Chapter 20 20. Cut the bright lamp

Chapter One Of course, there are two sides to this question.Let's look at the other side of the problem.We hear people talk about shop girls all the time.In fact, such a person does not exist.Only girls who sell in stores.That's what they do for a living.Why use their profession as an adjective?We should be fair.We don't call the girls on Fifth Avenue wedding girls. Lu and Nancy are good friends.They came to this big city to find a job because there was not enough food in their hometown.Nancy was nineteen; Lou was twenty.Both were pretty, active country girls, neither of whom had stage ambitions.

The lofty little angel guided them to find a cheap and decent boarding house.Both found employment as wage laborers.They are still good friends.After six months, I asked you to step forward and introduce them.Nosy readers: These two are my girlfriends, Miss Nancy and Miss Lu.When you shake hands with them, please pay attention to their attire but don't show any signs.Yes, don't show it; for they, like the ladies in the box at the racetrack, don't like it when they're stared at. Lu worked as an ironer in a hand laundromat and was paid piecework wages.She wore a purple dress that did not fit her body, and the feather in her hat was four inches longer than it should be; but her ermine muff and scarf cost twenty-five dollars, but in Before the season is over, its counterparts will be listed in the windows for seven dollars and ninety-eight cents.Her cheeks were rosy, and her light blue eyes were bright and shining.She exuded an air of contentment.

As for Nancy, you'll call her a shop girl because you're used to it.There is no such thing as a typical shop girl; but some stubborn people are always looking for a typical, so let Nancy be a typical.She wore her hair in a pompous pompadour and had an overkill seriousness on her face.Her skirts were of rather poor material, but of the right shape.She had no fur coat against the harsh spring chill, but she wore a short coat of suede as if it were made of Persian lamb.Ruthless in search of the typical, that typical shop girl look on her face and eyes.The look was a silent, haughty revolt against wasted youth; a melancholy prophecy of the vengeance to come.Even when she was laughing heartily, that look was still there.The same look can be seen in the eyes of the Russian peasants; those of us who are still alive can see it in Gabriel's face when Gabriel blows the trumpet of the Last Judgment.That look should make men feel ashamed; but they always salivate and offer flowers with ulterior motives.

Now you can lift your hat and go your way.You've accepted Lou's good-bye, and Nancy's sardonic yet sweet smile.Somehow, that smile seems to pass you by, fluttering like a white moth across the roofs and into the sky. The two of them waited for Dan on the corner.Dan is Lu's good friend.Are you asking him to be faithful?Well, if Mary needed a dozen processmen to find her lamb, Dan was always there to help. 【Note】If Mary needs to hire a dozen messengers to find her lamb: Refers to Mary and her faithful lamb in the British nursery rhyme. Are you cold, Nancy?Lu said, you work in that old shop for only eight dollars a week, what a fool!I made eighteen and a half dollars last week.Sure, the ironing job wasn't quite as glamorous as selling lace behind the counter, but it made money.We ironers earn at least ten dollars a week.And I don't think that's a dishonorable job either.

You do what you do.Nancy pointed her nose up and said, I would give eight dollars a week to live in the hallway room.I like to be in a place where there are good things and rich people coming and going.What's more, I have so many opportunities!One of our girls in the glove department married a steelworker from Pittsburgh, or a blacksmith, or something, with a million bucks.One day I shall find a rich man myself.I'm not bragging about my looks or anything; but when there's a good chance, I'll take my chances.What's the point of staying in the laundromat? No way, I met Dan in the laundry.Lou said triumphantly that when he came to get his Sunday shirt and collar, he saw me ironing clothes on the first table.The girls in our laundry all want to work on the first table.Ella that day.Maginnis was sick and I took her place.Dan said he immediately noticed how full and fair my arms were.I work with the sleeves rolled up.There are also high-class people who come to the laundry.You can recognize them by the way they sneak in, hiding their clothes in their suitcases.

How can you wear a waistcoat like that, Lu?Nancy said, squinting her eyes, staring at that disgusting dress with concern and reproach, it shows that you have poor taste. Is this a waistcoat?Lu opened his eyes wide and said angrily, hey, this vest cost me sixteen yuan.It's actually worth twenty-five bucks.A woman brought it for laundry and never came to pick it up.The boss sold it to me.There are many yards of hand embroidery on it.You should comment on that ugly and plain thing on yourself. This ugly and plain thing, Nancy said calmly, is according to Fan.Alstin.Made in the pattern of Mrs. Fisher's suit.A female colleague in the store said that she bought 12,000 yuan in our store last year.I made this one myself, and it cost a dollar and fifty cents.You could hardly tell the difference between mine and hers from ten paces away.

