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diff --git a/old/mgots10.txt b/old/mgots10.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 76e6d97..0000000 --- a/old/mgots10.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,3153 +0,0 @@ -*The Project Gutenberg Etext of Maggie: A Girl of the Streets* -#2 in our series by Stephen Crane - - -Warning: this original version was missing Chapter 18 -See mgots11.* which includes it. - -Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check -the copyright laws for your country before posting these files! - -Please take a look at the important information in this header. -We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an -electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. - - -**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** - -**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** - -*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* - -Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and -further information is included below. 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If you - don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are - payable to "Project Gutenberg Association / Illinois - Benedictine College" within the 60 days following each - date you prepare (or were legally required to prepare) - your annual (or equivalent periodic) tax return. - -WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? -The Project gratefully accepts contributions in money, time, -scanning machines, OCR software, public domain etexts, royalty -free copyright licenses, and every other sort of contribution -you can think of. Money should be paid to "Project Gutenberg -Association / Illinois Benedictine College". - -*END*THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* - - - - - -MAGGIE: A GIRL OF THE STREETS -BY STEPHEN CRANE - - - - - -Chapter I - - -A very little boy stood upon a heap of gravel for the honor of -Rum Alley. He was throwing stones at howling urchins from Devil's -Row who were circling madly about the heap and pelting at him. - -His infantile countenance was livid with fury. His small body -was writhing in the delivery of great, crimson oaths. - -"Run, Jimmie, run! Dey'll get yehs," screamed a retreating -Rum Alley child. - -"Naw," responded Jimmie with a valiant roar, "dese micks can't -make me run." - -Howls of renewed wrath went up from Devil's Row throats. -Tattered gamins on the right made a furious assault on the gravel -heap. On their small, convulsed faces there shone the grins of -true assassins. As they charged, they threw stones and cursed in -shrill chorus. - -The little champion of Rum Alley stumbled precipitately down -the other side. His coat had been torn to shreds in a scuffle, and -his hat was gone. He had bruises on twenty parts of his body, and -blood was dripping from a cut in his head. His wan features wore -a look of a tiny, insane demon. - -On the ground, children from Devil's Row closed in on their -antagonist. He crooked his left arm defensively about his head and -fought with cursing fury. The little boys ran to and fro, dodging, -hurling stones and swearing in barbaric trebles. - -From a window of an apartment house that upreared its form -from amid squat, ignorant stables, there leaned a curious woman. -Some laborers, unloading a scow at a dock at the river, paused for -a moment and regarded the fight. The engineer of a passive tugboat -hung lazily to a railing and watched. Over on the Island, a worm -building and crawled slowly along the river's bank. - -A stone had smashed into Jimmie's mouth. Blood was bubbling -over his chin and down upon his ragged shirt. Tears made furrows -on his dirt-stained cheeks. His thin legs had begun to tremble and -turn weak, causing his small body to reel. His roaring curses of -the first part of the fight had changed to a blasphemous chatter. - -In the yells of the whirling mob of Devil's Row children -there were notes of joy like songs of triumphant savagery. -The little boys seemed to leer gloatingly at the blood upon -the other child's face. - -Down the avenue came boastfully sauntering a lad of sixteen -years, although the chronic sneer of an ideal manhood already sat -upon his lips. His hat was tipped with an air of challenge over -his eye. Between his teeth, a cigar stump was tilted at the angle -of defiance. He walked with a certain swing of the shoulders which -appalled the timid. He glanced over into the vacant lot in which -the little raving boys from Devil's Row seethed about the shrieking -and tearful child from Rum Alley. - -"Gee!" he murmured with interest. "A scrap. Gee!" - -He strode over to the cursing circle, swinging his shoulders -in a manner which denoted that he held victory in his fists. -He approached at the back of one of the most deeply engaged -of the Devil's Row children. - -"Ah, what deh hell," he said, and smote the deeply-engaged one -on the back of the head. The little boy fell to the ground and -gave a hoarse, tremendous howl. He scrambled to his feet, and -perceiving, evidently, the size of his assailant, ran quickly off, -shouting alarms. The entire Devil's Row party followed him. They -came to a stand a short distance away and yelled taunting oaths at -the boy with the chronic sneer. The latter, momentarily, paid no -attention to them. - -"What deh hell, Jimmie?" he asked of the small champion. - -Jimmie wiped his blood-wet features with his sleeve. - -"Well, it was dis way, Pete, see! I was goin' teh lick dat -Riley kid and dey all pitched on me." - -Some Rum Alley children now came forward. The party stood for -a moment exchanging vainglorious remarks with Devil's Row. A few -stones were thrown at long distances, and words of challenge passed -between small warriors. Then the Rum Alley contingent turned -slowly in the direction of their home street. They began to give, -each to each, distorted versions of the fight. Causes of retreat -in particular cases were magnified. Blows dealt in the fight were -enlarged to catapultian power, and stones thrown were alleged to -have hurtled with infinite accuracy. Valor grew strong again, -and the little boys began to swear with great spirit. - -"Ah, we blokies kin lick deh hull damn Row," said a child, swaggering. - -Little Jimmie was striving to stanch the flow of blood from -his cut lips. Scowling, he turned upon the speaker. - -"Ah, where deh hell was yeh when I was doin' all deh fightin?" -he demanded. "Youse kids makes me tired." - -"Ah, go ahn," replied the other argumentatively. - -Jimmie replied with heavy contempt. "Ah, youse can't fight, -Blue Billie! I kin lick yeh wid one han'." - -"Ah, go ahn," replied Billie again. - -"Ah," said Jimmie threateningly. - -"Ah," said the other in the same tone. - -They struck at each other, clinched, and rolled over on the -cobble stones. - -"Smash 'im, Jimmie, kick deh damn guts out of 'im," yelled Pete, -the lad with the chronic sneer, in tones of delight. - -The small combatants pounded and kicked, scratched and tore. -They began to weep and their curses struggled in their throats with -sobs. The other little boys clasped their hands and wriggled their -legs in excitement. They formed a bobbing circle about the pair. - -A tiny spectator was suddenly agitated. - -"Cheese it, Jimmie, cheese it! Here comes yer fader," he yelled. - -The circle of little boys instantly parted. They drew away -and waited in ecstatic awe for that which was about to happen. -The two little boys fighting in the modes of four thousand years ago, -did not hear the warning. - -Up the avenue there plodded slowly a man with sullen eyes. -He was carrying a dinner pail and smoking an apple-wood pipe. - -As he neared the spot where the little boys strove, he -regarded them listlessly. But suddenly he roared an oath and -advanced upon the rolling fighters. - -"Here, you Jim, git up, now, while I belt yer life out, -you damned disorderly brat." - -He began to kick into the chaotic mass on the ground. The boy -Billie felt a heavy boot strike his head. He made a furious effort -and disentangled himself from Jimmie. He tottered away, damning. - -Jimmie arose painfully from the ground and confronting his -father, began to curse him. His parent kicked him. "Come home, -now," he cried, "an' stop yer jawin', er I'll lam the everlasting -head off yehs." - -They departed. The man paced placidly along with the apple- -wood emblem of serenity between his teeth. The boy followed a -dozen feet in the rear. He swore luridly, for he felt that it was -degradation for one who aimed to be some vague soldier, or a man of -blood with a sort of sublime license, to be taken home by a father. - - - - -Chapter II - - -Eventually they entered into a dark region where, from a -careening building, a dozen gruesome doorways gave up loads of -babies to the street and the gutter. A wind of early autumn raised -yellow dust from cobbles and swirled it against an hundred windows. -Long streamers of garments fluttered from fire-escapes. In all -unhandy places there were buckets, brooms, rags and bottles. In -the street infants played or fought with other infants or sat -stupidly in the way of vehicles. Formidable women, with uncombed -hair and disordered dress, gossiped while leaning on railings, or -screamed in frantic quarrels. Withered persons, in curious -postures of submission to something, sat smoking pipes in obscure -corners. A thousand odors of cooking food came forth to the -street. The building quivered and creaked from the weight of -humanity stamping about in its bowels. - -A small ragged girl dragged a red, bawling infant along the -crowded ways. He was hanging back, baby-like, bracing his -wrinkled, bare legs. - -The little girl cried out: "Ah, Tommie, come ahn. -Dere's Jimmie and fader. Don't be a-pullin' me back." - -She jerked the baby's arm impatiently. He fell on his face, -roaring. With a second jerk she pulled him to his feet, and they -went on. With the obstinacy of his order, he protested against -being dragged in a chosen direction. He made heroic endeavors to -keep on his legs, denounce his sister and consume a bit of orange -peeling which he chewed between the times of his infantile -orations. - -As the sullen-eyed man, followed by the blood-covered boy, -drew near, the little girl burst into reproachful cries. -"Ah, Jimmie, youse bin fightin' agin." - -The urchin swelled disdainfully. - -"Ah, what deh hell, Mag. See?" - -The little girl upbraided him, "Youse allus fightin', Jimmie, -an' yeh knows it puts mudder out when yehs come home half dead, -an' it's like we'll all get a poundin'." - -She began to weep. The babe threw back his head and roared at -his prospects. - -"Ah, what deh hell!" cried Jimmie. Shut up er I'll smack yer mout'. See?" - -As his sister continued her lamentations, he suddenly swore -and struck her. The little girl reeled and, recovering herself, -burst into tears and quaveringly cursed him. As she slowly -retreated her brother advanced dealing her cuffs. The father heard -and turned about. - -"Stop that, Jim, d'yeh hear? Leave yer sister alone on the -street. It's like I can never beat any sense into yer damned -wooden head." - -The urchin raised his voice in defiance to his parent and -continued his attacks. The babe bawled tremendously, protesting -with great violence. During his sister's hasty manoeuvres, he was -dragged by the arm. - -Finally the procession plunged into one of the gruesome doorways. -They crawled up dark stairways and along cold, gloomy halls. -At last the father pushed open a door and they entered a lighted room -in which a large woman was rampant. - -She stopped in a career from a seething stove to a pan-covered table. -As the father and children filed in she peered at them. - -"Eh, what? Been fightin' agin, by Gawd!" She threw herself -upon Jimmie. The urchin tried to dart behind the others and in the -scuffle the babe, Tommie, was knocked down. He protested with his -usual vehemence, because they had bruised his tender shins against -a table leg. - -The mother's massive shoulders heaved with anger. Grasping the -urchin by the neck and shoulder she shook him until he rattled. -She dragged him to an unholy sink, and, soaking a rag in water, -began to scrub his lacerated face with it. Jimmie screamed in pain -and tried to twist his shoulders out of the clasp of the huge arms. - -The babe sat on the floor watching the scene, his face in contortions -like that of a woman at a tragedy. The father, with a newly-ladened -pipe in his mouth, crouched on a backless chair near the stove. -Jimmie's cries annoyed him. He turned about and bellowed at his wife: - -"Let the damned kid alone for a minute, will yeh, Mary? Yer allus -poundin' 'im. When I come nights I can't git no rest 'cause -yer allus poundin' a kid. Let up, d'yeh hear? Don't be allus -poundin' a kid." - -The woman's operations on the urchin instantly increased in violence. -At last she tossed him to a corner where he limply lay cursing and weeping. - -The wife put her immense hands on her hips and with a -chieftain-like stride approached her husband. - -"Ho," she said, with a great grunt of contempt. "An' what in -the devil are you stickin' your nose for?" - -The babe crawled under the table and, turning, peered out -cautiously. The ragged girl retreated and the urchin in the corner -drew his legs carefully beneath him. - -The man puffed his pipe calmly and put his great mudded boots -on the back part of the stove. - -"Go teh hell," he murmured, tranquilly. - -The woman screamed and shook her fists before her husband's -eyes. The rough yellow of her face and neck flared suddenly -crimson. She began to howl. - -He puffed imperturbably at his pipe for a time, but finally -arose and began to look out at the window into the darkening chaos -of back yards. - -"You've been drinkin', Mary," he said. "You'd better let up -on the bot', ol' woman, or you'll git done." - -"You're a liar. I ain't had a drop," she roared in reply. - -They had a lurid altercation, in which they damned each -other's souls with frequence. - -The babe was staring out from under the table, his small face -working in his excitement. - -The ragged girl went stealthily over to the corner where the -urchin lay. - -"Are yehs hurted much, Jimmie?" she whispered timidly. - -"Not a damn bit! See?" growled the little boy. - -"Will I wash deh blood?" - -"Naw!" - -"Will I--" - -"When I catch dat Riley kid I'll break 'is face! Dat's right! See?" - -He turned his face to the wall as if resolved to grimly bide -his time. - -In the quarrel between husband and wife, the woman was victor. -The man grabbed his hat and rushed from the room, apparently -determined upon a vengeful drunk. She followed to the door and -thundered at him as he made his way down stairs. - -She returned and stirred up the room until her children were -bobbing about like bubbles. - -"Git outa deh way," she persistently bawled, waving feet -with their dishevelled shoes near the heads of her children. -She shrouded herself, puffing and snorting, in a cloud of steam -at the stove, and eventually extracted a frying-pan full of potatoes -that hissed. - -She flourished it. "Come teh yer suppers, now," she cried -with sudden exasperation. "Hurry up, now, er I'll help yeh!" - -The children scrambled hastily. With prodigious clatter they -arranged themselves at table. The babe sat with his feet dangling -high from a precarious infant chair and gorged his small stomach. -Jimmie forced, with feverish rapidity, the grease-enveloped pieces -between his wounded