Alcala 1958

The Lady or The Complex? By BARBARA ANN ROGERS, B.A . 1958 G radu at e Col lege fo r Wom en . 8 ate llege en

T HE WALLS SWEATEDmoistu re. Fun gi cro uch ed in the cra cks. The boards were war ped . Bre ad mil dew edin an hour. In the sum­ me r one roas ted. In wi nte r one fro ze. Sev era l years ag o it had bee n aba ndo ned and the vag abo nds an d evild oers housed in the bu ild ing at the ci ty gat e. Bet ter hy gi en iccon dit ion s preva iled the re. But the con dit ionsin the Cach ot we re go od eno ugh fo r thi s fam ily . T TED re. i ed cks. . ed . - m t . r one z . l ned nds ers i i g . ienic itions prevailed t e. itions ily.

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I tur ned to the ca se reco rd. Mor e of the sam e. Th e fat her , a labo rer, wa s unem­ plo yed mo st of the tim e. Wh en he had work, too lar ge a por tion of hi s wre tch ed earn ing swe nt fo r che ap liqu or, in a fut ile atte mp tto sti ll the gn aw inghung er pang s. His wif e had kno wn com fort in her youth an d was cons cio usthat he r soc ial positi on ha d been hi gh er than her hus ban d's. Sh e lov ed to se e th ing sclea n an d neat, but he r days were spen t in a los ing batt le with he r sor did sur rou nd ing s. In other cir cum sta nce s she wou ld perh aps ha ve been an ide al mot her but now sh e wa s tau t and snappy ,franti cwit h wo rry , wor n dow n by hu ng er an d col d an d cea sel ess an d fru itle sstoi l, ag on ize dove r chi ldr en' s pin ch edfa ce san d ple ad ingeye s. To ooft en sh e sei zed the fle xi bl ecan e with wh ich sh e bea t the be dd ing,and swun gthe can e ov er the sho uld ers of he r cowe rin g ch ild ren . Th ere we re thr ee of the se, two gir ls and a boy; all liv ed wit h the ir pare nts in th is on e tin y, dar k, ill-v ent ilat edroom. Th e old est ch ild , a gir l, was the ob jec t of my stu dy . Gen tle and swe et-t emp ered , but awk war d,sic kly ,slow to lear n, she wa s the but t of un thi nk ing lycru el jest bot h at hom e and at sch ool . Her teac herhel d he r e. , , - . , ti e ings , il t ll ing s. i ci us l o er d's. i s t i l i ro ndings. stances he l erhaps l py, c , er les itles l, ized e 's ed s ing e . d ible i t ing, g l ers i g ren. , l t i , , il ted . il , l, t . tl ered, d, l , , t inkingly l er l. t

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BAR BAR A ROGERS

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