Life — April 27, 1911 — page 26: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

*LIFE* Reflections of a Factory Child Un Any State) OT up this morning at four, as usual. Oh, my, this is my birthday. Ain't 1 glad 1 saved up nearly fifty cents in my bank? And I told my ma and my father it would be nice to use it to celebrate with. Ma was tired being up with the baby, and she has know, so I cooked myseli the loveliest bre fus of fried bread before I started. 1 was ten minutes late on account of this and the superintend ent docked me ten cents. Oh, well, it was worth it, I don't have a birthday every day in the year, * * * It’s a lovely walk to the factory in the morning like it so much better than at night, because then it is 1 dark and I am so tired and kind of stagger along and my eyes don't see straight, and I'm so glad to get home and throw mysclf down anywhere and sleep. The other night £ slept there nearly all night, until my father came in and he kicked me and I crawled off to my cot. * * * But in the morning the sun is just lovely to pick some daisies—they're a kind of a beautiful yellow and white flower and there was a few of ’em growing on the -and I took 'em with me to the factor Once I stopped of the strect but the superintendent, he frowned and says, “ Ah, loitering again.” ‘That's a queer word, But £ know what it means. It means taking up someone else’s time. * * * Oh, my, yesterday we worked fourteen hours! I choked some in the Jast part, the smoke got on me so, but it's lovely to earn so much money. I got rearly fifteen cents more than my regular, and it just seemed like [ was one of them multi- millionaires I heard tell about once when I went to a circus. But that was so long ago, when I was a child. * . The factory is a great big long brick place and I like the window I work in so much, ‘cause I can look out through it all day and see green trees. And onct I saw a squirrel! Then the foreman caught me and he said I was getting to be a little loafer. That's a terribul thing to be, but I wisht ] was, you know—just for fun 'Nd then it’s nice to have kind of lovely dreams when u're honest awake; when your eyes is wide open, only they ain't lookin’ at anything else ‘cept what you see in your dream. I thought I was the only one in the world that had ‘em, but a boy, he s I'm kinder sorry for this, ‘cause I wanted ‘em to myself, but it ain’t metimes id he did, too, sometimes. right to be too selfish. * * * Yesterday a man came and we all had to lie about our ages. The superintendent said it was only a matter of form, but we'd better do it, ‘cause we might lose our jobs if we didn't, ‘nd I said I was over fifieen; 'nd then the man—he was an inspector or something—he put his hand on my head ‘nd said I didn’t look it, ‘nd then the superintendent he says “No, it stunts ‘em sometimes, but its good work for 'em,” says he, “to be ‘leading useful lives.’ And then the in- spector went away si I seen him go by the tree where the squirrel lives 'nd he stopped there onct and looked at something outen his pocket Pretty soon I'll be makin’ four dollars a week! I'm get- ting three now, which for twelve years old is a fine start. We work from seven until six at night, with an hour at noon, but oh, my, when I get a little bigger I'll belong to the union 'nd then I won't have to work so hard. ‘Nd I'll have time to go on journeys ‘nd attend big mectings ‘nd learn to king a big cigar read ‘nd write ‘nd maybe Til be a walkin’ delegate, ever that is. We're three months behind in our orders. ‘Nd al account of Prosperity being around. Prosperity I guess 1 be an invisibul giant like the kind the feller told me o the noon hour onct that took the little boy who came to for him and ate him up. Prosperity he comes around in morning ‘nd wakes me up ‘nd makes me cook my own br fus ‘nd marches me off to the plant. Prosperity makes 1s whirr ‘nd piles up the orders 'nd makes the { man swear at us, and makes night-shifts ’nd gives me pai all over in my bones and sends me home like I was d. with sleep. I hate Prosperity and I wisht he never ec vround, "Nd I wonder did God make him. God is another gia he lives in the clouds 'nd he's the biggest giant of a! Nd the Salvation Army gal she says he was a father to 1 ili, only he never comes around in the night and kicks me behind the stove and tells me to get to bed. 'Nd he never takes my money on Saturday night. But they say be is a good giant and is sorry for people that work ’nd he love everybody just the same. ’Nd they say he loves me just as much as the multimillionaire, but if he did he might hurt the giant Prosperity that hurts me so ‘nd that the multimillion tire likes so much. Oh, my, it would be fun to see a fight between God ‘nd Prosperit ‘Nd I hope that God would win. ’Cause from what I heard about him, I kind of like him, But I guess after all he’s only a dream, like Santa Claus ’nd the picture books and the picnic. Still, ye Cause I thought the multimillionaire was a dream till I seen h Nd then I knew he wasn't, 'Nd maybe God's that way never san really tell. Thomas L. Masson. GRINDING THE FACE OF THE POOR comicbooks.com