flat, and there was no way of doing
better, unless the family of twelve was to exist in one or two rooms, as
at present. If they paid rent, of course, they might pay forever, and be
no better off; whereas, if they could only meet the extra expense in the
beginning, there would at last come a time when they would not have any
rent to pay for the rest of their lives.

They figured it up. There was a little left of the money belonging to
Teta Elzbieta, and there was a little left to Jurgis. Marija had about
fifty dollars pinned up somewhere in her stockings, and Grandfather
Anthony had part of the money he had gotten for his farm. If they all
combined, they would have enough to make the first payment; and if
they had employment, so that they could be sure of the future, it might
really prove the best plan. It was, of course, not a thing even to be
talked of lightly; it was a thing they would have to sift to the bottom.
And yet, on the other hand, if they were going to make the venture, the
sooner they did it the better, for were they not paying rent all the
time, and living in a most horrible way besides? Jurgis was used to
dirt--there was nothing could scare a man who had been with a railroad
gang, where one could gather up the fleas off the floor of the sleeping
room by the handful. But that sort of thing would not do for Ona. They
must have a better place of some sort soon--Jurgis said it with all the
assurance of a man who had just made a dollar and fifty-seven cents in
a single day. Jurgis was at a loss to understand why, with wages as they
were, so many of the people of this district should live the way they
did.

The next day Marija went to see her "forelady," and was told to report
the first of the week, and learn the business of can-painter. Marija
went home, singing out loud all the way, and was just in time to join
Ona and her stepmother as they were setting out to go and make inquiry
concerning the house. That evening the three made their report to the
men--the thing was altogether as represented in the circular, or at any
rate so the agent had said. The houses lay to the south, about a mile
and a half from the yards; they were wonderful bargains, the gentleman
had assured them--personally, and for their own good. He could do this,
so he explained to them, for the reason that he had himself no interest
in their sale--he was merely the agent for a company that had built
them. These were the last, and the compa