The sun., 1909-01-24

itself into those who had work and thos
who wanted work. On the fourth morn
ing as stood waiting for the forewomar
| saw the stupid. dirty Russian working
away silently. She had got in ahead o
me. ] had distinct feeling Of dislike
for her.
/ On the afternoon OF the fourth day
WAS taken on for rush order Of driec
handling warm AaSseed poiitices. but
dried peaohes are like cobble stones
II possible, the work is more monoto-
nous.
There are no moulds TO " ash nothing Ia
weigh You just stand in the same spot
! hour after hour fiattcning dried reaches.
! Presumably you do IL with your hands
only. ! did 1t with every muscle in my
body, for there is no limit to the extension
possibilities Of dried peach | could
make one into doormat or squeeze it
into n rea. still keeping IL fiat.
When the fresh trays Of warm fruit are
brought the forewoman emits sounds
like football signals, 7x9. 9xll, etc. You
fall upon the fruit. grabbing as much Of
the best as you can get your hands over
and begin to lay 1t in the boxes seven
across by nine up, &c. The only excite
ment is that as soon az you have begun
to get used to one way, the forewoman
emits a new signal and you have to do
something else
II any one is rude enough to grab at
the same fruit that you want you push
her away as roughly as is necessary to
separate her from 1t. In those packing
houses where the fruit is not brought
around but you have to go after it you
have less chance.
AZ soon as the clank. clank OF the
steamer begins, and the soft, hot fruit
comes pouring into the bin you seize
your box and beat your way into the
packed mass Of women and girls II
the sharp edge Of box is driven into
your back it's all part OF the getting Of
the fruit. Next time II will be your box
and another woman's back.
There is no permanent i'll feeling about
it, at least not when you are both Ameri-
cans. II is different when a box IL welded
10y -dago.' A -dago" is any one with
a dark complexion who can't speak
you do. When a adago" steps on You or
prods you In the jam II is always malicious
and premeditated.
SO it went on day after dav. Some
times was let out and some times left
OF my own accord. As the fruit came
pouring in from the orchards and vine-
work and no one was laid of. II ia like
a sweeping tide OF the sea. swallowing
every human thing that-can of work.
Those who need IL and those who don't
are all dragged under together. IL is
q chance to make money; no one can
stand against IT, There is something
terrifying about il. II is almost pal lpable'
that haunting driving Thing. forever
beating the worker on. i ga " the Thing
once. saw it clearly.
| was packing raisins in huge packing
house. Upon each table long iron
funnel from the room above poured a
stream of boiling hot raisins all day,
We worked in crews Of three.
When we had filed forty-eight pound
packages with raisins, weighed each
one. closed il and packed all forty Eight
in wooden box we got five cents to be |
divided among the three. At the same
table with me were sharp faced little |
woman and a heavy Russian |
mother with her sixteen-year- old daugh- |
ter. The women had been working
seven years and the girl three. They |
made IS a day each.
Early in the afternoon | could Just |
see them through the dense steam that |
rose from the hot fruit. The faces OF |
The two women were deep red and the |
water ran in streams from them, but |
The girl was quite white. They worked |
without speaking almost without NOV |
ng. left because when woke at night |
could see those two red faces and the |
white one. like lost souls in Inferno. con-
iemned TO pack forever. The Thing
was behind them.
! worked another week and then
stopped. stopped becsuse | was fright
sned
I was bottlng preserved peache. when
I struck me with the force OF physical