Maggie: A Girl of the Streets and Other Writings About New York (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) (17 page)

IN A ROOM A woman sat at a table eating like a fat monk in a picture.

A soiled, unshaven man pushed open the door and entered.

“Well,” said he, “Mag’s dead.”

“What?” said the woman, her mouth filled with bread.

“Mag’s dead,” repeated the man.

“Deh hell she is,” said the woman. She continued her meal. When she finished her coffee she began to weep.

“I kin remember when her two feet was no bigger dan yer tumb, and she weared worsted
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boots,” moaned she.

“Well, whata dat?” said the man.

“I kin remember when she weared worsted boots,” she cried.

The neighbors began to gather in the hall, staring in at the weeping woman as if watching the contortions of a dying dog. A dozen women entered and lamented with her. Under their busy hands the rooms took on that appalling appearance of neatness and order with which death is greeted.

Suddenly the door opened and a woman in a black gown rushed in with outstretched arms. “Ah, poor Mary,” she cried, and tenderly embraced the moaning one.

“Ah, what ter‘ble affliction is dis,” continued she. Her vocabulary was derived from mission churches. “Me poor Mary, how I feel fer yehs! Ah, what a ter’ble affliction is a disobed’ent chile.”

Her good, motherly face was wet with tears. She trembled in eagerness to express her sympathy. The mourner sat with bowed head, rocking her body heavily to and fro, and crying out in a high, strained voice that sounded like a dirge on some forlorn pipe.

“I kin remember when she weared worsted boots an’ her two feets was no bigger dan yer tumb an’ she weared worsted boots, Miss Smith,” she cried, raising her streaming eyes.

“Ah, me poor Mary,” sobbed the woman in black. With low, coddling cries, she sank on her knees by the mourner’s chair, and put her arms about her. The other women began to groan in different keys.

“Yer poor misguided chil’ is gone now, Mary, an’ let us hope its fer deh bes’.Yeh’ll fergive her now, Mary, won’t yehs, dear, all her disobed’ ence? All her tankless behavior to her mudder an’ all her badness? She’s gone where her ter’ble sins will be judged.”

The woman in black raised her face and paused. The inevitable sunlight came streaming in at the windows and shed a ghastly cheerfulness upon the faded hues of the room. Two or three of the spectators were sniffling, and one was loudly weeping. The mourner arose and staggered into the other room. In a moment she emerged with a pair of faded baby shoes held in the hollow of her hand.

“I kin remember when she used to wear dem,” cried she. The women burst anew into cries as if they had all been stabbed. The mourner turned to the soiled and unshaven man.

“Jimmie, boy, go git yer sister! Go git yer sister an’ we’ll put deh boots on her feets!”

“Dey won’t fit her now, yeh damn fool,” said the man.

“Go git yer sister, Jimmie,” shrieked the woman, confronting him fiercely.

The man swore sullenly. He went over to a corner and slowly began to put on his coat. He took his hat and went out, with a dragging, reluctant step.

The woman in black came forward and again besought the mourner.

“Yeh’ll fergive her, Mary! Yeh’ll fergive yer bad, bad chil’! Her life was a curse an’ her days were black an’ yeh’ll fergive yer bad girl? She’s gone where her sins will be judged.”

“She’s gone where her sins will be judged,”
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cried the other women, like a choir at a funeral.

“Deh Lord gives and deh Lord takes away,” said the woman in black, raising her eyes to the sunbeams.

“Deh Lord gives and deh Lord takes away,” responded the others.

“Yeh’ll fergive her, Mary!” pleaded the woman in black. The mourner essayed to speak but her voice gave way. She shook her great shoulders frantically, in an agony of grief Hot tears seemed to scald her quivering face. Finally her voice came and arose like a scream of pain.

“Oh, yes, I’ll fergive her! I’ll fergive her!”

IN THE SWIRLING RAIN that came at dusk the broad avenue glistened with that deep bluish tint which is so widely condemned when it is put into pictures. There were long rows of shops, whose fronts shone with full, golden light. Here and there, from druggists’ windows, or from the red street-lamps that indicated the positions of fire-alarm boxes, a flare of uncertain, wavering crimson was thrown upon the wet pavements.

The lights made shadows, in which the buildings loomed with a new and tremendous massiveness, like castles and fortresses. There were endless processions of people, mighty hosts, with umbrellas waving, banner-like, over them. Horse-cars, aglitter with new paint, rumbled in steady array between the pillars that supported the elevated railroad. The whole street resounded with the tinkle of bells, the roar of iron-shod wheels on the cobbles, the ceaseless trample of the hundreds of feet. Above all, too, could be heard the loud screams of the tiny newsboys, who scurried in all directions. Upon the corners, standing in from the dripping eaves, were many loungers, descended from the world that used to prostrate itself before pageantry.

