Show 1 F r r- ri rr i R 1 Wip f Cn r a t o Significant Experience of the sq I Talented Woman Who m l r Came Here Originally x t affSA H in the Steerage j- j Hp H Jn m a aM f- f M but Found S t feC y I She Just t p- p py y X S Couldn't s 44 fr fI n III k f I Do It JI 1 Ake At 1 t 4 Agarn 4 j 11 1 h w TN IS p py s y u dF r A medical examination of an immigrant immigrant immigrant grant baby at Ellis Island to s see C if it is u fit for tor admission to this country I By Richard Duffy cant can't bo an Immigrant You YOU This is tho POSItive assertion e D f v of Anzia the Russian immigrant girl who roso from a sweatshop to tho the position of one fiction writers of the tho of the distinguished day She tried to relive her experience as 83 an immigrant but a failed ed before the public had had- had bad Her lir success failure ii i n AV the made mado her ber confident hr In I from Eu- Eu EuI Europe Eu steerage on a return voyage vo has left her disturbed and more rope about the tho lot of the anxious than ever I of homeless and the poor and hungry whom she sho is the prose lyrist She had succeeded In so many ways during the twenty years since her first arrival in this country and her success and failure have shown all the clash of drama For instance the first time timo she eho went to the Waldorf-Astoria Waldorf it was to toI slip furtively into the entrance for em- em employees employees em I and ask askot Son a job She Sho would ha e liked to have been a waitress but Dut she felt she didn't look good enough for that so eo she begged for work as a dish dish- dishwasher dishwasher washer dish washer or scrubwoman Even such work was Vas denied her Two years later she was wasI I the guest of honor in the same hotel at ata attended by various vanous literary J a dinner II 1 f fa persons of eminence Her housework and cooking experiences Here ere gained gamed during the slack season of the sweatshop and she became proficient I enough 81 a as a domestic to obtain a nee ree school scholarship in a domestic science Soon she became tired of cooking and de- de decided decided de decided to be a writer although one of the faculty at the domestic science school told her she must be mad to have such I an idea The sanity of her madness was pro ed pros ed edin in the course of a few years by the ap- ap apI ap learance I of Hungry Hearts and Sa Sa lome of the Tenements stories of ghetto IMe life which are too well known to bo be de- de desCribed described de described scribed further here Similar to the sharp contrast of her the lawas Asto Waldorf Waldorf-Asto-Ia two appearances at was as her experience in San Francisco where here once she walked the streets hunt hunt- hunting hunting ing for v work ork and where four years ears later she gave a public lecture on tho occasion of which hundreds were turned away because the house was full With prosperity came the desire to base ha the vacation vacation the first in a twenty years And then there was the longing to see seo Europe again agam to see London and Paris not as she had seen New York first as a poor immigrant but as a per per- person person per person son with an American background and ideas and competence It is only human to be glad to get something for nothing she told me and and my American money In London and Paris seemed to to enable me mo to do that hat Think I who slaved sla so in sweat sweat- sweatshop sweatshop shop and kitchen to have a w woman nan working work work- working ing mg for me for less than 25 cents a morn morn- morn log mg I as was ashamed of myself when I really considered the advantage I had over other people in m this way All the time of my vacation in Lon Lonn London don and Pans Paris where I lived modestly but comfortably and was very well received re- re received re received I was In inwardly ardly disturbed by the tho notion that I was having things so much better than many of my own o people That first of all is why I tried to como coma back as a steerage passenger I be- be belonged be belonged longed to these people once and by com corn comIng coming ing steerage I would save a good deal of money with which I t might help people Her lIer appearance is In no tio sense liter lI r- r ary nry If it any such thing as a literary ap appearance eXI exists ts In her pear plain but exI ex ex- ex I silently chosen attire she suggests rather an nn American woman but when she hc talks you feel that for al all she her practical knowledge of life sho she sees the world orld largely a poets poet's e eyes es asked her how the steerage now vOm- vOm oni- oni pares with the steerage of twenty years ago and she sho said tM a on 3 p r rt ar i wi i a s w d rid f a tr ysa i v va M Myro y f H r ad H 9 k Eka bT i j q r rH j 3 F tY r Rr Ii r SV In the coveted land landof of opportunity at last after r f fv v x t Si 9 t Y Yv v W a t rs t years of hoping and striving but not yet pau e au q 1 sure whether stern Unde Sam will permit a s p b V them to find finda a home here or send them by tiL z x y i back to Europe tr 4 3 at ata a 3 t P F 4 t ty a t yar i iF 1 ej t rt r rr r rM M k ti 4 f RYA ss a a a h hk L 4 1 k a Anzio Anzia the former fonner finial wye x r ra a s sp p ti r graft grat girl who started life in this CV 14 W Wr Wa r a f k country looking for work as a ae t e r r t dishwasher in a New