who played the piano in front. First they sang a hymn,
and then one of the three, a tall, smooth-shaven man, very
thin, and wearing black spectacles, began an address.
Jurgis heard smatterings of it, for the reason that terror
kept him awake -- he knew that he snored abominably,
and to have been put out just then would have been like
a sentence of death to him.

The evangelist was preaching "sin and redemption,"
the infinite grace of God and His pardon for human
frailty. He was very much in earnest, and he meant
well, but Jurgis, as he listened, found his soul filled with
hatred. What did he know about sin and suffering --
with his smooth, black coat and his neatly starched collar,
his body warm, and his belly full, and money in his pocket
-- and lecturing men who were struggling for their lives,
men at the death-grapple with the demon powers of hun~
ger and cold! -- This, of course, was unfair; but Jurgis
felt that these men were out of touch with the life they
discussed, that they were unfitted to solve its problems;
nay, they themselves were part of the problem -- they
were part of the order established that was crushing men
down and beating them! They were of the triumphant
and insolent possessors; they had a hall, and a fire, and
food and clothing and money, and so they might preach
to hungry men, and the hungry men must be humble and
listen! They were trying to save their souls -- and who
but a fool could fail to see that all that was the matter
with their souls was that they had not been able to get a
decent existence for their bodies?

At eleven the meeting closed, and the desolate audience
filed out into the snow, muttering curses upon the few
traitors who had got repentance and gone up on the plat~
form. It was yet an hour before the station-house would
open, and Jurgis had no overcoat -- and was weak from a
long illness. During that hour he nearly perished. He
was obliged to run hard to keep his blood moving at all
-- and then he came back to the station-house and found
a crowd blocking the street before the door! This was

[[273]]

p272 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p273w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p274

v?