The sun. (Jacksonville, Fla.) 1905-1908, 1906-09-01

me-, AWnen IL ralned nara, man
might nave to wade to his waist 10
.get to his house; and now In winter
1T was no joke getting through these
places before light In the morning
and after dark at night. They would
wrap up In all they owned, but they
could not wrap up against exhaustion:
and many q man gave out in these
battles with the snowdrifts, and lay
down and fell asleep.
And II it was bad for the men ons
may imagine how the women and
children Jared Some would ride In
the cars, II the cars were running;
but when you are making only s cents
an hour, as was little Stanislovas,
YOU do not like to spend that much TO
ride two miles The children would
come to the yards with great shawis
ssbout their ears, and so tied up that
you could hardly find them---and still
there would be accidents. One bitter
morning In February the little boy
who worked at the lard machine with
Stanislovas came about an hour late.
and screaming with pain. They ul-
wrapped him, and q man began vigOr-
Ously rubbing his ears; and as they
were frozen stiff IL took only two or
three rubs to break them short on
As a result Of this little StanislOvas
conceived terror Of the cold that
was almost mania.
Every morning when It came time
to start for the yards he would begin
to cry and protest Nobody knew
quite how to manage him.. for threats
did no goOd--it seemed to be some
thing that he could not control, and
they feared sometimes that he would
go into commissions. In the end It had
to be arranged that he always went
with Jurgis, and came home with him
again; and often, when the snow was
deep, the man would carry him the
whole way on his shoulders. Some
times Jurgis would be working until
latS at night, and then It was pitifui,
for there was no place for the little
fellow to wait, save In the doorways
or in corner OF the killing.beds, AMI
he would all but fall asleep there,
and freeze to DEATH t IlI
There was no heat upon the killing
beds; the men might exactly as well
have worked out of doors all winter
For that matter. there was very little
heat anywhere In the building excepc
in the cooking rooms and such places
and 1t was the men who worked In
these who ran the most risk of all,
because whenever they had to pass 20
another room they had to 60 through
Ice cold corridors, and sometimes
with nothing on above the waist ex.
cept sleeveless undershirt. On the
killing beds you were apt to be cover
ed with blood, and Il would freeze
solid; II you landed against a pillar,
put your hands upon the blade of your
knife, you would run chance OF
leaving your skin on IT,. a a u.s.
The men would tie up their feet In
newspapers and old sacks, and these
would be soaked In blood and frozen,
and then soaked again, and 30 on ul,.
I'll by night time man D. would be
walking on great Jumps the size OF the
feet Of an elephant. Now and then
when the bosses were not looking, YOU
would see them plunging their feet
anu duhicb iHIO TIE bttdMtHB hOt car
cass Of the steer or darting across
the room to the hot water jets. The
cruelest thing of all was that nearly
all Of them-all of those who used
knives---were unable to wear gloves,
and their arms would be white with
frost and their hands would grow
numb, and then of course there would
be accIIents. Also the air would De
full Of steam from the hot water and
the hot blood, so that you could not
see Ave feet before you; and with
men rushing about at the speed they
hept up on the killing beds. and all
with butcher knives, like razors, In
their hands-well, II was to be count.
ed as wonder that there were not
mnre men slaughtered than cattle.