He was now earning a regular salary for the first time in his life and he began to save his money. He was as determined as ever to get to America, and help to put down the wild Indians about whom he had heard, and no doubt he still had visions of himself parading about in a general’s uniform. At last he saved enough to cross the Atlantic and he arrived in New York harbour one Saturday morning in October, 1891. The first thing he did on Monday morning was to seek out a recruiting office and try to join the army. There he met with a bitter disappointment. He was told that a knowledge of the English language was necessary for military service, and so his hopes were shattered. He knew only a few words of English and could not carry on a conversation. A severe illness followed and all his savings vanished. He found himself alone, in a strange land, without friends and without even a knowledge of the language. His plight at that time was a serious one. He searched everywhere for employment but without success. Often he walked the streets of New York, penniless, hungry and discouraged. At one place where he tried to get work he was told that he looked too seedy and unkempt. The man led him to a mirror and he had to admit that he was a sorry-looking specimen. His clothes were torn and dusty and he looked as though he hadn’t had a good wash for months. He was given soap, a towel and a brush, and soon he looked like another person. That same night he got a job. He worked as a shirt-packer in a sweatshop. The hours were long and conditions far from pleasant, but Aaron worked with all his might and found that he could earn eighty cents a day. It seemed a good deal to him at that time and he was just beginning to congratulate himself when a strike was called and he went out with the others. Soon after he secured employment in a shirt factory. In that factory was a young man named Steve who had organised a workers’ education movement. One day this man asked Aaron Drucker to join the class studying English. Perhaps it was because he felt ashamed of his ignorance, but he hesitated and did not seem eager to attend. “Can you read or write English?” asked Steve. Aaron admitted that he could not do either. “Have you a mother?” persisted Steve. Upon being told that she lived in Russia, he said: “If you could read and write you could hear from her. Then you would know what is going on in the village where you were born, and you could let your mother know where you are and how you are getting along.” That decided Aaron. He admitted that he had not heard from his mother for five years and that day he began to attend the noon class.