Pelle the Conqueror, vol 3 | Page 6

the steps. He had not understood
that the president of the Union would be found in such a miserable
dwelling-place.
Under the window sat a hollow-cheeked man bowed over his bench, in
the act of sewing a new sole on to a worn-out shoe. The legs of the
passers- by were just above his head. At the back of the room a woman
stood cooking something on the stove; she had a little child on her arm,
while two older children lay on the ground playing with some lasts. It
was frightfully hot and oppressive.
"Good day, comrade!" said Pelle. "Can I become a member of the
Union?"
The man looked up, astonished. Something like a smile passed over his
mournful face.
"Can you indulge yourself so far?" he asked slowly. "It may prove a
costly pleasure. Who d'you work for, if I may ask?"
"For Meyer, in Kobmager Street."
"Then you'll be fired as soon as he gets to know of it!"
"I know that sure enough; all the same, I want to join the Union. He's
not going to tell me what I can and what I can't do. Besides, we'll soon
settle with him."
"That's what I thought, too. But there's too few of us. You'll be starved
out of the Union as soon as you've joined."
"We must see about getting a bit more numerous," said Pelle cheerfully,
"and then one fine day we'll shut up shop for him!"
A spark of life gleamed in the tired eyes of the president. "Yes, devil

take him, if we could only make him shut up shop!" he cried, shaking
his clenched fist in the air. "He tramples on all those hereabouts that
make money for him; it's a shame that I should sit here now and have
come down to cobbling; and he keeps the whole miserable trade in
poverty! Ah, what a revenge, comrade!" The blood rushed into his
hollow cheeks until they burned, and then he began to cough.
"Petersen!" said the woman anxiously, supporting his back. "Petersen!"
She sighed and shook her head, while she helped him to struggle
through his fit of coughing. "When the talk's about the Court
shoemaker Petersen always gets like one possessed," she said, when he
had overcome it. "He really don't know what he's doing. No--if
everybody would only be as clever as Meyer and just look after his own
business, then certain people would be sitting there in good health and
earning good money!"
"Hold your tongue!" said Petersen angrily. "You're a woman--you
know nothing about the matter." At which the woman went back to her
cooking.
Petersen filled out a paper, and Pelle signed his name to it and paid his
subscription for a week. "And now you must try to break away from
that bloodsucker as soon as possible!" said Petersen earnestly. "A
respectable workman can't put up with such things!"
"I was forced into it," said Pelle. "And I learned nothing of this at home.
But now that's over and done with."
"Good, comrade! There's my hand on it--and good luck to you! We
must work the cause up, and perhaps we shall succeed yet; I tell you,
you've given me back my courage! Now you persuade as many as you
can, and don't miss the meetings; they'll be announced in The Working
Man." He shook Pelle's hand eagerly. Pelle took a brisk walk out to the
northward. He felt pleased and in the best of spirits.
It was about the time when the workers are returning home; they drifted
along singly and in crowds, stooping and loitering, shuffling a little
after the fatigue of the day. There was a whole new world out here,
quite different from that of the "Ark." The houses were new and orderly,
built with level and plumb-line; the men went their appointed ways,
and one could see at a glance what each one was.
This quarter was the home of socialism and the new ideas. Pelle often
strolled out thither on holidays in order to get a glimpse of these things;

what they were he didn't know, and he hadn't dared to thrust himself
forward, a stranger, as he still felt himself to be there; but it all attracted
him powerfully. However, to-day he forgot that he was a stranger, and
he went onward with a long, steady stride that took him over the bridge
and into North Bridge Street. Now he himself was a trades unionist; he
was like all these others, he could go straight up to any one if he wished
and shake him by the hand. There was a strong and peculiar appeal
about the bearing of these people, as though they had been soldiers.
Involuntarily he fell into step with them, and felt himself stronger on