red further and suggested that the baby would be better off
if the windows were washed to let in the sunshine and the floor
scrubbed a bit. Finally she became bold enough to hint that it might
be well to wash some of the bed clothing.

The district nurse appreciated the change, if Michele himself didn't
and I found that it wasn't long before Miss Colver was making use of
this new influence in the house. She made a call on Ruth and discussed
her cases with her until in the end she made of her a sort of first
assistant. This was the beginning of a new field of activity for Ruth
which finally won for her the name of Little Mother. It was wonderful
how quickly these people discovered the sweet qualities in Ruth that
had passed all unnoticed in the old life.

It made me very proud.

CHAPTER XI

NEW OPPORTUNITIES

I had found that I was badly handicapped in all intercourse with my
Italian fellow workers by the fact that I knew nothing of their
language and that they knew but little English. The handicap did not
lie so much in the fact that we couldn't make ourselves understood--we
could after a rough fashion--as it did in the fact that this made a
barrier which kept our two nationalities sharply defined. I was always
an American talking to an Italian. The boss was always an American
talking to a Dago. This seemed to me a great disadvantage. It ought to
be just a foreman to his man or one man to another.

The chance to acquire a new language I thought had passed with my high
school days, but down here everyone was learning English and so I
resolved to study Italian. I made a bargain with Giuseppe, the young
sculptor, who was now a frequent visitor at our flat, to teach me his
language in return for instruction in mine. He agreed though he had
long been getting good instruction at the night school. But the lad
had found an appreciative friend in Ruth who not only sincerely
admired the work he was doing but who admired his enthusiasm and his
knowledge of art. I liked him myself for he was dreaming bigger things
than I. To watch his thin cheeks grow red and his big brown eyes flash
as he talked of some old painting gave me a realization that there was
something else to be thought of even down here than mere money
success. It was good for me.

The poor fellow was driven almost mad by having to offer for sale some
of the casts which his master made him carry. He would have liked to
sell only busts of Michael Angelo