MRS. LEZINSKY. No, but by reading the Torah! And that way you lose good
custom, too. [_Wheedling him again._] Maybe you get good business and
hire you a cutter when the little Eileen comes. Five dollars! Does that
pay wages to a cutter? Yes, Solly? But it buys once a beautiful
baby-carriage, and David and Julius go wild to ride their little sister
in it--and Benny at the foot.
LEZINSKY [_waving his arms_]. I should have a cutter not to lose my
customers--and this woman--she would have a baby-carriage. I lose my
eyes, but she would have a baby-carriage.
MRS. LEZINSKY. But it costs only five dollars. What costs a cutter?
LEZINSKY. At Union wages! I might as well ask for the moon, Goldie. Oi!
Oi! Soon we all starve together.
MRS. LEZINSKY. You hire you a cheap hand here, Solly. He does pressing
and all the dirty work. He works and you boss him around. That looks
good to the customers. Yes, Solly? And I save up that five dollars soon
and give it back to you. Yes, Solly? Business goes better now already
when people come back from the country and everything picks up a little.
I help now and we spare that five dollars. Mr. Rosenbloom brings us a
little work. See? [_She points to the coat._] You should make the
sleeves shorter--one inch. Mr. Rosenbloom gets thinner by his sickness.
His clothes hang a little loose on him.
LEZINSKY [_looks at the trousers_]. And the pants?
MRS. LEZINSKY. Mr. Rosenbloom didn't lose his stomach by his sickness.
He only loses his face.
LEZINSKY. Such a _chutzpah_!
MRS. LEZINSKY. Yes, nothing makes Mr. Rosenbloom to lose his cheek,
ain't it, Solly? And plenty roast goose has he to fill up his stomach.
By us is no more roast goose nowadays.
LEZINSKY. We make up what we didn't get here maybe in the world to come,
Goldie _leben_.
MRS. LEZINSKY. Roast goose in the world to come! Such a business! Angels
shouldn't eat, Solly. I take my roast goose now--then I sure get it....
How much you charge Mr. Rosenbloom for this [_points to the suit_],
Solly?
LEZINSKY. One dollar and a half--maybe.
MRS. LEZINSKY. For such a job my cousin Morris Schapiro gets three
dollars and not too dear then. Everything goes 'way up and you stay 'way
behind. You should raise your prices. No wonder we shall all starve
together. It's not baby-carriages what ruin us. Did our David or Julius
or Benny ever have such a baby-carriage? No. But it is that you let the
customers steal your work.
LEZINSKY. All right--I charge two dollars.
MRS. LEZINSKY. What good should half a dollar do? Three dollars, Solly.
LEZINSKY. Two dollars. Three dollars swindles him.
MRS. LEZINSKY. All right--then two dollars. Fifty cents is fifty cents
anyhow. [_She goes up to him and presses her face against his._] Solly,
leben, shouldn't our David and Julius and Benny have a baby-carriage for
their little sister?
LEZINSKY. Baby-carriage--Oi! Peace, Goldie, my head aches.
MRS. LEZINSKY [_picking up the trousers_]. How much for these, Solly?
LEZINSKY. One dollar.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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