Page 125 - The Legacy of Abraham Rothstein - text

Immigration and sweatshops

After a stay of ten days in Liverpool, I embarked on the Cunard
liner Lucania, leaving the continent and remaining between sky and
water for six days. Living in steerage below the water line is like being
in the ground below the surface of the earth; it is not a pleasant place,
but on a big ship—the Lucania was the largest ship afloat at that
time—there was room on the deck to walk around and avoid sea
sickness, so I had it much better than on that freighter on the North
Sea. The food was good, but who could eat and enjoy it down below
where the engine noises and oil smells jitter the stomach and whiz
around the brain? I was reminded of Jonah the prophet, thrown
overboard from his cockleshell of a boat when it encountered a
severe storm in the Mediterranean Sea. In the hundred and seventh
chapter of the Psalms, the writer-poet describes the stormy sea:
“They that go down to the sea in ships that do business in great
waters: these see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep.
For He commandeth, and raised the stormy winds, which lifteth up
the waves thereof; they mount up to the heaven, they go down again
to the depth; their soul is melted because of trouble, they reel to and
fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.”
I was not a good seaman. I felt dizzy and avoided food as much as
I could. Seasick and among hundreds of men who did not
understand one word of my language, I became self-conscious and
began to analyze myself and my position. Where was I going, to
whom, and what was I to do for shelter and food? Practically all of
those steerage passengers had their passage prepaid by relatives in the
United States, and their mood got better as we got closer to the
Promised Land. The assurance that relatives would receive them on
arrival and care for them until they established a home made them
feel happier as the troubled voyage came to an end. But I had no
clear idea of what to do, and the nearer we got, the more my anxiety
increased that I would be sent back to the old country, where they
were looking for me for desertion from the army.

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