morning. And I've lost my home, and my wife's ill, and
I'm done up."

The saloon-keeper gazed at him, with his haggard white
face and his blue trembling lips. Then he pushed a big
bottle toward him. "Fill her up!" he said.

Jurgis could hardly hold the bottle, his hands shook so.
"Don't be afraid," said the saloon-keeper, "fill her up!"

So Jurgis drank a huge glass of whisky, and then
turned to the lunch-counter, in obedience to the other's
suggestion. He ate all he dared, stuffing it in as fast as
he could; and then, after trying to speak his gratitude,
he went and sat down by the big red stove in the middle
of the room.

It was too good to last, however -- like all things in this
hard world. His soaked clothing began to steam, and the
horrible stench of fertilizer to fill the room. In an hour
or so the packing-houses would be closing and the men
coming in from their work; and they would not come
into a place that smelt of Jurgis. Also it was Saturday
night, and in a couple of hours would come a violin and a
cornet, and in the rear part of the saloon the families of
the neighborhood would dance and feast upon wienerwurst
and lager, until two or three o'clock in the morning. The
saloon-keeper coughed once or twice, and then remarked,
"Say, Jack, I'm afraid you'll have to quit."

He was used to the sight of human wrecks, this saloon-
keeper; he "fired" dozens of them every night, just as
haggard and cold and forlorn as this one. But they were
all men who had given up and been counted out, while
Jurgis was still in the fight, and had reminders of decency
about him. As he got up meekly, the other reflected that
he had always been a steady man, and might soon be a
good customer again. "You've been up against it, I see,"
he said. "Come this way."

In the rear of the saloon were the cellar-stairs. There
was a door above and another below, both safely padlock~
ed, making the stairs an admirable place to stow away a cus~
tomer who might still chance to have money, or a political
light whom it was not advisable to kick out of doors.

[[223]]

p222 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p223w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p224

v?