The Washington times., 1911-05-04
CHAPTER w.
We Emigrate to America.

L Murphy. He was a mar
with not a gray hair in his
head who was a sort of man-of-all
work for the neighborhood. He tool
care of my furnaces and fused abou
the grounds when i was tied up at the
office with night WORK. He stopped mt
with rather a shamefaeed air. =
Beg pardon, sor," he began. ''bu'
I've got a bill comm, due on the new
house
! remembered that / owed him some
fifteen dollars. had in my pocket just
ten cents over my carfare. But what
arrested my attention was the mention
of a new house.
You mean to tell me that you're
putting up a house?'
The bit of a rint. sor, in -
street"
The contrast was dramatic. The man
who emptied my ashes was erecting
tenements and 1 was looking for work
that would brlns~me in food. My people
had lived in this country some two
hundred years or more, and Murphy
had probably not been here over thirty
There was something wrong about this
but / seemed to be getting hold of an
idea.
How old are you. Murphy" / asked
Com OH sixty, sor.''
You came to America broker
Dead broke, sor."
You have a wife and children?'
"A woman and six childer."
Six! Think of 1t! And l had one.
Children in school?'
/ asked it almost in hope that here,
1t TS Least l ITSoSg1Id would hold d,, the advantage.
lie spoke it proudly. Well he might.
but 10 me II was confusing.
AND nave YOU enough left over TO put
Up a houSe?' / stammered
It's better than the bank" Murphy
said, apologetically.
And you aren't an old man yet" 1
murmured.
old, sor?"
Independent. Murphy. You're-S But
l guess ] talked a bit wild. / don't
know what / said ! was breathless,
Iightheaded. 1 wanted to get back to
Pat I said. seizing his hand; Pat,
you, shall have the money within a
week. I'm going to sell out and emf
I'Emigrate:- he gasped. Where to?"
1 laughed. The situation now seemed
easy.
why. to America. Pat. To America,
where you came thirty years ago" /
left him staring at me. I hurried into
the house with my heart in my throat.
found Ruth in the sitting room with
her chin in her hands and her white
forehead knotted in frown. She didn't
hear me come in. but when l. touched
her arm she jumped up, ashamed to
think l had caught her looking even
puzzled. But at sight of nv face her
epression changed in a flash.
Oh; Billy" she cried. It's good
snItsrGa Its q way out-if YOU approve"
7 do, Billy" she answered, without
waiting 10 hear.
THE Then listen" 1 said. IF we were
living in England, or Ireland, or France
Or Germany and found life as hard as
this, and some one left US five hundred
collars, what would you advise doing?"
why, we'd emigrate, Billy" she said
Exactly. Where to?"
ITO America -
Right" 1 cried. And we'd be one
out of a thousand if we didn't make
good, wouldn't we?'
why, every one succeeds who comes
here from somewhere else" she ex-
claimed.
And why do they?' 1 demanded, get
ting excited with my idea. why do
they? There are a dozen reasons. One
is because they came as pioneers-with
all the enthusiasm and eagerness of ad-
Venturers. Life is fresh and romantic
zest to the game. Another reason is
that it is all a fine, big gamble to
them. They have everything to gain
and nothing to lose: It's the same spirit
West TO try their luck, to pre-empt
homesteads in the Northwest, to till the
prairies. Another reason is that they
come over here free-unbound by CON
please, live as they please They
haven't any caste to hamper them An
other reason is that, being on the same
great adventure, they are all brothers.
b TNNnll FtaW.
is that as emigrants, the whole United
States stands ready TO help them with
schools and Fairgrounds and hospitals
and parks.
1 paused for breath. She cut in ex-
citedly:
"Then we're going out Vest"
NO: we haven't the capital for that
BY selling all our things we can pay
our debts and have few dollars over,
but that wouldn't take us to Chicago.
I'm not going ten miles from home"
Where then, Billy"
You've seen the big ships come in
along the waterfront? They are bring
ing over hundreds Of emigrants every
year and landing them right on those
docks. These people have had to cross
the ocean to reach that point. but our
ancestors made the voyage for you and
me 200 years ago We're within ten
miles of the wharf now"
She couldn't make out what | meant.
why: wife O mine" I ran on, all
TO the dock and start from there. We
must join the emigrantS and follow
than into the city. These are the only
people who are finding America today.
We must take up life among them; work
g s they work: live as they live. Why, 7
feel my back muscles straining even
now; ] feel the tingle of our coming
down the gangplank with our fortunes
yet TO make in this land of opportunity.
Pasquale has done it; Murphy has dong
Il. Don't you think ] can do it,
She looked up at me. | had never
seen her face more beautiful. 1t was
flushed and eager. She clutched my
arm. Then she whispered:
My NANNY wonderful, good man.
The primitive appellation was in itself
like whiff of salt air. 1t bore me
back to the days when a husbands s
chief function was just that-being
man to his own good woman. We
looked for a moment into each others
eyes. Then the same question was
born TO both of us in moment.
What of the boy"
1t was a more serious question to her,
] think, than II was to me. knew
that the sons of other fathers and
mothers had wrestled with that life and
come out strong. There were Murphy's s
boys, for instance. OF course, the life
would he new to my boy, but the keen
competition ought to drive him to his
best. His present life was not doing
that AS for the coarser details from
which he had been SO sheltered-well a
man has to learn sooner or later, and I
wasn't sure but that II was better for
him to learn at an age when such things
1 I