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FOR THE COMMONWEALTH
109
THE SWEAT-SHOP
weather began to grow sharp, Madclalena planned to work extra hours, for there would be fuel and warm clothing to buy for the winter. ' ' The little kitten must be kept warm/' she said, with a caress and one of those rare smiles that she had for none but Tina. Gathering up a bundle of shirts, she went to the factory, hoping to bring back a larger allotment. A number of women and girls lingered about the factory doors, some downcast, others voluble with anger and indignation: Maddalena hurried past them, uneasy at their demonstrations, yet, in her sorrow and isolation, ignoring them. She delivered her buildle to the foreman and received her money; but when she asked for more work, he pointed to a placard on the wall, which, in several languages, bore the information that since shirt-making had been established in the penitentiary, the factory could not compete with the low prices and would have to close down. Maddalena now understood the reason for the excited groups about the door. But what right had she to join in their protests, even tho she had the heart to do so? Was not Mario probably one of the convicts who were taking the bread from the women's mouths? With bowed head, she hastened away, and called at other factories, inquiring for work. Toward nightfall she reached home, so fagged and discouraged and '
obsessed by the conviction of a malevolent fate, that even little Tina's joyous greeting failed to call forth a response.
Day after day, she resumed her search for work, from time to time getting a few garments to be made up. Then came a week when there had been no work, when she had been dispossessed of the few shabby sticks of furniture in the wretched room; and so, suffering from cold and hunger, she took little Tina and applied at the Bureau of Charities for shelter. From there they were sent to the poorhouse, along with other disabled and helpless human craft that had furled their tattered sails and run before the blasts to the nearest port.
In that institution for the housing of poverty, one day was like another in its monotony. Even the children had their share of the household drudgery to perform, and Maddalena, who had searched so unremittingly for the toil -that would sustain body and soul, reflected bitterly that here was plenty of it, but without the saving grace of independence.
When she was allowed to go to the children's building and visit Tina, she could not repress the tears as she rocked the little girl in her arms and murmured, "Tina carissima, mama shall have her baby with her again some day. When papa comes back, we'll all be happy again."