The next task was to find Ferruchio Vazzana, a Gualtieri man who at that time had a small store on East Fifteenth Street near Second Avenue, and to whom Nunzio Giunta was “raccomended”; then Tommaso Figaro, a painter from Gualtieri, who would be sponsor for Nicola Curro. His address was 520 East Fourteenth Street. Nicola and Nunzio went with Antonio and me, and we had barely entered the Italian district of that part of the city when two or three men from different directions came flying toward us, throwing their arms about Nunzio, Nicola, and Antonio. They were all Gualtieri people, and in a few minutes I found 229myself outside of an excited throng8 centred about the newcomers and talking at a rate that left me entirely9 in the dark as to what was being said. When they did remember me, the boys found great difficulty in explaining how I, an “American proper,” came to be so closely associated with them, and I noticed a marked cooling of the enthusiasm among the people about. They were extremely suspicious of me.
In the crowd were two brothers of Tommaso Figaro, and they led the way to his little two-roomed home, for the first of a series of visits about the tenements10 of the neighborhood, among old friends from the village, which I was compelled to terminate at last by dragging Antonio away and starting for Ellis Island to look after the baggage. Nicola and Nunzio were left in the midst of their friends, who were chaffing them, calling them “greenhorns,” and poking11 fun at their “old-country” clothes. We met other lately arrived immigrants, some who had been with us on the Prinzessin Irene, and pressure was being brought on them to get them to lay aside the attire12 which marked them as new arrivals. A month later Nunzio and Nicola did not look like the same men.
When we arrived at the Barge13 Office, Mike Delaney, the veteran Battery policeman, who has handled millions of immigrants, was lining14 up the aspettati to go on board the boat which was substituting for the old John G. Carlisle, she having broken down at last, and we found ourselves jammed among hundreds. It happened that the morning newspapers had had articles concerning the arrival of our party, and wherever we went the word was passed among the immigration officials that Antonio and I were the leaders of the group.
230We found that a part of the baggage had already been sent to the pier15 of the Stonington Line, but some of the trunks had heavy customs charges against them, and the owners, Concetta, Nastasia, and Pulejo must sign the papers in Boston. We contrived16 to get through in time to catch the second boat back, and only emerged at all from the tangle17 of checking, expressing, and receipting at the Barge Office by the kindly18 aid of the officials there. I found myself wondering how the immigrants who persist in bringing such confused quantities of baggage ever get it to its destination at all, and was thankful that our troubles with our impedimenta were about over. Vain was my fancy, for there are tracers out for some of it yet.
On the returning boat I had an interesting talk with a Russian Jew by the name of Mottet Ianjge, who had just arrived. He came from near Odessa and had been met by his brother, a hatmaker employed by a Waverley Place firm, who acted as interpreter for us.
Mottet had just finished his term of enforced service in the Russian army, and had more than once been compelled to act in procedures against his own people, whom he said were driven about from pillar to post by the Russian authorities in a way that made America seem like a heaven to them; and when letters came from their relatives here, telling them of how free and easy life was, they were wild to escape from their surroundings, and many more would have followed his example but for the fact that officially circulated reports hinted of strange dangers and hardships which the immigrants must undergo. Before he entered the army he had been working for a farmer who paid him about $2.50 a week. The farmers through all that part of the country owned their own land, and their farms averaged in size from forty to fifty acres. Mortgages on these farms were increasing in number, and many of them were held by wealthy Jews in the towns. In the army Mottet averred19 his pay was forty-five cents per month, and his treatment was of the roughest sort. He was in fine physical condition, though, and looked forward to his work in this country with great eagerness.
Mr. Broughton Brandenburg, as He Looked when He Passed through Ellis Island as an Immigrant
231He pointed20 out to me a man, twenty years older than himself, heavily bearded, wearing the odd Russian cap, and with boots to his knees, whom he said had been cruelly treated by the Christians21 in his village, and had lost all his property through fire, as well as his wife and daughter. His only son was a conscript, and his father did not even know where he was, so he had borrowed enough money to come to America to begin life over again at the commencement of his old age.
