1 Among these importunate signs was one that had caught the attention of the family by its pictures.
2 In May the agreement between the packers and the unions expired, and a new agreement had to be signed.
3 And they had turned off three-quarters of these men, which was a still worse sign, since it meant that there were no orders to be filled.
4 There was no red fire and no band now, but there was a sign out, announcing a meeting, and a stream of people pouring in through the entrance.
5 Jurgis was vexed when the cynical Jokubas translated these signs with sarcastic comments, offering to take them to the secret rooms where the spoiled meats went to be doctored.
6 A note signed by him was equal to a job any time at the packing houses; and also he employed a good many men himself, and worked them only eight hours a day, and paid them the highest wages.
7 Jurgis went straightway, and saw a sign hung out, saying that the door would open at seven-thirty; then he walked, or half ran, a block, and hid awhile in a doorway and then ran again, and so on until the hour.
8 Marija had nothing to take with her save her two brawny arms and the word "job," laboriously learned; but with these she had marched about Packingtown all day, entering every door where there were signs of activity.
9 These buildings, made of brick and stained with innumerable layers of Packingtown smoke, were painted all over with advertising signs, from which the visitor realized suddenly that he had come to the home of many of the torments of his life.
10 To this there was no exception, save when the accident was one for which the firm was liable; in that case they would send a slippery lawyer to see him, first to try to get him to sign away his claims, but if he was too smart for that, to promise him that he and his should always be provided with work.