Oh, well, Lu said gently, if you are willing to show off on an empty stomach, go ahead.I still do my job, get my good wages, and when I'm done, buy myself fancy clothes as my means allow. Meanwhile Dan came in, a thirty-dollar-a-week electrician in a snap-button tie who looked like a grown-up man with none of the frivolity of the city.He looked at Lu with Romeo's pathetic eyes, and thought her embroidered waistcoat was a spider's web that any fly would cling to. This is my friend, Mr. Owens Shake hands with Miss Danforth.Lu said. Nice to meet you, Miss Danforth.Dan held out his hand and said, I often hear Lu mention you.

Thanks, said Nancy, icily touching Dan's finger with her fingertip, and I've heard her mention you a few times, too. Lu chuckled. Your way of shaking hands is also from Fan.Alstin.Did you learn it from Mrs. Fisher, Nancy?she asked. If I learned it, you can copy it with confidence and boldness.Nancy said. Yo, I don't deserve it at all.That way is too fancy for me.That hand-raised gesture is meant to show off the diamond ring.I'll start learning after I get a few. You might as well learn first, Nancy said shrewdly, and you'll stand a better chance of getting the ring.

To settle your argument, Dan said with a pleasant smile, let me make a suggestion.Since I can't accompany you two to Tiffany's[Note] to do my duty, would you like to go to the playground?I have tickets.We don't get a chance to shake hands with people who actually wear diamond rings, so how about going to see the diamonds on stage? [Note] Tiffany: refers to the American businessman Charles.Tiffany (18121902) opened the famous jewelry store Tiffany & Co. This faithful squire walked on the side of the sidewalk on the side of the road; Lu next to him, dressed in bright and beautiful clothes, looked a bit like a peacock; The posture is authentic Fan.Alstin.Fisher-style and so the three of them set off in search of their inexpensive evening diversion.

I don't think many people think of a large department store as an educational institution.But the one Nancy worked for seemed a bit like an educational institution to her.She was surrounded by beautiful things with an air of sophistication and sophistication.If you are in an atmosphere of luxury, whether you or someone else has paid for it, that luxury will be yours. Most of Nancy's clients were women, and their dress, manners, and social status were cited as models for discussion.Nancy began to learn from them, taking the best from each in her own opinion. From one she imitated a gesture and practiced it; from another she learned a meaningful raise of an eyebrow; man's gesture.From her most admired model, Fan.Alstin.From Mrs. Fisher, she requisitioned that wonderful trait: a soft, deep voice, as clear as a silver bell, as mellow as a thrush's song.She was immersed in this elegant and luxurious atmosphere, and it was impossible not to be deeply affected.As it is said that good habits trump good principles, so perhaps good manners trump good habits.Parental instruction may not keep you a New England conscience; but if you sit in an upright chair and say the words prism and pilgrim forty times, the devil will not dare to violate is you.When Nancy used Fan.Alstin.When Fischer spoke in a tone of voice, she even felt in her bones that the nobleman was not satisfied with the expectations.

