struggling up the steep incline of the gangplank, set from the masonry of the quay of the capitaneria of the port of naples to the gap in the railing of the after deck of the prinzessin irene, came hundreds of men, women, and children, one and all weighted with luggage. some staggered under the weight of great cloth-wrapped bundles; others lugged huge valises by the grass ropes which kept them from bursting open because of their flimsy construction; and even the tots carried fibre-baskets of fruit, straw-cased flasks of wine, cheese forms looped with string, and small rush-bottomed chairs for deck sitting, bought on the quay for twenty cents each, or home-made ones from the villages.

there were people of all the bloods of southern europe, though the southern italian predominated in the shipload, just as they predominate in every shipload from mediterranean and even from french ports at times. his nose and upper lip wrinkled up with too much sunlight, there came an oriental youth, nominally a turk, probably a hybrid, and in addition to a fez and a pair of yellow slippers his array was naught but an embroidered jacket and a pair of voluminous silk trousers. i found myself wondering what the temperature in new york would be on the 14th of october, the day we were due.

172if one looked carefully there were to be seen twenty different sorts of costumes of the contadini. the tuscan, the trans-teveran, the calabrese, the sicilian, in-denominate swiss, genovese, and so on; and sprinkled thickly through the lot was a cheap attempt at the european mode. the women were to be found wearing their head-dresses much more frequently than the men. the male contingent seemed to have had enough money to buy for each a new cap or hat. here and there was to be seen an emigrant attired in the best style of rome, and, despite the heat of the late afternoon, wearing a heavy cape overcoat. some few were barefooted, and others showed that they had come down to naples dressed just as they did at their every-day labor. altogether it was a motley assemblage, and nine babies out of every ten came aboard crying. i feel convinced that a portion of these never ceased until the voyage was over.

the most notable feature was the ease with which one could detect that every seventh or eighth person had been to america before, and now had gathered around him a group of from two to thirty friends, relatives, and neighbors, going over in his care, just as our party was going in the care of antonio squadrito and myself. when the steerage passengers had all been herded on, the late-coming first-cabin voyagers arrived, and the crowd of friends outside the iron fence was admitted to the quay.

it chanced that a piece of baggage belonging to genino was missing, and i was by the gangway aft, keeping an eye out for it, and ready to tip a porter to bring it on. it was one of those which had been fraudulently passed, and the doctor of the port was minded to hold it for evidence. just before i spied it, a woman 173standing just behind me said in english so plainly that she knew i could hear, but never dreamed that i understood:

“these dirty, repulsive creatures really seem to show traces of the finer feelings; do you not think so, agnes? see that old man,—yes, the two other old men with him, down there on the dock, looking up at those people over there. i should think it was a family going over. see them wave their hands and throw kisses, and see the tears running down their faces. as i told my husband when we came over, some of them are far less heavy and embruted than one would think to look at them.”

i regret to say that woman is the daughter of a noted philadelphia clergyman, and her husband is an employer of many hundreds of these seemingly “embruted” creatures.

as soon as ever i could be perfectly sure that all of our party from gualtieri-sicamino and the newest additions to our group from potenza, avellino, scilla, etc., were all aboard, and that none of the baggage had been left behind, i went forward through the alley-way that led between the galley, bakery, blacksmith shop, and the cooks’ and petty officers’ quarters, to the forward deck, where a terrific hubbub was in progress. the thousand and more persons there, with their baggage heaped about the deck, were all talking and all endeavoring to do something which mad, wild impulse bade them attempt. it was turmoil and tumult, and what made matters worse was that two of the forward hatches were open, and late cargo was being heaved in as fast as six derricks could do it. the slings with a ton or two in each would come swinging and crashing over the side, and a half-dozen men by shouts, 174oaths, and blows kept the bewildered emigrants from crossing the danger-spaces between the ports in the railings and the hatches.

