The independent., 1907-04-25

| muscle and brain have been offered
| again and again, and sick at heart,
the unWanted are turning their faces
1 TO the west; work, comfort, it may be
fortune, are waiting across the ocean.
| They must depart and seek them.
| But the severing of the last link
with the old country is trying, in
some cases an agonizing ordeal and
most Of the faces Of the emigrants
are white and troubled.
| Well meaning friends are doing
their best to lessen the grief Of part
ing; but there is something grimly
suggestive of the last rites in their
lyrical and oral efforts in this direc-
tion. And it would have been better
for the emigraEts il some of them had
stopped at home.
That pallid girl, for instance, whose
swollen red eyes are the only touch
OF color In her deathly face. 1t would
have been better for the young fellow
to whose arm she is clinging as a
drowning man might cling to the rope
which is drawing him back to life
1t would have been better for him to
have faced the last midnight alone
They walk to and fro among the
crowd, and every now and then he
bends to speak to her. But she says
never a word, she only looks bIankly,
dreadfully, before her, contemplating
perhaps a life which must be lived
without the only glimpse of sweetness
and hope that has ever entered into
it,
And the fearful young wife with the
child which whimpers increasingly be-
cause its mother Weeps--her husband
who sits by her side might have been
launched more cheerfully into the new
life. which starts for him tonight.
Nearing the Emu.
All are not sad, however. Some are
laughing and chatting manfully. and
In dim corner entirely by himself
sheepish lad Of sixteen or so Is try
ing to infuse something Of lightness
into his lonely lot by grooming most
dismally on mouth-organ.
The hum of talk grows deeper as
fresh arrivals swell the volume, and
snatches reach me as / mingle with Z
the crowd. m
Well. Bill 'Arris. e did all right,
any'oW' Never mind, old girl never
mind" Bill Arris, e saye o."
Shut up, you fidgety little brat!" Eyes
starts at p"
And so the chatter -snatches reach
me. The talk is entirely common
place. 1t is only on the stage that
they are a WEAKNESS to the flesh.
Now the, time for departure draws
near. A~general move is fnade,'f for,thp \
train which takes the emigrants to
Liverpool. Mothers are packing their
little ones away into beds, impr ovised
on the hard carriage seats, fathers are
beginning to get fidgety; young men
who have, till now, resolutely declined
the have just one" SO oft repeated
by leave taking friends, observe the
time is too short now for much liquor.
and yield. All me! / wonder how
many men have been driven out Of the
country by just such we'll meaning
friends? s,.1.3tf
Half dozen black coated clergy
men arrive, and, giving a CHEEKY word
here and there, gather together the
parties for which they are responsible,
and bundle them into the train. which
is filling rapidly now.
The farewells are becoming hurried
and feverish now, everyone seems to
be kissing everyone else, healthy
hustle checks any tendency to NOR
bidity which might have been exhib-
tied. The carriage doors are closed,
the last good-byes are said through
the carriage windows; the guards
whistle blows, and slowly the monster
moves out of the station. A cheer is
raised from the platform, and another
load OF the unwanted has departed
from the land of their birth in most
cases never to return again.
Is 1t safe, l wonder, to speculate
on what will ultimately become of this
pathetic little batch Of the unwanted?
How many will find that the first OBJ
Jectionable syllable Of this objection
able word will be expunged and that
tney nave regained the right to live
and respect themselves? Many, trust.
hope and think: for beneath all the
tears and the forced laughter. the
banter. and, alas! the Dutch courage.
there is an air of quiet resolution and
sturdy intention.
Goodbye and GoaI Luck.
| think II will be the fault of the
new country they are bound for IL