{"product_id":"2940014479974","title":"The Jungle","description":"Chapter 1\u003cbr\u003eIt was four o'clock when the ceremony was over and the carriages began\u003cbr\u003eto arrive. There had been a crowd following all the way, owing to the\u003cbr\u003eexuberance of Marija Berczynskas. The occasion rested heavily upon\u003cbr\u003eMarija's broad shoulders--it was her task to see that all things went\u003cbr\u003ein\u003cbr\u003edue form, and after the best home traditions; and, flying wildly\u003cbr\u003ehither and thither, bowling every one out of the way, and scolding and\u003cbr\u003eexhorting all day with her tremendous voice, Marija was too eager to\u003cbr\u003esee\u003cbr\u003ethat others conformed to the proprieties to consider them herself. She\u003cbr\u003ehad left the church last of all, and, desiring to arrive first at the\u003cbr\u003ehall, had issued orders to the coachman to drive faster. When that\u003cbr\u003epersonage had developed a will of his own in the matter, Marija had\u003cbr\u003eflung up the window of the carriage, and, leaning out, proceeded to\u003cbr\u003etell him her opinion of him, first in Lithuanian, which he did not\u003cbr\u003eunderstand, and then in Polish, which he did. Having the advantage of\u003cbr\u003eher in altitude, the driver had stood his ground and even ventured to\u003cbr\u003eattempt to speak; and the result had been a furious altercation,\u003cbr\u003ewhich,\u003cbr\u003econtinuing all the way down Ashland Avenue, had added a new swarm of\u003cbr\u003eurchins to the cortege at each side street for half a mile.\u003cbr\u003eThis was unfortunate, for already there was a throng before the door.\u003cbr\u003eThe music had started up, and half a block away you could hear the\u003cbr\u003edull\u003cbr\u003e\"broom, broom\" of a cello, with the squeaking of two fiddles which\u003cbr\u003evied\u003cbr\u003ewith each other in intricate and altitudinous gymnastics. Seeing\u003cbr\u003ethe throng, Marija abandoned precipitately the debate concerning the\u003cbr\u003eancestors of her coachman, and, springing from the moving carriage,\u003cbr\u003eplunged in and proceeded to clear a way to the hall. Once within, she\u003cbr\u003eturned and began to push the other way, roaring, meantime, \"Eik! Eik!\u003cbr\u003eUzdaryk-duris!\" in tones which made the orchestral uproar sound like\u003cbr\u003efairy music.\u003cbr\u003e\"Z. Graiczunas, Pasilinksminimams darzas. Vynas. Sznapsas. Wines and\u003cbr\u003ePage 1\u003cbr\u003eThe Jungle\u003cbr\u003eLiquors. Union Headquarters\"--that was the way the signs ran. The\u003cbr\u003ereader, who perhaps has never held much converse in the language of\u003cbr\u003efar-off Lithuania, will be glad of the explanation that the place was\u003cbr\u003ethe rear room of a saloon in that part of Chicago known as \"back of\u003cbr\u003ethe\u003cbr\u003eyards.\" This information is definite and suited to the matter of fact;\u003cbr\u003ebut how pitifully inadequate it would have seemed to one who\u003cbr\u003eunderstood\u003cbr\u003ethat it was also the supreme hour of ecstasy in the life of one of\u003cbr\u003eGod's gentlest creatures, the scene of the wedding feast and the\u003cbr\u003ejoy-transfiguration of little Ona Lukoszaite!\u003cbr\u003eShe stood in the doorway, shepherded by Cousin Marija, breathless from\u003cbr\u003epushing through the crowd, and in her happiness painful to look upon.\u003cbr\u003eThere was a light of wonder in her eyes and her lids trembled, and\u003cbr\u003eher otherwise wan little face was flushed. She wore a muslin dress,\u003cbr\u003econspicuously white, and a stiff little veil coming to her shoulders.\u003cbr\u003eThere were five pink paper roses twisted in the veil, and eleven\u003cbr\u003ebright\u003cbr\u003egreen rose leaves. There were new white cotton gloves upon her hands,\u003cbr\u003eand as she stood staring about her she twisted them together\u003cbr\u003efeverishly.\u003cbr\u003eIt was almost too much for her--you could see the pain of too great\u003cbr\u003eemotion in her face, and all the tremor of her form. She was so\u003cbr\u003eyoung--not quite sixteen--and small for her age, a mere child; and she\u003cbr\u003ehad just been married--and married to Jurgis,* (*Pronounced Yoorghis)\u003cbr\u003eof\u003cbr\u003eall men, to Jurgis Rudkus, he with the white flower in the buttonhole\u003cbr\u003eof\u003cbr\u003ehis new black suit, he with the mighty shoulders and the giant hands.\u003cbr\u003eOna was blue-eyed and fair, while Jurgis had great black eyes with\u003cbr\u003ebeetling brows, and thick black hair that curled in waves about his\u003cbr\u003eears--in short, they were one of those incongruous and impossible\u003cbr\u003emarried couples with which Mother Nature so often wills to\u003cbr\u003econfound all prophets, before and after. Jurgis could take up a\u003cbr\u003etwo-hundred-and-fifty-pound quarter of beef and carry it into a car\u003cbr\u003ewithout a stagger, or even a thought; and now he stood in a far\u003cbr\u003ecorner,\u003cbr\u003efrightened as a hunted animal, and obliged to moisten his lips with\u003cbr\u003ehis tongue each time before he could answer the congratulations of his\u003cbr\u003efriends.\u003cbr\u003eGradually there was effected a separation between the spectators and\u003cbr\u003ethe guests--a separation at least sufficiently complete for working\u003cbr\u003epurposes. There was no time during the festivities which ensued when\u003cbr\u003ethere were not groups of onlookers in the doorways and the corners;\u003cbr\u003eand if any one of these onlookers came sufficiently close, or looked\u003cbr\u003esufficiently hungry, a chair was offered him, and he was invited to\u003cbr\u003ethe\u003cbr\u003efeast. It was one of the laws of the veselija that no one goes hungry;\u003cbr\u003eand, whi","brand":"All classic book warehouse","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47070650728688,"sku":"2940014479974","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940014479974_p0.jpg?v=1763609816","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940014479974","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}