Page 153 - The Legacy of Abraham Rothstein - text

Marriage and departure

thoughts, an unceasing longing for my family. A moment like that
leaves an imprint in the mind forever, until the last ebb of life
radiates in the brain cells. Her nearest relatives and a couple of
friends came on board to say goodbye and wish us a happy journey. I
left Fannie to her parents and brothers and sisters so she could have
her cry, which I could not witness with my own weakness for crying.
We assured them that she would come back to visit, and then that
deep hoarse whistle of the ship blew, that penetrating vibrating
hollow sound that makes your heart vibrate with it. It sounds a
warning that one is leaving terra firma and is given up to the mercy of
the waves and the wind. If one ever reads the psalm describing the
fury of the seas, when the ship is foundering and the sailors are on
their knees praying for their lives, then one can feel very blue at the
sound of that whistle.
The tickets for the journey to Los Angeles took about two
hundred dollars of the funds I had in the bank. That left me with a
balance of three hundred dollars, a paltry sum for two people to
travel on, find a home and furniture, and wait for a job or something
to happen to make a living. The work I did in New York provided no
prospects in Los Angeles, which had no factories of that sort. But,
when love is young and fresh, and reason is in its infancy, two young
people will build a cottage in the air without any furniture or
prospects for subsistence, and will travel three thousand miles away
from parents and friends, suffering hunger and privation; but love
will cover all faults and mistakes—Solomon said that in his time. We
left New York with one trunk, half of which was filled with some old
books of mine, and one suit of clothes each—which was on our
backs.
The first night of the journey the ship hugged the Atlantic
coastline, and the water was calm until the next morning. Then we
felt some rough seas and, being a poor sailor, I became seasick but
kept on my feet. Fannie did better, and we were getting along well—
until a storm set up in the Gulf of Mexico and the waves threw tons
of water over our cabin and got some apparel wet; then it was hard to
stand up. One day we were sitting on chairs facing the sea, and the
waves were very heavy. The ship rolled heavily, and we could see
waves coming almost up to our deck. Suddenly that harsh whistle
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