By using great haste we got the party assembled and down to the Stonington Line pier in time to catch the night boat. I had intended to go with the Squadritos to Stonington, to see them entirely through to their destination, but an unforeseen obstacle arose in the form of Giuseppe Rota. Because he refused to be left alone to look after himself, I had been lugging22 him about all the latter end of the afternoon, and when we made our way down to the boat it suddenly occurred to me that if I went to Stonington I must either take him along, leave him standing3 in the darkness on the pier, or find some one to take care of him. It seemed easy enough to call a messenger boy, but when the uniformed mite23 arrived and I committed Giuseppe to his care to be taken back to 147 West Houston Street, Giuseppe raised his voice to heaven and bellowed24 like a bull, 232clinging about my shoulders and protesting that he was afraid I was sending him away to lose him, so that he might never see his uncle or any of his compadres from Avellino again, and if I did he vowed25 he would end all his suspense26 and suffering by plunging27 off into the dark river then and there, so I dismissed the messenger and took the party aboard, bade them good-bye for a short time, and took Giuseppe home again.
The group was quartered in the steerage compartments28 forward, which are often filled with two or three hundred immigrants, and inasmuch as they knew they would arrive in Stonington about two o’clock the next morning, they refused to try to get any sleep, but sat about talking and singing while the boat ploughed up the Sound. Ina, however, went to sleep in her mother’s arms, and her mother alternately laughed and cried, and hugged and kissed the sleeping child as she thought of the diminishing hours that separated her from her husband.
There were many other Italians aboard, all bound to the New England manufacturing towns, and they made merry on the way, and related the wonders which they had seen so far in the great new country.
At last the big whistle sounded in a long blast, and the boat slowed down. Soon she was bumping against the pier, and an officer was routing out the immigrants and getting them ashore29.
Antonio and Giovanni Pulejo were the first on deck, and as they appeared at the end of the plank30 a wild shout went up from a black group in the shadow, and they heard the familiar voices of Giuseppe, Tommaso, and Carlino calling their names through the darkness.
Soon all were ashore and mingling31 in a wild scene of embracing and kissing, men and women, men and 233men, women and women. When Camela had Giuseppe’s arms about her at last, all she could do was to lay her tired head on his shoulder and weep, while Ina stood at one side gazing with wonder on the strange, handsome man who was her father. She was having her first sight of him that she could remember, and preferred to take as good a survey as she could get in the dim light, from a point outside of the zone of embraces. When she had a chance she said to Concetta,
“I thought he was three times bigger than that, but he is nice.”
At last the party formed a procession, with Antonio and his happy wife in the lead, and marched up from the dock to the substantial old house on Water Street, on the first floor of which, fronting on the street, Antonio had his barber shop. He found that during his absence his brothers had had a disagreement about affairs in the shop, and Carlino had gone off to work for another barber. Carlino’s welcome, while warm enough, had a certain bitter tang in it which was the result of his acquired disdain32 of anything Italian, and his lack of sympathy for the things at home which made up the principal subject of interest in the family party just then. He has pronounced himself as all-American, and says he will never go back to Italy, no matter what happens, not even for a visit.
It was some hours yet before the final separation of the last of the family party when Concetta, Nastasia, Giovanni, and Felicia Pulejo, and Gaetano Mullura should take the train for Boston, and it was passed in excited chatter33 concerning all that had occurred since they had last met.
Shortly after daybreak the Boston party, weary beyond expression, got aboard the coaches provided for 234immigrants at the dock, and were whirled away. I had telegraphed Stefano Smedele and the other Harrison Street friends what hour they would arrive, and there was another joyful34 reception at South Station, and another trip through a bewildering confusing city to the Italian quarter, where the last group of the party was subdivided35.
Concetta is now living in the home of her uncle, and six months have served to make a great change in her. She has a new spirit, a new gayety and independence, and at my last news from her there are about twenty young Italians in and about Harrison Street who are madly in love with her, and from all I hear it will not be long before she makes a choice and has a home of her own. The chances are in favor of a fine young fellow who is employed in one of the factories as a machine hand.
