File:An introduction to American history, European beginnings (1919) (14800259373).jpg

Identifier: introductiontoam00atki (find matches)
Title: An introduction to American history, European beginnings
Year: 1919 (1910s)
Authors: Atkinson, Alice M. (Alice Minerva), b. 1868
Subjects:
Publisher: Boston, New York (etc.) Ginn and company
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: Sloan Foundation

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he swarms of immigrants that are nowevery day crowding to our shores! On these three littleships there were in all only one hundred five persons.When they landed on the spot where Jamestown now is,there was nothing to be seen about them but woods andwater stretching away on every side. They had to providetheir own shelter on these lonely shores, first clearingthe thick forest to make a place for their homes. At thesame time they had to defend themselves from the Indianarrows that constantly threatened their lives, and from thewild animals that lived all about them. Often they hadto eat nuts and berries to keep from starving. Let us now turn to the immigrants of to-day and seehow differently they are received into our country. Thegreater number of them come to New York, so we willvisit the harbor there to watch their arrival. The enormous size of the ships and the great crowdsthat pour out of them are the first things that mark thedifference between the early days and the present time.
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J- W . i 6 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY The vessels that bring immigrants now are huge steam-ships as long as three or four ordinary city blocks. Theyhold as many people as several large hotels. Instead ofcoming over once in six months or a year, as the sailingvessels did three hundred years ago, they arrive almostevery day. The immigrants that swarm down the gang-planks of the ship, loaded with trunks and boxes andbundles, number sometimes five or six thousand in a day. This great crowd of newcomers to our shores are notleft free to go ashore with the other passengers. Theyare transported in boats to Ellis Island, in New Yorkharbor, where they have to be carefully examined inbuildings that have been provided for this purpose. The doctors and inspectors who examine them mustdetermine whether they are free from disease and able tosupport themselves, so that only those may be allowed tocome in who are likely to be a help, not a hindrance,to our country. There seems to be an endless

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