The Valley of the Moon

“She flung wild glances, like those of an entrapped animal, up and down the big whitewashed room that panted with heat and that was thickly humid with the steam that sizzled from the damp cloth under the irons of the many ironers. From the girls and women near her, all swinging irons steadily but at high pace, came ffffquick glances, and labor efficiency suffered to the extent Thof a score of suspended or inadequate movements. The elderly woman’s cry had caused a tremor of money-loss to pass among the piece-work ironers of fancy starch.”