York hotel 44 1 e and is 3 now one of Americas America t A successful authors a i Three possible future American citizens just off the x carrying a A f Et g grY n f rr y yA n A k r Ne rY i the steamer in New Yc Y York irk wearing and carrying carryings 6 u a all their a s s worldly p n- n I it r x i Still I felt that S Ier I belonged there ere an and andI er 4 1 The luxurious swimming pool which the first cabin I 1 said to myself d passengers on a great ocean liner enjoy enjoy-a enjoy a What is the matter p striking mattering I t ing contrast to the surroundings which Miss with you Twenty 1 a found foud in the crowded steerage years ago ego you didn't where the immigrants travel even ha have hae e white whito v t tablecloths tablecloth I tried s eg f f s a w t o a cl cla t J Nw vh A L Ei r r T d a y py 2 t tr tx d r n Y i iA A x c tt Anew A new arrival at Ellis Island under undergoing going the rigid physical examina examina- examination examination examination tion which the government requires Twenty years ago it was as good enough for me And yet t twenty enty years ago It was per cent worse They have and many mallY other conveniences now When I came hue first it was nothing but squalor and dirt and sea sea- sickness seasickness This not so much the fault of tho ship perhaps as of the people who knew nothing about cleanliness Som Soma of them didn't take lake a bath from the time we before left Europe and hadn't for weeks ecks be- be be fore we got on the boat But in my twenty years in America I had become so 80 accustomed accustomed to the refinement and daintiness that naturally como coma through cleanliness that I found the steerage im- im impossible im impossible possible belonged even though I felt I really be- be be longed there Besides I had read rend so much about the hard times immigrants had in travel I ing in to them to know the contrast between their condition and that of people in the sec sec- second sec second ond and in the first class I i The first discrimination it seemed to tome tome tome me was the requirement that third class third passengers had to leave London Landon by a boat train at least seven hours before the first and second class dass passengers left You see the time of third class people IS not considered as ns being worth anything Then when the tho third-class third people ar- ar arrived arrived ar arrived rived at the port tired and anxious about the future they were Immediately obliged to strip in order to permit a physical ex- ex ex examination animation especially to see if they ere clean and had been vaccinated This I felt to be an insult Besides I dont don't be be- believe be believe lieve in vaccination I would lie le to sn saso myself from vaccination The reason the steerage have havo to reach the tho port car earlier her I could see was as that this examination and tho embarking of these people required time and the poor always have time to stand standon standon standon on line e everywhere None of these those m- m in inconveniences conveniences are arc suffered by people of the first and second class and these dif dif- differences dif differences always strike my mind sharply Supper was as the first meal And Ami just to see ECO it coming toward me killed k my appetite Plates thrown at you ou Thick plates very ery thick Bread cut so thick that it jook ook your our hunger away Think of the suffering if you ha have base e sensitive nerses to see seo sausage and sauerkraut t No soup Some coffee from big coffee coffeepots coffeepots pots Thick chunks of meat for tor sand sand- sandwiches sandwiches sandwiches Somo Soma boiled beet beef It wasn't a delicate repast for people from famished countries Even they wanted some reo re re refinement There Thero was as w as no attempt at any cIvIlized refinement And yet it was much twenty years ago But when I gradually took note of the people and their ways at well table well the spirit is willing but the flesh is ie weak I sas Was faint I couldn't drink the coffee I think that table mans manners man man- manners man ners are the beginning of all culture s to talk with myself reasonably It was clean and the waiters were nice enough they mean meant well Twenty T years ago there wasn't any courtesy I tried the I 1 lit lit- little lit little next t ne morning was a tle tie more hungry Even then it was Im- Im Impossible im impossible possible I 1 spoke to the ste steward ard s ho said bald lied hed give me mo a tray or let me eat eathen when hen the others were not But ButI ButI I was thinking that for the same amount of money the company could to give something light for those who ho cant can't eat such coarse food I lid eat did eat some Borne apple sauce served In plates but that was all I saw my health wouldn't allow me to go through the whole week under such conditions Well I felt like a failure Here I wanted to be one of the tho steerage and I felt that my sense of smell and my sense of sight eight had hampered me from being one of them I couldn't eat with them themAs neighbor As people I felt everyone every one was my neigh neIgh- bor and friend I felta felt a warmth toward them and I felt one of them but I couldn't eat the meals I f felt lt ashamed to be fn favored to be b treated better than the others So I de- de de decided d to faco taco my failure