Mr. Monday and other tales of Jewish Amsterdam

WAGE EARNERS 29

One adjuster has a pan with thick soup standing on his heater when he is called to the office of the boss. But he is a man of brains, so he puts a note next to his dish "Don't eat this. I've spit in it."

When he comes back they've written on the paper "We too."

However, unity is restored between polishers and setters when they have sing-songs together. Diamond workers are very fond of music; they seldom miss a performance at the opera and they know all the arias by heart.

At the sing-song in the factory, when the whole repertory of Italians is exhausted, it is the turn of the polishers' songs. One man sings a stanza solo; the chorus strikes up together. Neither the composer of the music nor the writer of the libretto, which was probably originally conceived for a café concert, would recognise their own work, because in the factory, words and music acquire a new atmosphere.

The apprentices are seated at the other side of the polishing mill. They learn the trade well and thoroughly. Sometimes the polishers use them as errand boys for some trifle. The apprentices retaliate by purposely making mistakes. For instance, when the boy is sent out to buy ginger buns, and his boss says "Here is twenty cents. Ten cents for my bun and ten cents for yours".The boy returns later, munching and swallowing, and explains "they only had one bun left, so here's your ten cents back."