The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1907-03-21
Romance Of Ellis Island

DfuthS AVt oNncS NhNh tVuiohNVo Wv
happening every day under their noses
Here, like a flower pecping from un
der heap Of rubbish, IL a romano,
extracted from the most unromantl,
thing In the world, an emlgrant ship
II only remains for the story teller t.
put II In form, II Is not 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 II II cut down single bit OF
fruit into which the trees vitality has
been concentrated and you have the
kind Of romance you are about to set.
Forty years ago Herman Gurlich, a
Prussian. came to America. purchased
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 II occurred to him to relieve his
solitude by revisiting his former home
In Prussia. He did 80. but failed to
ind the diversion be had expected
The place he had left as a village had
grown to be city. and the friends Of
bis youth who had not gone elsewhere
were In the churchyard. Disappoint-
ed, he turned his face again toward bis
desolate home In America.
Martha Leoscr. widow living In
Berlin with her daughters, had son
In America. Her daughters had been
with her since their birth. but her one
son had left her when he was a boy.
and she pined to spend the few years
that remained to her where she might
occasionally see him. AT last she could
resist the temptation to 90 to America
no longer
Now II happened. This Is short
sentence. an incomplete sentence, yet
how much there is In II! What would
all the story tellers do II 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 rejolced with the mother In
her expectations at meeting her boy,
and Mrs. Leoser grieved 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
viii not be burden upon the United
States. GurlIch had no trouble In do
Ing so and took his departure. Mrs
Leoser sent for her son, who lived In
one Of the enyirons of New York. He
came. and for brief period the moth
er 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 a large family OF his own and was
at the time ont Of employment. His
mother. too old to support herself, had
no one else on whom to depend. The
decree went forth that Martha Leosef
must be deported to her native land.
Herman Gurllch, In the turmoil OF
the metropolis, was alone--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
pathy-the woman he had met on the |
steamer. She had shown him paper |
bearing her sons address to ask how
she might find him. This address Cur
llch remembered.
One evening there was rap at the
door of young Leoser, and upon It's
being opened there stood Gurlich.
els Martha here" he asked. He re-
membered only the widows first name.
"No. and she will not be here. She
b to be deported."
Gurlich went into the house, and his
lost told him that there was no hope
II his mother remaining, since there
was no one to support her. 1
Eyes, there Is one" said the old man
litter long rause.
who"
II. II your mother will marry me
Ind 60 to live with me on my farm she
reed not go back to Germany"
In half an hour the two men were on
/ boat speeding for Ellis island They
'ound the poor woman bemoaning her
ate. Her eyes lighted as she saw her
Of the voyage.
And here the effort Of the story teller
o put this humble romance In story
orm breaks down. Never was offer Of
marriage made In form more widely
liverss from the conventional proposal
aid down In printed romances. The
on took his mother aside and told her
4 Gurlich's proposition. While mother
md son conferred the would be groom
TODD making pretenss Of looking at a
amily Of Russian Jews eating sau-
ages. In a few minutes Leoser return.
ID and said his mother accepted the
'tfer. In vain the romance constructor
asts about for some stretch Of the