The Immigrant Tide, Its Ebb and FlowSteiner, Edward Alfred
History
The Immigrant Tide, Its Ebb and Flow
Steiner, Edward Alfred
United States -- Emigration and immigration
Half savage as the Albanian is, he has a fine feeling for womanhood.
Woman is man's fortress; for he is safe from the enemy's bullets when in
her company, and she may kill the man who has broken his troth with her.
While the men are loyal to Mr. Baldwin, they feel for Mrs. Baldwin a
sacred awe, and well she deserves their reverence; for she has been
mother and sister to these homeless youths and has taught them the
English language by a method of her own.
Most of the Albanians in Jamestown, and many of those who have scattered
east and west from there, carry with them Mrs. Baldwin's letters, which
are the English lessons for the week, combined with cordial greetings, a
word of good cheer, and advice.
In the prayer-meeting room of that church of the pilgrims, these newest
of the pilgrims sang that night their national hymn.
Ce me gne te Kollozhégut,
Ch'u fillua Shocerija,
Ce me gne te Kollozhégut
Ch'u fillua Shocerija
Ch'u fillua, brénda m'u ne Sofijé
Per skoli nde, Shciperi.
Ch'u fillua, brénda m'u ne Sofijé,
Per skoli nde Shciperi.
Burra, burra djéma, burra djém,
Burra djém perpicuni.
Burra, burra djéma, mbuhuni,
Mbushuni mé dashuri.
S'jémi Gréker as Bulgare,
Jémi trima Shcipetare
S'jémi Gréker as Bulgare,
Jémi trima Shcipetare
Dhente Zoti la me la,
Afer ghér nde Pérendi,
Dhente Zoti la me la,
Afer ghér nde Pérendi.
Burra, burra djéma, burra djém,
Burra djém perpicuni.
Burra, burra djéma, mbushuni,
Mbushuni mé dashuri.
The music is savagely martial, although the words are commonplace; for
the Albanian, like the rest of us, is thanking God that he is not as
other people, especially the detested Greeks and Bulgarians.
After the singing, the men danced. Shades of the Puritan ancestors!
Dancing in a prayer-meeting room! But inasmuch as these were
semi-civilized people, the dance was decent and full of religious
symbolism. The men swayed their agile bodies to the wild notes, bent the
knee, then two by two joined hands, forming a cross; thus making their
dance an act of worship.
Then I spoke to them of their mountain home and of this one; of their
old tribulations and their new opportunities; of their old feuds and
their new friendships. When I finished, they crowded around me and
pressed my hand, because they had found one who knew them, their fierce
nature and their unsurpassed devotion to their native land. I could not
help thinking of their brothers who, ten years before, chased me along
the shore of Lake Skutari with guns.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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