A brown young man went along the avenue. He held a tin lunch-pail under his arm in a manner that was evidently uncomfortable. He was puffing at a corn-cob pipe. His shoulders had a self-reliant poise, and the hang of his arms and the raised veins of his hands showed him to be a man who worked with his muscles.

As he passed a street-corner a man in old clothes gave a shout of surprise, and rushing impetuously forward, grasped his hand.

“Hello, Kelcey, ol’ boy,” cried the man in old clothes. “How’s th’ boy, anyhow? Where in thunder yeh been fer th’ last seventeen years? I’ll be hanged if you ain’t th’ last man I ever expected t’ see.”

The brown youth put his pail to the ground and grinned. “Well, if it ain’t ol’ Charley Jones,” he said, ecstatically shaking hands. “How are yeh, anyhow? Where yeh been keepin’ yerself? I ain’t seen yeh fer a year!”

“Well, I should say so! Why, th’ last time I saw you was up in Handyville!”

“Sure! On Sunday, we———”

“Sure! Out at Bill Sickles’s place. Let’s go get a drink!”

They made toward a little glass-fronted saloon that sat blinking jovially at the crowds. It engulfed them with a gleeful motion of its two widely smiling lips.

“What’ll yeh take, Kelcey?”

“Oh, I guess I’ll take a beer.”

“Gimme little whiskey, John.”

The two friends leaned against the bar and looked with enthusiasm upon each other.

“Well, well, I’m thunderin’ glad t’ see yeh,” said Jones.

“Well, I guess,” replied Kelcey. “Here’s to yeh, ol’ man.”

“Let ’er go.”

They lifted their glasses, glanced fervidly at each other, and drank.

“Yeh ain’t changed much, on’y yeh’ve growed like th’ devil,” said Jones, reflectively, as he put down his glass. “I’d know yeh anywheres!”

“Certainly yeh would,” said Kelcey. “An’ I knew you, too, th’ minute I saw yeh. Yer changed, though!”

“Yes,” admitted Jones, with some complacency, “I s’pose I am.” He regarded himself in the mirror that multiplied the bottles on the shelf back of the bar. He should have seen a grinning face with a rather pink nose. His derby was perched carelessly on the back part of his head. Two wisps of hair straggled down over his hollow temples. There was something very worldly and wise about him. Life did not seem to confuse him. Evidently he understood its complications. His hand thrust into his trousers’ pocket, where he jingled keys, and his hat perched back on his head expressed a young man of vast knowledge. His extensive acquaintance with bartenders aided him materially in this habitual expression of wisdom.

Having finished he turned to the barkeeper. “John, has any of th’ gang been in t’-night yet?”

“No—not yet,” said the barkeeper. “Ol’ Bleecker was aroun’ this afternoon about four. He said if I seen any of th’ boys t’ tell ‘em he’d be up t’-night if he could get away. I saw Connor an’ that other fellah goin’ down th’ avenyeh about an hour ago. I guess they’ll be back after awhile.”

“This is th’ hang-out fer a great gang,” said Jones, turning to Kelcey. “They’re a great crowd, I tell yeh. We own th’ place when we get started. Come aroun’ some night. Any night, almost. T’-night, b’ jiminy. They’ll almost all be here, an’ I’d like t’ interduce yeh. They’re a great gang! Gre-e-at!”

“I’d like teh,” said Kelcey.

“Well, come ahead, then,” cried the other, cordially. “Yeh’d like t’ know ‘em. It’s an outa sight crowd. Come aroun’ t’-night!”

“I will if I can.”

“Well, yeh ain’t got anything t’ do, have yeh?” demanded Jones. “Well, come along, then. Yeh might just as well spend yer time with a good crowd ’a fellahs. An’ it’s a great gang. Great! Gre-e-at!”

“Well, I must make fer home now, anyhow,” said Kelcey. “It’s late as blazes. What’ll yeh take this time, ol’ man?”

“Gimme little more whiskey, John!”

“Guess I’ll take another beer!”

Jones emptied the whiskey into his large mouth and then put the glass upon the bar. “Been in th’ city long?” he asked. “Um—well, three years is a good deal fer a slick man. Doin’ well? Oh, well, nobody’s doin’ well these days.” He looked down mournfully at his shabby clothes. “Father’s dead, ain’t ee? Yeh don’t say so? Fell off a scaffoldin‘, didn’t ’ee? I heard it somewheres. Mother’s livin‘, of course? I thought she was. Fine ol’ lady—fi-i-ne. Well, you’re th’ last of her boys. Was five of yeh onct, wasn’t there? I knew four m’self. Yes, five! I thought so. An’ all gone but you, hey? Well, you’ll have t’ brace up an’ be a comfort t’ th’ ol’ mother. Well, well, well, who would ‘a thought that on’y you’d be left out ‘a all that mob ’a tow-headed kids. Well, well, well, it’s a queer world, ain’t it?”

A contemplation of this thought made him sad. He sighed and moodily watched the other sip beer.

“Well, well, it’s a queer world—a damn queer world.”