Perth Amboy evening news., 1921-04-15

fthe purpose of making money, ant
then returning to my home-to Den
mart-to live and die. l was inter
estei in music, art, literature, pas
ticularly in literature, in poetry. II
Denmark, though l was only a clerl
and had only a clerks income.
could hear good music n nnt
among my associates men who coulc
talk with intelligence and sympath!
of art and literature. In America,
knew it would be different: l had
heard so much about American ma
terialism and the hunt for the al
| mighty dollar. that / feared that II
stayed permanently in America,
nv better belongings should be sub
merged in the maelstrom OF materi-
alism.
After settling my affairs and pay
ing for my equipment, there was
very little left of the money which /
had been able to raise; so | decided
that inasmuch as l had to start from
the bottom when / got to America, /
might just as well begin with the be-
ginning bought a steerage ticket.
[ went by way OF Great Britain.
sailing from Glasgow on an OLD
steamer that took eighteen days to
ross the Atlantic. But the trip was
Joyous enough. There were a few
Danes, and many Scotch and Irish,
the latter coming aboard when h
shin touched at Londonderry. The
good and the long trip
combined to make my small treasure
dwindle away: / had only n dollar
left when finally we came In sight
of America. 1t was an afternoon III
April, 1891. | remember distinctly
the eagerness with which we all had
been gazing shoreward to see the
first gleam of the promised land.
When the shore and green hills APP
peared on the horizon, seemingly
gliding up out of the ocean toward
us. | remember how l isolated my
self from the rest of the company,
and with eyes fixed on the new land,
thought of the future before me and
dreamed the dreams of youth and
ambition.i
1t was late evening when we came
in through the Narrows and anchor
ed off Tompkinsville for the night.
1t was unusually warm for the sea-
son-just like a beautiful, clear sum-
mer night. Some one brought out
a concertina; the rest of us lay
around on the deck, listening to the
music. Close to us, from the hin
sides of Staten Island, shone myriads
of lights. In front of us were Man
haitian and Brooklyn Joined by the
web-like span of the Brooklyn
bridge, all, everything wrapped in
light-oceans of light all around us.
Indeed, this was fairyland.
The next morning we landed at
Castle Garden. l was worried about
that single dollar in my pocket, for
the rules at that time required that
an immigrant have at least ten dol
lars. So I made an arrangement
with a fellow voyager who was a lit
tie better financed than / was; he
showed the necessary ten dollars to
the inspector, was duly passed, and.
once outside the fence, slipped the
ten dollars between the pickets of
the fence to me on the inside. l, too,
was duly passed.
Outside the gate I found my
younger brother waiting for me. He
had been working in a terra Gotta
factory. So after looking around for
a couple of days We secured work as
pressers in an architectural terra
Gotta plant located in Long Island
City. 1t was hard and unusual work
for me, my surroundings rough, ugly,
depressing.
The first years of an immigrants
life are always the hardest. These
years leave their marks and are
never forgotten. For the man who