lips. Maggie, with side glances of fear of -interruption, ate like a small pursued tigress. - -The mother sat blinking at them. She delivered reproaches, -swallowed potatoes and drank from a yellow-brown bottle. -After a time her mood changed and she wept as she carried -little Tommie into another room and laid him to sleep -with his fists doubled in an old quilt of faded red -and green grandeur. Then she came and moaned by the stove. -She rocked to and fro upon a chair, shedding tears -and crooning miserably to the two children about their -"poor mother" and "yer fader, damn 'is soul." - -The little girl plodded between the table and the chair with -a dish-pan on it. She tottered on her small legs beneath burdens -of dishes. - -Jimmie sat nursing his various wounds. He cast furtive glances -at his mother. His practised eye perceived her gradually emerge -from a muddled mist of sentiment until her brain burned in -drunken heat. He sat breathless. - -Maggie broke a plate. - -The mother started to her feet as if propelled. - -"Good Gawd," she howled. Her eyes glittered on her child with -sudden hatred. The fervent red of her face turned almost to -purple. The little boy ran to the halls, shrieking like a monk in -an earthquake. - -He floundered about in darkness until he found the stairs. He stumbled, -panic-stricken, to the next floor. An old woman opened a door. -A light behind her threw a flare on the urchin's quivering face. - -"Eh, Gawd, child, what is it dis time? Is yer fader beatin' -yer mudder, or yer mudder beatin' yer fader?" - - - - -Chapter III - - -Jimmie and the old woman listened long in the hall. Above the -muffled roar of conversation, the dismal wailings of babies at -night, the thumping of feet in unseen corridors and rooms, mingled -with the sound of varied hoarse shoutings in the street and the -rattling of wheels over cobbles, they heard the screams of the -child and the roars of the mother die away to a feeble moaning and -a subdued bass muttering. - -The old woman was a gnarled and leathery personage who could -don, at will, an expression of great virtue. She possessed a small -music-box capable of one tune, and a collection of "God bless yehs" -pitched in assorted keys of fervency. Each day she took a position -upon the stones of Fifth Avenue, where she crooked her legs under -her and crouched immovable and hideous, like an idol. She received -daily a small sum in pennies. It was contributed, for the most -part, by persons who did not make their homes in that vicinity. - -Once, when a lady had dropped her purse on the sidewalk, the -gnarled woman had grabbed it and smuggled it with great dexterity -beneath her cloak. When she was arrested she had cursed the lady -into a partial swoon, and with her aged limbs, twisted from -rheumatism, had almost kicked the stomach out of a huge policeman -whose conduct upon that occasion she referred to when she said: -"The police, damn 'em." - -"Eh, Jimmie, it's cursed shame," she said. "Go, now, like a dear -an' buy me a can, an' if yer mudder raises 'ell all night yehs -can sleep here." - -Jimmie took a tendered tin-pail and seven pennies and departed. -He passed into the side door of a saloon and went to the bar. -Straining up on his toes he raised the pail and pennies as high -as his arms would let him. He saw two hands thrust down and take them. -Directly the same hands let down the filled pail and he left. - -In front of the gruesome doorway he met a lurching figure. -It was his father, swaying about on uncertain legs. - -"Give me deh can. See?" said the man, threateningly. - -"Ah, come off! I got dis can fer dat ol' woman an' it 'ud be -dirt teh swipe it. See?" cried Jimmie. - -The father wrenched the pail from the urchin. He grasped it -in both hands and lifted it to his mouth. He glued his lips to the -under edge and tilted his head. His hairy throat swelled until it -seemed to grow near his chin. There was a tremendous gulping -movement and the beer was gone. - -The man caught his breath and laughed. He hit his son on the -head with the empty pail. As it rolled clanging into the street, -Jimmie began to scream and kicked repeatedly at his father's shins. - -"Look at deh dirt what yeh done me," he yelled. "Deh ol' -woman 'ill be raisin' hell." - -He retreated to the middle of the street, but the man did not -pursue. He staggered toward the door. - -"I'll club hell outa yeh when I ketch yeh," he shouted, and -disappeared. - -During the evening he had been standing against a bar drinking -whiskies and declaring to all comers, confidentially: "My home -reg'lar livin' hell! Damndes' place! Reg'lar hell! Why do I come -an' drin' whisk' here thish way? 'Cause home reg'lar livin' hell!" - -Jimmie waited a long time in the street and then crept warily -up through the building. He passed with great caution the door of -the gnarled woman, and finally stopped outside his home and listened. - -He could hear his mother moving heavily about among the -furniture of the room. She was chanting in a mournful voice, -occasionally interjecting bursts of volcanic wrath at the father, -who, Jimmie judged, had sunk down on the floor or in a corner. - -"Why deh blazes don' chere try teh keep Jim from fightin'? -I'll break her jaw," she suddenly bellowed. - -The man mumbled with drunken indifference. "Ah, wha' deh -hell. W'a's odds? Wha' makes kick?" - -"Because he tears 'is clothes, yeh damn fool," cried the woman -in supreme wrath. - -The husband seemed to become aroused. "Go teh hell," he -thundered fiercely in reply. There was a crash against the door -and something broke into clattering fragments. Jimmie partially -suppressed a howl and darted down the stairway. Below he paused -and listened. He heard howls and curses, groans and shrieks, -confusingly in chorus as if a battle were raging. With all was the -crash of splintering furniture. The eyes of the urchin glared in -fear that one of them would discover him. - -Curious faces appeared in doorways, and whispered comments -passed to and fro. "Ol' Johnson's raisin' hell agin." - -Jimmie stood until the noises ceased and the other inhabitants -of the tenement had all yawned and shut their doors. Then he -crawled upstairs with the caution of an invader of a panther den. -Sounds of labored breathing came through the broken door-panels. -He pushed the door open and entered, quaking. - -A glow from the fire threw red hues over the bare floor, the cracked -and soiled plastering, and the overturned and broken furniture. - -In the middle of the floor lay his mother asleep. In one -corner of the room his father's limp body hung across the seat -of a chair. - -The urchin stole forward. He began to shiver in dread of -awakening his parents. His mother's great chest was heaving -painfully. Jimmie paused and looked down at her. Her face was -inflamed and swollen from drinking. Her yellow brows shaded eye- -lids that had brown blue. Her tangled hair tossed in waves over -her forehead. Her mouth was set in the same lines of vindictive -hatred that it had, perhaps, borne during the fight. Her bare, -red arms were thrown out above her head in positions of exhaustion, -something, mayhap, like those of a sated villain. - -The urchin bended over his mother. He was fearful lest she -should open her eyes, and the dread within him was so strong, -that he could not forbear to stare, but hung as if fascinated -over the woman's grim face. - -Suddenly her eyes opened. The urchin found himself looking -straight into that expression, which, it would seem, had the power -to change his blood to salt. He howled piercingly and fell -backward. - -The woman floundered for a moment, tossed her arms about her -head as if in combat, and again began to snore. - -Jimmie crawled back in the shadows and waited. A noise in the -next room had followed his cry at the discovery that his mother was -awake. He grovelled in the gloom, the eyes from out his drawn face -riveted upon the intervening door. - -He heard it creak, and then the sound of a small voice came to -him. "Jimmie! Jimmie! Are yehs dere?" it whispered. The urchin -started. The thin, white face of his sister looked at him from the -door-way of the other room. She crept to him across the floor. - -The father had not moved, but lay in the same death-like -sleep. The mother writhed in uneasy slumber, her chest wheezing as -if she were in the agonies of strangulation. Out at the window a -florid moon was peering over dark roofs, and in the distance the -waters of a river glimmered pallidly. - -The small frame of the ragged girl was quivering. Her -features were haggard from weeping, and her eyes gleamed from fear. -She grasped the urchin's arm in her little trembling hands and they -huddled in a corner. The eyes of both were drawn, by some force, -to stare at the woman's face, for they thought she need only to -awake and all fiends would come from below. - -They crouched until the ghost-mists of dawn appeared at the -window, drawing close to the panes, and looking in at the -prostrate, heaving body of the mother. - - - - -Chapter IV - - -The babe, Tommie, died. He went away in a white, -insignificant coffin, his small waxen hand clutching a flower that -the girl, Maggie, had stolen from an Italian. - -She and Jimmie lived. - -The inexperienced fibres of the boy's eyes were hardened at an -early age. He became a young man of leather. He lived some red -years without laboring. During that time his sneer became chronic. -He studied human nature in the gutter, and found it no worse than -he thought he had reason to believe it. He never conceived a -respect for the world, because he had begun with no idols that it -had smashed. - -He clad his soul in armor by means of happening hilariously in -at a mission church where a man composed his sermons of "yous." -While they got warm at the stove, he told his hearers just where he -calculated they stood with the Lord. Many of the sinners were -impatient over the pictured depths of their degradation. They were -waiting for soup-tickets. - -A reader of words of wind-demons might have been able to see -the portions of a dialogue pass to and fro between the exhorter and -his hearers. - -"You are damned," said the preacher. And the reader of sounds -might have seen the reply go forth from the ragged people: "Where's -our soup?" - -Jimmie and a companion sat in a rear seat and commented upon -the things that didn't concern them, with all the freedom of -English gentlemen. When they grew thirsty and went out their minds -confused the speaker with Christ. - -Momentarily, Jimmie was sullen with thoughts of a hopeless -altitude where grew fruit. His companion said that if he -should ever meet God he would ask for a million dollars and a -bottle of beer. - -Jimmie's occupation for a long time was to stand on streetcorners -and watch the world go by, dreaming blood-red dreams at the passing -of pretty women. He menaced mankind at the intersections of streets. - -On the corners he was in life and of life. The world was -going on and he was there to perceive it. - -He maintained a belligerent attitude toward all well-dressed -men. To him fine raiment was allied to weakness, and all good -coats covered faint hearts. He and his order were kings, to a -certain extent, over the men of untarnished clothes, because these -latter dreaded, perhaps, to be either killed or laughed at. - -Above all things he despised obvious Christians and ciphers -with the chrysanthemums of aristocracy in their button-holes. He -considered himself above both of these classes. He was afraid of -neither the devil nor the leader of society. - -When he had a dollar in his pocket his satisfaction with existence -was the greatest thing in the world. So, eventually, he felt -obliged to work. His father died and his mother's years were -divided up into periods of thirty days. - -He became a truck driver. He was given the charge of a painstaking -pair of horses and a large rattling truck. He invaded the turmoil -and tumble of the down-town streets and learned to breathe maledictory -defiance at the police who occasionally used to climb up, drag him -from his perch and beat him. - -In the lower part of the city he daily involved himself in -hideous tangles. If he and his team chanced to be in the rear he -preserved a demeanor of serenity, crossing his legs and bursting -forth into yells when foot passengers took dangerous dives beneath -the noses of his champing horses. He smoked his pipe calmly for he -knew that his pay was marching on. - -If in the front and the key-truck of chaos, he entered -terrifically into the quarrel that was raging to and fro among the -drivers on their high seats, and sometimes roared oaths and -violently got himself arrested. - -After a time his sneer grew so that it turned its glare upon -all things. He became so sharp that he believed in nothing. To -him the police were always actuated by malignant impulses and the -rest of the world was composed, for the most part, of despicable -creatures who were all trying to take advantage of him and with -whom, in defense, he was obliged to quarrel on all possible -occasions. He himself occupied a down-trodden position that -had a private but distinct element of grandeur in its isolation. - -The most complete cases of aggravated idiocy were, to his mind, -rampant upon the front platforms of all the street cars. At first -his tongue strove with these beings, but he eventually was superior. -He became immured like an African cow. In him grew a majestic contempt -for those strings of street cars that followed him like intent bugs. - -He fell into the habit, when starting on a long journey, of -fixing his eye on a high and distant object, commanding his horses -to begin, and then going into a sort of a trance of observation. -Multitudes of drivers might howl in his rear, and passengers might -load him with opprobrium, he would not awaken until some blue -policeman turned red and began to frenziedly tear bridles and beat -the soft noses of the responsible horses. - -When he paused to contemplate the attitude of the police -toward himself and his fellows, he believed that they were the only -men in the city who had no rights. When driving about, he felt -that he was held liable by the police for anything that might occur -in the streets, and was the common prey of all energetic officials. -In revenge, he resolved never to move out of the way of anything, -until formidable circumstances, or a much larger man than himself -forced him to it. - -Foot-passengers were mere pestering flies with an insane -disregard for their legs and his convenience. He could not -conceive their maniacal desires to cross the streets. Their -madness smote him with eternal amazement. He was continually -storming at them from his throne. He sat aloft and denounced their -frantic leaps, plunges, dives and straddles. - -When they would thrust at, or parry, the noses of his champing -horses, making them swing their heads and move their feet, -disturbing a solid dreamy repose, he swore at the men as fools, -for he himself could perceive that Providence had caused it clearly -to be written, that he and his team had the unalienable right to stand -in the proper path of the sun chariot, and if they so minded, -obstruct its mission or take a wheel off. - -And, perhaps, if the god-driver had an ungovernable desire to -step down, put up his flame-colored fists and manfully dispute the -right of way, he would have probably been immediately opposed by a -scowling mortal with two sets of very hard knuckles. - -It is