its general aspect, nothing could now have induced me
to turn back. Instinct told me that I was about to enter into no
commonplace experience. And so, unresisting, I was borne along in the
swift current of humanity that was swept down the street, like the water
in a mill-race, to turn the wheels of workshop and factory. Before
Springer's a great arm of this human mill-stream eddied inward, to be
lost in another moment in the vortex of the wide black doors, whence
issued muffled sounds of the pandemonium within. At the last moment I
hesitated, obsessed once more with the indefinable horror of it all.
Again there was the strong impulse to run away--far, far away from
Springer's and from Thompson Street, when suddenly the old monody began
to ring in my ears, "WORK OR STARVE, WORK OR STARVE!" Another moment,
and I too had passed within the wide black doors.

The entrance passage was lighted by a sickly gas-jet, and in its flicker
a horde of loud-mouthed girls were making frantic efforts to insert
their keys in the time-register. I was jostled and tumbled over
unceremoniously. I was pushed and punched unmercifully by the crowding
elbows, until I found myself squeezed tight against the wall. From the
scrambling and confusion it was evident everybody was late, and tones
and language attested to racked nerves and querulous tempers. Suddenly
there was a scuffle and the sharp scraping of feet on the floor.

"Get out, yez dirty Irish!" rang out in the stifling air.

"I wuz here fust!" snarled another voice.

"Call me dirty Irish ag'in and I'll dirty Irish you."

The black-haired girl had accepted the challenge, and the maligned
daughter of Erin, cheeks aflame and eyes blazing, rushed at her
detractor with clenched fist.

"Go for her, Rosie! She's nothin' but a dirty black Ginney, nohow!"

"Pitch into her, Celie! Punch her!" yelled a chorus from the stairs who
came swooping down from above, attracted by the scrimmage, and just in
time to see the combatants rush at each other in a hand-to-hand
struggle, punctuated with loud oaths.

The noise suddenly subsided at the screeching of a raucous nasal voice.

"Well, young ladies! What does this mean?" demanded the superintendent,
and Rosie and Celie both began to talk at once.

"Never mind about the rest of it," snapped Miss Price, cutting the tale
short. "I'll dock you both half a day's pay: and the next time it
happens you'll both be fired on the spot."

Then Miss Price tur