midday
The looms fairly wove it into the warp . The thick , sweet , greasy air seemed to distil cotton-oil upon the faces of the workers . The nights proved to be no better than the days . The stuffy tenements gulped in the hot air of midday and held it as a person holds his breath . All the folks came out upon the little platforms that were ranged , story after story , above each other . They gasped for air in the narrow spaces between the high buildings . The stars above those narrow spaces did not sparkle and suggest coolness ; they seemed to float above the hot earth like red cinders .