Is it not allowed to rest even one day in the week and to be at
least one day free from the angry growl of the boss, his gloomy
mien, his terrible looks; to forget the shop and the cries of
the foreman; to forget slavery, to forget woe? You wish to
forget yourself and be rested? Never mind, you will soon go to
your rest!
Soon the trees and flowers will have withered; the last bird is
already ending his song; soon there will be cemeteries all
around! Oh, how I should like to smell a flower and feel, before
the grass is dead, the breath of zephyr in the green fields! You
wish to be in the fields where it is airy and green? Never mind
you will be carried there soon enough!
The brook is silvery and glistens beautifully; the waves are
covered with a heavenly grace. Oh, how good it is to bathe
there! How I should enjoy leaping into it! My body is weakened
from the dreadful work,—how they both would refresh me! Oh, you
wish to make your ablution in the brooks? Be not frightened, you
will soon receive your ablution!
The sweatshop is dark and smoky and small. How can my white
blouse be clean there? In the dirty shop cleanliness is unknown
to me. How a pure white shirt adorns a man! How proper for a
noble body it is, in order to be free to work humanely and be
clean withal! You wish now to dress yourself in white? They will
dress you, and dress you quickly enough!
The woods are breezy, in the woods it is cool. How good to dream
there quietly! The little birds sing pleasantly; but in the shop
there is noise, and the air is suffocating! Oh, you wish to be
cool?
Of what avail is a forest to you? It will not be long before you
will be cold.
’Tis good to have a dear companion. In adversity he gives hope,
in misery—courage. A dear companion sweetens your being, and he
gives you a zest for life. And I am orphaned alone like a stone,
there are no companions, I am all by myself—you will soon have
companions without end; they swarm already and are waiting for
you!
The Pale Operator gives a hint of the ravages of tuberculosis in
the garment trade: