"The Shovel Man
The title character of this poem is an example of the dual nature of the immigrant come to America looking to improve their lot over whatever limited potential they left behind. On the streets of Chicago, the Italian immigrant is a simple laborer carrying his tools, dressed in faded clothing and smudged from the work paying him barely more than a dollar a day. To the woman he left behind in his home country, however, her dreams transform him into an idealistic figure of romance.
Elsie Flimmerwon
The speaker recalls memories of Elise as a young girl in a gingham dress with a runny nose. Now, in the present, Elsie is all grown up with her names in lights as the titular “Vaudeville Dancer.”
"Mamie"
Mamie grew tired of her little Indiana town and considered killing herself. Then she decided as long as she had that option anyway, she might as well move to the big city of Chicago to try to add a little zest to her life. Now, with her six-dollar a week job in the basement of a store in Chicago, she’s grown tired and wonders whether romance might not be found in some bigger city on the rail line from Chicago.
"The Mayor of Gary"
In response to a question posed by speaker about better working conditions for factory workers, the Mayor of industrial town Gary responds by saying workers are already overpaid for jobs that are done mostly by machinery. The speaker notices the Mayor’s cream pants and nice white shoe as he leaves him getting a shave and shampoo. Outside, the notices the shoes of the workers are scuffed and pitted from the conditions in which they labor.
"Red-Headed Restaurant Cashier"
The cashier with the red hair and two freckles on her chin is assured by the speaker that one day a man will walk up to her looking to pay his restaurant bill and walk away having fallen in love. Of this he is confident because he has personally seen ten-thousand men in the big city on the lookout for a pretty girl with red hair and freckles on her chin.