possible, perhaps, that this young man would have -derided, in an axle-wide alley, the approach of a flying ferry -boat. Yet he achieved a respect for a fire engine. As one charged -toward his truck, he would drive fearfully upon a sidewalk, -threatening untold people with annihilation. When an engine would -strike a mass of blocked trucks, splitting it into fragments, as a -blow annihilates a cake of ice, Jimmie's team could usually be -observed high and safe, with whole wheels, on the sidewalk. -The fearful coming of the engine could break up the most intricate -muddle of heavy vehicles at which the police had been swearing for -the half of an hour. - -A fire engine was enshrined in his heart as an appalling thing -that he loved with a distant dog-like devotion. They had been -known to overturn street-cars. Those leaping horses, striking -sparks from the cobbles in their forward lunge, were creatures -to be ineffably admired. The clang of the gong pierced his breast -like a noise of remembered war. - -When Jimmie was a little boy, he began to be arrested. -Before he reached a great age, he had a fair record. - -He developed too great a tendency to climb down from his truck -and fight with other drivers. He had been in quite a number of -miscellaneous fights, and in some general barroom rows that had -become known to the police. Once he had been arrested for -assaulting a Chinaman. Two women in different parts of the city, -and entirely unknown to each other, caused him considerable -annoyance by breaking forth, simultaneously, at fateful intervals, -into wailings about marriage and support and infants. - -Nevertheless, he had, on a certain star-lit evening, said wonderingly -and quite reverently: "Deh moon looks like hell, don't it?" - - - - -Chapter V - - -The girl, Maggie, blossomed in a mud puddle. She grew to be -a most rare and wonderful production of a tenement district, -a pretty girl. - -None of the dirt of Rum Alley seemed to be in her veins. -The philosophers up-stairs, down-stairs and on the same floor, -puzzled over it. - -When a child, playing and fighting with gamins in the street, -dirt disguised her. Attired in tatters and grime, she went unseen. - -There came a time, however, when the young men of the vicinity -said: "Dat Johnson goil is a puty good looker." About this period -her brother remarked to her: "Mag, I'll tell yeh dis! See? -Yeh've edder got teh go teh hell or go teh work!" Whereupon she -went to work, having the feminine aversion of going to hell. - -By a chance, she got a position in an establishment where they -made collars and cuffs. She received a stool and a machine in a -room where sat twenty girls of various shades of yellow discontent. -She perched on the stool and treadled at her machine all day, -turning out collars, the name of whose brand could be noted for its -irrelevancy to anything in connection with collars. At night she -returned home to her mother. - -Jimmie grew large enough to take the vague position of head of -the family. As incumbent of that office, he stumbled up-stairs -late at night, as his father had done before him. He reeled about -the room, swearing at his relations, or went to sleep on the floor. - -The mother had gradually arisen to that degree of fame that -she could bandy words with her acquaintances among the police- -justices. Court-officials called her by her first name. When she -appeared they pursued a course which had been theirs for months. -They invariably grinned and cried out: "Hello, Mary, you here -again?" Her grey head wagged in many a court. She always besieged -the bench with voluble excuses, explanations, apologies and -prayers. Her flaming face and rolling eyes were a sort of familiar -sight on the island. She measured time by means of sprees, and was -eternally swollen and dishevelled. - -One day the young man, Pete, who as a lad had smitten the -Devil's Row urchin in the back of the head and put to flight the -antagonists of his friend, Jimmie, strutted upon the scene. -He met Jimmie one day on the street, promised to take him to -a boxing match in Williamsburg, and called for him in the evening. - -Maggie observed Pete. - -He sat on a table in the Johnson home and dangled his checked -legs with an enticing nonchalance. His hair was curled down over -his forehead in an oiled bang. His rather pugged nose seemed to -revolt from contact with a bristling moustache of short, wire-like -hairs. His blue double-breasted coat, edged with black braid, -buttoned close to a red puff tie, and his patent-leather shoes -looked like murder-fitted weapons. - -His mannerisms stamped him as a man who had a correct sense of -his personal superiority. There was valor and contempt for -circumstances in the glance of his eye. He waved his hands like a -man of the world, who dismisses religion and philosophy, and says -"Fudge." He had certainly seen everything and with each curl of -his lip, he declared that it amounted to nothing. Maggie -thought he must be a very elegant and graceful bartender. - -He was telling tales to Jimmie. - -Maggie watched him furtively, with half-closed eyes, lit with -a vague interest. - -"Hully gee! Dey makes me tired," he said. "Mos' e'ry day -some farmer comes in an' tries teh run deh shop. See? But dey -gits t'rowed right out! I jolt dem right out in deh street before -dey knows where dey is! See?" - -"Sure," said Jimmie. - -"Dere was a mug come in deh place deh odder day wid an idear -he wus goin' teh own deh place! Hully gee, he wus goin' teh own -deh place! I see he had a still on an' I didn' wanna giv 'im no -stuff, so I says: 'Git deh hell outa here an' don' make no -trouble,' I says like dat! See? 'Git deh hell outa here an' don' -make no trouble'; like dat. 'Git deh hell outa here,' I says. See?" - -Jimmie nodded understandingly. Over his features played an -eager desire to state the amount of his valor in a similar crisis, -but the narrator proceeded. - -"Well, deh blokie he says: 'T'hell wid it! I ain' lookin' for -no scrap,' he says (See?), 'but' he says, 'I'm 'spectable cit'zen -an' I wanna drink an' purtydamnsoon, too.' See? 'Deh hell,' I -says. Like dat! 'Deh hell,' I says. See? 'Don' make no -trouble,' I says. Like dat. 'Don' make no trouble.' See? Den -deh mug he squared off an' said he was fine as silk wid his dukes -(See?) an' he wanned a drink damnquick. Dat's what he said. See?" - -"Sure," repeated Jimmie. - -Pete continued. "Say, I jes' jumped deh bar an' deh way I -plunked dat blokie was great. See? Dat's right! In deh jaw! -See? Hully gee, he t'rowed a spittoon true deh front windee. Say, -I taut I'd drop dead. But deh boss, he comes in after an' he says, -'Pete, yehs done jes' right! Yeh've gota keep order an' it's all -right.' See? 'It's all right,' he says. Dat's what he said." - -The two held a technical discussion. - -"Dat bloke was a dandy," said Pete, in conclusion, "but he -hadn' oughta made no trouble. Dat's what I says teh dem: 'Don' -come in here an' make no trouble,' I says, like dat. 'Don' make no -trouble.' See?" - -As Jimmie and his friend exchanged tales descriptive of their -prowess, Maggie leaned back in the shadow. Her eyes dwelt -wonderingly and rather wistfully upon Pete's face. The broken -furniture, grimey walls, and general disorder and dirt of her home -of a sudden appeared before her and began to take a -potential aspect. Pete's aristocratic person looked as if it might -soil. She looked keenly at him, occasionally, wondering if he was -feeling contempt. But Pete seemed to be enveloped in reminiscence. - -"Hully gee," said he, "dose mugs can't phase me. Dey knows I -kin wipe up deh street wid any t'ree of dem." - -When he said, "Ah, what deh hell," his voice was burdened with -disdain for the inevitable and contempt for anything that fate -might compel him to endure. - -Maggie perceived that here was the beau ideal of a man. Her -dim thoughts were often searching for far away lands where, as God -says, the little hills sing together in the morning. Under the -trees of her dream-gardens there had always walked a lover. - - - - -Chapter VI - - -Pete took note of Maggie. - -"Say, Mag, I'm stuck on yer shape. It's outa sight," he said, -parenthetically, with an affable grin. - -As he became aware that she was listening closely, he grew -still more eloquent in his descriptions of various happenings in -his career. It appeared that he was invincible in fights. - -"Why," he said, referring to a man with whom he had had a -misunderstanding, "dat mug scrapped like a damn dago. Dat's right. -He was dead easy. See? He tau't he was a scrapper. But he foun' -out diff'ent! Hully gee." - -He walked to and fro in the small room, which seemed then to -grow even smaller and unfit to hold his dignity, the attribute of -a supreme warrior. That swing of the shoulders that had frozen the -timid when he was but a lad had increased with his growth and -education at the ratio of ten to one. It, combined with the sneer -upon his mouth, told mankind that there was nothing in space which -could appall him. Maggie marvelled at him and surrounded him with -greatness. She vaguely tried to calculate the altitude of the -pinnacle from which he must have looked down upon her. - -"I met a chump deh odder day way up in deh city," he said. "I -was goin' teh see a frien' of mine. When I was a-crossin' deh -street deh chump runned plump inteh me, an' den he turns aroun' an' -says, 'Yer insolen' ruffin,' he says, like dat. 'Oh, gee,' I says, -'oh, gee, go teh hell and git off deh eart',' I says, like dat. -See? 'Go teh hell an' git off deh eart',' like dat. Den deh -blokie he got wild. He says I was a contempt'ble scoun'el, -er somet'ing like dat, an' he says I was doom' teh everlastin' -pe'dition an' all like dat. 'Gee,' I says, 'gee! Deh hell I am,' -I says. 'Deh hell I am,' like dat. An' den I slugged 'im. See?" - -With Jimmie in his company, Pete departed in a sort of a blaze -of glory from the Johnson home. Maggie, leaning from the window, -watched him as he walked down the street. - -Here was a formidable man who disdained the strength of a -world full of fists. Here was one who had contempt for brass- -clothed power; one whose knuckles could defiantly ring against the -granite of law. He was a knight. - -The two men went from under the glimmering street-lamp and -passed into shadows. - -Turning, Maggie contemplated the dark, dust-stained walls, and -the scant and crude furniture of her home. A clock, in a -splintered and battered oblong box of varnished wood, she suddenly -regarded as an abomination. She noted that it ticked raspingly. -The almost vanished flowers in the carpet-pattern, she conceived to -be newly hideous. Some faint attempts she had made with blue -ribbon, to freshen the appearance of a dingy curtain, she now saw -to be piteous. - -She wondered what Pete dined on. - -She reflected upon the collar and cuff factory. It began to -appear to her mind as a dreary place of endless grinding. Pete's -elegant occupation brought him, no doubt, into contact with people -who had money and manners. it was probable that he had a large -acquaintance of pretty girls. He must have great sums of money to -spend. - -To her the earth was composed of hardships and insults. She -felt instant admiration for a man who openly defied it. She -thought that if the grim angel of death should clutch his heart, -Pete would shrug his shoulders and say: "Oh, ev'ryt'ing goes." - -She anticipated that he would come again shortly. She spent -some of her week's pay in the purchase of flowered cretonne for a -lambrequin. She made it with infinite care and hung it to the -slightly-careening mantel, over the stove, in the kitchen. She -studied it with painful anxiety from different points in the room. -She wanted it to look well on Sunday night when, perhaps, Jimmie's -friend would come. On Sunday night, however, Pete did not appear. - -Afterward the girl looked at it with a sense of humiliation. -She was now convinced that Pete was superior to admiration for -lambrequins. - -A few evenings later Pete entered with fascinating innovations -in his apparel. As she had seen him twice and he had different -suits on each time, Maggie had a dim impression that his -wardrobe was prodigiously extensive. - -"Say, Mag," he said, "put on yer bes' duds Friday night an' -I'll take yehs teh deh show. See?" - -He spent a few moments in flourishing his clothes and then -vanished, without having glanced at the lambrequin. - -Over the eternal collars and cuffs in the factory Maggie spent -the most of three days in making imaginary sketches of Pete and his -daily environment. She imagined some half dozen women in love with -him and thought he must lean dangerously toward an indefinite one, -whom she pictured with great charms of person, but with an -altogether contemptible disposition. - -She thought he must live in a blare of pleasure. He had friends, -and people who were afraid of him. - -She saw the golden glitter of the place where Pete was to take -her. An entertainment of many hues and many melodies where she was -afraid she might appear small and mouse-colored. - -Her mother drank whiskey all Friday morning. With lurid face -and tossing hair she cursed and destroyed furniture all Friday -afternoon. When Maggie came home at half-past six her mother lay -asleep amidst the wreck of chairs and a table. Fragments of -various household utensils were scattered about the floor. -She had vented some phase of drunken fury upon the lambrequin. -It lay in a bedraggled heap in the corner. - -"Hah," she snorted, sitting up suddenly, "where deh hell yeh -been? Why deh hell don' yeh come home earlier? Been loafin' -'round deh streets. Yer gettin' teh be a reg'lar devil." - -When Pete arrived Maggie, in a worn black dress, was waiting -for him in the midst of a floor strewn with wreckage. The curtain -at the window had been pulled by a heavy hand and hung by one tack, -dangling to and fro in the draft through the cracks at the sash. -The knots of blue ribbons appeared like violated flowers. The fire -in the stove had gone out. The displaced lids and open doors -showed heaps of sullen grey ashes. The remnants of a meal, -ghastly, like dead flesh, lay in a corner. Maggie's red mother, -stretched on the floor, blasphemed and gave her daughter a bad name. - - - - -Chapter VII - - -An orchestra of yellow silk women and bald-headed men on an -elevated stage near the centre of a great green-hued hall, played -a popular waltz. The place was crowded with people grouped -about little tables. A battalion of waiters slid among the throng, -carrying trays of beer glasses and making change from the -inexhaustible vaults of their trousers pockets. Little boys, in -the costumes of French chefs, paraded up and down the irregular -aisles vending fancy cakes. There was a low rumble of conversation -and a subdued clinking of glasses. Clouds of tobacco smoke rolled -and wavered high in air about the dull gilt of the chandeliers. - -The vast crowd had an air throughout of having just quitted -labor. Men with calloused hands and attired in garments that -showed the wear of an endless trudge for a living, smoked their -pipes contentedly and spent five, ten, or perhaps fifteen cents for -beer. There was a mere sprinkling of kid-gloved men who smoked -cigars purchased elsewhere. The great body of the crowd was -composed of people who showed that all day they strove with their -hands. Quiet Germans, with maybe their wives and two or three -children, sat listening to the music, with the expressions of happy -cows. An