MARY ANNE:
I sit again by the fireplace the day after Christmas and continue reading more of my great-great grandmother's journal. Our family had a wonderful Christmas-Hanukkah dinner and we did a gift exchange. Now things are quiet again as I curl up and continue to read...
We've been on the sea for a day and a half and so far I haven't been seasick. Neither has Angela, but some of her siblings are as well as several people on this ship. I don't blame them, since the hold smells horrible and it is impossible to get really clean. We do our best with a small washtubs we have and thank our stars we at least have water and food. Mama was a little hesitant about our eating non-Kosher foods, but knew that our getting nourishment was more important than dietary laws now. Angela and I are becoming good friends. She is here with her two older brothers and two younger sisters as well as her parents. I told her a little about my family and introduced her to Anna and told her about my brother and his wife in America. She has an uncle and an aunt in the States too and is going to meet them when we get to New York. New York is where we will land. An odd name for a place. Angela also told me that in the harbor is a statue of a woman holding a torch as if to welcome all newcomers to America. "Mama told me that she's really beautiful and big," Angela tells me. It sounds good; if that statue really is as beautiful as they say, America may be a good place to make a life after all.
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Right now all of us are confined in the hold. A storm is raging outside and we can barely stay on our beds. I am having a hard time holding this pen as I write because of the ship tilting and rocking and my own hands shaking. I'm so scared and I can see Mama's face is pale, but she is trying to be strong as she holds on to me and me sister. Angela is on the bed across the hold and I see her and her family trying to hold on to their bunk. All around, I hear people vomiting, crying, praying, wailing. A pregnant woman across from me is afraid she will lose her baby. It is so terrifying being out here at nature's mercy! All we can do is hang onto each other and hope this storm will end soon.
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Things are calming down some. The worst of the storm seems to be over for now and they are allowing us back on the deck again. Angela, her little sisters, and I went out as soon as we could to get some fresh air. Anna has been seasick, so Mama is trying to keep her quiet. It is still raining, but the waves aren't so huge now. I leaned my head back to get a bit of rain and realized that it tastes really fresh. The water we have with our meals, I didn't realize how salty it is. We stood on deck for several days. Anna is finally feeling better, so she's able to get up and walk around. I am sitting back in my bunk before we got to sleep.
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Strange comment someone made. The woman across from us with the pregnant woman said that she hope Anna doesn't have trakoma. What is that? I asked her. She told me that it was a contagious eye disease that caused inflammation and scarring inside the eyelids. I looked at Anna and noticed that her eyes did look a bit red, but that was because she'd been sick. "They are turned away from America if they have trakoma," the woman warned in broken English and it made me swallow in fear. I'm sure Anna's eyes are fine. I asked if you can die from it. The woman says no, but it can leave you blind. Oh, dear. I pulled Anna close and whispered fearfully to Mama what I'd just been told. Mama peered at my sister's eyes, but says it doesn't look like she has any scars, just the redness from the seasickness and some crying she's done while she was sick. I hope Mama's right. As I'm getting ready to sleep, I just caution my sister not to rub her eyes, so they won't get redder. Trakoma sounds really dreadful and I hope none of us get it. I close my eyes and tried to imagine what it was like to not be able to see anything but black. It's hard.
It's hard for me too, to imagine what it's like to live in total darkness. Trachoma was rampant in the early 1900's and back then there was no treatment for it. Vaguely, I remember reading somewhere that Annie Sullivan, Helen Keller's teacher had suffered from trachoma and had been blinded by it. Boy, sounded really scary to be at the mercy of the sea! I could imagine that chilling ocean and the huge waves. I'm starting to drift off, so I think I'll head to bed.
I know this is a short chapter, but there'll be more later!
I sit again by the fireplace the day after Christmas and continue reading more of my great-great grandmother's journal. Our family had a wonderful Christmas-Hanukkah dinner and we did a gift exchange. Now things are quiet again as I curl up and continue to read...
We've been on the sea for a day and a half and so far I haven't been seasick. Neither has Angela, but some of her siblings are as well as several people on this ship. I don't blame them, since the hold smells horrible and it is impossible to get really clean. We do our best with a small washtubs we have and thank our stars we at least have water and food. Mama was a little hesitant about our eating non-Kosher foods, but knew that our getting nourishment was more important than dietary laws now. Angela and I are becoming good friends. She is here with her two older brothers and two younger sisters as well as her parents. I told her a little about my family and introduced her to Anna and told her about my brother and his wife in America. She has an uncle and an aunt in the States too and is going to meet them when we get to New York. New York is where we will land. An odd name for a place. Angela also told me that in the harbor is a statue of a woman holding a torch as if to welcome all newcomers to America. "Mama told me that she's really beautiful and big," Angela tells me. It sounds good; if that statue really is as beautiful as they say, America may be a good place to make a life after all.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Right now all of us are confined in the hold. A storm is raging outside and we can barely stay on our beds. I am having a hard time holding this pen as I write because of the ship tilting and rocking and my own hands shaking. I'm so scared and I can see Mama's face is pale, but she is trying to be strong as she holds on to me and me sister. Angela is on the bed across the hold and I see her and her family trying to hold on to their bunk. All around, I hear people vomiting, crying, praying, wailing. A pregnant woman across from me is afraid she will lose her baby. It is so terrifying being out here at nature's mercy! All we can do is hang onto each other and hope this storm will end soon.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Things are calming down some. The worst of the storm seems to be over for now and they are allowing us back on the deck again. Angela, her little sisters, and I went out as soon as we could to get some fresh air. Anna has been seasick, so Mama is trying to keep her quiet. It is still raining, but the waves aren't so huge now. I leaned my head back to get a bit of rain and realized that it tastes really fresh. The water we have with our meals, I didn't realize how salty it is. We stood on deck for several days. Anna is finally feeling better, so she's able to get up and walk around. I am sitting back in my bunk before we got to sleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Strange comment someone made. The woman across from us with the pregnant woman said that she hope Anna doesn't have trakoma. What is that? I asked her. She told me that it was a contagious eye disease that caused inflammation and scarring inside the eyelids. I looked at Anna and noticed that her eyes did look a bit red, but that was because she'd been sick. "They are turned away from America if they have trakoma," the woman warned in broken English and it made me swallow in fear. I'm sure Anna's eyes are fine. I asked if you can die from it. The woman says no, but it can leave you blind. Oh, dear. I pulled Anna close and whispered fearfully to Mama what I'd just been told. Mama peered at my sister's eyes, but says it doesn't look like she has any scars, just the redness from the seasickness and some crying she's done while she was sick. I hope Mama's right. As I'm getting ready to sleep, I just caution my sister not to rub her eyes, so they won't get redder. Trakoma sounds really dreadful and I hope none of us get it. I close my eyes and tried to imagine what it was like to not be able to see anything but black. It's hard.
It's hard for me too, to imagine what it's like to live in total darkness. Trachoma was rampant in the early 1900's and back then there was no treatment for it. Vaguely, I remember reading somewhere that Annie Sullivan, Helen Keller's teacher had suffered from trachoma and had been blinded by it. Boy, sounded really scary to be at the mercy of the sea! I could imagine that chilling ocean and the huge waves. I'm starting to drift off, so I think I'll head to bed.
I know this is a short chapter, but there'll be more later!