suffer where he was, he could suffer no more than he
would have had he stayed upon earth. And meantime
his father had thought the last thought about him that
he meant to; he was going to think of himself, he was
going to fight for himself, against the world that had baffled
him and tortured him!

So he went on, tearing up all the flowers from the gar~
den of his soul, and setting his heel upon them. The train
thundered deafeningly, and a storm of dust blew in his
face; but though it stopped now and then through the
night, he clung where he was -- he would cling there until
he was driven off, for every mile that he got from Pack~
ingtown meant another load from his mind.

Whenever the cars stopped a warm breeze blew upon
him, a breeze laden with the perfume of fresh fields, of
honeysuckle and clover. He snuffed it, and it made his
heart beat wildly -- he was out in the country again! He
was going to _live_ in the country! When the dawn came
he was peering out with hungry eyes, getting glimpses of
meadows and woods and rivers. At last he could stand it
no longer, and when the train stopped again he crawled
out. Upon the top of the car was a brakeman, who shook
his fist and swore; Jurgis waved his hand derisively, and
started across the country.

Only think that he had been a countryman all his life,
and for three long years he had never seen a country sight
nor heard a country sound! Excepting for that one walk
when he left jail, when he was too much worried to notice
anything, and for a few times that he had rested in the
city parks in the winter time when he was out of work,
he had literally never seen a tree! And now he felt like
a bird lifted up and borne away upon a gale; he stopped and
stared at each new sight of wonder, -- at a herd of cows,
and a meadow full of daisies, at hedgerows set thick with
June roses, at little birds singing in the trees.

Then he came to a farm-house, and after getting himself
a stick for protection, he approached it. The farmer was
greasing a wagon in front of the barn, and Jurgis went
to him. "I would like to get some breakfast, please,"
he said.

[[254]]

p253 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p254w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p255

v?