s and acids. The prisoners roomed two in a cell, but that day
there was one left over, and he was the one.

The cells were in tiers, opening upon galleries. His cell was about five
feet by seven in size, with a stone floor and a heavy wooden bench built
into it. There was no window--the only light came from windows near the
roof at one end of the court outside. There were two bunks, one above
the other, each with a straw mattress and a pair of gray blankets--the
latter stiff as boards with filth, and alive with fleas, bedbugs, and
lice. When Jurgis lifted up the mattress he discovered beneath it a
layer of scurrying roaches, almost as badly frightened as himself.

Here they brought him more "duffers and dope," with the addition of a
bowl of soup. Many of the prisoners had their meals brought in from a
restaurant, but Jurgis had no money for that. Some had books to read and
cards to play, with candles to burn by night, but Jurgis was all alone
in darkness and silence. He could not sleep again; there was the same
maddening procession of thoughts that lashed him like whips upon his
naked back. When night fell he was pacing up and down his cell like a
wild beast that breaks its teeth upon the bars of its cage. Now and then
in his frenzy he would fling himself against the walls of the place,
beating his hands upon them. They cut him and bruised him--they were
cold and merciless as the men who had built them.

In the distance there was a church-tower bell that tolled the hours one
by one. When it came to midnight Jurgis was lying upon the floor with
his head in his arms, listening. Instead of falling silent at the end,
the bell broke into a sudden clangor. Jurgis raised his head; what could
that mean--a fire? God! Suppose there were to be a fire in this jail!
But then he made out a melody in the ringing; there were chimes. And
they seemed to waken the city--all around, far and near, there were
bells, ringing wild music; for fully a minute Jurgis lay lost in wonder,
before, all at once, the meaning of it broke over him--that this was
Christmas Eve!

Christmas Eve--he had forgotten it entirely! There was a breaking of
floodgates, a whirl of new memories and new griefs rushing into his
mind. In far Lithuania they had celebrated Christmas; and it came to
him as if it had been yesterday--himself a little child, with his lost
brother and his dead father in the cabin--in the deep black forest,
where the snow fell all day and all