top of page

New York On My Mind, 1900


Getty Images

 

Hannah was tired to her bones. This was her fifth day aboard the SS Red Line, of being tossed upon the waves as the ship made its way to New York. She hated the sea, and missed the hard earth beneath her feet. She dreamed, in sleeping and waking, of seeing the Statue of Liberty – the woman whose light would welcome her, whose grace would nourish her in America. She dreamed of seeing the gulls fly past the great towers of New York. She had been told the buildings were very tall there. She had been told the men were all rich there, and that a good woman could quickly find her place. For five days now she had listened to the boat’s old bones creaking, and had sought constant refuge in her thoughts. When they got to New York she would become a seamstress. She would make dresses, and sell them at whatever cost to the rich families of the boroughs. She would buy her fabrics on Mulberry Street, where the Sicilians lived. When she left Ellis Island, she would head straight for Little Italy. She was ready for anything; for all of it. She was ready to make her first clothes from the bundle of rags she had brought from Ireland. Hannah was glad to have left for the New World. Famine had returned in Ireland, and people struggled to feed themselves on what potatoes still grew. Hannah smiled. Soon, she would hear the gulls circling the Statue of Liberty. Soon, she would set foot in America. Thoughts cut through her mind like scissors through linen. No, she would not sew cloth; instead she would work for an Italian barber. She would gather up all the hair, and use it to make wigs for rich families. Beautiful wigs in every colour, from brown to raven black, blond to soft chestnut.  She longed to begin, and to succeed. Suddenly, she emerged from her thoughts to find herself facing a man who had stood up. He cried: “To all aboard this boat, I tell you that in America they want for nothing! Abraham Lincoln promised liberty to all men! Long live the New World! Long live New York!” Then he sat down, to general applause. Hannah smiled at him, and returned to her thoughts. What could she do in America? She had heard many things. They said that on Mulberry Street, the Italians and the Irish were at war with one another. If five Italians went to work on a building site, three would die on the scaffolds, for they fell from the buildings like dead rabbits. “New York can’t come soon enough,” thought Hannah. Not until she had set foot in the city would she allow herself to believe.

 

Night had fallen; only a few hours remained until they arrived. Waves crashed unfettered over the deck of the SS Red Line. The cold spray wet her face, and an icy wind cut at her nose. In the dead of night, the crossing seemed interminable. She waited for dawn when the air would warm, and the monstrous sea would settle down. A bolt of lightning tore the sky. Saints preserve us, not rain! A blade of light cut through the firmament, a glimmer of hope. A man cried, “Land ho! Did you hear the thunder?” But Hannah was yet far from New York.

 

She had fallen asleep out on the deck as the dawn rose. Hannah opened her eyes to see a bird pecking at a lump of hard bread beside her. She stood, and gazed at the horizon, at the great tall buildings of New York. The Statue of Liberty appeared from behind a passing cloud. Hannah set her hand on her shoulder in a sign of respect, and murmured: “America… America!”

 

Alan Alfredo Geday

bottom of page