The new North-west., 1885-10-23
SOME QUEER PEOPLE
WHO COME ACROSS THE ZIG POND
IN The STeERAGE.
An Hour at Castle Gardeu-Ths First Step
into the Promised Land-Chndren,
Children Evcrywhere-Ths
First Meal Ashore.
New York World1


feature OF q ship-load Of immigrants at Cas-
tie Garden is the striking color of the new
comers' dress The women fairly rsvel in
sky blue shawls tied about their heads and
Magenta gowns or dresses Of o deep and In
sistent yellow. The men are quite as pro-
nounced In the color OF their garments, and
be il poor immigrant indeed who does not
blossom out in a brilliant indigo shirt or
pair Of greenish trouser'. No two styles Of
head covering are alike and the contrast Is
as picturesque as the boldest French painter
ever ventured to put into Breton coast
fishing scene. Even the babies dresses, and
there is always large proportion Of babies.
are as bright as their mothers' costumes and
quite as un-American.
1t Is this constant commingling Of chang
ing colors that makes the kaleidoscope pict-
ure at Castle Garden different from any
other in America That and the forms of
the women. Nowhere else can one see such
triangular or pyramidal women Not one
Of them has the slightest trace Of a waist
They seem built up from the ground in the
shape Of an Egyptian pyramid. The broad
skirts touching the floor form the base. and
lead up by unbroken straight lines to the
apex Of the pyramid-the head.
After the ship has landed her cabin pas
sengers at the dock. the crowded steerage
people plunge down the gang-plank into the
garden. The first step into the promised
land, their Eldorado, Is not wholly reassur-
ing. They thought America free coun-
try. but find themselves prisoners in the
garden, cut Off from every body by long
list Of rules and regulations printed In every
language that any body ever cared to learn.
Watchful attendants are at their side to tell
them what to do, and with the philan-
tbropic patience characteristic Of emigrants
they sit down to wait for fortune and the
boat They learn to work very early, and
the little girl Of 10 or l2 years employs the
idle time in knitting warm stockings that
will do good service in the cold northwest
farm lands whittier they are bound.
THE CHILDREN.
Sifted In every where as thick as stars in.
the milky way, are the children. They
seem to burst into blossom in Castle Garden
as naturally as the leaves crowd the trees
outside in Battery park. They only, Of all
the ships company. do not care fig for tbs
new surroundings The new country has
the same sunshine that they knew at home,
and there is the same fresdom for play that
they liked there. Every grown person
seems to have more chiliren than baggage
The usual rule is, the greater the one the
less OF the other. You can see motherly-
looking widowers leading and carrying long
strings of children and tired mothers wor-
rying over sick babies.
Back Of these, IL you stand on tiptoe AMI
look over their heads. you can see q little
group of two boys and girl clrtching each
other lightly hand in hand. About their
necks or sewed to their clothiug is tag.
1t Is written in low German and beys OF the
good American to forward the little tots to
their uncle who lives SINE ewhere in Dakota
or Manitoba They have come all the way
from Germany alone. Just a month ago
two children, one from Ireland and the
other from HOLLAND, exchanged their tags
with childish playfulness and it took reams
Of explanation to make the relatives believe
they had the right children.
These little emigrant are as rule too
young to realize their changed lots in life
and gambol on unconcernedly amid their
strange surroundings or sit with look of
supreme patience on their stolid faces
munching huge slices Of course rye bread
and Limburger cheese. for they can eat any
and every thing. and no fear Of cholera in
fantum disturbs their parents on their ac-
count
FIRST MEAL ASHORE.
One consolation the emigrant has at the
Garden that Is dear to him. He can buy
food In his own language and eat it the saIus
way IL he wants to There Is q bread coun-
ter where the prices are posted up in diff
ferent languages and where the purchaser Is
offered the choice of @Schwartz brod,
Pumparnckel, Wurst," and all the similar
articles Of food be has been accustomed to
across the water.
II the countenance is any indication, there
Il greater satisfaction In a supper made
ND of things with familiar names than orii-
nary people miss. The old man unties his
boarded pennies from the corner OF his
handkerchief where he keeps them, school
girl fashion, and invests in a loaf Of Pun
pernicxel The old lady buys a mug Of
beer and the two seat them selves 81 ie by
side ON an old box that con tains their entire
property and make the first meal in the
new country. 1t Is not much, but they en-.
Joy it, and he rolls over ami goes to sleep
ON the floor as naturally as IL he hal camped
out there for years.
Pets they bring too Of all kinds ami in all
conditions Of sea sickness. One OF tbs worst
specimens seen lately was grssn parrot
In q cage. It belonged to q boS o. 10 and
was the only friend be had in this country.
The parrot was Enthusiastically i'll and
moaned its fate In tol .ue that nobo ly but
the boy knew. Tue lad clung TO the cage
with homesick devotion, ani ths last seen OF
him he was loaded on q train. lvingly
carrying the cage under bis arm