About the room was the usual clutter of
all manner of things in the usual unarranged, "unwomaned" Zone
way, which the negro janitor feels it neither his duty nor
privilege to bring to order; while on and about my cot and bureau
were helter-skeltered the sundry possessions of an absent
employee, who had left for his six-weeks' vacation without hanging
up his shirt--after the fashion of "Zoners." So when I had wiped
away the dust that had been gathering thereon since the days of de
Lesseps and chucked my odds and ends into a bureau drawer, I was
settled,--a full-fledged Zone employee in the quarters to which
every man on the "gold roll" is entitled free of charge.
Just here it may be well to explain that the I. C. C. has very
dexterously dodged the necessity of lining the Zone with the
offensive signs "Black" and "White." 'T would not be exactly the
distinction desired anyway. Hence the line has been drawn between
"Gold" and "Silver" employees. The first division, paid in gold
coin, is made up, with a few exceptions, of white American
citizens. To the second belong any of the darker shade, and all
common laborers of whatever color, these receiving their wages in
Panamanian silver. 'T is a deep and sharp-drawn line. The story
runs that Liza Lawsome, not long arrived from Jamaica, entering
the office of a Zone dentist, paused suddenly before the
announcement:
Crownwork.
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