of all the countries you have seen or read about. Few of the women wear hats. They have handkerchiefs or caps or shawls on their heads. They carry babies in their arms, on their hips or their backs. Little children cling to their short, wide skirts. The men and boys carry mountains of queer shaped bundles and boxes and bags, on their heads and shoulders. They stand by these bundles on the dock, as if they feared to lose them. Men in uniform keep the crowds moving. They shout orders in a dozen languages. The people are weary from the long journey, but oh, so interested in everything, so eager and hopeful. They wait patiently with their babies and their bundles, and do everything they are told to do.
They will not be allowed to leave this dock, as do the cabin passengers. Although they are on American soil they have not been admitted to make their homes here, yet. In the old days, every one could come in freely. They cannot do that now. We found that a great many very old people, and orphan children, and blind and crippled and feeble-minded people, came. They did not belong here, but we had to take care of them. Many bad men came, too. They had been in prison in their own land, and they gave us much trouble. So laws were passed to admit only those who were strong and well, and good honest workers. Every one who comes must have some money to give him a start. Children and old people must have some one to care for them.
All these people must get on a barge, or open boat, and go back to the emigrant station on Ellis Island. Ellis Island is just inside the harbor. You can buy a ticket and go there to see these people examined and questioned by government officers. Your boat is fast so it passes the barge.
When you leave your boat, hurry across the open space to a big building like a railway station. Go up a side stairway to a gallery that runs around a big, white-tiled room and look down. Up the wide, central stairway come the people from the barge. There are thousands of them. See if there are any you know.
Oh, there are the Dutch children. They wear wooden shoes just as they did three hundred years ago That is an Irish family. The children have merry eyes. That is a German family. The children are stout and fair and rosy. You wonder if "dear mother" has a Christmas tree in that beautiful linen chest she sits on. There are some English or Scotch people. The little girls are shy, the boys