[Note] New England is the collective name of the six states of Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut in the northeastern United States. It is known as the land of the Puritans in the history of American colonization. There is also a source of learning in the big department store school.Whenever you see three or four shop girls gathering together in whispers, to the accompaniment of clinking bracelets, as if discussing inconsequential topics, you don't think they're there to criticize Ethel's hair style.This meeting may not be so solemn as the national council; but it is not less important than Eve's first meeting with her eldest daughter.At that meeting, they made Adam understand his place in the family.It was a women's conference for common defense and exchange of offensive and defensive strategies against the world and men.The world is a stage, and men are spectators who throw bouquets of flowers on the stage.Women are the weakest and most helpless of all small animals. They have the grace of a deer, but not its agility; the beauty of a bird, but not its ability to fly; For example, someone might be stung. At these councils of war they supply each other with arms, and exchange strategies which they have created and worked out in the tactics of life. I told him, Sadie said, you're so presumptuous!Who do you take me for, to dare to say such things to me?Guess what he used to answer me? Heads of all shades of hair, brown, black, flaxen, red, yellow, gathered together; answers were found, and words of tit for tat were settled for later polemics against the common enemy man. Thus, Nancy learned the art of defense; for a woman, successful defense means victory. Courses in department stores are all-inclusive.I am afraid that there is no other university that can better train her and enable her to achieve her lifelong wish: to smoke cigarettes. Her position in the store is advantageous.The music department, not far from the department in which she worked, afforded her the opportunity to become acquainted, at least to the point of familiarity, with the works of leading composers, and to pretend to be a musical connoisseur in the society she was trying to penetrate.She is also educated in works of art, in expensive and fine cloths, and in ornaments which are almost a substitute for a woman's self-cultivation. It didn't take long for the rest of the shop girls to discover Nancy's ambitions. Here comes your millionaire, Nancy.They greeted Nancy like this whenever a man who looked like a rich man approached Nancy's counter.When the men went out shopping with their female relatives, they were bored waiting aside, and they always wandered to the handkerchief counter to look at the linen handkerchiefs.Nancy's imitation of noble birth and real beauty appealed to them.So many men came to her to show off their dignity.A few may be real millionaires, but the rest are just imitations.Nancy learned the trick of identifying.There was a window at the end of the handkerchief counter: from it she could see the rows of cars in the street waiting for their owners to buy in the store.She has seen a lot and knows that cars are as different as their owners. Chapter two On one occasion, a gentleman of great style bought four dozen handkerchiefs, and flirted with her across the counter with the air of a king of Kophetua.After he had gone, a shopgirl said: What's the matter, Nancy, you were not at all affectionate to that man just now.In my opinion, he is a real rich man. [Note] King Kefeituya: A rich and wealthy African king in legend. him?Nancy carried the most indifferent, charming, detached Fan.Alstin.Fisher-like smile said, I can't see it.I saw him coming by car.A twelve-horsepower car with an Irish driver!Do you know what kind of handkerchief he bought?Silk!And he also suffers from dactylitis.I'm sorry, but I'd rather not have it if I'm a real rich guy. There are two most classy women in the store, one is the head waiter and the other is the cashier. They have several wealthy boyfriends and they often eat out together.Once, they invited Nancy to go with them.That dinner was in a palatial restaurant where seats for New Year's Eve dinner were reserved a year in advance.Here are two boyfriends, one bald (we can attest that the luxury of living has left him with no hair) and the other a young man, who uses two convincing ways to make you feel who he is And sophistication: one is that he wears diamond cufflinks; the other is that he is always cursing that any wine smells of cork.The young man found something extraordinary in Nancy.His inclinations were inherently inclined towards shopgirls; and this one before him, besides the more frank charm of her class, had the conversation and manners of the upper class to which he belonged.So the next day he went to the department store, bought a box of handkerchiefs of Irish linen that had been bleached locally, and proposed to her solemnly.Nancy flatly refused.Ten paces away, a colleague with brown pompadour hair was watching and listening.After the frustrated suitor left, she gave Nancy a hard-to-fuck rebuke. What a hopeless little fool you are!That guy's a millionaire he's Van.Nephew of old man Skittles.And he is sincere.Are you crazy, Nancy? me?Nancy said, I didn't promise him, did I?In fact, he is not a millionaire, which is not difficult to see.His family only gives him 20,000 yuan a year.The bald guy was teasing him about it at dinner that night. The brown pompadour-haired girl narrowed her eyes and moved closer. What do you want?She asked, because she didn't chew gum, her voice is hoarse, isn't that enough for you?Do you want to be a Mormon [Note], and at the same time with Rockefeller, Gladstone.Dowe married the King of Spain together?Twenty thousand yuan a year is not enough for you? 