you."

There was a good-natured tone, a kindly compassion, in Abe Isaacs's
voice which was not in accord with the words; and when he turned and
asked me what I had done, there was no fear in my heart. I answered by
looking significantly at old Miriam.

"I thought as much," he muttered under his breath, and passed on to
Bessie.

"Poor old Miriam, she's teched up here," one of the girls explained,
tapping her forehead. "They say it was the old sweat-shops put her out
of her mind, and I guess it's so, all right. My mother knows two ladies
that was made crazy sewing pants up to Sternberg's. But that was long
ago, when they used to treat the girls so bad. Things is ever so much
better now, only Miriam can't get used to the improvements. She's a
hundred years behind the times."

I was still lost in admiring wonder of Rachel Goldberg's skill. I asked
her how long it would take me to learn to do it as well. She did not
have a chance to answer before a harsh laugh was heard and a new voice
asserted itself.

"Oh-ho! you'll never learn to work like her, and you'd better find it
out now. I seen you running your machine, and I says to myself, 'That
girl 'll never make her salt making underclothes.' Pants 'd be more in
your line. To make money on muslin you've got to be born to 't."

"That's no lie, either," muttered another.

"You bet it ain't!" declared the expert Rachel. "My mother was working
on shirts for a straight ten months before I was born."

In half an hour we had resumed work, and at half-past twelve we stopped
for another half-hour and ate luncheon--Bessie, Eunice, and I in a
corner by ourselves.

We held a conference, and compared notes of the morning's progress,
which had been even more discouraging to poor Eunice than to us; for to
her it had brought the added misfortune of a row of stitches in her
right forefinger. We counted up our profits for the morning, and the
aggregate earnings of the three of us did not amount to ten cents. Of
course we would learn to do better, but it would take a long, long time,
Bessie was firmly convinced, before we could even make enough to buy our
lunches. It was decided that one of us should resign the job that night,
and the other two keep at it until the delegate found something better
for us all and had tested the new job to her satisfaction. Bessie was of
course appointed, and the next morning Eunice and I went alone, with
plausible excuses for the absent Bessie, for we