CHAPTER I
New York and Westward Ho—1853-4
MY landing upon American soil took place under
anything but auspicious circumstances. I was utterly
destitute of money, had but a limited supply of wearing
apparel, and that not suited to the approaching cold season,
and I literally did not know a single person in New
York or elsewhere in the Eastern States to whom I could
apply for help and counsel. To crown all, I could not
speak a word of English.
It was natural that this consciousness of my condition should weigh upon my spirits. I felt, indeed, greatly oppressed, and spent the first day in gloomy thoughts at the Hotel Constanz. A travelling companion who had tried to persuade me to accompany him to California noticed my depression, and guessed its cause from what he had drawn out of me on the voyage about my antecedents and plans. He generously offered to lend me twenty dollars, which I accepted, of course, with joy. As my weekly board-bill was to be only five dollars, I felt quite relieved from immediate anxiety, and sufficiently at ease in mind to look the future straight in the face. I resolved to seek some sort of employment without delay, but, at the same time, I could not feel at all sure of success, and determined to make an appeal for help to my relatives in the West. At home I had become acquainted with several of them — my great-uncle, Theodor Adolf Engelmann, the brother of my step-grandmother, and Johann Scheel, who married
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