The whirling wheels began to sing in a steadily modifying key, until at last they died away in a low buzz.

There was an audible stillness, in which the common voice sounded strange.
Carrie got up and sought her lunch box.

She was stiff, a little dizzy, and very thirsty.

On the way to the small space portioned off by wood, where all the wraps and lunches were kept, she encountered the foreman, who stared at her hard.
"Well," he said, "did you get along all right ?" "I think so," she replied, very respectfully.
"Um," he replied, for want of something better, and walked on.
Under better material conditions, this kind of work would not have been so bad, but the new socialism which involves pleasant working conditions for employees had not then taken hold upon manufacturing companies.
The place smelled of the oil of the machines and the new leather--a combination which, added to the stale odours of the building, was not pleasant even in cold weather.

The floor, though regularly swept every evening, presented a littered surface.