Pelle the Conqueror, Vol. 4

ies wakened within him. Perhaps it was there the whole point lay. He threw off his leather apron and went. Ellen's eyes fo

re all organized, but there was nothing new and strong in that fact; they were born-so to speak-in organization, and connected nothing great and elevating with it. His old associates had cooled down remarkably; they must have discovered that success was neither so romantic nor so easy as they had thought.

at time it had passed over the heads of the inhabitants of the "Ark," and now a large proletariat was left with their own expectations of the future. The good

of the whole, the great hunger reserve? Was it only possible to be happy when one knew how to push the difficulties down, just as one might push the folds of a material until at last they were heaped up in one place? It was the old question over again. Formerly he had had his clear faith wit

an beings. The sacredness of the ego filled them, and made them rebel at all yokes; they began from within by shaking them off, did not smoke or drink, would be slaves to nothing. They kept out of the Movement and had their own places of meeting out about the South Boulevard, where they read and discussed new social forms. They were intelligent, well-paid working-men, who persistently shared the c

ed they kept themselves free from the ensnaring expedients of capitalism, they despised the petty tradesman

f Pelle. "Come over to us

ng it. His strength and industry were not enough even to keep one little home above water; a benefactor was needed for that! It was not the time to tend jealously one's own honor when wife and children would be

experiences. From the time he could crawl he had struggled to accommodate himself to the great connection of things; even the life of the prison had not pl

hen he looked back there were redeeming ties that held the whole together in spite of all the evil; and now the old librarian had brought him close up to the good in the other side o

ing by main force to put her to bed. She dragged all the tools together and piled them up in front of Pelle on the bench so that he could hardly move, and called it helping. Then she rested, standing with her hands upon th

e said, "but can you put the

another tool and pushed it slowly up onto the heap while she kept her eyes upon his face to see whet

rl feel uncertain. She emptied her pinafore onto the platform, and sitting on her heels with her hands on her little knees, she tried to see what his expression was. It was not satisfactory, so she got up and, putting her

laimed Pelle. "One of us is

ed the child confiden

py together," said Ellen

to fetch Anna. The chil

nd into the corner behin

put down onto the floo

n, sitting down, "we'll

er with a quiet but not altogether unspoiled happiness. She no longer dreamed of anything better, but was grateful for what she possessed; and it seemed to Pelle that something had died within her

ioners and extortionized, and he was not suited for either part. When he took up other possibilities, however, his thoughts returned of themselves to his work, like a roving dog that always comes back and snuffs at the same scent. There was something in him that with fatalistic obstinacy made him one with his trade, in s

it step by step. He could easily find some capable, reliable fellow-workmen who would stand by him through thick and thin with regard to work and profits; and there would be no difficulty about discipline, for during the past years the workmen had learned to subordinate themselves to their own people. Here was a way for the small man to assert himself within his trade and join the development; what one was not able to do could be done by several joining together, namely, turn the modern

rld had no influence in their several trades-could not so much as sew a single stitch-until capital start

tart something or other; but he already owed him money, and capital might run his undertaking down. It was at its po

transformed this young man, who had once gone ahead with tempestuous recklessness, into a hesitating doubter who could not come to a decision? Personality was of doubtful value when it grew at t

decision, and he could not see his way to it. Of course he was half asleep; he knew it hims

bring everything together; but now I'm all abroad. I know too much to dash on blindly, and too little to find the pivot on which the wh

smile, "has satisfied many who were seeking for the truth. Let's see

went on reading all night, bewitched and horrified at this merciless view. When Ellen in surprise came down with his morning coffee, he had finished the boo

hrough the streets in their wooden-soled boots; slipshod, tired women ran stumbling along to their early jobs, shivering with cold and weary of life, weary before they

of death upon him and his fellows, upon the entire world of the poor. From this point of view, the existing conditions were the only ones possible-they were simply ideal; the sweater and the money-lender, whom he hated, were in the most harmonious agreement with the fundament

those in possession, and here he had their religion, the moral support for the uncompromising utilization. It had always been difficult to understand how men could misuse others; b

side the pale of the law and gave themselves no chance; the race could not be won with a wounded comrade on one's back. But in this fact there lay the admission that they did not belong to the existing order of things, but had the right to demand their own time of happiness. A new age mu

ouds at the hawk when it had seized one of their number, and pursue it until it dropped its prey in confusion. When he caught an ant in a split straw, the other ants flocked to the straw and gnawed their comrade out: they could not be frightened away. If he touched them, they squirted their poison against his hand and went on working. Thei

ought to go. If they were outside the existing conditions and their laws, why not arrange their own world upon the laws that were their

ngs, but that was not the way. Capital always preached contentment to the poor;

d- wide, peaceful revolution which was to subvert all existing values. Pelle knew that poverty is not confined to any country. He had once be