our party was scattered all about. little nastasia i found perched in a perilous nook in the shrouds, eating a musk-melon down to the hard skin, as happy as he could be. my wife, knowing that the first thing to look out for was the best sleeping location, had taken camela squadrito and her little daughter ina, and concetta fomica, below into the women’s compartment, so giovanni pulejo informed me; and, leaving antonio squadrito to round up the men and get them and their baggage below into the second men’s compartment,—it being the best ventilated, i knew,—i plunged below to take advantage of the confusion and secure a section of beds for the women and children nearest amidships, on account of it being steadier there in rough weather, and near the port-holes for air and light.

i could barely get down the big double companion-way, so choked was it with women, children, and baggage, and when i did succeed i found my wife and her charges huddled on top of camela’s bundles, waiting in despair for order to come out of chaos. on every hand were screaming babies and shouting women, with a few men going about as if mad; and at the approaches to the beds were dirty, heavy-handed steerage stewards, who refused to allow the women to take beds until they were sorted out according to their numbers on the ship’s manifest and the numbers on each bed. i saw at a glance that that would be a work of half the night, and i asked him why they were so particular. he answered that “a company inspector was aboard this trip.”

however, in a few minutes i observed that a genovese 175approached him, and, after a moment’s parley, gave him a five-lire note, and was allowed with all his people to take the choice of the locations. despite his dread of the inspector, he could not resist my money also, and in five minutes i had the women of our party in the most secluded corner, where they could get both light and air, that was to be found in the place.

in a compartment from nine to ten feet high and having a space no larger than six ordinary-sized rooms, were beds for 195 persons, and 214 women and children occupied them. the ventilation was merely what was to be had from the companion-way that opened into the alley-way, and not on the deck, the few ports in the ship’s sides, and the scanty ventilating shafts.

the beds were double-tiered affairs in blocks of from ten to twenty, constructed of iron framework, with iron slats set in checker fashion to support the burlap-covered bag of straw, grass, or waste which served as a mattress. pillows there were none, only cork-jacket life-preservers stuck under one end of the pseudo-mattress to give the elevation of a pillow. as each emigrant had passed through the alley-way to come forward when boarding the ship, he or she had been given a blanket as the storeroom door was passed. this blanket served the purpose of all bedclothing, and any other use to which the emigrant might be forced to put it. in material it was a mixture of wool, cotton, and jute, with the latter predominant. in extent it was the length of a man’s body and a little over a yard and a half wide. for such quarters and accommodations as i have described the emigrant pays half the sum that would buy a first-class passage. a comparison 176of the two classes shows where the steamship company makes the most money.

as soon as ever the women were settled i made my way up and forward through the mob to the men’s compartment, where i found my 183 sleeping-companions already busily engaged in stowing their hand baggage, getting their new shoes off their blistered feet, changing their fine raiment for old clothes for ship wear, on the advice of those who had crossed the ocean before, or twanging away on guitar or mandolin and thumping the tambourine.

the great ship was to have left her dock at five o’clock; but it was after six, and cargo was still coming aboard. the sun filtering through the red haze of the west turned the dull blue of vesuvius to purple, and the cream of the line of the city’s expanse was touched with pink. as i came on deck into the babel after seeing all the men allotted into beds, the scene about was one of extreme beauty. with the wonderfully colored background i have mentioned, put hurrying small steamers and harbor boats in the middle distance, and for the centre of the composition of your picture behold the enormous bulk of the steamer, her decks black with humanity, and clustered about the sides scores of bumboats selling melons, fico-indias, ship-slippers, caps, mirrors, razors, brushes, candy, wine, shawls, seasickness charms, toothache and stomach-ache medicine, knives, pipes, and numberless other things which the childish-minded emigrant imagines are necessary to life aboard ship.

at last the whistle blew, the american vice-consul went ashore with his official papers, the lighters cast off, the ports in the railing were closed, and the after gangplank withdrawn. then the screw began its 177slow thrashing, and soon we slid out by the light on the end of the breakwater, leaving behind a dim vision of a city of rose and white towers clasped in bold hills with artificed faces that heaved up and rolled backward until lost in the bosom of the night rushing on from the east.

