She, however, finds things very tedious, particularly in the day time,
when her big man is at the factory, for she has nothing to do. So she
passes her time at Esther's house.
"I would go crazy were I in Esther's place. Poor Esther, she doesn't
know what to do, either, for she cannot be always ill. She takes
pleasure in being an invalid, but she can't use this plea for sympathy
all the time, people get tired of it. But Esther is fortunate in having
somebody to whom she can tell all her aches and pains and their history.
She has found a unique occupation, in scrubbing. She starts Monday
mornings and finishes Saturday afternoons, and then on Monday starts
again. I was with her a week, and that's the way she spent the days.
Perhaps she is like Mary Maclain and finds a peculiar inspiration in
this fascinating task. If you were a woman I would write more about
Esther's scrubbing, which is very wonderful, but you probably would not
understand. Jay, her lover, comes home from work every evening, and,
after eating the chaste evening meal of rice and beans, lights his
corncob pipe, settles himself comfortably in his chair and listens
carefully to the description of the aches and pains which have afflicted
Esther that day. These pains continue in spite of all the beautiful
scrubbing. He suggests different remedies until his pipe is finished,
then he calmly retires to his library and reviews a book and reads
several pamphlets, writes an article for '_The Demonstrator_' or '_The
Appeal to Reason_' or some other radical paper and attends to his
voluminous correspondence with the leading radicals of the day. Then he
retires for the night, also Esther, after the farewell scrub of the
dishes, table, and the rest, and the kids, too, go to roost. When I was
there, I also went to bed, though it was only about half past eight.
"About half past five in the morning a most infernal alarm clock emits a
most hellish noise. Jay and Esther tumble from their couch, light the
lamp, and resume their occupations. After a very chaste breakfast Esther
continues her scrubbing and Jay finishes his correspondence and puts in
the rest of the time until seven o'clock, when his work in the factory
begins, in studying the new language, Esperanto. Oh, I spent a most
charming and delightful week there; I could hardly tear myself away."
One of Marie's amorous episodes led her to Detroit, with a "fake"
anarchist, of whom there are many. After a week or two of dissipation
and disillusionment, Marie returned, very ill, to the "Salon," where
Terry received her with his usual stoicism, and acted as trained nurse.
Repentant and disgusted, Marie wrote me from her convalescent bed:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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