occasional party of sailors from a war-ship, their faces -pictures of sturdy health, spent the earlier hours of the evening -at the small round tables. Very infrequent tipsy men, swollen with -the value of their opinions, engaged their companions in earnest -and confidential conversation. In the balcony, and here and there -below, shone the impassive faces of women. The nationalities of -the Bowery beamed upon the stage from all directions. - -Pete aggressively walked up a side aisle and took seats with -Maggie at a table beneath the balcony. - -"Two beehs!" - -Leaning back he regarded with eyes of superiority the scene -before them. This attitude affected Maggie strongly. A man who -could regard such a sight with indifference must be accustomed to -very great things. - -It was obvious that Pete had been to this place many times -before, and was very familiar with it. A knowledge of this fact -made Maggie feel little and new. - -He was extremely gracious and attentive. He displayed the -consideration of a cultured gentleman who knew what was due. - -"Say, what deh hell? Bring deh lady a big glass! What deh -hell use is dat pony?" - -"Don't be fresh, now," said the waiter, with some warmth, as -he departed. - -"Ah, git off deh eart'," said Pete, after the other's -retreating form. - -Maggie perceived that Pete brought forth all his elegance and -all his knowledge of high-class customs for her benefit. Her heart -warmed as she reflected upon his condescension. - -The orchestra of yellow silk women and bald-headed men gave -vent to a few bars of anticipatory music and a girl, in a pink -dress with short skirts, galloped upon the stage. She smiled upon -the throng as if in acknowledgment of a warm welcome, and began to -walk to and fro, making profuse gesticulations and singing, in -brazen soprano tones, a song, the words of which were inaudible. -When she broke into the swift rattling measures of a chorus some -half-tipsy men near the stage joined in the rollicking refrain and -glasses were pounded rhythmically upon the tables. People leaned -forward to watch her and to try to catch the words of the song. -When she vanished there were long rollings of applause. - -Obedient to more anticipatory bars, she reappeared amidst the -half-suppressed cheering of the tipsy men. The orchestra plunged -into dance music and the laces of the dancer fluttered and flew in -the glare of gas jets. She divulged the fact that she was attired -in some half dozen skirts. It was patent that any one of them -would have proved adequate for the purpose for which skirts are -intended. An occasional man bent forward, intent upon the pink -stockings. Maggie wondered at the splendor of the costume and lost -herself in calculations of the cost of the silks and laces. - -The dancer's smile of stereotyped enthusiasm was turned for -ten minutes upon the faces of her audience. In the finale she fell -into some of those grotesque attitudes which were at the time -popular among the dancers in the theatres up-town, giving to the -Bowery public the phantasies of the aristocratic theatre-going -public, at reduced rates. - -"Say, Pete," said Maggie, leaning forward, "dis is great." - -"Sure," said Pete, with proper complacence. - -A ventriloquist followed the dancer. He held two fantastic -dolls on his knees. He made them sing mournful ditties and say -funny things about geography and Ireland. - -"Do dose little men talk?" asked Maggie. - -"Naw," said Pete, "it's some damn fake. See?" - -Two girls, on the bills as sisters, came forth and sang a duet -that is heard occasionally at concerts given under church auspices. -They supplemented it with a dance which of course can never -be seen at concerts given under church auspices. - -After the duettists had retired, a woman of debatable age sang -a negro melody. The chorus necessitated some grotesque waddlings -supposed to be an imitation of a plantation darkey, under the -influence, probably, of music and the moon. The audience was just -enthusiastic enough over it to have her return and sing a sorrowful -lay, whose lines told of a mother's love and a sweetheart who -waited and a young man who was lost at sea under the most harrowing -circumstances. From the faces of a score or so in the crowd, the -self-contained look faded. Many heads were bent forward with -eagerness and sympathy. As the last distressing sentiment of the -piece was brought forth, it was greeted by that kind of applause -which rings as sincere. - -As a final effort, the singer rendered some verses which -described a vision of Britain being annihilated by America, and -Ireland bursting her bonds. A carefully prepared crisis was -reached in the last line of the last verse, where the singer threw -out her arms and cried, "The star-spangled banner." Instantly a -great cheer swelled from the throats of the assemblage of the -masses. There was a heavy rumble of booted feet thumping the -floor. Eyes gleamed with sudden fire, and calloused hands waved -frantically in the air. - -After a few moments' rest, the orchestra played crashingly, -and a small fat man burst out upon the stage. He began to roar a -song and stamp back and forth before the foot-lights, wildly waving -a glossy silk hat and throwing leers, or smiles, broadcast. He -made his face into fantastic grimaces until he looked like a -pictured devil on a Japanese kite. The crowd laughed gleefully. -His short, fat legs were never still a moment. He shouted and -roared and bobbed his shock of red wig until the audience broke out -in excited applause. - -Pete did not pay much attention to the progress of events upon -the stage. He was drinking beer and watching Maggie. - -Her cheeks were blushing with excitement and her eyes were -glistening. She drew deep breaths of pleasure. No thoughts of the -atmosphere of the collar and cuff factory came to her. - -When the orchestra crashed finally, they jostled their way to -the sidewalk with the crowd. Pete took Maggie's arm and pushed a -way for her, offering to fight with a man or two. - -They reached Maggie's home at a late hour and stood for a -moment in front of the gruesome doorway. - -"Say, Mag," said Pete, "give us a kiss for takin' yeh teh deh -show, will yer?" - -Maggie laughed, as if startled, and drew away from him. - -"Naw, Pete," she said, "dat wasn't in it." - -"Ah, what deh hell?" urged Pete. - -The girl retreated nervously. - -"Ah, what deh hell?" repeated he. - -Maggie darted into the hall, and up the stairs. She turned -and smiled at him, then disappeared. - -Pete walked slowly down the street. He had something of an -astonished expression upon his features. He paused under a lamp- -post and breathed a low breath of surprise. - -"Gawd," he said, "I wonner if I've been played fer a duffer." - - - - -Chapter VIII - - -As thoughts of Pete came to Maggie's mind, she began to have -an intense dislike for all of her dresses. - -"What deh hell ails yeh? What makes yeh be allus fixin' and -fussin'? Good Gawd," her mother would frequently roar at her. - -She began to note, with more interest, the well-dressed women -she met on the avenues. She envied elegance and soft palms. She -craved those adornments of person which she saw every day on the -street, conceiving them to be allies of vast importance to women. - -Studying faces, she thought many of the women and girls she -chanced to meet, smiled with serenity as though forever cherished -and watched over by those they loved. - -The air in the collar and cuff establishment strangled her. -She knew she was gradually and surely shrivelling in the hot, -stuffy room. The begrimed windows rattled incessantly from the -passing of elevated trains. The place was filled with a whirl of -noises and odors. - -She wondered as she regarded some of the grizzled women in the -room, mere mechanical contrivances sewing seams and grinding out, -with heads bended over their work, tales of imagined or real -girlhood happiness, past drunks, the baby at home, and unpaid wages. -She speculated how long her youth would endure. She began to see -the bloom upon her cheeks as valuable. - -She imagined herself, in an exasperating future, as a scrawny -woman with an eternal grievance. Too, she thought Pete to be -a very fastidious person concerning the appearance of women. - -She felt she would love to see somebody entangle their fingers -in the oily beard of the fat foreigner who owned the establishment. -He was a detestable creature. He wore white socks with low shoes. -When he tired of this amusement he would go to the mummies and -moralize over them. - -Usually he submitted with silent dignity to all which he had -to go through, but, at times, he was goaded into comment. - -"What deh hell," he demanded once. "Look at all dese little -jugs! Hundred jugs in a row! Ten rows in a case an' 'bout a -t'ousand cases! What deh blazes use is dem?" - -Evenings during the week he took her to see plays in which the -brain-clutching heroine was rescued from the palatial home of her -guardian, who is cruelly after her bonds, by the hero with the -beautiful sentiments. The latter spent most of his time out at -soak in pale-green snow storms, busy with a nickel-plated revolver, -rescuing aged strangers from villains. - -Maggie lost herself in sympathy with the wanderers swooning in -snow storms beneath happy-hued church windows. And a choir within -singing "Joy to the World." To Maggie and the rest of the audience -this was transcendental realism. Joy always within, and they, like -the actor, inevitably without. Viewing it, they hugged themselves -in ecstatic pity of their imagined or real condition. - -The girl thought the arrogance and granite-heartedness of the -magnate of the play was very accurately drawn. She echoed the -maledictions that the occupants of the gallery showered on this -individual when his lines compelled him to expose his extreme -selfishness. - -Shady persons in the audience revolted from the pictured -villainy of the drama. With untiring zeal they hissed vice and -applauded virtue. Unmistakably bad men evinced an apparently -sincere admiration for virtue. - -The loud gallery was overwhelmingly with the unfortunate and the -oppressed. They encouraged the struggling hero with cries, and -jeered the villain, hooting and calling attention to his whiskers. -When anybody died in the pale-green snow storms, the gallery mourned. -They sought out the painted misery and hugged it as akin. - -In the hero's erratic march from poverty in the first act, to -wealth and triumph in the final one, in which he forgives all the -enemies that he has left, he was assisted by the gallery, which -applauded his generous and noble sentiments and confounded the -speeches of his opponents by making irrelevant but very sharp -remarks. Those actors who were cursed with villainy parts were -confronted at every turn by the gallery. If one of them rendered -lines containing the most subtile distinctions between right and -wrong, the gallery was immediately aware if the actor meant -wickedness, and denounced him accordingly. - -The last act was a triumph for the hero, poor and of the -masses, the representative of the audience, over the villain -and the rich man, his pockets stuffed with bonds, his heart packed -with tyrannical purposes, imperturbable amid suffering. - -Maggie always departed with raised spirits from the showing -places of the melodrama. She rejoiced at the way in which the poor -and virtuous eventually surmounted the wealthy and wicked. The -theatre made her think. She wondered if the culture and refinement -she had seen imitated, perhaps grotesquely, by the heroine on the -stage, could be acquired by a girl who lived in a tenement house -and worked in a shirt factory. - - - - -Chapter IX - - -A group of urchins were intent upon the side door of a saloon. -Expectancy gleamed from their eyes. They were twisting their -fingers in excitement. - -"Here she comes," yelled one of them suddenly. - -The group of urchins burst instantly asunder and its -individual fragments were spread in a wide, respectable half circle -about the point of interest. The saloon door opened with a crash, -and the figure of a woman appeared upon the threshold. Her grey -hair fell in knotted masses about her shoulders. Her face was -crimsoned and wet with perspiration. Her eyes had a rolling glare. - -"Not a damn cent more of me money will yehs ever get, not a damn cent. -I spent me money here fer t'ree years an' now yehs tells me yeh'll -sell me no more stuff! T'hell wid yeh, Johnnie Murckre! 'Disturbance'? -Disturbance be damned! T'hell wid yeh, Johnnie--" - -The door received a kick of exasperation from within and the -woman lurched heavily out on the sidewalk. - -The gamins in the half-circle became violently agitated. -They began to dance about and hoot and yell and jeer. -Wide dirty grins spread over each face. - -The woman made a furious dash at a particularly outrageous -cluster of little boys. They laughed delightedly and scampered off -a short distance, calling out over their shoulders to her. She -stood tottering on the curb-stone and thundered at them. - -"Yeh devil's kids," she howled, shaking red fists. The little boys -whooped in glee. As she started up the street they fell in behind -and marched uproariously. Occasionally she wheeled about and made -charges on them. They ran nimbly out of reach and taunted her. - -In the frame of a gruesome doorway she stood for a moment cursing them. -Her hair straggled, giving her crimson features a look of insanity. -Her great fists quivered as she shook them madly in the air. - -The urchins made terrific noises until she turned and -disappeared. Then they filed quietly in the way they had come. - -The woman floundered about in the lower hall of the tenement house -and finally stumbled up the stairs. On an upper hall a door was -opened and a collection of heads peered curiously out, watching her. -With a wrathful snort the woman confronted the door, but it was -slammed hastily in her face and the key was turned. - -She stood for a few minutes, delivering a frenzied challenge at the panels. - -"Come out in deh hall, Mary Murphy, damn yeh, if yehs want a row. -Come ahn, yeh overgrown terrier, come ahn." - -She began to kick the door with her great feet. She shrilly -defied the universe to appear and do battle. Her cursing trebles -brought heads from all doors save the one she threatened. Her eyes -glared in every direction. The air was full of her tossing fists. - -"Come ahn, deh hull damn gang of yehs, come ahn," she roared at -the spectators. An oath or two, cat-calls, jeers and bits of -facetious advice were given in reply. Missiles clattered -about her feet. - -"What deh hell's deh matter wid yeh?" said a voice in the -gathered gloom, and Jimmie came forward. He carried a tin dinner- -pail in his hand and under his arm a brown truckman's apron done in -a bundle. "What deh hell's wrong?" he demanded. - -"Come out, all of yehs, come out," his mother was howling. -"Come ahn an' I'll stamp her damn brains under me feet." - -"Shet yer face, an' come home, yeh damned old fool," roared -Jimmie at her. She strided up to him and twirled her fingers in -his face. Her eyes were darting flames of unreasoning rage and her -frame trembled with eagerness for a fight. - -"T'hell wid yehs! An' who deh hell are yehs? I ain't givin' a snap -of me fingers fer yehs," she bawled at him. She turned her huge back -in tremendous disdain and climbed the stairs to the next floor. - -Jimmie followed, cursing blackly. At the top of the flight he -seized his mother's arm and started to drag her toward the door of -their room. - -"Come home, damn yeh," he gritted between his teeth. - -"Take yer hands off me! Take yer hands off me," shrieked his mother. - -She raised her arm and whirled her great fist at her son's -face. Jimmie dodged his head and the blow struck him in the back -of the neck. "Damn yeh," gritted he again. He threw out his left -hand and writhed his fingers about her middle arm. The mother and -the son began to sway and struggle like gladiators. - -"Whoop!" said the Rum Alley tenement house. The hall filled -with interested spectators. - -"Hi, ol' lady, dat was a dandy!" - -"T'ree to one on deh red!" - -"Ah, stop yer damn scrappin'!" - -The door of the Johnson home opened and Maggie looked out. -Jimmie made a supreme cursing effort and hurled his mother -into the room. He quickly followed and closed the door. -The Rum Alley tenement swore disappointedly and retired. - -The mother slowly gathered herself up from the floor. -Her eyes glittered menacingly upon her children. - -"Here, now," said Jimmie, "we've had enough of dis. Sit down, -an' don' make no trouble." - -He grasped her arm, and twisting it, forced her into a -creaking chair. - -"Keep yer hands off me," roared his mother again. - -"Damn yer ol' hide," yelled Jimmie, madly. Maggie shrieked -and ran into the other room. To her there came the sound of a -storm of crashes and curses. There was a great final thump and -Jimmie's voice cried: "Dere, damn yeh, stay still." Maggie opened -the door now, and went warily out. "Oh, Jimmie." - -He was leaning against the wall and swearing. Blood stood -upon bruises on his knotty fore-arms where they had scraped against -the floor or the walls in the scuffle. The mother lay screeching -on the floor, the tears running down her furrowed face. - -Maggie, standing in the middle of the room, gazed about her. -The usual upheaval of the tables and chairs had taken place. -Crockery was strewn broadcast in fragments. The stove had been -disturbed on its legs, and now leaned idiotically to one side. -A pail had been upset and water spread in all directions. - -The door opened and Pete appeared. He shrugged his shoulders. -"Oh, Gawd," he observed. - -He walked over to Maggie and whispered in her ear. "Ah, what -deh hell, Mag? Come ahn and we'll have a hell of a time." - -The mother in the corner upreared her head and shook her -tangled locks. - -"Teh hell wid him and you," she said, glowering at her -daughter in the gloom. Her eyes seemed to burn balefully. "Yeh've -gone teh deh devil, Mag Johnson, yehs knows yehs have gone teh deh -devil. Yer a disgrace teh yer people, damn yeh. An' now, git out -an' go ahn wid dat doe-faced jude of yours. Go teh hell wid him, -damn yeh, an' a good riddance. Go teh hell an' see how yeh likes -it." - -Maggie gazed long at her mother. - -"Go teh hell now, an' see how yeh likes it. Git out. I won't -have sech as yehs in me house! Get out, d'yeh hear! Damn yeh, -git out!" - -The girl began to tremble. - -At this instant Pete came forward. "Oh, what deh hell, Mag, see," -whispered he softly in her ear. "Dis all blows over. See? Deh ol' -woman 'ill be all right in deh mornin'. Come ahn out wid me! -We'll have a hell of a time." - -The woman on the floor cursed. Jimmie was intent upon his -bruised fore-arms. The girl cast a glance about the room filled with -a chaotic mass of debris, and at the red, writhing body of her mother. - -"Go teh hell an' good riddance." - -She went. - - - - -Chapter X - - -Jimmie had an idea it wasn't common courtesy for a friend to -come to one's home and ruin one's sister. But he was not sure how -much Pete knew about the rules of politeness. - -The following night he returned home from work at rather a -late hour in the evening. In passing through the halls he came -upon the gnarled and leathery old woman who possessed the music -box. She was grinning in the dim light that drifted through dust- -stained panes. She beckoned to him with a smudged forefinger. - -"Ah, Jimmie, what do yehs t'ink I got onto las' night. It was -deh funnies' t'ing I ever saw," she cried, coming close to him and -leering. She was trembling with eagerness to tell her tale. "I -was by me door las' night when yer sister and her jude feller came -in late, oh, very late. An' she, the dear, she was a-cryin' as if -her heart would break, she was. It was deh funnies' t'ing I ever -saw. An' right out here by me door she asked him did he love her, -did he. An' she was a-cryin' as if her heart would break, poor -t'ing. An' him, I could see by deh way what he said it dat she had -been askin' orften, he says: 'Oh, hell, yes,' he says, says he, -'Oh, hell, yes.'" - -Storm-clouds swept over Jimmie's face, but he turned from the -leathery old woman and plodded on up-stairs. - -"Oh, hell, yes," called she after him. She laughed a laugh -that was like a prophetic croak. "'Oh, hell, yes,' he says, says -he, 'Oh, hell, yes.'" - -There was no one in at home. The rooms showed that attempts -had been made at tidying them. Parts of the wreckage of the day -before had been repaired by an unskilful hand. A chair or two and -the table, stood uncertainly upon legs. The floor had been newly -swept. Too, the blue ribbons had been restored to the curtains, -and the lambrequin, with its immense sheaves of yellow wheat -and red roses of equal size, had been returned, in a worn and sorry -state, to its position at the mantel. Maggie's jacket and hat were -gone from the nail behind the door. - -Jimmie walked to the window and began to look through the -blurred glass. It occurred to him to vaguely wonder, for an -instant, if some of the women of his acquaintance had brothers. - -Suddenly, however, he began to swear. - -"But he was me frien'! I brought 'im here! Dat's deh hell of it!" - -He fumed about the room, his anger gradually rising to the -furious pitch. - -"I'll kill deh jay! Dat's what I'll do! I'll kill deh jay!" - -He clutched his hat and sprang toward the door. But it opened -and his mother's great form blocked the passage. - -"What deh hell's deh matter wid yeh?" exclaimed she, coming -into the rooms. - -Jimmie gave vent to a sardonic curse and then laughed heavily. - -"Well, Maggie's gone teh deh devil! Dat's what! See?" - -"Eh?" said his mother. - -"Maggie's gone teh deh devil! Are yehs deaf?" roared Jimmie, -impatiently. - -"Deh hell she has," murmured the mother, astounded. - -Jimmie grunted, and then began to stare out at the window. -His mother sat down in a chair, but a moment later sprang erect and -delivered a maddened whirl of oaths. Her son turned to look at her -as she reeled and swayed in the middle of the room, her fierce face -convulsed with passion, her blotched arms raised high in imprecation. - -"May Gawd curse her forever," she shrieked. "May she eat -nothin' but stones and deh dirt in deh street. May she sleep in -deh gutter an' never see deh sun shine agin. Deh damn--" - -"Here, now," said her son. "Take a drop on yourself." - -The mother raised lamenting eyes to the ceiling. - -"She's deh devil's own chil', Jimmie," she whispered. "Ah, -who would t'ink such a bad girl could grow up in our fambly, -Jimmie, me son. Many deh hour I've spent in talk wid dat girl an' -tol' her if she ever went on deh streets I'd see her damned. An' -after all her bringin' up an' what I tol' her and talked wid her, -she goes teh deh bad, like a duck teh water." - -The tears rolled down her furrowed face. Her hands trembled. - -"An' den when dat Sadie MacMallister next door to us was sent -teh deh devil by dat feller what worked in deh soap-factory, -didn't I tell our Mag dat if she--" - -"Ah, dat's annuder story," interrupted the brother. "Of -course, dat Sadie was nice an' all dat--but--see--it ain't dessame -as if--well, Maggie was diff'ent--see--she was diff'ent." - -He was trying to formulate a theory that he had always -unconsciously held, that all sisters, excepting his own, could -advisedly be ruined. - -He suddenly broke out again. "I'll go t'ump hell outa deh mug -what did her deh harm. I'll kill 'im! He t'inks he kin scrap, -but when he gits me a-chasin' 'im he'll fin' out where he's wrong, -deh damned duffer. I'll wipe up deh street wid 'im." - -In a fury he plunged out of the doorway. As he vanished the -mother raised her head and lifted both hands, entreating. - -"May Gawd curse her forever," she cried. - -In the darkness of the hallway Jimmie discerned a knot of women -talking volubly. When he strode by they paid no attention to him. - -"She allus was a bold thing," he heard one of them cry in an -eager voice. "Dere wasn't a feller come teh deh house but she'd -try teh mash 'im. My Annie says deh shameless t'ing tried teh -ketch her feller, her own feller, what we useter know his fader." - -"I could a' tol' yehs dis two years ago," said a woman, in a -key of triumph. "Yessir, it was over two years ago dat I says -teh my ol' man, I says, 'Dat Johnson girl ain't straight,' I says. -'Oh, hell,' he says. 'Oh, hell.' 'Dat's all right,' I says, -'but I know what I knows,' I says, 'an' it 'ill come out later. -You wait an' see,' I says, 'you see.'" - -"Anybody what had eyes could see dat dere was somethin' wrong -wid dat girl. I didn't like her actions." - -On the street Jimmie met a friend. "What deh hell?" asked the -latter. - -Jimmie explained. "An' I'll t'ump 'im till he can't stand." - -"Oh, what deh hell," said the friend. "What's deh use! -Yeh'll git pulled in! Everybody 'ill be onto it! An' ten plunks! -Gee!" - -Jimmie was determined. "He t'inks he kin scrap, but he'll -fin' out diff'ent." - -"Gee," remonstrated the friend. "What deh hell?" - - - - -Chapter XI - - -On a corner a glass-fronted building shed a yellow glare upon -the pavements. The open mouth of a saloon called seductively to -passengers to enter and annihilate sorrow or create rage. - -The interior of the place was papered in olive and bronze tints -of imitation leather. A shining bar of counterfeit massiveness -extended down the side of the room. Behind it a great -mahogany-appearing sideboard reached the ceiling. Upon its -shelves rested pyramids of shimmering glasses that were never -disturbed. Mirrors set in the face of the sideboard multiplied -them. Lemons, oranges and paper napkins, arranged with -mathematical precision, sat among the glasses. Many-hued decanters -of liquor perched at regular intervals on the lower shelves. -A nickel-plated cash register occupied a position in the exact -centre of the general effect. The elementary senses of it all -seemed to be opulence and geometrical accuracy. - -Across from the bar a smaller counter held a collection of plates -upon which swarmed frayed fragments of crackers, slices of boiled ham, -dishevelled bits of cheese, and pickles swimming in vinegar. -An odor of grasping, begrimed hands and munching mouths pervaded. - -Pete, in a white jacket, was behind the bar bending -expectantly toward a quiet stranger. "A beeh," said the man. -Pete drew a foam-topped glassful and set it dripping upon the bar. - -At this moment the light bamboo doors at the entrance swung -open and crashed against the siding. Jimmie and a companion -entered. They swaggered unsteadily but belligerently toward the -bar and looked at Pete with bleared and blinking eyes. - -"Gin," said Jimmie. - -"Gin," said the companion. - -Pete slid a bottle and two glasses along the bar. He bended -his head sideways as he assiduously polished away with a napkin at -the gleaming wood. He had a look of watchfulness upon his -features. - -Jimmie and his companion kept their eyes upon the bartender -and conversed loudly in tones of contempt. - -"He's a dindy masher, ain't he, by Gawd?" laughed Jimmie. - -"Oh, hell, yes," said the companion, sneering widely. "He's -great, he is. Git onto deh mug on deh blokie. Dat's enough to -make a feller turn hand-springs in 'is sleep." - -The quiet stranger moved himself and his glass a trifle -further away and maintained an attitude of oblivion. - -"Gee! ain't he hot stuff!" - -"Git onto his shape! Great Gawd!" - -"Hey," cried Jimmie, in tones of command. Pete came along -slowly, with a sullen dropping of the under lip. - -"Well," he growled, "what's eatin' yehs?" - -"Gin," said Jimmie. - -"Gin," said the companion. - -As Pete confronted them with the bottle and the glasses, they -laughed in his face. Jimmie's companion, evidently overcome with -merriment, pointed a grimy forefinger in Pete's direction. - -"Say, Jimmie," demanded he, "what deh hell is dat behind deh -bar?" - -"Damned if I knows," replied Jimmie. They laughed loudly. -Pete put down a bottle with a bang and turned a formidable face -toward them. He disclosed his teeth and his shoulders heaved -restlessly. - -"You fellers can't guy me," he said. "Drink yer stuff an' git -out an' don' make no trouble." - -Instantly the laughter faded from the faces of the two men and -expressions of offended dignity immediately came. - -"Who deh hell has said anyt'ing teh you," cried they in the -same breath. - -The quiet stranger looked at the door calculatingly. - -"Ah, come off," said Pete to the two men. "Don't pick me up -for no jay. Drink yer rum an' git out an' don' make no trouble." - -"Oh, deh hell," airily cried Jimmie. - -"Oh, deh hell," airily repeated his companion. - -"We goes when we git ready! See!" continued Jimmie. - -"Well," said Pete in a threatening voice, "don' make no -trouble." - -Jimmie suddenly leaned forward with his head on one side. -He snarled like a wild animal. - -"Well, what if we does? See?" said he. - -Dark blood flushed into Pete's face, and he shot a lurid -glance at Jimmie. - -"Well, den we'll see whose deh bes' man, you or me," he said. - -The quiet stranger moved modestly toward the door. - -Jimmie began to swell with valor. - -"Don' pick me up fer no tenderfoot. When yeh tackles me yeh -tackles one of deh bes' men in deh city. See? I'm a scrapper, -I am. Ain't dat right, Billie?" - -"Sure, Mike," responded his companion in tones of conviction. - -"Oh, hell," said Pete, easily. "Go fall on yerself." - -The two men again began to laugh. - -"What deh hell is dat talkin'?" cried the companion. - -"Damned if I knows," replied Jimmie with exaggerated contempt. - -Pete made a furious gesture. "Git outa here now, an' don' make -no trouble. See? Youse fellers er lookin' fer a scrap an' it's -damn likely yeh'll fin' one if yeh keeps on shootin' off yer mout's. -I know yehs! See? I kin lick better men dan yehs ever saw in yer lifes. -Dat's right! See? Don' pick me up fer no stuff er yeh might be jolted -out in deh street before yeh knows where yeh is. When I comes from behind -dis bar, I t'rows yehs bote inteh deh street. See?" - -"Oh, hell," cried the two men in chorus. - -The glare of a panther came into Pete's eyes. "Dat's what I said! -Unnerstan'?" - -He came through a passage at the end of the bar and swelled down upon -the two men. They stepped promptly forward and crowded close to him. - -They bristled like three roosters. They moved their heads -pugnaciously and kept their shoulders braced. The nervous muscles -about each mouth twitched with a forced smile of mockery. - -"Well, what deh hell yer goin' teh do?" gritted Jimmie. - -Pete stepped warily back, waving his hands before him to keep -the men from coming too near. - -"Well, what deh hell yer goin' teh do?" repeated Jimmie's ally. -They kept close to him, taunting and leering. They strove -to make him attempt the initial blow. - -"Keep back, now! Don' crowd me," ominously said Pete. - -Again they chorused in