Читать книгу The Workers: An Experiment in Reality. The West онлайн

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In an instant the leader’s strong hand is upon him, and with no commotion above the sound of song the old man is soon without the hall, and the leader back in his place again singing as heartily as ever.

When the meeting ends the crowd moves slowly and listlessly toward the door, as though its prevailing mood were aimless beyond the dull necessity of passing the time. The fine rain and melting snow are still falling through the mist. The men drift away singly or in groups of twos and threes, under the flickering lights, their heads bent slightly forward and their bare hands thrust into the side-pockets of their trousers.

In the crush about the foot of the aisle a young man speaks to me:

“You are pretty wet, aren’t you?” he says, quietly, as the jam presses him against me.

I see at a glance that he is far more respectable than I, and my first mental attitude is one of hospitality to further evangelizing effort. But I shift at once, for without waiting for a reply from me, he adds:

“It’s d—— tough to go out into that,” as he turns up the collar of his light covert coat in the blast of piercing dampness which strikes our faces through the open door.