Giovanni Pulejo is working as a barber in one of the South Boston shops, and Felicia is in one of the great shoe-factories at Lynn, Massachusetts. He says he finds the enormous machine process there very different from the handwork at the little benches in front of Merlino Carmelo’s shop back in Gualtieri.
Nastasia is helping36 his uncle, and is going to have a better education than he has. All have melted into the life of the Italian colony in Boston with an ease and an adaptability37 that are truly remarkable38, and now that they have learned enough English to understand what is said to them and to make some answer, they are beginning to enjoy life. The younger people suffered severely39 from the unaccustomed cold of the winter, but all have survived it, and I really think Concetta and Nastasia are the better for it.
Stonington—The Barber-shop—The Squadrito House
When Giuseppe Rota and I left the Stonington pier, 235he was in a wretched state because he realized that he had kept me from carrying out my plans, but I reassured40 him, and when we reached home my wife and I took him out to the best restaurant to which we could presume to go in our poor attire, and gave him what he said was the best dinner he had ever eaten. The pleasure which the poor peasant lad took in all that he saw and heard about him is only partly expressed in a sentence from a letter which he sent back to the folks at home in Avellino and came, round about, back to me:
“The signor and signora were to me as are my brothers and sisters; ... the place was a palace such as that of the duke; ... the American people are strange in not liking41 to be treated with the honorable respect that should come from common folks.”
The next morning he shouldered his little blue striped bag, and we started for the Jersey42 City station of the Pennsylvania Railroad. On the way we encountered three men in a group, whom I knew with the intimacy43 of long association. None of the three recognized me, and passed with amused scrutiny44. I called one of them by name, and he took to the gutter45 as if thinking he was about to be held up. Then came recognition, and I introduced Giuseppe. Suffice it to say that we missed the train we had intended to take.
Being greatly pressed for time, I endeavored to persuade Giuseppe to go alone on the next train to Newark, and in the station even found a Newark man who kindly volunteered to pilot him to his uncle’s house; but once again he flung his arms about me, and, to quiet him, I bought another ticket and went along.
As we got off the car in Newark and turned into the 236Italian district, the strains of bands fell on our ears, and soon we saw decorated arches spanning the streets, crowds of people in holiday dress thronging46 the way, and later a procession came by in which scores of little girls, marching in white, preceded a half-dozen strong men bearing a platform on which was a saint’s figure. The people were celebrating the feast day of the patron saint of Avellino, and the figure was covered with purses, medals, watches, etc., while heaped-up gifts lay at its feet.
As we neared the crowd some Avellino youngster saw us and ran ahead shrieking47 that Giuseppe had come. Again there was a half-hour’s wild embracing, laughing, and questioning, in which I found myself entirely forgotten for the time being, and when attention was turned my way it was of a very suspicious sort. Giuseppe told his relatives when we reached their house (back rooms in a ramshackle old frame affair) of the several things we had done in endeavoring to help him, and everything he related made the people about more suspicious. All became silent but Giuseppe. I felt constrained48 to go, feeling most unwelcome and somewhat resenting the unaccountable attitude of Giuseppe’s friends.
As I shook hands with him, he drew forth49 some small money which had been given him by some one in the crowd, and offered to recompense me in part, and said that when his uncle returned he would send me the whole of what I had expended50 for him. He had already given me back the seventy lire. When I told him plainly, and made it emphatic51, that what slight kindness I may have had the opportunity of showing him was not for any purpose of gain, and definitely refused the money, the people about underwent 237a strange metamorphosis: they hugged me and patted me on the back, two darted52 across the street for schooners53 of beer, a woman brought sweet cakes, a brand new willow54 rocking-chair was brought from another room for me to sit in, and for the remaining brief time I had to spend with them I was treated royally. Giuseppe’s cousin led in a joint55 apology for their coldness and concluded by saying,—
“You know American mans ain’t good to Eyetalyuns on’y he make de graft56.”