the great ship attained its full speed, and we glided by ischia, capri, the fortresses, the prisons, and the vineyards, till only a twinkling light high up on a point told where the last land lay.

never had the tumult on deck ceased. singing, crying, laughing, quarrelling, complaining of hunger, the fact that they were at last off for america seemed to rouse in all a desire to say something or make a noise. some few women who fancied that already they were seasick, though the ship merely quivered now and then from the motion of the screw, sat about with their heads on their husbands’ shoulders.

now a greater stir was brought about by the ringing of the bell that announced supper for the steerage. the majority of the emigrants had had but a hasty bite at breakfast-time twelve hours before, and, being healthy and hearty, were ravenously hungry.

from the steerage galley, which was on the level of the main deck forward under the fo’c’s’le head, the cooks and stewards began to lug great tanks of food and baskets of bread. these they lined up in a narrow passage-way between the hatch and the bulkhead of the galley. the tanks were huge tinned things holding about twenty-five gallons each, and from the first there was ladled out macaroni neapolitan, from the next chunks of beef the size of one’s fist, from the next red wine, and then came the bread-baskets and the boiled-potato tank.

178as we had come aboard and got the blankets, as i have told, we were each handed a red card bearing an inscription that it was “good for one ration,” just as on the lahn, and advised that the passengers form themselves into groups of six and elect a capo di rancio, who should manage the mess, and would, when elected and given the six ration cards of his group, be issued a two-gallon pan and a gallon flask-bucket for coffee or wine. when the blanket was enrolled, each person found inside a fork, spoon, pint tin cup, and a flaring six-inch-wide, two-inch-deep pan out of which to eat, identical with those on the lahn.

the plan, or rather the ship’s company’s ideal of it, is that the capo di rancio shall take the big pan and the bucket, get the dinner and the drinkables, and distribute the portions to his group. but it works out that one or two assistants are needed to carry the bread if it is not desired to soak it by dropping it into the mess in the pan, and a woman with a baby in her arms cannot very well carry a full pan and a full bucket. when the meal is over, some one of the group is supposed to collect the tin utensils from whatever part of the steerage quarters the group has chosen to eat its meal in for that time, take them to a wash-room under the fo’c’s’le head, where there are several tanks with running water, and wash them ready for the next time. but the crowd in the wash-room after meals was so great that about one third of the people chose to rinse off the things with a dash of drinking-water; others never washed their cups and pans; and still others waited till the next meal and then washed their kit just before they ate. when i say that the water supplied for washing kits was raw sea water and cold at that, any housewife 179will understand instantly why none of the cups, pans, spoons, or forks were clean and fit for use after the first meal, if they were even then. yet the emigrant pays half the first-cabin rate for fighting for his food, serving it himself, and washing his own dishes.

this night we had little trouble, for antonio and i understood the order about the groups of six, and we did everything in order; but the mob was two hours in getting its supper satisfactorily, by which time that portion of it which had been hot was unfit to eat.

just before the bell was rung there came down from the boat deck a trim young man in the uniform of an italian naval officer, and as he passed me i saw that he was of surgeon’s rank and knew he was dr. piazza, the surgeon detailed by the government to the prinzessin irene to look after the welfare of the emigrants, just as an italian naval doctor travels on every emigrant ship leaving italian ports. the italian government does about twenty times as much for the emigrants as the united states, yet the condition of health and finance in which they arrive in america is of concern here and not in italy, for they become a part of us. it is to our interests that they should not be oppressed, underfed, robbed, or given unsanitary treatment.

the young officer went to the door of the galley. the chief steerage cook threw a clean towel over the serving-board that barred it, and on it set clean china dishes, into which the doctor put portions of each sort of food, and ate enough to test the quality. he drank a little of the wine. every meal thereafter he did the same thing. i had had the opportunity of watching the italian doctor on the lahn on the voyage to italy, and i must say that both men did their work in a most 180commendable manner. as to the food itself, it was in its quality as good as the average italian gets at home, but the manner in which it was messed into one heap in the big pan was nothing short of nauseating. every pound of food and ounce of drink is regulated by italian law, both as to amount per day and proportion of kind and variety. if there was a failure to live up to the law on the lahn and prinzessin irene, it was in the wine and fish.

