some opinion the speaker had expressed concerning
Tolstoy. Jurgis had never heard of Tolstoy, and did not care anything
about him. Why should any one want to ask such questions, after an
address like that? The thing was not to talk, but to do; the thing was
to get bold of others and rouse them, to organize them and prepare for
the fight! But still the discussion went on, in ordinary conversational
tones, and it brought Jurgis back to the everyday world. A few minutes
ago he had felt like seizing the hand of the beautiful lady by his side,
and kissing it; he had felt like flinging his arms about the neck of the
man on the other side of him. And now he began to realize again that he
was a "hobo," that he was ragged and dirty, and smelled bad, and had no
place to sleep that night!

And so, at last, when the meeting broke up, and the audience started to
leave, poor Jurgis was in an agony of uncertainty. He had not thought of
leaving--he had thought that the vision must last forever, that he had
found comrades and brothers. But now he would go out, and the thing
would fade away, and he would never be able to find it again! He sat in
his seat, frightened and wondering; but others in the same row wanted to
get out, and so he had to stand up and move along. As he was swept down
the aisle he looked from one person to another, wistfully; they were all
excitedly discussing the address--but there was nobody who offered to
discuss it with him. He was near enough to the door to feel the night
air, when desperation seized him. He knew nothing at all about that
speech he had heard, not even the name of the orator; and he was to go
away--no, no, it was preposterous, he must speak to some one; he must
find that man himself and tell him. He would not despise him, tramp as
he was!

So he stepped into an empty row of seats and watched, and when the crowd
had thinned out, he started toward the platform. The speaker was gone;
but there was a stage door that stood open, with people passing in and
out, and no one on guard. Jurgis summoned up his courage and went in,
and down a hallway, and to the door of a room where many people were
crowded. No one paid any attention to him, and he pushed in, and in a
corner he saw the man he sought. The orator sat in a chair, with his
shoulders sunk together and his eyes half closed; his face was ghastly
pale, almost greenish in hue, and one arm lay limp at his side. A big
man with spectacles on stood near