【Note】Mormonism is Joseph in 1830.A sect founded by Smith (1805 | 1844) in the United States, the early believers practiced polygamy. Under the gaze of those shallow dark eyes, Nancy flushed. It's not all about the money, Carrie.She explained that at dinner that night, he was lying with his eyes open and was exposed by his friends.He said he didn't go to the theater with some girl, but he didn't.I just can't stand people who tell lies.All factors add up to my dislike for him; hence the blow.I am up for grabs and would never pick a big sale date.All in all, I had to find someone who sat in a chair like a man.Yes, I'm looking for a partner; but the partner has to be promising, not just jingling like a child's piggy bank. Mental hospitals are for people like you!The girl with the brown pompadour combed her hair and walked away. Nancy continued to cultivate these lofty ideas, if not ideally, on a wage of eight dollars a week.Day after day, she gnawed dry bread, tightened her belt, and tracked the big unknown prey with stars and moons.There was always that indifferent but firm, sweet and cold smile on her face that was destined to prey on men.Department stores were her hunting ground.Several times, having spotted what seemed to be a large game, she raised her rifle and took aim; but some deep and correct instinct, perhaps that of a hunter, or perhaps that of a woman, always prevented her and brought her back to the game. track. Lu is very proud in the laundry.She raised six dollars from her eighteen-and-a-half dollars a week for rent and food.The rest is mostly spent on clothing.She had far fewer opportunities to improve her taste and manners than Nancy.In the steamy laundromat, there's just work, work and reverie about future evening entertainment.All kinds of expensive and beautiful clothes passed under her iron; her ever-increasing love of clothes probably came to her from the heat-conducting metal. Dan waited for her outside the laundry at the end of the day, always a faithful shadow in whatever light she stood in. Sometimes, honestly and apprehensively, he glanced at Lu's clothes, which were not so much an improvement in style as they were becoming more and more eye-catching; Get her attention. Lu is still as loyal to her best friend as ever.Wherever she went with Dan, she always invited Nancy to go with her, and it had become a custom.Dan cheerfully and without complaint took up the extra burden.It can be said that in this trio looking for entertainment, Lu provided the color, Nancy provided the mood, and Dan carried the weight.The guard, in neat and obviously off-the-shelf clothes and snap-button tie, with a sure, sincere, ready-made wit, never fussed or slumped over the burden.Dan was one of those kind people you don't think much of when they're around, but you remember them clearly when they're gone. These ready-made entertainments were sometimes bitter to Nancy's refined tastes; but when she was young and unable to be a fat gourmet, she had to make do with being an easy-going eater. Dan always wants me to marry him right away.Lu once said to Nancy, but why should I do this?I don't depend on others.Now I earn my own money and spend it as I like; after marriage, he will definitely not let me continue to work.Speaking of which, Nancy, why are you still in that store, not getting enough to eat and not getting enough to wear?If you like, I can find you a place in the laundry right away.I always had this idea that if you could make more money, you wouldn't be so arrogant. I don't think I'm proud, Lou, said Nancy, but I'd rather stay where I am and be half hungry.I think it's probably just a habit.What I want is the opportunity there.I don't expect to stand behind a counter for a lifetime.I can learn something new every day.I have been in contact with noble and rich people from morning to night even if I only serve them; Have you got your millionaire yet?Lu asked with a teasing smile. I haven't checked yet.Nancy replied, I'm picking. oops!Do you still want to grab a handful to choose from?Don't let that kind of person go easily, Nancy, even if his worth is only a few dollars short and not qualified.Having said that, this may not be true, right? Millionaires look down on professional women like us. They still look down upon it.Nancy said calmly and wisely that people like us can teach them how to take care of their money. If a millionaire were to talk to me, said Lu with a smile, I'd be terrified. That's because you don't know them. The only difference between rich people and ordinary people is that you have to guard them more strictly.Lu, the red satin lining of your coat seems a little too bright, don't you think? Lu glanced at her friend's plain pale green jacket. Well, I don't think so but maybe it's a little brighter than that faded thing on you. This jacket, Nancy said triumphantly, is the same as last time Fan.Alstin.Mrs. Fisher was dressed in exactly the same style.The material for this one cost me only three dollars and ninety-eight cents.I figured hers cost a hundred bucks more than mine. Well, Lu said flatly, in my opinion, this