This, of course, was unfair; but Jurgis felt that these men were
out of touch with the life they discussed, that they were unfitted to
solve its problems; nay, they themselves were part of the problem--they
were part of the order established that was crushing men down and
beating them! They were of the triumphant and insolent possessors; they
had a hall, and a fire, and food and clothing and money, and so they
might preach to hungry men, and the hungry men must be humble and
listen! They were trying to save their souls--and who but a fool could
fail to see that all that was the matter with their souls was that they
had not been able to get a decent existence for their bodies?

At eleven the meeting closed, and the desolate audience filed out into
the snow, muttering curses upon the few traitors who had got repentance
and gone up on the platform. It was yet an hour before the station
house would open, and Jurgis had no overcoat--and was weak from a long
illness. During that hour he nearly perished. He was obliged to run hard
to keep his blood moving at all--and then he came back to the station
house and found a crowd blocking the street before the door! This was in
the month of January, 1904, when the country was on the verge of "hard
times," and the newspapers were reporting the shutting down of factories
every day--it was estimated that a million and a half men were thrown
out of work before the spring. So all the hiding places of the city were
crowded, and before that station house door men fought and tore each
other like savage beasts. When at last the place was jammed and they
shut the doors, half the crowd was still outside; and Jurgis, with his
helpless arm, was among them. There was no choice then but to go to a
lodging-house and spend another dime. It really broke his heart to do
this, at half-past twelve o'clock, after he had wasted the night at the
meeting and on the street. He would be turned out of the lodging-house
promptly at seven--they had the shelves which served as bunks so
contrived that they could be dropped, and any man who was slow about
obeying orders could be tumbled to the floor.

This was one day, and the cold spell lasted for fourteen of them. At the
end of six days every cent of Jurgis' money was gone; and then he went
out on the streets to beg for his life.

He would begin as soon as the business of the city was moving. He would
sally forth from a saloon, and, after making sure there was no