Quotation from: The People of the Abyss

Written by: Jack London


In both instances, I found that the smallpox was the cause of their being
"on the doss," which means on the tramp. Both had been working when
smitten by the disease, and both had emerged from the hospital "broke,"
with the gloomy task before them of hunting for work. So far, they had
not found any, and they had come to the spike for a "rest up" after three
days and nights on the street.


It seems that not only the man who becomes old is punished for his
involuntary misfortune, but likewise the man who is struck by disease or
accident. Later on, I talked with another man--"Ginger" we called
him--who stood at the head of the line--a sure indication that he had
been waiting since one o'clock. A year before, one day, while in the
employ of a fish dealer, he was carrying a heavy box of fish which was
too much for him. Result: "something broke," and there was the box on
the ground, and he on the ground beside it.

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Old Dominion University CS Dept
Designed by Joan A. Smith for the CRATE project
Created: 2007-2-22T12:35:29Z
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Part of a series of experiments in web preservation under the direction of Michael L. Nelson, Ph.D.