Voices+-+Dear+Hannah

=Dear Hannah=

 July 3rd, 1894  Torrey, Utah

Dear Hannah,  How is the government going? Are you now able to practice your religion, or are Mormons still discriminated against? Well let me tell you that f you came here you would be able to practice your religion freely. And you wouldn’t go hungry ever again, I don’t. I have plenty of food to eat, with the money they pay me I sometimes even have some spare!  The trip was very “lang”, and the conditions were poor. The boat was very crowded, everybody was tired and always sleeping, so there was barely any space to walk. There wasn’t much air circulation, and some men smoked, so the air was stuffy and smoky. We slept in bunks, I had two people sleeping on top of me for 5 weeks! And all we did was sleep, talk, dance, sing and play some games. I took a carriage with another lady, to Copenhagen. There was a port in Copenhagen, but the lady on the carriage told me that the shipping company in Hamburg, white star line, was faster and cheaper. So I took a train to Hamburg. The ship in Hamburg then took me and all the immigrants that came with me to New York. When I got to Hamburg, I saw thousands and thousands of people walking around with lug gages desperately, crying and hugging each other. I guess they were leaving someone behind too. The cost of the trip was very expensive, it was $12 which left me with only $3. As you may know, I didn’t bring much with me, only a bag with another change of clothes, a hood, the necklace mother gave me, and 15 DKK ($3). So I didn’t have as much of a problem carrying my lug gage as other people did. On the ship, I made some friends. The person that was with me for most of the time was a Slovakian man. His name is Orlando. Orlando is 25 and he is full of happiness, he entertained and cheered me up during the whole trip. I also met 3 ladies that were sisters from Russia, they were very nice too, but not as nice as Orlando. The oldest one was pregnant and had left her husband in Russia because they didn’t have enough money to pay for the trip for one more person. But soon, her husband will be joining her, just like you will. When I got off the boat, and I saw her standing there, holding her hand up, in the sign of freedom, tears started rolling down my face. She was so beautiful and made me so happy. Everybody started yelling “La Libertad, La Libertad” I still don’t know what it means, but it seemed to make people really happy, so I started yelling too. After arriving, they lead us to the entrance of a gigantic building, Ellis Island. At Ellis Island there were four main stations, where in each they asked me questions and they gave physical tests. In the first station everything went alright, the questions were easy, and the lady officer was very nice and talked calmly and slow: Are you married? How old are you? What’s your name? Where are you from? Why are you here? The second station was also very calm, but the officer looked a little more serious, and that made me very nervous. He asked me what my job was, how long I had been doing it for, if I had studied, and if I had any children. Everything was very easy, until I got to the third station. On the third station the questions seemed like a joke to me, and I couldn’t even understand some of them. The officer asked me if I was divorced. He also asked me about my political parties, psychiatric care, atheist-agnostic and how much money I had with me. The last question the officer asked me was if I had ever been in jail, what kind of question was that? Of course not! The fourth station was the health station, which worried me a little, because I had caught a cold on the boat from one of the ladies that slept next to me and I was afraid they would mistaken it for a disease and deport me. The health station was the only place where they didn’t treat me nicely, the lady would never smile, and she took everything very seriously. She looked at me with a very strange look, as If I were crazy or something. They checked my eyesight, my ears, my speech, and they searched for any mental illness, arthritis, yellow fever or any other diseases.  I passed everything except I hadn’t taken the tetanus vaccine before. When I got to the last station a very nice officer said that I didn’t have enough points to get in. so they took me to another officer who they called the “Appeals” I don’t know what it means, but she is the lady that checks if you should go into America or not. She checked all my points, and everything that all the other officers had said about me. She asked a few more questions, by then I was really nervous. I thought she was going to deport me, send me back to Denmark, and I would have to go back to my old life. But she seemed to change her mind about me, she saw I was healthy and she let me in. I felt so relieved, all my worries were gone, the only thing I had to worry about was starting a new life. A very nice lady also from Denmark was waiting out side Ellis Island, she was once an immigrant too. Her name is Frida, she said she would help me find a house, and a job. She took me to Utah, where her house is. I stayed there with her for a couple of days until I found a place to settle and a job. I am now working at a farm. I grow crops, and sometimes I help with the animals too. I earn $2 a day. Sometimes when the farming isnt so good, they only pay us $1. I work with some other immigrants, as you may know, farming isn’t something Americans like to do because they think the pay is too low. I live in a big house, in Torrey, Utah. My house is big, I share the house with 2 other families, we pay rent together. And when you come, we will have one more person living with us. <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif">I am now learning not only how to speak English, but also how to read and write. The food here is much better than in Denmark, they have something called a “hamburger” that is made with bread meat, and if you like they out lettuce. American sandwiches are very good. They also make some “pasta” but I can’t eat those too often because they are a little bit expensive. The climate here is very different, it is very hot here. I am almost never cold, I like it a lot here. <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif">Right now I don’t have enough money to send you for your trip, because you will need about $20. But as soon as I can, I will save more money, and send you some for you to come too. You definitely have to come. Sometimes I miss Denmark, I miss the cold, and the food too. But living here is better, because I now learn to read, write, speak English, and meet new people from other countries. Anybody can practice any religion, and that is another advantage for you. I get paid a lot of money, and I have more money to eat, and to pay for a better house.