The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-11-25
THE ORANGE PACKERS.
An Idyl of the Workers.


 A good many eyes turned toward the wide floor of the packing house as a girls straight figure paused moment on the threshold before entering.
 The scene within seemed attractive. It was so busy, and, in effect, so quiet, in spite of the continual noise of ham, mers mailing up the full boxes and the various sounds incident to moving fruit about as the work progressed. Every one was steadily at work, and no one seemed in doubt what to do next.
 The shade was inviting, too, after walk under the strong California sun, ] and the great building was well provid- 1 ed with generous openings under it's far-projecting roof, and was spacious enough not only to avoid the crowding of work and material but also to allow | a free movement of air.
 1 The newcomer was pleased, and her desire to take hand was quickened. She was stranger there, yet she seemed ! to feel no discomfort at the attention which her arrival had awakened. Her l good-tempered pcise was so apparent that her credentials were at once ac- 1 cepted. She was used to moving through | right of way, and was blessed with the tact that comes from unaffected con- I fidence.
 She readily discovered the manager, | moving about among the bins and box es, saying a quiet word here and there, or pointing out some needed rearrange- ment of the Hiking but transient stacks of fruit or of empties. She went to him without hesitation and asked i for work.
 The man looked up and recognized good material at glance.
 Gan you pack?"
 T reckon I can, but I never did"
 You won't earn very much at first"
 "All right, let me try; I should like to learn"
 "As she spoke she looked keenly at the rows of girls sitting beside the bins | into which the various spouts from the grader were delivering the several sig es At once she picked out the better workers, and got notion of the me- chanical verve and swing that told of exact and rapid work.
 There was a rhythm in the motions of a good packer. The paper came up from a pile of sheets with the regular ity of balance wheel and fell upon the orange in the other hand with an air of knowing where it belonged. The
 wrapping seemed to do itself, and the next yellow subject was taking it's treatment almost before the former had settled itself into it's precise position in the box. The process had been adopted by the automatic nerves of the packers
 and required no other attention from
 her than occasional replenishment of will in the effort at a continual increase
 of speed. Her thoughts were free, and
 evidently ranging wide.
 1T like that" said the girl "can I be-
 gin now?"
 Yes said the manager, smiling at
 her spirit; ''take that third bin. You
 can hang your hat and pail over yon- der. I'll be round to show you pretty
 soon.''
 In no time she was in her seat be- side the bin with an empty box in posi- tion before her. had fitted rubber cot on her left thumb and was experiment. ing, aided by frequent glances at her
 neighbors, on the proper movements tc
 make the sheets rise singly and spread
 wide to cover the fruit, and she had
 
 box before the manager came to show her how
 She laughed as he made her take v them out again, and explained how each size is packed after regular pat tern, by which a certain number fills the box, without need of counting. [ few more hints of method, supplement- l ed by an occasional visit and comment ,. put her in the position, in a halliday e time of knowing pretty well how the 0 work is done, and seeking only to gair | in speed of performance. This endeavor, the pursuit of an idea e that can never be run to earth, gives n delight to all labor so long as the Il nerves are not worn out with fatigue e Whatever joy the golfer finds in whack e ing his little ball must be of the same essence as is steadily furnished to tht 5, packers of fruit, and all the toll of mel = could be counted as pastime if only ou f hours were kept short of the limits O q exhaustion.
 The young man who operated tht
 grader was in a position of vantage. | " he cared to observe the girls who wer, l. packing at the bins that his radiatin, IS spouts supplied. He stood high besid, : the wide, shallow hoppers that received e the dumped boxes of ungraded fruit
 and from which the oranges distributed n themselves through the discriminatin, h functions of the machine into various a rolling processions in which each mem l. Der was just as big as his neighbor IS Some manipulation was needed to keel IT the fruit moving evenly to the distribu