contempt. "Oh, hell!" - -In a small, tossing group, the three men edged for positions -like frigates contemplating battle. - -"Well, why deh hell don' yeh try teh t'row us out?" cried Jimmie -and his ally with copious sneers. - -The bravery of bull-dogs sat upon the faces of the men. -Their clenched fists moved like eager weapons. - -The allied two jostled the bartender's elbows, glaring at him -with feverish eyes and forcing him toward the wall. - -Suddenly Pete swore redly. The flash of action gleamed from -his eyes. He threw back his arm and aimed a tremendous, lightning- -like blow at Jimmie's face. His foot swung a step forward and the -weight of his body was behind his fist. Jimmie ducked his head, -Bowery-like, with the quickness of a cat. The fierce, answering -blows of him and his ally crushed on Pete's bowed head. - -The quiet stranger vanished. - -The arms of the combatants whirled in the air like flails. -The faces of the men, at first flushed to flame-colored anger, now -began to fade to the pallor of warriors in the blood and heat of a -battle. Their lips curled back and stretched tightly over the gums -in ghoul-like grins. Through their white, gripped teeth struggled -hoarse whisperings of oaths. Their eyes glittered with murderous fire. - -Each head was huddled between its owner's shoulders, and arms -were swinging with marvelous rapidity. Feet scraped to and fro -with a loud scratching sound upon the sanded floor. Blows left -crimson blotches upon pale skin. The curses of the first quarter -minute of the fight died away. The breaths of the fighters came -wheezingly from their lips and the three chests were straining and -heaving. Pete at intervals gave vent to low, labored hisses, that -sounded like a desire to kill. Jimmie's ally gibbered at times like -a wounded maniac. Jimmie was silent, fighting with the face -of a sacrificial priest. The rage of fear shone in all their -eyes and their blood-colored fists swirled. - -At a tottering moment a blow from Pete's hand struck the ally -and he crashed to the floor. He wriggled instantly to his feet and -grasping the quiet stranger's beer glass from the bar, hurled it at -Pete's head. - -High on the wall it burst like a bomb, shivering fragments -flying in all directions. Then missiles came to every man's hand. -The place had heretofore appeared free of things to throw, but -suddenly glass and bottles went singing through the air. They were -thrown point blank at bobbing heads. The pyramid of shimmering -glasses, that had never been disturbed, changed to cascades as -heavy bottles were flung into them. Mirrors splintered to nothing. - -The three frothing creatures on the floor buried themselves in -a frenzy for blood. There followed in the wake of missiles and -fists some unknown prayers, perhaps for death. - -The quiet stranger had sprawled very pyrotechnically out on -the sidewalk. A laugh ran up and down the avenue for the half -of a block. - -"Dey've trowed a bloke inteh deh street." - -People heard the sound of breaking glass and shuffling feet -within the saloon and came running. A small group, bending down to -look under the bamboo doors, watching the fall of glass, and three -pairs of violent legs, changed in a moment to a crowd. - -A policeman came charging down the sidewalk and bounced -through the doors into the saloon. The crowd bended and surged in -absorbing anxiety to see. - -Jimmie caught first sight of the on-coming interruption. On his feet -he had the same regard for a policeman that, when on his truck, -he had for a fire engine. He howled and ran for the side door. - -The officer made a terrific advance, club in hand. One comprehensive -sweep of the long night stick threw the ally to the floor and forced -Pete to a corner. With his disengaged hand he made a furious effort -at Jimmie's coat-tails. Then he regained his balance and paused. - -"Well, well, you are a pair of pictures. What in hell yeh -been up to?" - -Jimmie, with his face drenched in blood, escaped up a side street, -pursued a short distance by some of the more law-loving, or excited -individuals of the crowd. - -Later, from a corner safely dark, he saw the policeman, the -ally and the bartender emerge from the saloon. Pete locked the -doors and then followed up the avenue in the rear of the crowd- -encompassed policeman and his charge. - -On first thoughts Jimmie, with his heart throbbing at battle heat, -started to go desperately to the rescue of his friend, but he halted. - -"Ah, what deh hell?" he demanded of himself. - - - - -Chapter XII - - -In a hall of irregular shape sat Pete and Maggie drinking -beer. A submissive orchestra dictated to by a spectacled man with -frowsy hair and a dress suit, industriously followed the bobs of -his head and the waves of his baton. A ballad singer, in a dress -of flaming scarlet, sang in the inevitable voice of brass. When -she vanished, men seated at the tables near the front applauded -loudly, pounding the polished wood with their beer glasses. She -returned attired in less gown, and sang again. She received -another enthusiastic encore. She reappeared in still less gown and -danced. The deafening rumble of glasses and clapping of hands that -followed her exit indicated an overwhelming desire to have her come -on for the fourth time, but the curiosity of the audience was not -gratified. - -Maggie was pale. From her eyes had been plucked all look of -self-reliance. She leaned with a dependent air toward her -companion. She was timid, as if fearing his anger or displeasure. -She seemed to beseech tenderness of him. - -Pete's air of distinguished valor had grown upon him until it -threatened stupendous dimensions. He was infinitely gracious to -the girl. It was apparent to her that his condescension was a marvel. - -He could appear to strut even while sitting still and he showed that -he was a lion of lordly characteristics by the air with which he spat. - -With Maggie gazing at him wonderingly, he took pride in commanding -the waiters who were, however, indifferent or deaf. - -"Hi, you, git a russle on yehs! What deh hell yehs lookin' at? -Two more beehs, d'yeh hear?" - -He leaned back and critically regarded the person of a girl -with a straw-colored wig who upon the stage was flinging her heels -in somewhat awkward imitation of a well-known danseuse. - -At times Maggie told Pete long confidential tales of her -former home life, dwelling upon the escapades of the other members -of the family and the difficulties she had to combat in order to -obtain a degree of comfort. He responded in tones of philanthropy. -He pressed her arm with an air of reassuring proprietorship. - -"Dey was damn jays," he said, denouncing the mother and brother. - -The sound of the music which, by the efforts of the frowsy- -headed leader, drifted to her ears through the smoke-filled -atmosphere, made the girl dream. She thought of her former -Rum Alley environment and turned to regard Pete's strong protecting -fists. She thought of the collar and cuff manufactory and the -eternal moan of the proprietor: "What een hell do you sink I pie -fife dolla a week for? Play? No, py damn." She contemplated -Pete's man-subduing eyes and noted that wealth and prosperity was -indicated by his clothes. She imagined a future, rose-tinted, -because of its distance from all that she previously had experienced. - -As to the present she perceived only vague reasons to be -miserable. Her life was Pete's and she considered him worthy of -the charge. She would be disturbed by no particular apprehensions, -so long as Pete adored her as he now said he did. She did not feel -like a bad woman. To her knowledge she had never seen any better. - -At times men at other tables regarded the girl furtively. -Pete, aware of it, nodded at her and grinned. He felt proud. - -"Mag, yer a bloomin' good-looker," he remarked, studying her -face through the haze. The men made Maggie fear, but she blushed -at Pete's words as it became apparent to her that she was the apple -of his eye. - -Grey-headed men, wonderfully pathetic in their dissipation, -stared at her through clouds. Smooth-cheeked boys, some of them -with faces of stone and mouths of sin, not nearly so pathetic as -the grey heads, tried to find the girl's eyes in the smoke wreaths. -Maggie considered she was not what they thought her. She confined -her glances to Pete and the stage. - -The orchestra played negro melodies and a versatile drummer -pounded, whacked, clattered and scratched on a dozen machines to -make noise. - -Those glances of the men, shot at Maggie from under half-closed lids, -made her tremble. She thought them all to be worse men than Pete. - -"Come, let's go," she said. - -As they went out Maggie perceived two women seated at a table -with some men. They were painted and their cheeks had lost their -roundness. As she passed them the girl, with a shrinking movement, -drew back her skirts. - - - - -Chapter XIII - - -Jimmie did not return home for a number of days after the -fight with Pete in the saloon. When he did, he approached with -extreme caution. - -He found his mother raving. Maggie had not returned home. -The parent continually wondered how her daughter could come to such -a pass. She had never considered Maggie as a pearl dropped -unstained into Rum Alley from Heaven, but she could not conceive -how it was possible for her daughter to fall so low as to bring -disgrace upon her family. She was terrific in denunciation of the -girl's wickedness. - -The fact that the neighbors talked of it, maddened her. When -women came in, and in the course of their conversation casually -asked, "Where's Maggie dese days?" the mother shook her fuzzy head -at them and appalled them with curses. Cunning hints inviting -confidence she rebuffed with violence. - -"An' wid all deh bringin' up she had, how could she?" -moaningly she asked of her son. "Wid all deh talkin' wid her I did -an' deh t'ings I tol' her to remember? When a girl is bringed up -deh way I bringed up Maggie, how kin she go teh deh devil?" - -Jimmie was transfixed by these questions. He could not -conceive how under the circumstances his mother's daughter and his -sister could have been so wicked. - -His mother took a drink from a squdgy bottle that sat on the -table. She continued her lament. - -"She had a bad heart, dat girl did, Jimmie. She was wicked -teh deh heart an' we never knowed it." - -Jimmie nodded, admitting the fact. - -"We lived in deh same house wid her an' I brought her up an' -we never knowed how bad she was." - -Jimmie nodded again. - -"Wid a home like dis an' a mudder like me, she went teh deh -bad," cried the mother, raising her eyes. - -One day, Jimmie came home, sat down in a chair and began to -wriggle about with a new and strange nervousness. At last he spoke -shamefacedly. - -"Well, look-a-here, dis t'ing queers us! See? We're queered! -An' maybe it 'ud be better if I--well, I t'ink I kin look 'er up -an'--maybe it 'ud be better if I fetched her home an'--" - -The mother started from her chair and broke forth into a storm -of passionate anger. - -"What! Let 'er come an' sleep under deh same roof wid her -mudder agin! Oh, yes, I will, won't I? Sure? Shame on yehs, -Jimmie Johnson, for sayin' such a t'ing teh yer own mudder--teh yer -own mudder! Little did I t'ink when yehs was a babby playin' about -me feet dat ye'd grow up teh say sech a t'ing teh yer mudder--yer -own mudder. I never taut--" - -Sobs choked her and interrupted her reproaches. - -"Dere ain't nottin' teh raise sech hell about," said Jimmie. -"I on'y says it 'ud be better if we keep dis t'ing dark, see? -It queers us! See?" - -His mother laughed a laugh that seemed to ring through the -city and be echoed and re-echoed by countless other laughs. -"Oh, yes, I will, won't I! Sure!" - -"Well, yeh must take me fer a damn fool," said Jimmie, -indignant at his mother for mocking him. "I didn't say we'd make -'er inteh a little tin angel, ner nottin', but deh way it is now -she can queer us! Don' che see?" - -"Aye, she'll git tired of deh life atter a while an' den -she'll wanna be a-comin' home, won' she, deh beast! I'll let 'er -in den, won' I?" - -"Well, I didn' mean none of dis prod'gal bus'ness anyway," -explained Jimmie. - -"It wasn't no prod'gal dauter, yeh damn fool," said the -mother. "It was prod'gal son, anyhow." - -"I know dat," said Jimmie. - -For a time they sat in silence. The mother's eyes gloated on -a scene her imagination could call before her. Her lips were set -in a vindictive smile. - -"Aye, she'll cry, won' she, an' carry on, an' tell how Pete, -or some odder feller, beats 'er an' she'll say she's sorry an' all -dat an' she ain't happy, she ain't, an' she wants to come home agin, -she does." - -With grim humor, the mother imitated the possible wailing -notes of the daughter's voice. - -"Den I'll take 'er in, won't I, deh beast. She kin cry 'er two eyes out -on deh stones of deh street before I'll dirty deh place wid her. -She abused an' ill-treated her own mudder--her own mudder what -loved her an' she'll never git anodder chance dis side of hell." - -Jimmie thought he had a great idea of women's frailty, but he -could not understand why any of his kin should be victims. - -"Damn her," he fervidly said. - -Again he wondered vaguely if some of the women of his acquaintance -had brothers. Nevertheless, his mind did not for an instant -confuse himself with those brothers nor his sister with theirs. -After the mother had, with great difficulty, suppressed the -neighbors, she went among them and proclaimed her grief. -"May Gawd forgive dat girl," was her continual cry. To attentive -ears she recited the whole length and breadth of her woes. - -"I bringed 'er up deh way a dauter oughta be bringed up an' -dis is how she served me! She went teh deh devil deh first chance -she got! May Gawd forgive her." - -When arrested for drunkenness she used the story of her -daughter's downfall with telling effect upon the police justices. -Finally one of them said to her, peering down over his spectacles: -"Mary, the records of this and other courts show that you are the -mother of forty-two daughters who have been ruined. The case -is unparalleled in the annals of this court, and this court -thinks--" - -The mother went through life shedding large tears of sorrow. -Her red face was a picture of agony. - -Of course Jimmie publicly damned his sister that he might -appear on a higher social plane. But, arguing with himself, -stumbling about in ways that he knew not, he, once, almost came to -a conclusion that his sister would have been more firmly good had -she better known why. However, he felt that he could not hold such -a view. He threw it hastily aside. - - - - -Chapter XIV - - -In a hilarious hall there were twenty-eight tables and twenty- -eight women and a crowd of smoking men. Valiant noise was made on -a stage at the end of the hall by an orchestra composed of men who -looked as if they had just happened in. Soiled waiters ran to and -fro, swooping down like hawks on the unwary in the throng; -clattering along the aisles with trays covered with glasses; -stumbling over women's skirts and charging two prices for -everything but beer, all with a swiftness that blurred the view of -the cocoanut palms and dusty monstrosities painted upon the walls -of the room. A bouncer, with an immense load of business upon his -hands, plunged about in the crowd, dragging bashful strangers to -prominent chairs, ordering waiters here and there and quarreling -furiously with men who wanted to sing with the orchestra. - -The