frankly frankly and have myself transferred to the second class I need my comfort Physically I Iam Iam Iam am not able to eat such coarse bread and such thick of I pieces meat cant can't Iwo lIvo without salads and green vegetables As soon as I got to the second class classI I was well again I had been on the way to seasickness But when I I paid tho the additional fare the tho terrible consciousness of lifes life's in- in injustice injustice in injustice justice came upon me Just because I had th the money to pay the difference I could have ha all oil this loveliness this awls cl civili all this culture and service of the second dais class The Tho difference In money is about Oc Occasionally Id I'd invite some of the tho third class with Ith me to my meals Then one day I thought to myself I might just justas justas justas as we wego go and see the first class The Tho difference between the tho first and second is almost as great as between the sec sec- second sec second ond and and third Classes seem natural on onland onland onland land and the people of the different classes are so far apart they hardly know of each other But in traveling at sea when we are so near to the ocean and sky and all there is is ocean and sk sky the tho injustice of classes and the tho power of money chills ones one's a soul naul soul In the third class there is no attend attend- attendance attendance ance on the passengers except during meals Four people are aro allotted to a cabin and the tho hygienic conditions are wonderful Besides you have all the hot an and d cold w water ater ater you want In the third class doss are much the most interesting people I 1 met a r a a young oung boy and boy and a musical composer I Imet Imet Imet met scholars coming to see ace America But Butmore Butmore more mor o important nt than these were some beautiful peasant women from Czecho Czecho- CzechoSlovakIa slovakia Czechoslovakia I wish I 1 had the power of showing the beauty of these women's faces In them are the majesty and the stillness of the open fields they came from It hap hap- happened happened on Sunday that they began to sing their thelt hymns and when passengers of the second and first classes heard the marvelously blended melody of these coarse women they were drawn as by a magnet Out of the wonder onder and the tho loneliness of their fields and their bini- bini sim simple pie piety this music musie was woven But it aaa was as not always so peaceful In InthIs inthis inthis thIs third class where in m miniature you saw the tho nationalist cockpit of Europe The class feeling there is nationalism race raco conflict An Irish Insh woman present wouldn't eat witha with a Polish woman whom lle called a The Irish woman wanted anted a table to herself and herself and got it The Tho Polo Pole wouldn't cat eat witha with a German whom hom she designated without com compliment compliment pl- pl ment Their were open their feelings unbridled unbridled the unbridled third the ass is alive o I When When you travel in in the second or first class it is like being in a hothouse None Nono of them with their suave superior Lored air commit th themselves on any point The Tho whole world orld seems coming to them because they are paying for It LIfo Life to them is nothing but an indolent bore mere ease case of the flesh No Now in the third class all the things that caused the war and the race raco hatreds the war or were active among theM thea the M a Poles the Germans the Irish the Eny Eny- lish the Slovakians Czecho the tho Hunga Hunga- Hungarians Hungarians rians clans and even among a few America is present And yet these people were ere In- In Intensely in intensely tensely more moro real to me than those in inthe inthe inthe the second and first classes In their faces was as the look of faith and hope In Inthe inthe Inthe the America they were coming to leaved There was nas also that timid cautious ex- ex expression ex expression of the v n into the unknown I believe the people in the Mayflower had the same look 1001 Their minds were ere elastic their atten attention tion eager for were they not ad adventurers er ers into a new world of promise leav leaving ing behind them an anold old world orld of defeat and decline Thele were peasants and mechanics painters and musicians I met a humor humor- humorist 1 a 1st-a a kind of Central Europe Mark who Twain who ho raised laughter esery e Cr hero shere and made even the most travel weary travel lift up their faces in sm smiles es I met a young fellow coming from t s 8 Ukraine to study painting in m America I took him up into the se second cond and the rho first first- first class class regions to show him the beauty and the tho comfort that money can buy The Tho ship was his first glimpse of America America- America to him the tho ship was America When wo 0 came back to the steerage he said to nie mo bitterly Ill give up painting and get monty money somehow easier if money can make mahe all this difference I gas as rong to have shown him these things I 1 think for I only made mado him unhappy Perhaps if a little more notice given to the need for esthetic aesthetic diverSIon In tho the third class regions of the ship the passengers rs there would not feel their condition so keenly Howe However er I am a biased observer because as I |