The Iola register., 1883-06-22
The German Emisr.ns,

i
It was a sad, sad sight, in which was
blended tears and laughter. On the
Santa Fe train was a large family of
Germans SO fresh from the ship that you
could smell the steerage Odor. There
were fathers and mothers, brothers and
sisters, and a raft of little ones. Some
were able to crawl up and sit on seat,
others were still at the breast. They
were all bound for the Neosho Valley.
All were tired, hungry and worn-ou,
from four weeks passage. They had
left crowded Germany, where they had
been struggling for an existence, and
they were going to their new home in
the new world. If they started with any
money it gave out before they reached
Kansas City, for on the train they were
eating black bread and salt. When the
| children cried for meat or something
better than the stale black bread the
mothers hushed them and told them
! that they would soon be at Plymouth,
beyond Emporia, where they would
meet Uncle Heinrich and Aunt Lena.
and when they got out onto the farm
they would all have meat and milk.
80, il will be Heaven" said one OF
the women, 'to live in country where
our children can have all the milk and
meat they want!''
As the train passed Emporia the poor
Germans began to raise the windows
and admire the beautiful country along
the Santa Fe Road. The next station
was to be the long-hoped-for new home.
The mothers, wreathed in smiles, began
to wash the children's faces for the last
time. Then when the rosy-cheeked
children were fixed they took white
handerchiefs out of their bags and put
them around their own necks. Poor
women, they had but one dress on earth,
but as they were going to see brothers
and sisters and neighbors who had been
away from Germany and living in Kan.
sas for five years they wanted to look as
well as they could.
1.-The next station is the place." said
big, healthful German as he tied q
blue handkerchief over his old so;led
collar, land here we'll never be hungry
again. Here my little babies can have
all they want to eat"
"Will your friends meet you at the
train?' l asked, becoming deeply in.
terested in the poor but now happy
group.
'Yes, they know we are coming this
week, and they'll be down to every
train. Heinrich's farm is only two miles
off,"
'There they are waiting for u.s." said
the wife, stretching her head out of the
window, and sure enough there stood a
crowd of twenty American-Germans on
the platform as the train drew up.
Soon the fathers and mothers lead the
way off the train, carrying the big
bundles, the children following with the
dozens of little packages. As they strucl;
the platform brothers and sisters and
fathers and children came together in a
long embrace. Every eye was dimmed
with tears. Every voice faltered and
every throat choked with emotion. II
was the pother of great joy. But soon
they wiped their tears away and began
to laugh and pat and smooth each other
on the back. Then the Kansas Germans
lead them across the street to hotel
where big dinner was ordered. Fol
the first time in their lives these poor
German emigrants ate beefsteak. and
fried eggs and cake, and pie and fresh
Texas cabbage. 1t was worth days
travel to see those appetites appeased
became SO absorbed in the little epi.
sode that l could not keep my eyes of
of them. 1t was a scene of the most
heartfelt JOY ever witnessed. l could
not look at the scene without wipino
away tear myself, and | cannot speak
of it now without my throat choking
with emotion.
When the dinner was over they all
went out and got into new lumber
wagons, with bright green boxes and
rode out to the new home on the farm.
Having occasion to lay over in the
town, rode out to the new German
farm this morning, to see how the new
emigrants were getting along. l found
the Kansas Germans had had them all
over the farm before breakfast. When
[ got there they were showing their
stock. The happy emigrant would put
his hand on a colts back and smooth il
like a kitten. Then he would examine
harness, then take hold of plow
handle.
This" said the Kansas brother, '.is
the span of horses I've got for you,
John"
Then John would go and pat them on
their faces and look into their eyes.
The talk of the women in the house
sounded like a school intermission.
They were showing their stoves and
kettles, and showing how they burned
coal and wood instead of sticks, and
telling how, in Kansas, every one has
all the white bread and meat they want
Then" said one woman, ''there is nc
army here to take our men away. We
are sure our husbands will always stay
at home"
In two years these German emigrants
who looked so hungry on the cars will
own good farms. They will have horses
and cows and a green wagon to ride to
town in, and in ten years their farms
will be worth forty dollars an acre.
Their grandchildren will go to college,
be perfect Americans and fill positions
of honor and trust in the best State for
the poor man the sun ever shone on
Kansas.-EH Perkins, in Chicago Trib.
nne.
WooJs, U~ho~,