giovanni pulejo was chosen capo di rancio of our family group, and nicola curro, the little cabinet-maker and trombonist, headed the one in which were nunzio giunta, gaetano mullura, and the other gualtieri-sicamino and socosa boys, while giuseppe rota from avellino, who had joined us at naples, headed a third group. the others were divided among groups of other friends.

on the occasion of this first meal the emigrants began doing what is the bane of life in the steerage; throwing the refuse from their meal on the deck instead of over the side or into the scuppers. it being the first night out of port, the deck watch was too busy securing derricks, storing mooring-gear, and putting the ship to rights, to scrub the deck with hose and soogey-mougie when supper was over, so that i remember traversing the main deck on the port side about eleven o’clock that night much as i would cross a slippery glacier, for it was covered with a layer of unctuous filth that made footing very uncertain.

it was an extremely hot night, and, though i was weary almost to exhaustion, the air in the crowded compartment was so foul that i could not sleep. the men and boys about me lay for the most part like logs, hats, coats, and shoes off, and no more, sleeping 181the sleep of the ineffably tired. i rolled and tossed on the hard pallet till at last i went on deck, and, seeking a deeply shaded corner on a hatch, i sat watching the sea and the night. possibly twenty minutes had passed when from the mouth of the alley-way that led to the companion-way of the women’s compartment a figure emerged and made its way forward cautiously; for after certain hours all steerage passengers are supposed to be below decks. as the figure came near me, i saw that it was my wife. she, too, had been unable to breathe the air below, and had stolen up, bringing with her a heavy shawl. she said the babies in her compartment were crying in relays of six, and that she had had a grand row with the women of the group who occupied the section of bunks next to the women of our party.

the trouble arose over the filthy habits of the other women. they were neapolitans of the lowest class, and when they were eating their supper had chosen to portion it out while they sat in their bunks, and the result was that bits of macaroni, meat, and potatoes were scattered all over their beds, the beds of their neighbors, and on the floor. the other women who were minded to be cleanly made no protest, merely looking askance, but my wife interposed. she brought down a storm of neapolitan vituperation on her head.

the climax came when the neapolitans, too lazy to take their dishes up on deck to wash them, rinsed them with a cupful of drinking-water in bed and then endeavored to pour water and pertaining refuse out of the port-hole. a little girl of eleven was engineering the job, and, regardless of the fact that her shoes were filthy with deck slime, used my wife’s bed as a step to climb up to the port-hole, where, failing 182to get all the water and waste outside, she allowed the remainder to spill inside, down the wall and on the edges of the two nearest beds. i do not know just what happened, but i have an adequate fancy, and at least there was no more dish-washing or filth-spilling in that corner of the compartment.

just as we had observed on the lahn, the men of the emigrants were reasonably cleanly, as were also about two thirds of the women; but the other third were so grossly dirty that they littered every place they passed in a way that the sailors and stewards would not have been able to keep pace with even had they put forth their best efforts, which they certainly did not. all of the other steerage passengers, a majority by far, had to submit to the reign of uncleanliness.

i have not told the worst by any means. it could not be put in print. the remedy for the whole matter is to pack fewer people in the same ship’s space, and a regular service of food at tables. the chief stewards of ships will cry, “how can 1,000 or 1,500 people be served at tables?” a perfect argument; but no such number should ever be carried. if the english lines going out to the cape and australia can give closed cabins with served meals for a proportionately less third-class rate than the transatlantic lines, the big emigrant-carriers can do it, and should be forced to give up a part of their profits, which are enormous, in order that sanitary conditions at least may prevail.

it was nearing morning when we were found by the deck watch and driven below. the air was far worse than when i had gone up, but in about half an hour the wind shifted from the quarter to the bow and of course to its velocity was added that of the ship, so 183that a fair draught was set going below decks, and i fell asleep.

the noise made by the men and boys about awoke me in little more than an hour later, and the second day of the voyage was begun.