THE VOYAGE
I had a terrible trip coming to America with the ship. I was on the third deck. I was very seasick. I used to buy myself an orange once in a while. It was 18 days, and 18 nights, I was on that ship, and I was very sick the whole time. Nobody cared, and nobody paid attention. The crossing turned out to be a harrowing experience. About halfway across the Atlantic the ship hit an iceberg, and seawater started seeping into the steerage compartment with all the third-class passengers. Alarms blared. Already miserable, I was hardly ready to handle an emergency. Severely weakened by seasickness I needed help just to get out of bed. Once topside, I huddled there in mortal fear and damp bitter cold await- ing mine[sic] fate. The shoes mine[sic] father bought for the journey became soaked from seawater and disintegrated. They were made of cloth and pasted cardboard. About four in the morning, the Captain announced, ‘Thank God, the danger is over. We are safe from the icebergs.’ We sailed three more days until the ship finally landed in Baltimore, Maryland, on August 5, 1910.
Hershey’s Chocolate Wrapper 1910
CHOCOLATE I got on a train to Wilmington. I didn’t know anything. A boy went around, I thought it was refreshments, I thought it belonged to the 45 rubles that I paid. He throws a bar of candy on each lap. I was so hungry. I didn’t eat for the time I was on the ship, and I loved candy. Anyhow, I got a hold of the candy and ate it up. I thought it was mine. So what happens, when the boy was on his last, he came back, so he says he wants to get paid. And I told him in Jewish that I haven’t got a penny on me. I ain’t got any money to pay him. The man sitting next to me made that I am a greenhorn. He said to the boy, ‘Don’t worry, I will pay you.’
Norddeutscher Lloyd, Breman in rough seas
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