And she says, “Well if their money is good to buy tractors why shouldnt
it be good to buy presses?”
And so I gets hot under the collar and I says, “You talk like you was
one of them Bolshivikis yourself,” I says, “and you had ought to be
shut up and not allowed to talk no such rotten ideas.”
“Oh so that’s all you believe in free speech!” she says.
And just then the Madame comes along and she sees we are having a row
and she gives a “Shush!” and looks a few daggers at us as she goes to
welcome a customer. And that is the way it goes with we girls we are
just supposed to sit here and shine people’s fingers and never open
our mouths at all. We have got no more rights than if we was so many
polishing machines and I tell you Mom I sometimes think it is more than
I can stand. Some day when the Madame gets off one of her shushes at me
I’m going to bust loose and tell her what I think of her and her ideas
that she can dictate to free Americans the way we talk and the way we
dress and the way we do our hair.
If that ever happens I’m telling you that Lafferty lady will get the
jolt of her sweet life because I have been talking to the other girls
and they all feel like I do and I’ll bet if I was to give a little
time to it I could get them all to stand together and win some rights
for ourselves. Gee Mom if I could only get a few dollars ahead some
time so that I could have a little nerve! But it’s the same with all
of we girls our last nickle is gone before the end of the week. We had
ought to have somebody to stake us so that we could afford to strike
and not be starved into giving up! But of course there aint anybody
interested in helping poor working girls to get their rights.
* * * * *
P. S. Well I have just come back from having dinner with Mr. Edgerton.
We went to a pretty swell place because he says I am looking so nice
now that no other sort of place would do for me. And he says I dont
never need to worry about what it costs because my ideas is worth it
to him he has never saw the Spokesman so pleased as with the ideas I
have give to Him lately; he says the Spokesman almost smiled He was so
pleased and once He made a remark that He didnt have to make and that
is something that does not happen once in a month.
Of course I wanted to know so I says, “What was the remark?”
And he says, “Why, he says, ‘I went to church yesterday.’” And Mr.
Edgerton of course wanted to be polite so he says, “Who preached?” And
the Spokesman says, “Dr. Wringum.” And Mr. Edgerton says, “Was it a
good sermon?” And the Spokesman says, “Yes.” And Mr. Edgerton says,
“What did he preach about?” And the Spokesman says, “Sin.” And Mr.
Edgerton says, “What did he say about it?” And the Spokesman says, “He
didnt approve of it.” And Mr. Edgerton says to me, “That was the end of
the conversation.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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