Take joy and satisfaction in breaking it as far down as possible. Hunt, and if it be a man's function to break down a price, then he must AndĪlthough these men would not profit beyond their salaries, there wasĮxcitement among the pearl buyers, for there was excitement in the How high they would bid, and what method each one would use. In their offices and waited for Kino knew what price they would offer, Now there was only one pearl buyer with many hands, and the men who sat This was extravagant and not to be countenanced. The excitement of bidding for a fine pearl, too great a price had been But this was a wasteful method, for often, in It was supposed that the pearl buyers were individuals acting alone,īidding against one another for the pearls the fishermen brought in.Īnd once it had been so. Tray, and each man rolled the pearls about with his fingertips and Of the pearl buyers, each man sat alone with his little black velvet Pearl buyers knew about it, and when the day had come, in the offices The little boys knew about it with excitement, but most of all the
They would be there to take the tithe of the first fruits of the luck. Word of it crept inĪmong the nuns the beggars in front of the church spoke of it, for
Known among the Chinese grocery-store owners it was known in theĬhurch, for the altar boys whispered about it. The neighbors in the brush huts, among the pearl fishermen it was Town that Kino was going to sell his pearl that day. Thus, in La Paz, it was known in the early morning through the whole Then every unit communicates to the whole. Of the townspeople ring with nervousness and communication travels over Of the regular thought or the known and trusted pattern, and the nerves That unit can disappear and never be heard of. The ease and peace of mind or steady unbroken flow of the town, then No one and experiments in no way and is not sick and does not endanger If every single man and woman, child and baby, acts andĬonducts itself in a known pattern and breaks no walls and differs with It is wonderful the way a little town keeps track of itself and of all John Steinbeck ~ The Pearl John Steinbeck ~ Of Mice and Men