The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-05-16


ined
He had to be on his feet at o'clock in the morn
lg and to light the fire in the kitchen.
"These people use up more dishes than they eat
bod" he decided.
he stood IN close relation to the dishes. He was
to speak, an interested party-for he had to
ash all those dishes together with Marguerite
And then there were the knives.
Every one of them was Nickles' sworn enemy
he point is that silver knives have popularity
having two parts. And each of the two parts
bust be polished separately.
/ Oh, those knives
Mrs and Mr.. Broidin did not seem to care for
Ihe latest Inventions Mr.. Broidin's great grand
father must have brot along the knifepolisher
rom England; it consisted of a board and sand
/ Taper. One of Nickles' hardest problems was the
correct and even application Of the sandpaper.
And we must add that only rarely did this prob
em find successful solution.
/ The knives had to shine all in the same degree
a the knives that Nickles polished there we're
qiways traces of grains of sand to be seen.
Fortunately John was good chap, and initiated
him into the art of polishing knives But he
needed ten minutes for every single knife. Ten
minutes!
"Tsnt that too much ?'-Nickles asked
i "No"-John answered him-"because the knives
must be sharp and bright"
But sharpening the knives required a great
exertion of muscular power. One got real muscle
fever from it. And he had no chance at all to
sabotage at this work for the knives underwent
careful scrutiny before every meal.
DAT Protopapadaki, we did this with a ma
chine'-Nickles remarked
! -. And then the carpetcleaner
! '0Why is there no electric vacuum cleaner
4gFHnabled Riekless the meantime turning all his
attention to the task of picking up every little
grain Of dust from the carpet.
Nickles had host of such enemies. Among
others the white doors with their tiny ornaments
that he had to wash. But noticing that his prede-
cessors had not attended to this work with such
extraordinary care, he also tried to simplify it as
much as possible He took the tub. He dipped
rag and piece of soap, got down by the door,
assed over the parts that especially dirty,
| ut hardly got up from his sitting posture: that
is how he rested from the hardship of polishing
knives.
/ There was no chance however, of simplifying in
the same way the work of cleaning the floors. For
this work they Communicated even the gardeners,
and that's where the heavy drudgery came in for
the thick carpets had to be rolled up and had to
be carried out together with the massive furniture
| "And how often l"-Nickles stormed. There
one big room for almost every day. And then he
had to turn and turn! And hop around with the
wax thru the whole room so that the floor would
shine properly No, this work was no pleasure.
When it was about time to go to eat Nickles was
dead tired.
He thot again and again of how, outwardly,
the liveried lackeys and servants in dress coats
looked like idlers, but in reality they have to
drudge just as bitterly.
Nickles asked John, when was his day off? He
really wanted to put the question this way: 'When
is my day off?'-but then he thot that the other
form was much finer.
"a day off?-there's no such thing really-only
when the master and mistress are invited any
where we have to go to the city too"