Lewiston evening teller. [volume] (Lewiston, Idaho) 1903-1911, 1907-03-28
Romance of Ellis Island


Why should story tellers rack their
brains for themes when romances are
happening every day under their noses?
Here, like a flower peeping from un-
der a heap Of rubbish, is romance
extracted from the most unromantic
thing In the world, an emigrant ship.
It only remains for the story teller to
put 1t In form. It Is not a tale of
young lovers: In the conventional
story romance ends with marriage
Nature knows no such division. Con-
ceive an old fruit tree bearing shortly
before 1t is cut down a single bit of
fruit into which the trees vitality has
been concentrated and you have the
kind of romance you are about to get
Forty years ago Herman Gurlich, a
a farm. married, raised a family and
prospered. His wife died, and one by
one his children left him to marry and
raise children of their own. For ten
years he worked his farm alone, and
then It occurred to him to relieve his
solitude by revisiting his former home
in Prussia. He did so, but failed to
find the diversion he had expected.
The place he had left as a village had
grown to be city, and the friends of
his youth who had not gone elsewhere
were In the churchyard. Disappoint-
ed. he turned his face again toward his
desolate home In America
w&h r L.
Berlin with her daughters, had a son
In America. Her daughters had been
with her since their birth, but her one
son had left her when he was q boy,
and she pinned to spend the few years
that remained to her where she might
occasionally see him. At last she could
resist the temptation to go to America
no longer.
Now it happened. This is a short
sentence, an incomplete sentence, yet
how much there Is in It'll What would
all the story tellers do If the two words
were blotted out from the worlds on
going? 1t happened that Heinrich Cur
Itch and Martha Leoser were passen-
gers on the same ship. One day they
sat side by side and fell to talking.
Gurlich retoiced with the mother In
her expectations at meeting her boy,
and Mrs. Leoser grleved with the old
man when he spoke of his return to
his lonely farm. They met frequently
on the voyage and on reaching port
parted with mutual regret.
In New York harbor, where they
landed, is Ellis island, danger point
for emigrants more to be dreaded than
submerged rock Of the ocean. Here
they must satisfy the officials that they
will not be burden upon the United
States. Gurlich had no trouble in do
ing 50 and took his departure. Mrs.
Leoser sent for her son. who lived In
one OF the environs Of New York. He
came, and for brief period the moth
err and her boy enjoyed their meeting
and the prospect Of at least living on
the same continent. But the young
man failed to satisfy the authorities
that he could support his mother. He
had large family of his own and was
at the time out Of employment His
mother, too old to support herself. had
no one else on whom to depend. The
decree went forth that Martha Leoser
must be deported to her native land.
Herman Gurlich, in the turmoil of
the metropolis, was alons-as much or
more alone than he would be when he
returned to his farm. In years he had
met but one person of his own genera
ton to give him one spark Of SYM
khn hA hoE
steamer. She had shown him a paper
bearing her sons address to ask how
she might find him. This address Cur
Itch remembered.
One evening there was rap at the
door of young Leoser. and upon its
being opened there stood Gurlich.
~Is Martha here?" he asked. He re-
membered only the widows first name.
mo, and she will not be here. She
Is 10 be deported."
Gurlich went into the house, and his
host told him that there was no hope
Of his mother remaining, since there
was no one to support her.
yes, there is one," said the old man
Mfter long pause.
"&1D2"
az. If your mother will marry me
and 60 to live with me on my farm she
need net go back to Germany"
In half an hour the two men were on
a boat speeding for Ellis island. They
tCsund the poor woman bemoaning her
fate. Her eyes lighted as she saw her
companion of the voyage.
And here the effort of the story teller
to put this humble romance In story
form breaks down. Never was o9fen Of
marriage made in form Dnore widely
diverse from the conventional proposal
laid down in printed rnmances. The
son took bis mother aside and told her
Of Gurlich's proposition. While mother
and son conferred the would be groom
stood making pretepse of looking at a
family Of Russian Jews eating sau-
sages. In few minutes Leoser return