登陆注册
15441200000001

第1章 CHAPTER I(1)

"You hear me, Saxon? Come on along. What if it is the Bricklayers? I'll have gentlemen friends there, and so'll you.

The Al Vista band'll be along, an' you know it plays heavenly.

An' you just love dancin'---"

Twenty feet away, a stout, elderly woman interrupted the girl's persuasions. The elderly woman's back was turned, and the back-loose, bulging, and misshapen--began a convulsive heaving.

"Gawd!" she cried out. "O Gawd!"

She flung wild glances, like those of an entrapped animal, up and down the big whitewashed room that panted with heat and that was thickly humid with the steam that sizzled from the damp cloth under the irons of the many ironers. From the girls and women near her, all swinging irons steadily but at high pace, came quick glances, and labor efficiency suffered to the extent of a score of suspended or inadequate movements. The elderly woman's cry had caused a tremor of money-loss to pass among the piece-work ironers of fancy starch.

She gripped herself and her iron with a visible effort, and dabbed futilely at the frail, frilled garment on the board under her hand.

"I thought she'd got'em again--didn't you?" the girl said.

"It's a shame, a women of her age, and . . . condition," Saxon answered, as she frilled a lace ruffle with a hot fluting-iron.

Her movements were delicate, safe, and swift, and though her face was wan with fatigue and exhausting heat, there was no slackening in her pace.

"An' her with seven, an' two of 'em in reform school," the girl at the next board sniffed sympathetic agreement. "But you just got to come to Weasel Park to-morrow, Saxon. The Bricklayers' is always lively--tugs-of-war, fat-man races, real Irish jiggin', an' . . . an' everything. An' The floor of the pavilion's swell."

But the elderly woman brought another interruption. She dropped her iron on the shirtwaist, clutched at the board, fumbled it, caved in at the knees and hips, and like a half-empty sack collapsed on the floor, her long shriek rising in the pent room to the acrid smell of scorching cloth. The women at the boards near to her scrambled, first, to the hot iron to save the cloth, and then to her, while the forewoman hurried belligerently down the aisle. The women farther away continued unsteadily at their work, losing movements to the extent of a minute's set-back to the totality of the efficiency of the fancy-starch room.

"Enough to kill a dog," the girl muttered, thumping her iron down on its rest with reckless determination. "Workin' girls' life ain't what it's cracked up. Me to quit--that's what I'm comin' to."

"Mary!" Saxon uttered the other's name with a reproach so profound that she was compelled to rest her own iron for emphasis and so lose a dozen movements.

Mary flashed a half-frightened look across.

"I didn't mean it, Saxon," she whimpered. "Honest, I didn't. I wouldn't never go that way. But I leave it to you, if a day like this don't get on anybody's nerves. Listen to that!"

The stricken woman, on her back, drumming her heels on the floor, was shrieking persistently and monotonously, like a mechanical siren. Two women, clutching her under the arms, were dragging her down the aisle. She drummed and shrieked the length of it. The door opened, and a vast, muffled roar of machinery burst in; and in the roar of it the drumming and the shrieking were drowned ere the door swung shut. Remained of the episode only the scorch of cloth drifting ominously through the air.

"It's sickenin'," said Mary.

And thereafter, for a long time, the many irons rose and fell, the pace of the room in no wise diminished; while the forewoman strode the aisles with a threatening eye for incipient breakdown and hysteria. Occasionally an ironer lost the stride for an instant, gasped or sighed, then caught it up again with weary determination. The long summer day waned, hut not the heat, and under the raw flare of electric light the work went on.

By nine o'clock the first women began to go home. The mountain of fancy starch had been demolished--all save the few remnants, here and there, on the boards, where the ironers still labored.

Saxon finished ahead of Mary, at whose board she paused on the way out.

"Saturday night an' another week gone," Mary said mournfully, her young cheeks pallid and hollowed, her black eyes blue-shadowed and tired. "What d'you think you've made, Saxon?"

"Twelve and a quarter," was the answer, just touched with pride "And I'd a-made more if it wasn't for that fake bunch of starchers."

"My! I got to pass it to you," Mary congratulated. "You're a sure fierce hustler--just eat it up. Me--I've only ten an' a half, an' for a hard week ... See you on the nine-forty. Sure now. We can just fool around until the dancin' begins. A lot of my gentlemen friends'll be there in the afternoon."

Two blocks from the laundry, where an arc-light showed a gang of toughs on the corner, Saxon quickened her pace. Unconsciously her face set and hardened as she passed. She did not catch the words of the muttered comment, but the rough laughter it raised made her guess and warmed her checks with resentful blood. Three blocks more, turning once to left and once to right, she walked on through the night that was already growing cool. On either side were workingmen's houses, of weathered wood, the ancient paint grimed with the dust of years, conspicuous only for cheapness and ugliness.

同类推荐
  • 海印三昧论一卷(并序)

    海印三昧论一卷(并序)

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • Gypsy Dictionary

    Gypsy Dictionary

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 吕祖志

    吕祖志

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • The Golden Fleece

    The Golden Fleece

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • HEROES OF THE EXILE

    HEROES OF THE EXILE

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 升平世

    升平世

    中原沦陷,万里硝烟,纷繁乱世,却是英雄辈出的年代。华族青年任存浩,欲投身军旅,建功立业,谁知在半途屡遭劫难,险死还生。胡人与华族,贵族与寒门,道家与佛教,错综复杂的局势摆在面前,他该如何应付?此书结合玄幻和历史,竭力用一个新的故事来展示这个精彩的时代。武者,世家贵族之倚仗,天人合一之奥秘。御者,与神兽共舞的力量,寒门逆袭之契机。神官,古老的传承,传说中神的使者。另有佛印、道术,共同构建这个错综复杂的时代。
  • 婴龙决

    婴龙决

    为报家仇,而一步步走向修真道路
  • 言瑟

    言瑟

    从来到这里开始我就在不断地适应这里的生存规则,但是并不意味着我容忍它,我最想要的还是回到属于我的地方。那里有爱我的人,他们想要我幸福快乐,不像你……
  • 朕的皇后好迷人

    朕的皇后好迷人

    陌忆槿人生中除了执行任务,就是宅在家里看言情小说,以至于变成了一个“黄”后。在某次执行任务时,突然开始yy小说剧情,于是,她穿越成了一个“皇”后。穿越后完全没有改变她的“宅腐”,反而更加变本加厉了,一言不合就调戏人。对此,皇上表示:“很享受啊~!”“啪嚓”我好像听到了节操碎了的声音。对于如此节操无下限的皇上,皇后扶腰表示:“到底是谁调戏谁啊?!”“爱妃,只要你想,朕可以让你为所欲为”“。。。。。。”冷冷的狗粮在脸上胡乱地拍
  • 综漫之神灵与恶魔

    综漫之神灵与恶魔

    一个古老的系统,它能带来神灵与恶魔的力量,当它附身在一个宅男身上时,会爆出怎样的火花呢?
  • 男神超人类

    男神超人类

    未来世界会怎样?未来人类会怎样?屌丝如何逆袭成为男神成为超人,金钱、美女、权势全都拥有,泡妞与拯救人类两不误。
  • 劫中仙

    劫中仙

    长寿有期,长生难求;不老可见,不死无望。为求长生不死,众圣贤盗天地以养己身,损众生以全己道,却如梦幻泡影,以致天地枯萎,劫难频发,长生不见。王昊本芸芸众生之凡俗子,半生蹉跎以苟活,岂料一朝顿悟离红尘,拖半百之躯欲窥长生,历重重劫捕长生不死之机。正所谓一劫一造化,一步一登天、、、
  • 自然藏岁(一生必读名家精品)

    自然藏岁(一生必读名家精品)

    集中外名家美文之精粹,好书是来自伟大心灵的宝贵血脉,让我们的精神生命得以延续更生。在人生无以反复的过程中,只有那些历史上最具天赋的作家才能使我们的灵魂受到一次又一次的震撼,只有那些超越了时空的经典文字才能把无数的智慧和美好对比着愚昧和丑陋一起呈现给我们,指引着我们远离浮华虚空。
  • 武道之宗

    武道之宗

    无论过去,现在,未来,世上皆奉吾为武道之师,吾乃武宗!
  • 魔幻梦呈

    魔幻梦呈

    在显示屏闪亮的夜晚,你或许会幻想傲视天下,却发现现实的无奈,谁言宅男不成器,涅槃重生傲九天,林羽尘将会用现实证明,宅男会害怕,会懦弱,但是我们被人欺压会生气,看到孤儿会同情,我们也有资格追寻梦想。宅男不是屌丝的代名,我们只是拥有更加宏伟的愿望。