own." As impossible to escape the common lot as for a swimmer
alone in mid-ocean to keep up indefinitely whether long or
brief, the struggle could have but, the one end--to be sunk in,
merged in, the ocean.

It took no great amount of vanity for her to realize that she
was in every way the superior of all those around her--in every
way except one. What did she lack? Why was it that with her
superior intelligence, her superior skill both of mind and of
body, she could be thus dragged down and held far below her
natural level? Why could she not lift herself up among the
sort of people with whom she belonged--or even make a beginning
toward lifting herself up? Why could she not take hold? What
did she lack? What must she acquire--or what get rid of?

At lunch time she walked with the ugly woman up and down the
first side street above the building in which the factory was
located. She ate a roll she bought from a pushcart man, the
woman munched an apple with her few remnants of teeth. "Most
of the girls is always kicking," said the woman. "But I'm
mighty satisfied. I get enough to eat and to wear, and I've
got a bed to sleep in--and what else is there in life for
anybody, rich or poor?"

"There's something to be said for that," replied Susan,
marveling to find in this piteous creature the only case of
thorough content she had ever seen.

"I make my four to five per," continued the woman. "And I've
got only myself. Thank God, I was never fool enough to marry.
It's marrying that drags us poor people down and makes us
miserable. Some says to me, 'Ain't you lonesome?' And I says
to them, says I, 'Why, I'm used to being alone. I don't want
anything else.' If they was all like me, they'd not be fightin'
and drinkin' and makin' bad worse. The bosses always likes to
give me work. They say I'm a model worker, and I'm proud to
say they're right. I'm mighty grateful to the bosses that
provide for the like of us. What'd we do without 'em? That's
what _I_'d like to know."

She had pitied this woman because she could never hope to
experience any of the great joys of life. What a waste of pity,
she now thought. She had overlooked the joy of joys--delusions.
This woman was secure for life against unhappiness.

A few days, and Susan was herself regarded as a model worker.
She turned out hats so rapidly that the forewoman, urged on by
Mr. Himberg, the proprietor, began to nag at the other girls.
And presently