Page 43 - March On! God will Provide by Brother Aubert

TO AMERICA 23
Rev. Vincent Badin, from his older brother, Father
Stephen.
From Detroit, Ryken worked his way east to New
York City, and in this instance "worked" must be under-
stood in its literal sense.
Whenever Ryken reached New York City in the au-
tumn of 1832 or in the spring of 1833, he had to find
employment. In the great metropolis on the tip of
N{anhattan Island, then with a population of more
than two hundred thousand, gas mains had been laid
in 1825, but most people continued to use candles. To
rich and poor, gas was still a dangerous novelty. Those
who could afiord a comparative luxury used lamps in
which they burnt tallow oil or the rather expensive
whale oil.
Ryken elected to be self-employed. He hawked oil.
From door to door, he made the rounds, shouting his
wares, pouring out quarts or whatever quantity the
purchaser wished. The profit was small, but it was all
his, and he was no longer compelled to work from
morning till night as he had done on the lumber barges.
Now if he worked long hours, it was because he chose to.
Ryken's closest friends in New York were a Mr. and
Mrs. Ross who lived on Clinton Street near Grand. They
were Hollanders from Amsterdam. Ross was a builder
o[ pianos and organs. The friendship continued for
years even when Ryken and Ross were on difterent sides
of the Atlantic.
Ryken had a nodding acquaintance with Rev. Peter
De Smet, S.J., who in December, 1833, was in New York
on his way home to the Netherlands. He had asked
for permission and it had been granted to sever his con-
nection with the Society of Jesus. A skin condirion,
probably eczema, had grown worse on the Missouri
mission and the local doctors saw no hope but in a