When I got back to Houston Street there was a telegram from Philadelphia saying that Genone and the four Socosa boys had arrived safely and would go to work the next day, the four youths going out to the mines, and Genone into a chair factory until he could find employment at his trade of cheese-making. So I knew the party was all safely distributed, and my wife and I began the process of returning to our former state of life. It is strange, but true, that it took us a full week to change social station. At first glance there would seem to be no bar in doing it in a few hours. When my wife and I had gone with a part of our party to my office on the day of our arrival, not a person in the place recognized us, and a half-hour later the editor of Leslie’s Magazine stood talking with Antonio Squadrito for some minutes, with my wife and I standing beside him, without recognizing us, so it is no wonder that when I went to the storage warehouse57 to get our effects the clerk refused to believe I was the man to whom the receipt I held had been issued. Agents and janitors58 refused to show us apartments in the garb59 we were in, and our clothes were in our stored trunks, so it is easy to see why it was a week before we got away from Houston Street.
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1
loath
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| adj.不愿意的；勉强的 | |
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hearty
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| adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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chary
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| adj.谨慎的，细心的 | |
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relinquishing
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| 交出，让给( relinquish的现在分词 )； 放弃 | |
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tiresome
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| adj.令人疲劳的，令人厌倦的 | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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throng
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| n.人群，群众；v.拥挤，群集 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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tenements
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| n.房屋，住户，租房子( tenement的名词复数 ) | |
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poking
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| n. 刺，戳，袋 vt. 拨开，刺，戳 vi. 戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢 | |
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attire
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| v.穿衣，装扮[同]array；n.衣着；盛装 | |
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barge
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| n.平底载货船，驳船 | |
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lining
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| n.衬里，衬料 | |
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pier
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| n.码头；桥墩，桥柱；[建]窗间壁，支柱 | |
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contrived
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| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
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tangle
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| n.纠缠；缠结；混乱；v.(使)缠绕；变乱 | |
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18
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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averred
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| v.断言( aver的过去式和过去分词 )；证实；证明…属实；作为事实提出 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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Christians
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| n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 ) | |
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lugging
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| 超载运转能力 | |
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mite
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| n.极小的东西；小铜币 | |
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bellowed
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| v.发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的过去式和过去分词 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫 | |
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vowed
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| 起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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suspense
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| n.（对可能发生的事）紧张感，担心，挂虑 | |
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plunging
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| adj.跳进的，突进的v.颠簸( plunge的现在分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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compartments
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| n.间隔( compartment的名词复数 )；（列车车厢的）隔间；（家具或设备等的）分隔间；隔层 | |
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ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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plank
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| n.板条，木板，政策要点，政纲条目 | |
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mingling
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| adj.混合的 | |
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disdain
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| n.鄙视，轻视；v.轻视，鄙视，不屑 | |
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chatter
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| vi.／n.喋喋不休；短促尖叫；(牙齿)打战 | |
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joyful
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| adj.欢乐的，令人欢欣的 | |
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subdivided
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| 再分，细分( subdivide的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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adaptability
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| n.适应性 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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reassured
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| adj.使消除疑虑的；使放心的v.再保证，恢复信心( reassure的过去式和过去分词) | |
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41
liking
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| n.爱好；嗜好；喜欢 | |
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jersey
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| n.运动衫 | |
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intimacy
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| n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行 | |
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scrutiny
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| n.详细检查，仔细观察 | |
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gutter
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| n.沟，街沟，水槽，檐槽，贫民窟 | |
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thronging
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| v.成群，挤满( throng的现在分词 ) | |
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47
shrieking
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| v.尖叫( shriek的现在分词 ) | |
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48
constrained
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| adj.束缚的,节制的 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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50
expended
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| v.花费( expend的过去式和过去分词 )；使用（钱等）做某事；用光；耗尽 | |
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51
emphatic
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| adj.强调的，着重的；无可置疑的，明显的 | |
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52
darted
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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53
schooners
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| n.（有两个以上桅杆的）纵帆船( schooner的名词复数 ) | |
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54
willow
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| n.柳树 | |
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55
joint
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| adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合 | |
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56
graft
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| n.移植，嫁接，艰苦工作，贪污；v.移植，嫁接 | |
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57
warehouse
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| n.仓库；vt.存入仓库 | |
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58
janitors
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| n.看门人( janitor的名词复数 )；看管房屋的人；锅炉工 | |
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garb
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| n.服装，装束 | |
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