[17] This is not the first treatment of this sort
you have seen, and you feel powerless to help, though your blood boils
at the outrage.
[Sidenote: Unpleasant Beginnings]
As you pass down the gangway your number is taken by an officer with a
mechanical checker, and then you become part of the curious crowd
gathered in the great somber building, filled with freight, much of it
human. Here there is confusion worse confounded, as separated groups try
to get together and dock watchmen try to keep them in place. Many
believe their baggage has been stolen, and mothers are sure their
children have been kidnaped or lost. The dockmen are violent, not
hesitating to use their sticks, and you find yourself more than once in
danger, although you strive to obey orders you do not understand very
well, since they are shouted out in savage manner. The inspector reaches
you finally, and you are hustled along in a throng to the barge that is
waiting. You are tired and hungry, having had no food since early
breakfast. Your dreams of America seem far from reality just now. You
are almost too weary to care what next.
[Sidenote: America's Gateway]
The next is Ellis Island, whose great building looks inviting.
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