The sun. (Jacksonville, Fla.) 1905-1908, 1906-09-22
By Upton Sinclair

y iaTSs ana u0uuCCtnB the coal, Ln6y nat
fifty. They dia without everything
that human beings could do without
they went In old rags and ragged
clothing, that left them at the mercy
of the cold, and when the children's
shoes wore out, they tied them uI
with strings.
Half invalid as she was, Ona woul(
do herself harm by walking In thu
rain and cold when she ought to have
ridden; they bought literally nothing
but food-and still they could no,
keep alive on fifty dollars a month
Aney might have done 1t II only they
could have gotten pure food, and al
fair prices; or IL only they had known
what to get--if they had not been &C
pitifully ignorant! But they had
come to q new country, where every
thing was different, including the food
They had always been accustomed to
eat great deal of smoked sausage
and how could they know that what
they bought in America was not the
same-tnat its color was made by
chemicals, and its smoky flavor by
more chemicals, and that It was full
of "potato.fiour" besides?
Potato-four Is the waste of potato
after the starch and alcohol have beer
extracted; It has no more food value
than 80 much wood, and as its use az
food adulterant is a penal offence In
Europe, thousands of tons OF It are
shipped to America every year. II
was amazing what quantities of food
such as this were needed every day
by eleven hungry persons. A dollar
sixty-five day was simply not enough
to feed them.
It would have been better II Jurgis
had been really Ill; II he had not beer
able to think. For he had no resources
such as most invaiids have: all he
could do was to lie there and toss
about from side to side, Now and
then he would break into cursing, re.
CARELESS of everything; and now and
then his impotence would get the
better Of him, and he would try to
get up, and poor Teta Elzbieta would
have to plead with him in frenzy.
Elzbieta was all alone with him the
greater part OF the time. She would
sit and smooth his forehead by the
hour, and talk to him and try to make
him forget VIM i
Sometimes 1t would be too cold for
the children to 60 to school, and they
would have to play in the kitchen,
where Jurgis was, because 1t was the
only room that was half warm. These
were dreadful times, for Jurgis could
get as cross as any bear; he was
scarcely, to be blamed, for he had
enough to worry him, and II was hard
when he was trying to take a nap to
be kept awake by noisy and peevish
children.
Elzbieta's only resource In those
times was little Antanas; indeed, It
would be hard to say how they could
have gotten along at all II II had not
been for little ,Antanas. II was the
one consolation OF Jurgis's long i'm
dprisonment that now he had time to
look at his baby. Teta Elzbieta would
put the clothes basket in which the
baby slept alongside OF his mattress,
and Jurgis would lie upon one elbow
and watch him by the hour, imagining
things. Then little Antanas would
open his eyes--he was beginning to
take notice Of things now, and he
would smile--how he would smile!
30 Jurgis would begin to forget and
be happy, because he was In a world
where there was thing so beautiful
as the smile of little Antanas, and be-
cause such world could not but be
good at the heart OF Il.
He looked more like his father
every hour, Elzbieta would say, and
said It many times a day, because
sue saw that It pleased Jurgis; the
poor, little terrorstricken woman was
planning all day and all night to
soothe the prisoned giant who was In
trusted to her care. Jurgis, who knew
nothing about the age-long and ever
lasting hypocrisy Of woman, would
take the bait and grin with delight: