y through the buildings;
and in a week or two, when he had been all over the yards, and into
every room to which he had access, and learned that there was not a job
anywhere, he persuaded himself that there might have been a change in
the places he had first visited, and began the round all over; till
finally the watchmen and the "spotters" of the companies came to know
him by sight and to order him out with threats. Then there was nothing
more for him to do but go with the crowd in the morning, and keep in
the front row and look eager, and when he failed, go back home, and play
with little Kotrina and the baby.

The peculiar bitterness of all this was that Jurgis saw so plainly the
meaning of it. In the beginning he had been fresh and strong, and he
had gotten a job the first day; but now he was second-hand, a damaged
article, so to speak, and they did not want him. They had got the
best of him--they had worn him out, with their speeding-up and their
carelessness, and now they had thrown him away! And Jurgis would make
the acquaintance of others of these unemployed men and find that they
had all had the same experience. There were some, of course, who had
wandered in from other places, who had been ground up in other mills;
there were others who were out from their own fault--some, for instance,
who had not been able to stand the awful grind without drink. The vast
majority, however, were simply the worn-out parts of the great merciless
packing machine; they had toiled there, and kept up with the pace, some
of them for ten or twenty years, until finally the time had come when
they could not keep up with it any more. Some had been frankly told
that they were too old, that a sprier man was needed; others had given
occasion, by some act of carelessness or incompetence; with most,
however, the occasion had been the same as with Jurgis. They had been
overworked and underfed so long, and finally some disease had laid them
on their backs; or they had cut themselves, and had blood poisoning, or
met with some other accident. When a man came back after that, he would
get his place back only by the courtesy of the boss. To this there was
no exception, save when the accident was one for which the firm was
liable; in that case they would send a slippery lawyer to see him, first
to try to get him to sign away his claims, but if he was too smart for
that, to promise him that he and his should always be provided with
work. This promis