mean to tell me that you actually prefer being in prison?"

"Well, now, that's a difficult question to answer," mused Mr. Smilk.
"Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't. It's sort of like being
married, I suppose. Sometimes you're glad you're married and
sometimes you wish to God you wasn't. Course, I've only been married
three or four times, and I've been in the pen six times, one place
or another, so I guess I'm not what you'd call an unbiased witness.
I seem to have a leanin' toward jail,--about three to one in favor
of jail, you might say, with the odds likely to be increased pretty
shortly if all goes well. Do you mind if I change drawers?"

"Eh! Oh, I see. Go ahead."

Mr. Smilk put his right foot back into its drawer and withdrew the
left.

"Gets you right across this tendon on the back of your ankle," he
said. "Now, you take the daily life of the average laboring man," he
went on earnestly. "What does he get out of it? Nothin' but
expenses. The only thing that don't cost him something is work. And
all the time he's at work his expenses are goin' on just the same,
pilin' up durin' his absence from home. Rent, food, fuel, light,
doctor, liquor, clothes, shoes,--everything pilin' up on him while
he's workin' for absolutely nothin' between pay days. The only time
he gets anything for his work is on pay day. The rest of the time
he's workin' for nothin', week in and week out. Say he works
forty-four hours a week. When does he get his pay? While he's
workin'? Not much. He has to work over time anywhere from fifteen
minutes to half an hour--on his own time, mind you--standin' in line