The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-04-11

A FEW months before a certain Pc
n trowski had opened an ice bar.
A plain white-washed room, on one
side Of which was the small counter
with the ice containers. In front Of
the counter stood four little round
tables and chairs painted red. The
most important piece of furniture in
the shop was the electrically driven
ice machine which worked imme-
diately behind the window. On the
wooden fly wheel towards the street
was a white cardboard disc of about
three feet in diameter with painted
on it in blue, a beautiful spiral.
When the wheel turned round IL
looked as If the spiral were trans
formed into an ever-deepening, mad
ly whirling funnel. The children,
who in the first week pressed their
noses fiat against the window pane,
became quite giddy as they looked
into the -quickening whirlpool
At the back the room was parti-
toned off by a whitewashed wooden
wall Behind this wall the owner
PetEowsk slept and lived. Perhaps
It was a little unusual for such a
small tradeSman TO have telephone
installed a few days after his arrival
Y was never used by his customers.
whoever had to telephone, went TO
she Red Nightingale.
Business in the shop was bad from
the first. PetrowSki placed bright
paper flowers on his tables and took
trouble to make his shop as nice and
comfortable as possible. Yet the
children who now and then came to
buy a penny or a twopenny wafer
preferred to eat it in the street. Only
very rarely did someone sit down in
side. Later, since the weather was
TOO cold for the ice business, he tried
his luck with cheap potato puffs. But
in vain. There must have been some
thing that prevented the people from
feeling really at home in Petrowski's,
A STRANGE
SITUATION
The whole thing was particularly
curiogss when one considered the
habits Of the people Of the alley.
The bad, overcrowoed dwellings were
no agreeable places to stay in during
the daytime, especially for the young
people who we're often only dodgers.
Moreover. coal costs money, which
was badly needed for food. There
Wexe a number of small shops in the
alley with a table and a few chairs
near the stove. In Krueckmaxe's
cigarette shop - he was called that
on account Of his wooden leg -
number Of young workers. always
gathered. They smoked, talked and
discussed. Above all, it was nice and
warm, a better place to stay in than
a cold, narrow tenement. Again, the
many cafes in this alley took the
place of a sitting room, or even Of
family life for many. And 8 cafes
for drinking in-what else? On pay
day drunkards we're sometimes to be
seen in the alley. tt was not by
chance that the 6runkards were
nearly always those whose misery
was greatest.
But at Petsowszz5' sand this was
certainly oAS--t71e red chairs remain
ed empty a the evenings. Ne was
unpopular. Once he said he was a
Hungarian emigrant who was not
allowed IT, return no bis country. He
made it appear from his talk that
some political matter he could not
speak about was the reason for his
exile. Nothing more was to be got
out of him. The black, pock-marked
fellow was not liked by the workers
for some reason or other which no
eaue coRl4 have given. His over-polite
manner did not suit the alley and
Ms simple inhabitants. The fact that
petrowski was foreigner had moth
ing to do with it. The Poliah worker
Militia, at number one, was the friend
Of the whole alley, though he could
earcely speak word Of correct Ger
nan. But there was difference.
THE wELL-DRESSyD
NAN
ABOUT six O'Clock one evening,
n Anna was standing with her little
son on the street outside the front
door. 1t was terrible how dirty the
sllsy looked even on Sunday. The
side streets Of the workers quarters
were only cleaned once every few
days. Foreigners and visitors never
came here, so what did it NATTER
The children were playing street.
football with a leather case filled
with r1gs.
A tall well-dresSed man came
along. He avoided the women chat
ting outside the doorway by making
a small circuit towards the roadway,
and carefully scrutinized the house
numbers. Then he slipped into the
ice shop.
Anna had just noticed the man
She did not know him, he did not
belong to the alley. She had noticed
that he was looking closely at the
numbers and ended in Petrowski's
shop. He looked like a tax collector,
she thought.
While Anna was gossiping with the
other women, she suddenly rernem-
bered that it could not have been q