According to the passage, the voyage was difficult, but
worthwhile. How does the quotation from Edward Corsi
develop this topic?
Read the excerpt from Immigrant Kids by Russell
Freedman.
Men, women, and children were packed into dark, foul-
smelling compartments. They slept in narrow punks
stacked three high. They had no showers, no lounges,
and no dining rooms. Food served from huge kettles
were dished into dinner pails provided by the steamship
company ...
The voyage was an ordeal, but it was worth it....
Edward Corsi, who later became United States
Commissioner of Immigration, was a ten-year-old Italian
immigrant when he sailed into New York harbor in 1907:
My first impressions of the New World will always
remain etched in my memory, particularly that
hazy October morning when I first saw Ellis Island.
The steamer Florida, fourteen days out of Naples,
It provides a firsthand experience from an immigrant
who says he "clustered on the foredeck for fear of
separation."
O It provides a firsthand experience from an immigrant
who says his "first impressions of the New World will
always remain."
O It provides a firsthand experience from an immigrant
who says he was happy to come to this miraculous
land of our dreams."
It provides a firsthand experience from an immigrant
who says the boat was filled to capacity with 1600
natives of Italy."