Immigrant children -- Fiction; Lower East Side (New York, N.Y.) -- Fiction; Teachers -- Fiction
A genius for opportunity drew Giusseppi Pagamini and his new piano organ
to this sensational business opening, and the sweet strains of the piano
organ drew Rosie Rashnowsky after him. They had drawn her for many
blocks, and the meeting of the Cornelias was in full swing when her
kimona and hair ribbons came into play upon the sidewalk. She laid the
baby upon the steps, swept clean for her reception by Isidore the
conscientious, who had little idea--as he plied his broom and
scrubbing-brush earlier in the day--that he was strewing the couch of
his own small daughter's siesta.
Then to an audience composed of glorified gentlemen in silk hats and
top-boots, and the quieter but still sumptuous chauffeur livery, Rosie
threw herself into a very ecstasy of her art. Louder thrilled Giusseppi,
quicker flew the "fer-ladies-shoes," wilder waved ribbons and dressing
jacket. "Out o' sight," commented the footmen. "Bravissimo," ejaculated
the chauffeurs, and Rosie reached the climax of her career in a
pirouette which brought her, madly whirring, under the aristocratic
noses of a pair of chestnut cobs, whose terrified plunges would have
ended her gyrations forever and a day if a footman had not interfered.
Then Giusseppi passed his battered hat, and the audience, naturally
inferring that the black-eyed child belonged to the black-eyed musician,
threw him such encouragement as a week of ordinary days would not have
brought him.
[Illustration: Rosie threw herself into a very ecstasy of her art.]
In a reckless moment he gave Rosie a nickel, and this wealth, combined
with her recent danger and escape, and with the intoxicating quality of
her audience, made Rosie follow Giusseppi to the other end of the line
of carriages which trailed round the corner and half-way down the next
block. Here fresh triumphs awaited her, while from the steps of
Fraternity Hall her infant sister called aloud for instant speech with
her. The infant was still making these inarticulate demands, when Mrs.
Ponsonby-Brown, holding her skirts well above her shoe tops with one
hand, while with the other she applied a bottle of lavender salts to her
nose, approached the meeting. She was late but unflurried. Her
horses, somewhat racked by the elevated trains in Allen Street, had been
entirely unnerved by the children, the push-carts, the dogs, and the
flying papers, which beset them from all sides and sprang up under their
nervous feet. So the philanthropic Mrs. Ponsonby-Brown had alighted from
her carriage, secured a small though knowing-looking guide, and walked
to her destination. Presently she reached the hall, rewarded her guide,
and stopped in her surge up the steps by the yells of the youngest
Rashnowsky, which had broken free of its mummy clothes, and was battling
for breath with two arms like slate-pencils--as cold, as thin, as gray,
and seemingly as brittle.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account