Each season brings a new catastrophe, forcing Jurgis and his family to fight just to barely survive. In the spring they learn that in addition to the mortgage and the taxes, they have to pay insurance on their property. The messy spring rain gives way to the stifling summer heat. Marija gets her job back when the factory re-opens, only to lose it due to her union activity. Ona is pregnant, so it is imperative for Marija to find a new job. She reluctantly accepts work as a beef trimmer, a job she would have refused earlier. Ona discovers that her boss operates a brothel downtown and many decent girls lose their positions at the factory to prostitutes. Jurgis insists on having a male doctor instead of a midwife when Ona gives birth to their son, who is named Antanas — after the child's grandfather, Dede Antanas. Jurgis is unable to see much of his son because of the long hours he works, and Ona must return to work after missing only a week, in order not to lose her position. Ona, who has never been very strong or healthy, never fully recovers from this experience and suffers for the rest of her days with the same ailments that affect most of the factory women, for all women return to work too quickly after giving birth to fully recover.
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