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U.S.A_ - John Dos Passos [35]

By Root 8890 0
stung him and he died

puzzled.

They buried him under a cedartree.

His favorite photograph

was of a little tot

standing beside a bed of hybrid

everblooming double Shasta daisies

with never a thought of evil

And Mount Shasta

-83-in the background, used to be a volcano

but they don't have volcanos

any more.

NEWSREEL VII

SAYS THIS IS CENTURY WHERE

BILLIONS AND BRAINS ARE

TO RULE

infant born in Minneapolis comes here in incubator

Cheyenne Cheyenne

Hop on my pony

says Jim Hil hits oil trust on 939 counts

BIG FOUR TRAIN BLOWN TO PIECES

woman and children blotted out admits he saw floggings and even mutilations but no frightful outrages

TRUTH ABOUT THE CONGO FREE STATE

Find Bad Fault In Dreadnaught Santos Dumont tel s of rival of bird of prey wives prime aim of Congo natives ex-traordinary letter ordering away U.S. marines WHITES IN

CONGO LOSE MORAL SENSE

WOMAN HELD A CAPTIVE BY

AMBULANCE CHASERS

Thaw Faces Judge in Fateful Fight

LABOR MENACE IN POLITICS

last of Salome seen in New York heroism of mother un-availing There's room here for two, dear,

But after the ceremony

Two, dear, as one, dear, will ride back on my pony From old Cheyenne3

-84-THE CAMERA EYE (8)

you sat on the bed unlacing your shoes Hey

Frenchie yel ed Tylor in the door you've got to fight the Kid doan wanna fight him gotto fight him

hasn't he got to fight him fel ers? Freddie pushed his face through the crack in the door and made a long nose Gotta fight him umpyaya and al the fel ows on the top floor were there if not you 're a girlboy and I had on my pyjamas and they pushed in the Kid and the Kid

hit Frenchie and Frenchie hit the Kid and your mouth tasted bloody and everybody yel ed Go it Kid except Gummer and he yel ed Bust his jaw Jack and Frenchie had the Kid down on the bed and everybody pul ed him off and they al had Frenchie against the door and he was slamming right an' left and he couldn't see who was hitting him and everybody started to yel the Kid licked him and Tylor and Freddy held his arms and told the Kid to come and hit him but the Kid wouldn't and the Kid was crying the bloody sweet puky taste and then the bel rang

for lights and everybody ran to their rooms and you got into bed with your head throbbing and you were crying when Gummer tiptoed in an' said you had him licked Jack it was a fucking shame it was Freddy hit you that

-85-time, but Hoppy was tiptoeing round the hal and caught Gummer trying to get back to his room and he got his MAC

By Thanksgiving Mac had beaten his way to Sacra-mento, where he got a job smashing crates in a dried fruit warehouse. By the first of the year he'd saved up enough to buy a suit of dark clothes and take the steam-boat down the river to San Francisco. It was around eight in the evening when he got in.

With his suitcase in his hand, he walked up Market Street from the dock. The streets were ful of lights. Young men and pretty girls in brightcolored dresses were walk-ing fast through a big yanking wind that fluttered dresses and scarfs, slapped color into cheeks, blew grit and papers into the air. There were Chinamen, Wops, Portuguese, Japs in the streets. People were hustling to shows and restaurants. Music came out of the doors of bars, frying, buttery foodsmel s from restaurants, smel s of winecasks and beer. Mac wanted to go on a party but he only had four dol ars so he went and got a room at the Y

and ate some soggy pie and coffee in the deserted cafeteria down-stairs. When he got up in the bare bedroom like something in a hospital he opened the window, but it only gave on an airshaft. The room smelt of some sort of cleaning fluid and when he lay down on the bed the blanket smelt of formaldehyde. He felt too wel . He could feel the pranc-ing blood steam al through him. He wanted to talk to somebody, to go to a dance or have a drink with a fel ow he knew or kid a girl somewhere. The smel of rouge and

-86-musky facepowder in the room of those girls in Seattle came back to him. He got up and sat on the edge of the bed swinging his legs. Then he decided to go out, but

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