From his place at the window Pelle could look out over the canal and
the bridge by the prison, where the prisoners lay on the rafts, washing
wool. He recognized Ferdinand’s tall, powerful figure; shortly after
Christmas they had captured him in an underground vault in the
cemetery, where he had established himself; the snow had betrayed his
hiding- place. And now he lay yonder, so near the “Ark” and his mother!
From time to time he raised his closely-shorn head and looked thither.
Beyond the bridge toward the market, was the potter with his barge; he
had piled up his Jutland wares on the quay, and the women from
Kristianshavn came to deal with him. And behind at the back of all rose
the mass of the “Ark.”
It was so huge that it did not give the impression of a barracks, but
had rather the character of a fantastic village—as though a hundred
hamlets had been swept together in one inextricable heap. Originally it
had been a little frame building of one story with a gabled roof. Then
it had gradually become an embryo town; it budded in all directions,
upward as well, kaleidoscopically increasing to a vast mass of little
bits of facade, high-pitched roofs, deep bays, and overhanging gables,
all mingled together in an endless confusion, till in the middle it was
five stories high. And there a bluish ring of vapor always hovered,
revealing the presence of the well, that hidden ventilating shaft for
the thronging inmates of the “Ark.” One could recognize Madam
Frandsen’s garret with its chimney-cowl, and farther back, in a deep
recess, which ran far into the mass of the building, Pelle could
distinguish Hanne’s window. Otherwise he could not place many of the
little windows. They stared like failing eyes. Even the coal-dealer,
who was the deputy landlord of the “Ark,” was imperfectly acquainted
with all its holes and corners.
He could see the inmates of the “Ark” running to and fro across the
bridge, careless and myopic; they always rushed along, having started
at the last moment. There was something tranquilizing about their
negligence, which was evoked by privation; in the “Ark” a man began to
worry about his food only when he sat down to table and discovered
there wasn’t any!
And among them little groups of workmen wandered in and out across the
bridge; that steady march from the North Bridge had travelled hither,
as though seeking him out.
The masses were now no longer vaguely fermenting; a mighty will was in
process of formation. Amid the confusion, the chaotic hubbub, definite
lines became visible; a common consciousness came into being and
assumed a direction; the thousands of workers controlled themselves in
a remarkable way, and were now progressing, slowly and prudently, with
the ideal of closing up the ranks. One whose hearing was a little dull
might have received the impression that nothing was happening—that they
were reconciled with their lot; but Pelle knew what was going on. He
himself had put his shoulder to the wheel, and was secretly one of
their number.
He was happy in Ellen’s divided love, and all he undertook had
reference to her and the child.
But now again the sound of footsteps echoed through his brain; and it
would not be silenced. They had penetrated further than he himself
could go. It was as though a deadening screen had suddenly been removed
and whether he wished it or not, he heard every step of the wanderers
outside.
The hard times forced them to proceed quietly, but work was being done
in secret. The new ideas were in process of becoming current, the
newspapers introduced them into the bosom of the family, and they were
uttered from the speaker’s platform, or discussed at meal-times in
workshop and factory. The contagion ran up staircases and went from
door to door. Organizations which more than once had been created and
broken up were created afresh—and this time to endure. The employers
fought them, but could not defeat them; there was an inward law working
upon the masses, making a structure behind which they must defend
themselves.
They taxed themselves and stole the bread out of their own mouths in
order to increase the funds of their organization, in the blind
conviction that eventually something miraculous would come of it all.
The poor achieved power by means of privation, tears, and self-denial,
and had the satisfaction of feeling that they were rich through their
organization. When many united together they tasted of the sweets of
wealth; and, grateful as they were, they regarded that already as a
result. A sense of well-being lifted them above the unorganized, and
they felt themselves socially superior to the latter. To join the
trades unions now signified a rise in the social scale. This affected
many, and others were driven into the movement by the strong
representations of their house-mates. The big tenement buildings were
gradually leavened by the new ideas; those who would not join the Union
must clear out. They were treated as the scum of society, and could
only settle down in certain quarters of the city. It no longer seemed
impossible to establish the organization of labor in a stable fashion,
and to accomplish something for the workers—if only some courageous
worker would place himself at the head of affairs. The fact that most
of them worked at home in their lodgings could no longer make them
invisible— the movement had eyes everywhere. Pelle, with surprise,
caught himself sitting at his bench and making plans for the
development of the movement.
He put the matter from him, and devoted his whole mind to Ellen and the
child. What had he to do with the need of strangers, when these two
called for all his ability and all his strength, if he was to provide
them merely with necessities? He had tortured himself enough with the
burden of poverty—and to no end. And now he had found his release in a
blessed activity, which, if he was to neglect nothing, would entirely
absorb him. What then was the meaning of this inward admonition, that
seemed to tell him that he was sinning against his duty?
He silenced the inward voice by dwelling on his joy in his wife and
child. But it returned insidiously and haunted his mind like a shadow.
At times, as he sat quietly working, something called him: “Pelle,
Pelle!”—or the words throbbed in his ears in the depth of the night.
At such times he sat upright in bed, listening. Ellen and the child
were fast asleep; he could hear a faint whistling as little Lasse drew
his breath. He would go to the door and open it, although he shook his
head at his own folly. It was surely a warning that some one near to
him was in trouble!
At this time Pelle threw himself passionately into his life with Ellen
and the child; he lived for them as wholly as though he had anticipated
an immediate parting.
They had purchased a perambulator on the instalment system, and every
Sunday they packed sandwiches under the apron and pushed it before them
to the Common, or they turned into some beer-garden in the neighborhood
of the city, where they ate their provisions and drank coffee. Often
too they made their way along the coast road, and went right out into
the forest. Lasse-Frederik, as Ellen called him, sat throned in all his
splendor in the perambulator, like a little idol, Pelle and Ellen
pushing him alternately. Ellen did not want to permit this. “It’s no
work for a man, pushing a perambulator,” she would say. “You won’t see
any other man doing it! They let their wives push the family coach.”
“What are other people to me?” replied Pelle. “I don’t keep a horse
yet.”
She gave him a grateful look; nevertheless, she did not like it.
They spent glorious hours out there. Little Lasse was allowed to
scramble about to his heart’s content, and it was wonderful how he
tumbled about; he was like a frolicsome little bear. “I believe he can
smell the earth under him,” said Pelle, recalling his own childish
transports. “It’s a pity he has to live in that barrack there!” Ellen
gazed at him uncomprehendingly.
They did not move about much; it contented them to lie there and to
delight in the child, when he suddenly sat up and gazed at them in
astonishment, as though he had just discovered them. “Now he’s
beginning to think!” said Pelle, laughing.
“You take my word for it, he’s hungry.” And little Lasse scrambled
straight up to his mother, striking at her breast with his clenched
hands, and saying, “Mam, mam!” Pelle and the perambulator had to
station themselves in front of her while he was fed.
When they reached home it was evening. If the doormat was displaced it
meant that some one had been to call on them; and Ellen was able to
tell, from its position, who the visitor had been. Once it stood
upright against the wall.
“That’s Uncle Carpenter,” said Pelle quietly. Little Lasse was sleeping
on his arm, his head resting on Pelle’s shoulder.
“No, it will have been Cousin Anna,” said Ellen, opening the door.
“Thank the Lord we weren’t at home, or we should have had such a
business till late in the evening! They never eat anything at home on
Sundays, they simply drink a mouthful of coffee and then go round
eating their relations out of house and home.”