in a great factory,
somewhere, that was given over to the weaving of cloth. It was well
equipped, there were innumerable orders waiting to be filled, and there
were plenty of people to work, but nothing was being done.

"The floor was covered with rubbish, the windows were thick with dust
and cobwebs; where there were artificial lights they were flickering
disagreeably because they were choked with dirt; the machinery creaked
abominably, and the air of the place was foul beyond description.
Meanwhile orders accumulated, but the people stood around and
complained. Some of them were gathered in groups, arguing; others sat on
dusty benches, singly or by twos, with discontented, unhappy faces. Some
were angry, and others only hopeless, staring straight ahead, with eyes
that did not see.

[Sidenote: No One Satisfied]

"It seemed that no one was satisfied with his lot, and each was eager to
change with someone else, who also wanted to change, but not with him.
The women whose duty it was to scrub floors wanted to work at the looms,
but those at the looms aspired to the big airy room where the bolts of
cloth were measured and rolled up.

"The men who had been told to wash windows wanted to make patterns, the
man in charge of the ventilating apparatus wanted to work in the office,
and the man who was in charge of the office, weary and jaded beyond all
power of words to portray, wanted a place at the loom and a pay-envelope
every Saturday night instead of a commission upon his sales.

"Those who were supposed to weave blue cloth with white dots upon it
wanted to make white cloth with blue dots upon it, but, it seemed, there
was no market for the white cloth with the blue dots and they could not
be made to understand it.

"The boy who attended to the door of the factory wanted to keep books in
the office; the men who were supposed to work in the shipping room
wanted to cut out the samples that were sent to different firms to order
from. The girls who wrote letters and filed the correspondence wanted to
draw designs for new patterns--oh, a great many wanted to draw designs!

[Sidenote: The Spirit of Love]

"The man who did the designing was complaining of a headache, and wanted
to be doorkeeper, that he might have plenty of fresh air. The man who
was supposed to oil the machinery wanted to wash the windows--he said it
was a cleaner job; and the messengers were tired of going back and forth
all day--they wanted to sit quie