COMRADE YETTA [Illustration: Logo] THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK · BOSTON · CHICAGO DALLAS · SAN FRANCISCO MACMILLAN & CO., LIMITED LONDON · BOMBAY · CALCUTTA MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD. TORONTO COMRADE YETTA BY ALBERT EDWARDS AUTHOR OF "A MAN'S WORLD" New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1913 _All rights reserved_ COPYRIGHT, 1913, BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up and electrotyped. Published February, 1913. Norwood Press J. B. Cushing Co.--Berwick & Smith Co. Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. CONTENTS BOOK I CHAPTER PAGE I. BENJAMIN'S BOOK-STORE 1 II. YETTA'S GIRLHOOD 12 III. THE SWEAT-SHOP 23 IV. LIFE CALLS 34 V. HARRY KLEIN 48 VI. THE PIT'S EDGE 60 BOOK II VII. THE SKIRT-FINISHERS' BALL 75 VIII. NEW FRIENDS 89 IX. YETTA ENLISTS 106 X. THE W. T. U. L. 122 XI. MABEL'S FLAT 131 XII. YETTA'S GOOD-BY 142 BOOK III XIII. THE STRIKE 153 XIV. ARREST 166 XV. THE WORKHOUSE 185 XVI. CARNEGIE HALL 199 XVII. THE OPERATING ROOM 216 XVIII. WALTER'S FAREWELL 226 BOOK IV XIX. YETTA'S WORK 243 XX. ISADORE BRAUN 263 XXI. _THE STAR_ 274 XXII. WALTER'S RETURN 295 XXIII. THE PALACE OF DREAMS 312 XXIV. THE CRASH 330 BOOK V XXV. ISADORE'S MEDICINE 344 XXVI. _THE CLARION_ 356 XXVII. NEW WORK 370 XXVIII. YETTA TAKES HOLD 383 XXIX. WALTER'S HAVEN 401 XXX. EVALUATION 409 XXXI. YETTA FINDS HERSELF 423 XXXII. OLD FRIENDS MEET--AND PART 435 COMRADE YETTA BOOK I CHAPTER I BENJAMIN'S BOOK-STORE The girlhood of Yetta Rayefsky was passed in her father's second-hand book-store on East Broadway. In the late nineties the fame of his kindly philosophy had attracted a circle of followers, and the store became almost prosperous. It was in a basement--four steps down from the sidewalk. The close-packed cases around the walls were filled with the wildest assortment of second-hand English books. You were likely to find a novel of Laura Jean Libby cheek by jowl with "The Book of Mormon," between two volumes of "Browning's Poems." The tables in the centre were piled chaotically with books and periodicals in Russian and Hebrew.