Marija, sobbing loudly; and then there is only the silent night, with
the stars beginning to pale a little in the east. Jurgis, without a
word, lifts Ona in his arms, and strides out with her, and she sinks her
head upon his shoulder with a moan. When he reaches home he is not sure
whether she has fainted or is asleep, but when he has to hold her with
one hand while he unlocks the door, he sees that she has opened her
eyes.

"You shall not go to Brown's today, little one," he whispers, as he
climbs the stairs; and she catches his arm in terror, gasping: "No! No!
I dare not! It will ruin us!"

But he answers her again: "Leave it to me; leave it to me. I will earn
more money--I will work harder."



Chapter 2


Jurgis talked lightly about work, because he was young. They told him
stories about the breaking down of men, there in the stockyards of
Chicago, and of what had happened to them afterward--stories to make
your flesh creep, but Jurgis would only laugh. He had only been there
four months, and he was young, and a giant besides. There was too much
health in him. He could not even imagine how it would feel to be beaten.
"That is well enough for men like you," he would say, "silpnas, puny
fellows--but my back is broad."

Jurgis was like a boy, a boy from the country. He was the sort of man