usual smoke cloud was present, but so dense that heads and -arms seemed entangled in it. The rumble of conversation was -replaced by a roar. Plenteous oaths heaved through the air. -The room rang with the shrill voices of women bubbling o'er with -drink-laughter. The chief element in the music of the orchestra -was speed. The musicians played in intent fury. A woman was -singing and smiling upon the stage, but no one took notice of her. -The rate at which the piano, cornet and violins were going, seemed -to impart wildness to the half-drunken crowd. Beer glasses were -emptied at a gulp and conversation became a rapid chatter. -The smoke eddied and swirled like a shadowy river hurrying toward -some unseen falls. Pete and Maggie entered the hall and took chairs -at a table near the door. The woman who was seated there made -an attempt to occupy Pete's attention and, failing, went away. - -Three weeks had passed since the girl had left home. The air of -spaniel-like dependence had been magnified and showed its direct -effect in the peculiar off-handedness and ease of Pete's ways toward her. - -She followed Pete's eyes with hers, anticipating with smiles -gracious looks from him. - -A woman of brilliance and audacity, accompanied by a mere boy, -came into the place and took seats near them. - -At once Pete sprang to his feet, his face beaming with glad surprise. - -"By Gawd, there's Nellie," he cried. - -He went over to the table and held out an eager hand to the woman. - -"Why, hello, Pete, me boy, how are you," said she, giving him her fingers. - -Maggie took instant note of the woman. She perceived that her -black dress fitted her to perfection. Her linen collar and cuffs -were spotless. Tan gloves were stretched over her well-shaped -hands. A hat of a prevailing fashion perched jauntily upon her -dark hair. She wore no jewelry and was painted with no apparent -paint. She looked clear-eyed through the stares of the men. - -"Sit down, and call your lady-friend over," she said cordially to Pete. -At his beckoning Maggie came and sat between Pete and the mere boy. - -"I thought yeh were gone away fer good," began Pete, at once. -"When did yeh git back? How did dat Buff'lo bus'ness turn out?" - -The woman shrugged her shoulders. "Well, he didn't have as -many stamps as he tried to make out, so I shook him, that's all." - -"Well, I'm glad teh see yehs back in deh city," said Pete, -with awkward gallantry. - -He and the woman entered into a long conversation, exchanging -reminiscences of days together. Maggie sat still, unable to -formulate an intelligent sentence upon the conversation and -painfully aware of it. - -She saw Pete's eyes sparkle as he gazed upon the handsome -stranger. He listened smilingly to all she said. The woman was -familiar with all his affairs, asked him about mutual friends, -and knew the amount of his salary. - -She paid no attention to Maggie, looking toward her once or -twice and apparently seeing the wall beyond. - -The mere boy was sulky. In the beginning he had welcomed with -acclamations the additions. - -"Let's all have a drink! What'll you take, Nell? And you, -Miss what's-your-name. Have a drink, Mr. -----, you, I mean." - -He had shown a sprightly desire to do the talking for the company -and tell all about his family. In a loud voice he declaimed -on various topics. He assumed a patronizing air toward Pete. -As Maggie was silent, he paid no attention to her. He made a -great show of lavishing wealth upon the woman of brilliance -and audacity. - -"Do keep still, Freddie! You gibber like an ape, dear," said the -woman to him. She turned away and devoted her attention to Pete. - -"We'll have many a good time together again, eh?" - -"Sure, Mike," said Pete, enthusiastic at once. - -"Say," whispered she, leaning forward, "let's go over to -Billie's and have a heluva time." - -"Well, it's dis way! See?" said Pete. I got dis lady frien' here." - -"Oh, t'hell with her," argued the woman. - -Pete appeared disturbed. - -"All right," said she, nodding her head at him. "All right for you! -We'll see the next time you ask me to go anywheres with you." - -Pete squirmed. - -"Say," he said, beseechingly, "come wid me a minit an' I'll tell yer why." - -The woman waved her hand. - -"Oh, that's all right, you needn't explain, you know. You wouldn't -come merely because you wouldn't come, that's all there is of it." - -To Pete's visible distress she turned to the mere boy, -bringing him speedily from a terrific rage. He had been debating -whether it would be the part of a man to pick a quarrel with Pete, -or would he be justified in striking him savagely with his beer -glass without warning. But he recovered himself when the woman -turned to renew her smilings. He beamed upon her with an -expression that was somewhat tipsy and inexpressibly tender. - -"Say, shake that Bowery jay," requested he, in a loud whisper. - -"Freddie, you are so droll," she replied. - -Pete reached forward and touched the woman on the arm. - -"Come out a minit while I tells yeh why I can't go wid yer. -Yer doin' me dirt, Nell! I never taut ye'd do me dirt, Nell. -Come on, will yer?" He spoke in tones of injury. - -"Why, I don't see why I should be interested in your -explanations," said the woman, with a coldness that seemed to -reduce Pete to a pulp. - -His eyes pleaded with her. "Come out a minit while I tells yeh." - -The woman nodded slightly at Maggie and the mere boy, "'Scuse me." - -The mere boy interrupted his loving smile and turned a shrivelling -glare upon Pete. His boyish countenance flushed and he spoke, -in a whine, to the woman: - -"Oh, I say, Nellie, this ain't a square deal, you know. You aren't -goin' to leave me and go off with that duffer, are you? I should think--" - -"Why, you dear boy, of course I'm not," cried the woman, -affectionately. She bended over and whispered in his ear. -He smiled again and settled in his chair as if resolved -to wait patiently. - -As the woman walked down between the rows of tables, Pete was -at her shoulder talking earnestly, apparently in explanation. -The woman waved her hands with studied airs of indifference. -The doors swung behind them, leaving Maggie and the mere boy -seated at the table. - -Maggie was dazed. She could dimly perceive that something -stupendous had happened. She wondered why Pete saw fit to -remonstrate with the woman, pleading for forgiveness with his eyes. -She thought she noted an air of submission about her leonine Pete. -She was astounded. - -The mere boy occupied himself with cock-tails and a cigar. He -was tranquilly silent for half an hour. Then he bestirred himself -and spoke. - -"Well," he said, sighing, "I knew this was the way it would be." -There was another stillness. The mere boy seemed to be musing. - -"She was pulling m'leg. That's the whole amount of it," he -said, suddenly. "It's a bloomin' shame the way that girl does. -Why, I've spent over two dollars in drinks to-night. And she goes -off with that plug-ugly who looks as if he had been hit in the face -with a coin-die. I call it rocky treatment for a fellah like me. -Here, waiter, bring me a cock-tail and make it damned strong." - -Maggie made no reply. She was watching the doors. "It's a -mean piece of business," complained the mere boy. He explained to -her how amazing it was that anybody should treat him in such a -manner. "But I'll get square with her, you bet. She won't get far -ahead of yours truly, you know," he added, winking. "I'll tell her -plainly that it was bloomin' mean business. And she won't come it -over me with any of her 'now-Freddie-dears.' She thinks my name is -Freddie, you know, but of course it ain't. I always tell these -people some name like that, because if they got onto your right name -they might use it sometime. Understand? Oh, they don't fool me much." - -Maggie was paying no attention, being intent upon the doors. -The mere boy relapsed into a period of gloom, during which he -exterminated a number of cock-tails with a determined air, as if -replying defiantly to fate. He occasionally broke forth into -sentences composed of invectives joined together in a long string. - -The girl was still staring at the doors. After a time -the mere boy began to see cobwebs just in front of his nose. -He spurred himself into being agreeable and insisted upon her -having a charlotte-russe and a glass of beer. - -"They's gone," he remarked, "they's gone." He looked at her -through the smoke wreaths. "Shay, lil' girl, we mightish well make -bes' of it. You ain't such bad-lookin' girl, y'know. Not half -bad. Can't come up to Nell, though. No, can't do it! Well, I -should shay not! Nell fine-lookin' girl! F--i--n--ine. You look -damn bad longsider her, but by y'self ain't so bad. Have to do -anyhow. Nell gone. On'y you left. Not half bad, though." - -Maggie stood up. - -"I'm going home," she said. - -The mere boy started. - -"Eh? What? Home," he cried, struck with amazement. -"I beg pardon, did hear say home?" - -"I'm going home," she repeated. - -"Great Gawd, what hava struck," demanded the mere boy of himself, stupefied. - -In a semi-comatose state he conducted her on board an up-town car, -ostentatiously paid her fare, leered kindly at her through the -rear window and fell off the steps. - - - - -Chapter XV - - -A forlorn woman went along a lighted avenue. The street was -filled with people desperately bound on missions. An endless crowd -darted at the elevated station stairs and the horse cars were -thronged with owners of bundles. - -The pace of the forlorn woman was slow. She was apparently -searching for some one. She loitered near the doors of saloons and -watched men emerge from them. She scanned furtively the faces in -the rushing stream of pedestrians. Hurrying men, bent on catching -some boat or train, jostled her elbows, failing to notice her, -their thoughts fixed on distant dinners. - -The forlorn woman had a peculiar face. Her smile was no -smile. But when in repose her features had a shadowy look that was -like a sardonic grin, as if some one had sketched with cruel -forefinger indelible lines about her mouth. - -Jimmie came strolling up the avenue. The woman encountered -him with an aggrieved air. - -"Oh, Jimmie, I've been lookin' all over fer yehs--," she began. - -Jimmie made an impatient gesture and quickened his pace. - -"Ah, don't bodder me! Good Gawd!" he said, with the -savageness of a man whose life is pestered. - -The woman followed him along the sidewalk in somewhat the -manner of a suppliant. - -"But, Jimmie," she said, "yehs told me ye'd--" - -Jimmie turned upon her fiercely as if resolved to make a last -stand for comfort and peace. - -"Say, fer Gawd's sake, Hattie, don' foller me from one end of -deh city teh deh odder. Let up, will yehs! Give me a minute's -res', can't yehs? Yehs makes me tired, allus taggin' me. See? -Ain' yehs got no sense. Do yehs want people teh get onto me? -Go chase yerself, fer Gawd's sake." - -The woman stepped closer and laid her fingers on his arm. -"But, look-a-here--" - -Jimmie snarled. "Oh, go teh hell." - -He darted into the front door of a convenient saloon and a -moment later came out into the shadows that surrounded the side -door. On the brilliantly lighted avenue he perceived the forlorn -woman dodging about like a scout. Jimmie laughed with an air of -relief and went away. - -When he arrived home he found his mother clamoring. -Maggie had returned. She stood shivering beneath the torrent -of her mother's wrath. - -"Well, I'm damned," said Jimmie in greeting. - -His mother, tottering about the room, pointed a quivering -forefinger. - -"Lookut her, Jimmie, lookut her. Dere's yer sister, boy. -Dere's yer sister. Lookut her! Lookut her!" - -She screamed in scoffing laughter. - -The girl stood in the middle of the room. She edged about as -if unable to find a place on the floor to put her feet. - -"Ha, ha, ha," bellowed the mother. "Dere she stands! Ain' -she purty? Lookut her! Ain' she sweet, deh beast? Lookut her! -Ha, ha, lookut her!" - -She lurched forward and put her red and seamed hands upon her -daughter's face. She bent down and peered keenly up into the eyes -of the girl. - -"Oh, she's jes' dessame as she ever was, ain' she? She's her -mudder's purty darlin' yit, ain' she? Lookut her, Jimmie! Come -here, fer Gawd's sake, and lookut her." - -The loud, tremendous sneering of the mother brought the -denizens of the Rum Alley tenement to their doors. Women came in -the hallways. Children scurried to and fro. - -"What's up? Dat Johnson party on anudder tear?" - -"Naw! Young Mag's come home!" - -"Deh hell yeh say?" - -Through the open door curious eyes stared in at Maggie. -Children ventured into the room and ogled her, as if they formed -the front row at a theatre. Women, without, bended toward each -other and whispered, nodding their heads with airs of profound -philosophy. A baby, overcome with curiosity concerning this object -at which all were looking, sidled forward and touched her dress, -cautiously, as if investigating a red-hot stove. Its mother's -voice rang out like a warning trumpet. She rushed forward and -grabbed her child, casting a terrible look of indignation at the girl. - -Maggie's mother paced to and fro, addressing the doorful of -eyes, expounding like a glib showman at a museum. Her voice rang -through the building. - -"Dere she stands," she cried, wheeling suddenly and pointing -with dramatic finger. "Dere she stands! Lookut her! Ain' she a -dindy? An' she was so good as to come home teh her mudder, she -was! Ain' she a beaut'? Ain' she a dindy? Fer Gawd's sake!" - -The jeering cries ended in another burst of shrill laughter. - -The girl seemed to awaken. "Jimmie--" - -He drew hastily back from her. - -"Well, now, yer a hell of a t'ing, ain' yeh?" he said, his -lips curling in scorn. Radiant virtue sat upon his brow and his -repelling hands expressed horror of contamination. - -Maggie turned and went. - -The crowd at the door fell back precipitately. A baby falling -down in front of the door, wrenched a scream like a wounded animal -from its mother. Another woman sprang forward and picked it up, -with a chivalrous air, as if rescuing a human being from an -oncoming express train. - -As the girl passed down through the hall, she went before open -doors framing more eyes strangely microscopic, and sending broad -beams of inquisitive light into the darkness of her path. On the -second floor she met the gnarled old woman who possessed the music box. - -"So," she cried, "'ere yehs are back again, are yehs? An' -dey've kicked yehs out? Well, come in an' stay wid me teh-night. -I ain' got no moral standin'." - -From above came an unceasing babble of tongues, over all of -which rang the mother's derisive laughter. - - - - -Chapter XVI - - -Pete did not consider that he had ruined Maggie. If he had -thought that her soul could never smile again, he would have -believed the mother and brother, who were pyrotechnic over the -affair, to be responsible for it. - -Besides, in his world, souls did not insist upon being able to smile. -"What deh hell?" - -He felt a trifle entangled. It distressed him. Revelations -and scenes might bring upon him the wrath of the owner of the -saloon, who insisted upon respectability of an advanced type. - -"What deh hell do dey wanna raise such a smoke about it fer?" -demanded he of himself, disgusted with the attitude of the family. -He saw no necessity for anyone's losing their equilibrium merely -because their sister or their daughter had stayed away from home. - -Searching about in his