It is a march the like of which the world has never seen, and
the moving columns are animated by but one idea--that of escaping from
evils which have made existence intolerable, and of reaching the free
air of countries where conditions are better shaped to the welfare of
the masses of the people.
[Sidenote: Variety of Peoples]
"It is a vast procession of varied humanity. In tongue it is polyglot;
in dress all climes from pole to equator are indicated, and all
religions and beliefs enlist their followers. There is no age limit, for
young and old travel side by side. There is no sex limitation, for the
women are as keen as, if not more so than, the men; and babes in arms
are here in no mean numbers. The army carries its equipment on its back,
but in no prescribed form. The allowance is meager, it is true, but the
household gods of a family sprung from the same soil as a hundred
previous generations may possibly be contained in shapeless bags or
bundles. Forever moving, always in the same direction, this marching
army comes out of the shadow, converges to natural points of
distribution, masses along the international highways, and its vanguard
disappears, absorbed where it finds a resting-place.
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