Good Earth, The - Pearl S. Buck [39]
Then the general feeling of plenty in this rich land, where no one seemed even hungered, filled them and when Wang Lung said, "Let us go and seek the public kitchens," they rose up almost cheerfully and went out once more, and this time the small boys clattered their chopsticks against their bowls as they walked, for there would soon be something to put into them. And they found soon why the huts were built to that long wall, for a short distance beyond the northern end of it was a street and along the street many people walked carrying bowls and buckets and vessels of tin, all empty, and these persons were going to the kitchens for the poor, which were at the end of the street and not far away. And so Wang Lung and his family mingled with these others and with them they came at last to two great buildings made of mats, and everyone crowded into the open end of these buildings.
Now in the rear of each building were earthen stoves, but larger than Wang Lung had ever seen, and on them iron cauldrons as big as small ponds; and when the great wooden lids were pried up, there was the good white rice bubbling and boiling, and clouds of fragrant steam rose up. Now when the people smelled this fragrance of rice it was the sweetest in the world to their nostrils, and they all pressed forward in a great mass and people called out and mothers shouted in anger and fear lest their children be trodden upon and little babies cried, and the men who opened the cauldrons roared forth,
"Now there is enough for every man and each in his turn!"
But nothing could stop the mass of hungry men and women and they fought like beasts until all were fed. Wang Lung caught in their midst could do nothing but cling to his father and his two sons and when he was swept to the great cauldron he held out his bowl and when it was filled threw down his pence, and it was all he could do to stand sturdily and not be swept on before the thing was done.
Then when they had come to the street again and stood eating their rice, he ate and was filled and there was a little left in his bowl and he said,
"I will take this home to eat in the evening."
But a man stood near who was some sort of a guard of the place for he wore a special garment of blue and red, and he said sharply,
"No, and you can take nothing away except what is in your belly." And Wang Lung marvelled at this and said,
"Well, if I have paid my penny what business is it of yours if I carry it within or without me?"
The man said then,
"We must have this rule, for there are those whose hearts are so hard that they will come and buy this rice that is given for the poor---for a penny will not feed any man like this---and they will carry the rice home to feed to their pigs for slop. And the rice is for men and not for pigs."
Wang Lung listened to this in astonishment and he cried,
"Are there men as hard as this!" And then he said, "But why should any give like this to the poor and who is it that gives?"
The man answered then,
"It is the rich and the gentry of the town who do it, and some do it for a good deed for the future, that by saving lives they may get merit in heaven, and some do it for righteousness that men may speak well of them."
"Nevertheless it is a good deed for whatever reason," said Wang Lang, "and some must do it out of a good heart." And then seeing that the man did not answer him, he added in his own defense, "At least there are a few of these?"
But the man was weary of speaking with him and he turned his back, and he hummed an idle tune. The children tugged at Wang Lung then, and Wang Lung led them all back to the hut they had made, and there they laid themselves down and they slept until the next morning, for it was the first time since summer they had been filled with food, and sleep overcame them with fullness.
The next morning it was necessary that there be more money for they spent the last copper coin upon the morning's rice. Wang Lung looked at O-lan, doubtful as to what should be done. But it was not with the despair with which he had looked at her over their blank