190]]

p189 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p190w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p191

v?