The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-06-05

house. She had become salow and thin.
Her face sat on her pointed shoulders like an
elongated disk. Only her nose stood out angu-
lar and sharp, and her eyes glowed in the pal
Tor of her cheeks like two great fiery lights.
She was in hurry. First she sent George
into the house--he was the youngest who was
stamping out puddle with his grey, much
too-large boots-pushed the girl Martha, who
was rubbing against the house-wall and had
wrapped her thin, transparent arms in an
apron, in behind him, and then went over to
her husband
He was even thinner and more pallid than
his wife He was sitting on a small chair and
leaned his back against plank. He was sup
posed to sun himself. His rough-hewn, shay
CIV head and his neck hung forward on slant.
They had no support. His back had been
broken by falling coal. Besides, the man
could no longer see anything 1t had been
that way for three years now.
The man sensed that his wife, had come His
haggard face became animated and flushed.
Are you going now?" he asked and tried to
turn his head towards her.
eyes, she answered. Everyone is going"
She remained standing for a moment and
looked at him. Her face became more point
ed. She lifted her hand to touch his head.
But she let it hang midway in the air.
Then someone from the house called her
name. She turned around. 1t was the neigh
Dor woman. She quickly let her uplifted hand
fall on the knee of the invalid pressed it light
Iy and ran over to the one calling.
She was small stout woman. But her
cheeks were hollow too and her flesh wabbled
from side to side beneath her patched clothes.
Her daughter, lanky, over-grown girl with
large red spots on her cheeks stood beside her.
I'VE can CO." she said, breathing hard, and
started of Immediately. She made her daugh-
ter walk ahead. Young mother Mellicher only
nodded and walked diagonaly behind her with
her short mincing steps.
THEY walked on silently. Nor did Mother
Mellicher have anything to, say. Her head
felt SO empty to her. So incorporeal. She
scarcely felt herself. In fact, she did not
even feel that she was walking. And why was
she walking anyway? Her narrow forehead
contracted and she shut her eyes. Wasn't it
all useless? Wasn't it all the same whether
she went or stayed? Nothing would be
changed There was no relief.
She reflected further. Who was there to
help her particularly? Who knew anything
about her. About her misery About her want.
About her isolation Who had looked into her.
Who had unlocked her soul So who knew all
that oppressed her. EMO oUe! She was alone
She was lonely. She had always been.
Marriage! She walked faster and her
cheeks colored slightly. Certainly, it was
lovely at first. They had a room. Her husband
was kind When the children came she was
compelled to look for work. 1t was harder
But it was still endurable. Then they brought
her husband 1t was the descent. She fell
back. Now she was in the depths again.
So what was there that could be changed?
Her husband would never get well any more
1t could only become worse. And she had rec
onciled herself, too. She endured everything
She labored like an animal. She scarcely en-
tered her room anymore. Early in the morn
ing she went to factory. In the evening she
tried to do washing. Only it gradually becom-
ing too much.
CHE opened her eyes again and looked
straight forward. Who was there to helI
them? They were the poor. They had always
been. The grandfather, the father. They hao
to go hungry. 1t was their life Sometimes
to be sure, there was a breathing SPELL Things
went better. Now things were as bad as they
Could be The Children would soon give ont