kind of clothes may not necessarily attract millionaires.Maybe I'll find one before you. To tell the truth, these two friends have their own theories, and I am afraid that a philosopher can be called in to judge their value.Some girls, out of vanity and fussiness, were content to work in shops and offices to make ends meet; Lu had no such temper, and happily fiddled with her iron in the noisy and stuffy laundries.Her wages were more than enough to support her in comfort; so her clothes were so stained that she sometimes glanced impatiently at the well-dressed, then slovenly Dane, the faithful, Dear Dan. As for Nancy, she was in the same position as thousands of others.The silks, jewels, lace, trinkets, perfumes, and music that are the necessities of suave society are for a woman; and rightly belong to her.If she thinks these things are a part of life, if she wants to, let her get close to them.She did not sell her interests like Esau did; though her income was often very limited, she kept her inheritance. Nancy was content with the atmosphere.She steadfastly ate her frugal meals, and planned her cheap dresses.She already knew about women, and now she was studying men as prey, both in terms of habits and selection conditions.One day, she will catch the prey she fancy; but she has made a promise to herself long ago, if she does not strike, she must hit the biggest and best prey she thinks, and discard the smaller ones list. So she cut the lamp and waited for the bridegroom who would arrive in due time. But she learned another lesson, perhaps unconsciously.Her values ​​began to shift and change.Sometimes, the symbols of the gold dollar became blurred in her mind, forming the words truth, honor, etc., and now and then it simply became the word kindness.Let us compare a man hunting elk in a great forest.He saw a little ravine, mossy and shaded, and a sluggish brook that spoke to him of rest and comfort.In such a situation, even Nimrod's spear would become dull【Note】. [Note] Nimrod's spear will also become dull: "Old Testament.In the ninth chapter of the tenth chapter of Genesis, Nimrod is said to be a heroic hunter before Yahweh. Sometimes Nancy wondered if the people who wore Persian coats always valued Persian as high as the market price. third chapter One Thursday evening, Nancy came out of the store, crossed Sixth Avenue, and went west to the laundry.Lou and Dan asked her to go to a musical comedy together last time. Dan just came out of the laundry when she came.He had a strange, tense look on his face. I thought of coming here to inquire about her.He said. Ask who?Nancy asked, isn't Lu in the laundry? I thought you already knew that.Dane said she hadn't been here or at her place since Monday.She removed all the clothes.She told a colleague in the laundry that she might be going to Europe. Has anyone seen her?Nancy asked. Dan's steely gray eyes gleamed as he gritted his teeth sullenly as he looked at Nancy. The laundromat told me, he said hoarsely, that they'd seen her pass here in a car yesterday.I think it's probably with a millionaire, the kind of millionaire you and Lu can't forget. For the first time Nancy cringed before a man.She pressed her trembling hand on Dan's sleeve. You can't say that to me, Dan, I have nothing to do with it! I don't mean that.Dan said, softening a little.He fumbled in his vest pocket for a while. I have tickets for tonight.He pretended to be relaxed and said, if you Nancy always admired manliness. I'm going with you, Dan.she says. It was three months before Nancy saw Lu. One evening the shop girl was hurrying home along the sidewalk of a small quiet park.When she heard someone calling her name, she turned around and just hugged Lu who was running over. After embracing each other, they raised their heads back like snakes, as if ready to attack or subdue each other, and thousands of questions quivered on their quick tongues.Then Nancy found Lou much better off, covered in noble furs, gleaming jewels, and achievements of the art of tailoring. You little fool!Lu shouted affectionately, I think you still work in that shop, and you still dress so shabby.How about the object you plan to hunt? I guess you haven't figured it out yet? Then Loe looked at Nancy, and saw that something better than good fortune befell Nancy, something that shone brighter than jewels in her eyes and ruddy than roses on her cheeks, And jumping like electrons, trying to release it from her tongue at any time. Yes, I'm still working in the shop at the moment, said Nancy, but I'm leaving next week.I have found my quarry the best game in the world.Lu, you don't care now, do you?I'm Marrying Dan Marrying Dan!Now Dan's mine What's up, Lo! At the corner of the park, a young policeman with a bare face and a new job came slowly. These young policemen decorated the police team, making people feel more comfortable, at least in terms of perception.He saw a woman in an expensive fur coat and a diamond ring crouching on the iron railing of the park, weeping sadly, while a slender and plain working woman approached her, trying to comfort her.The new Gibsonian cop pretended not to see, and walked past; wise enough to understand that, with the power he represented, he was helpless in matters of this kind, though His baton thumped loudly on the pavement. [Note] Gibson (1867｜1944): American illustrator, the characters in his works are representative of the fashionable American society in the 1890s.