Then Petra sought out another place for Manuel and brought him to a
bakery on Horno de la Mata Street where he was to learn the trade.
As the beginning of his apprenticeship he was assigned to the furnace
as assistant to the man who removed the loaves from the oven. The work
was beyond his strength. He had to get up at eleven in the night and
commence by scraping the iron pans in which the smaller loaves were
baked; after they were cleaned he would go over them with a brush
dipped in melted butter; this accomplished he would help his superior
remove the live coals from the oven with an iron instrument; then,
while the baker baked the bread he would lift very heavy boards laden
with rolls and carry them to the kneading-trough at the mouth of the
furnace; when the baker placed the rolls inside Manuel would take the
board back to the kneading-trough. As the bread came out of the oven
he would moisten it with a brush dipped in water so as to make the
crust shiny. At eleven in the morning the work was over, and during
the intervals of idleness Manuel and the workmen would sleep.
This life was horribly hard.
The bakery occupied a dark cellar, as gloomy as it was dirty. It was
below the level of the street and had two windows the panes of which
were so covered with dust and spiders' webs that only a murky,
yellowish light filtered through.
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