mind for possible reasons for their conduct, -he came upon the conclusion that Maggie's motives were correct, -but that the two others wished to snare him. He felt pursued. - -The woman of brilliance and audacity whom he had met in the -hilarious hall showed a disposition to ridicule him. - -"A little pale thing with no spirit," she said. "Did you note -the expression of her eyes? There was something in them about -pumpkin pie and virtue. That is a peculiar way the left corner -of her mouth has of twitching, isn't it? Dear, dear, my cloud- -compelling Pete, what are you coming to?" - -Pete asserted at once that he never was very much interested -in the girl. The woman interrupted him, laughing. - -"Oh, it's not of the slightest consequence to me, my dear young man. -You needn't draw maps for my benefit. Why should I be concerned about it?" - -But Pete continued with his explanations. If he was laughed -at for his tastes in women, he felt obliged to say that they were -only temporary or indifferent ones. - -The morning after Maggie had departed from home, Pete stood -behind the bar. He was immaculate in white jacket and apron and -his hair was plastered over his brow with infinite correctness. -No customers were in the place. Pete was twisting his napkined -fist slowly in a beer glass, softly whistling to himself and -occasionally holding the object of his attention between his eyes -and a few weak beams of sunlight that had found their way over -the thick screens and into the shaded room. - -With lingering thoughts of the woman of brilliance and -audacity, the bartender raised his head and stared through the -varying cracks between the swaying bamboo doors. Suddenly -the whistling pucker faded from his lips. He saw Maggie walking -slowly past. He gave a great start, fearing for the previously- -mentioned eminent respectability of the place. - -He threw a swift, nervous glance about him, all at once -feeling guilty. No one was in the room. - -He went hastily over to the side door. Opening it and looking -out, he perceived Maggie standing, as if undecided, on the corner. -She was searching the place with her eyes. - -As she turned her face toward him Pete beckoned to her -hurriedly, intent upon returning with speed to a position behind -the bar and to the atmosphere of respectability upon which the -proprietor insisted. - -Maggie came to him, the anxious look disappearing from her -face and a smile wreathing her lips. - -"Oh, Pete--," she began brightly. - -The bartender made a violent gesture of impatience. - -"Oh, my Gawd," cried he, vehemently. "What deh hell do yeh -wanna hang aroun' here fer? Do yeh wanna git me inteh trouble?" -he demanded with an air of injury. - -Astonishment swept over the girl's features. "Why, Pete! yehs tol' me--" - -Pete glanced profound irritation. His countenance reddened -with the anger of a man whose respectability is being threatened. - -"Say, yehs makes me tired. See? What deh hell deh yeh wanna -tag aroun' atter me fer? Yeh'll git me inteh trouble wid deh ol' -man an' dey'll be hell teh pay! If he sees a woman roun' here -he'll go crazy an' I'll lose me job! See? Yer brudder come in -here an' raised hell an' deh ol' man hada put up fer it! An' now -I'm done! See? I'm done." - -The girl's eyes stared into his face. "Pete, don't yeh remem--" - -"Oh, hell," interrupted Pete, anticipating. - -The girl seemed to have a struggle with herself. She was apparently -bewildered and could not find speech. Finally she asked in a low voice: -"But where kin I go?" - -The question exasperated Pete beyond the powers of endurance. -It was a direct attempt to give him some responsibility in a matter -that did not concern him. In his indignation he volunteered information. - -"Oh, go teh hell," cried he. He slammed the door furiously -and returned, with an air of relief, to his respectability. - -Maggie went away. - -She wandered aimlessly for several blocks. She stopped once -and asked aloud a question of herself: "Who?" - -A man who was passing near her shoulder, humorously took the -questioning word as intended for him. - -"Eh? What? Who? Nobody! I didn't say anything," -he laughingly said, and continued his way. - -Soon the girl discovered that if she walked with such -apparent aimlessness, some men looked at her with calculating eyes. -She quickened her step, frightened. As a protection, she adopted -a demeanor of intentness as if going somewhere. - -After a time she left rattling avenues and passed between rows -of houses with sternness and stolidity stamped upon their features. -She hung her head for she felt their eyes grimly upon her. - -Suddenly she came upon a stout gentleman in a silk hat and a -chaste black coat, whose decorous row of buttons reached from his -chin to his knees. The girl had heard of the Grace of God and she -decided to approach this man. - -His beaming, chubby face was a picture of benevolence and -kind-heartedness. His eyes shone good-will. - -But as the girl timidly accosted him, he gave a convulsive -movement and saved his respectability by a vigorous side-step. -He did not risk it to save a soul. For how was he to know that -there was a soul before him that needed saving? - - - - -Chapter XVII - -Upon a wet evening, several months after the last chapter, -two interminable rows of cars, pulled by slipping horses, -jangled along a prominent side-street. A dozen cabs, with coat-enshrouded -drivers, clattered to and fro. Electric lights, whirring softly, -shed a blurred radiance. A flower dealer, his feet tapping -impatiently, his nose and his wares glistening with rain-drops, -stood behind an array of roses and chrysanthemums. Two or three -theatres emptied a crowd upon the storm-swept pavements. Men -pulled their hats over their eyebrows and raised their collars to -their ears. Women shrugged impatient shoulders in their warm -cloaks and stopped to arrange their skirts for a walk through the -storm. People having been comparatively silent for two hours burst -into a roar of conversation, their hearts still kindling from the -glowings of the stage. - -The pavements became tossing seas of umbrellas. Men stepped -forth to hail cabs or cars, raising their fingers in varied forms -of polite request or imperative demand. An endless procession -wended toward elevated stations. An atmosphere of pleasure and -prosperity seemed to hang over the throng, born, perhaps, of good -clothes and of having just emerged from a place of forgetfulness. - -In the mingled light and gloom of an adjacent park, -a handful of wet wanderers, in attitudes of chronic dejection, -was scattered among the benches. - -A girl of the painted cohorts of the city went along the street. -She threw changing glances at men who passed her, giving smiling -invitations to men of rural or untaught pattern and usually seeming -sedately unconscious of the men with a metropolitan seal upon their faces. - -Crossing glittering avenues, she went into the throng emerging -from the places of forgetfulness. She hurried forward through the -crowd as if intent upon reaching a distant home, bending forward in -her handsome cloak, daintily lifting her skirts and picking for her -well-shod feet the dryer spots upon the pavements. - -The restless doors of saloons, clashing to and fro, disclosed -animated rows of men before bars and hurrying barkeepers. - -A concert hall gave to the street faint sounds of swift, -machine-like music, as if a group of phantom musicians were -hastening. - -A tall young man, smoking a cigarette with a sublime air, -strolled near the girl. He had on evening dress, a moustache, a -chrysanthemum, and a look of ennui, all of which he kept carefully -under his eye. Seeing the girl walk on as if such a young man as -he was not in existence, he looked back transfixed with interest. -He stared glassily for a moment, but gave a slight convulsive start -when he discerned that she was neither new, Parisian, nor theatrical. -He wheeled about hastily and turned his stare into the air, -like a sailor with a search-light. - -A stout gentleman, with pompous and philanthropic whiskers, -went stolidly by, the broad of his back sneering at the girl. - -A belated man in business clothes, and in haste to catch a -car, bounced against her shoulder. "Hi, there, Mary, I beg your -pardon! Brace up, old girl." He grasped her arm to steady her, -and then was away running down the middle of the street. - -The girl walked on out of the realm of restaurants and -saloons. She passed more glittering avenues and went into darker -blocks than those where the crowd travelled. - -A young man in light overcoat and derby hat received a glance -shot keenly from the eyes of the girl. He stopped and looked at -her, thrusting his hands in his pockets and making a mocking smile -curl his lips. "Come, now, old lady," he said, "you don't mean to -tell me that you sized me up for a farmer?" - -A laboring man marched along with bundles under his arms. -To her remarks, he replied: "It's a fine evenin', ain't it?" - -She smiled squarely into the face of a boy who was hurrying by -with his hands buried in his overcoat, his blonde locks bobbing on -his youthful temples, and a cheery smile of unconcern upon his -lips. He turned his head and smiled back at her, waving his hands. -him. "He's all right! He didn't mean anything! Let it go! -He's a good fellah!" - -"Din' he insul' me?" asked the man earnestly. - -"No," said they. "Of course he didn't! He's all right!" - -"Sure he didn' insul' me?" demanded the man, with deep anxiety -in his voice. - -"No, no! We know him! He's a good fellah. He didn't mean anything." - -"Well, zen," said the man, resolutely, "I'm go' 'pol'gize!" - -When the waiter came, the man struggled to the middle of the floor. - -"Girlsh shed you insul' me! I shay damn lie! I 'pol'gize!" - -"All right," said the waiter. - -The man sat down. He felt a sleepy but strong desire to straighten -things out and have a perfect understanding with everybody. - -"Nell, I allus trea's yeh shquare, din' I? Yeh likes me, don' yehs, Nell? -I'm goo' f'ler?" - -"Sure," said the woman of brilliance and audacity. - -"Yeh knows I'm stuck on yehs, don' yehs, Nell?" - -"Sure," she repeated, carelessly. - -Overwhelmed by a spasm of drunken adoration, he drew two or -three bills from his pocket, and, with the trembling fingers of an -offering priest, laid them on the table before the woman. - -"Yehs knows, damn it, yehs kin have all got, 'cause I'm stuck on yehs, -Nell, damn't, I--I'm stuck on yehs, Nell--buy drinksh--damn't--we're havin' -heluva time--w'en anyone trea's me ri'--I--damn't, Nell--we're havin' -heluva--time." - -Shortly he went to sleep with his swollen face fallen forward on his chest. - -The women drank and laughed, not heeding the slumbering man in the corner. -Finally he lurched forward and fell groaning to the floor. - -The women screamed in disgust and drew back their skirts. - -"Come ahn," cried one, starting up angrily, "let's get out of here." - -The woman of brilliance and audacity stayed behind, taking up -the bills and stuffing them into a deep, irregularly-shaped pocket. -A guttural snore from the recumbent man caused her to turn and look -down at him. - -She laughed. "What a damn fool," she said, and went. - -The smoke from the lamps settled heavily down in the little -compartment, obscuring the way out. The smell of oil, stifling in -its intensity, pervaded the air. The wine from an overturned glass -dripped softly down upon the blotches on the man's neck. - - - - -Chapter XIX - - -In a room a woman sat at a table eating like a fat monk in a picture. - -A soiled, unshaven man pushed open the door and entered. - -"Well," said he, "Mag's dead." - -"What?" said the woman, her mouth filled with bread. - -"Mag's dead," repeated the man. - -"Deh hell she is," said the woman. She continued her meal. -When she finished her coffee she began to weep. - -"I kin remember when her two feet was no bigger dan yer t'umb, -and she weared worsted boots," moaned she. - -"Well, whata dat?" said the man. - -"I kin remember when she weared worsted boots," she cried. - -The neighbors began to gather in the hall, staring in at the -weeping woman as if watching the contortions of a dying dog. A -dozen women entered and lamented with her. Under their busy hands -the rooms took on that appalling appearance of neatness and order -with which death is greeted. - -Suddenly the door opened and a woman in a black gown rushed in -with outstretched arms. "Ah, poor Mary," she cried, and tenderly -embraced the moaning one. - -"Ah, what ter'ble affliction is dis," continued she. Her vocabulary -was derived from mission churches. "Me poor Mary, how I feel fer yehs! -Ah, what a ter'ble affliction is a disobed'ent chil'." - -Her good, motherly face was wet with tears. She trembled in -eagerness to express her sympathy. The mourner sat with bowed head, -rocking her body heavily to and fro, and crying out in a high, -strained voice that sounded like a dirge on some forlorn pipe. - -"I kin remember when she weared worsted boots an' her two -feets was no bigger dan yer t'umb an' she weared worsted boots, -Miss Smith," she cried, raising her streaming eyes. - -"Ah, me poor Mary," sobbed the woman in black. With low, -coddling cries, she sank on her knees by the mourner's chair, -and put her arms about her. The other women began to groan -in different keys. - -"Yer poor misguided chil' is gone now, Mary, an' let us hope -it's fer deh bes'. Yeh'll fergive her now, Mary, won't yehs, dear, -all her disobed'ence? All her t'ankless behavior to her mudder an' -all her badness? She's gone where her ter'ble sins will be judged." - -The woman in black raised her face and paused. The inevitable -sunlight came streaming in at the windows and shed a ghastly -cheerfulness upon the faded hues of the room. Two or three of the -spectators were sniffling, and one was loudly weeping. The -mourner arose and staggered into the other room. In a moment she -emerged with a pair of faded baby shoes held in the hollow of her hand. - -"I kin remember when she used to wear dem," cried she. -The women burst anew into cries as if they had all been stabbed. -The mourner turned to the soiled and unshaven man. - -"Jimmie, boy, go git yer sister! Go git yer sister an' we'll -put deh boots on her feets!" - -"Dey won't fit her now, yeh damn fool," said the man. - -"Go git yer sister, Jimmie," shrieked the woman, confronting -him fiercely. - -The man swore sullenly. He went over to a corner and slowly -began to put on his coat. He took his hat and went out, with a -dragging, reluctant step. - -The woman in black came forward and again besought the mourner. - -"Yeh'll fergive her, Mary! Yeh'll fergive yer bad, bad, -chil'! Her life was a curse an' her days were black an' yeh'll -fergive yer bad girl? She's gone where her sins will be judged." - -"She's gone where her sins will be judged," cried the other -women, like a choir at a funeral. - -"Deh Lord gives and deh Lord takes away," said the woman in -black, raising her eyes to the sunbeams. - -"Deh Lord gives and deh Lord takes away," responded the others. - -"Yeh'll fergive her, Mary!" pleaded the woman in black. The -mourner essayed to speak but her voice gave way. She shook her -great shoulders frantically, in an agony of grief. Hot tears -seemed to scald her quivering face. Finally her voice came and -arose like a scream of pain. - -"Oh, yes, I'll fergive her! I'll fergive her!" - - - - -End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Maggie: A Girl of the Streets - |