Imported Americans: The Story of the Experiences of a Disguised American and His Wife Studying the Immigration QuestionBrandenburg, Broughton
History
Imported Americans: The Story of the Experiences of a Disguised American and His Wife Studying the Immigration Question
Brandenburg, Broughton
Italy -- Emigration and immigration; United States -- Emigration and immigration
Beginning to get a little exasperated, I led the way west into the
Italian quarter, and we successively tried the Italian hotels,—Hotel di
Campidoglio, Hotel di France, and one other. All refused us admittance.
By this time there was not a member of the party who was not exhausted,
so, gathering them together in the shelter of a building in the course
of construction, and leaving my wife in charge, Antonio and I went
hunting a roof for the heads of all of us. It was an hour later when we
mounted the steps at the same house in which my wife and I had lived. It
seemed ages since we had left the portal, but the good Signora Tonella
was there, looking just the same, and when she found out who it was
under the dirt and the Italian clothes she offered the three small rooms
she had, and, having no other chance, we accepted. Going back to the
Hotel di Campidoglio, I persuaded the proprietor to allow us to go into
the rear of the dining-room and get something to eat. It took the sight
of money to induce him. The waiter was angry at being requested to serve
us, and slammed plates and things on the table. A little silver acted as
a sedative to his nerves.
Poor little Ina went to sleep with a spoon in her mouth, and every
person at the two large tables was exhausted, it was plain to see. But,
with full stomachs once more, we took up the last stage of the journey,
and, shouldering our baggage, made our way the several blocks to 147
West Houston Street.
Not one of the three rooms had a full-sized bed in it, and but one had
space enough to spread a bed on the floor, yet after a distressing half
hour I got the fifteen persons still with us parceled out into the three
rooms, all except Giuseppe Rota, who was number sixteen. Try as I would,
I was unable to find room for him to stretch his hulking frame unless he
took to the doorsteps, so I escorted him over to the Branch of the
Society for the Protection of Italian Immigrants, a few doors west, and
put him up there. When he found he was to be left alone, he burst out
crying and declared he would never see his uncle in Newark again. I
reassured him, and told him I would come and get him on the morrow. I
remember leaving the place, and it is a fact I was so worn that, going
back to the house, settling the others for the night, and turning in
myself, left no impression on my memory, and I cannot say what happened.
We slept until after noon the next day, and then began the process of
assembling all the baggage, clearing it from the customs, and of
dispersing the remnant of our party to their various destinations.
[Illustration: The Immigrants’ Track Through Ellis Island]
_Explanation of the illustration entitled, “The Immigrants’ Track
Through Ellis Island,” facing this page_:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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