At Linden they said farewell for the last time to Opa. Mina would never forget Opa's
face as he stood on the pier. Tears glistened in his eyes and ran down his cheeks
to hide in his beard. Mina waved and waved as the riverboat pulled slowly away. Then
a bend in the river separated them forever.
Toward the end of the day, they put in at Verden. Men slept out on deck while women
and small children slept on benches inside the deck house. The bench was narrow and
hard, but Mina finally fell asleep using her coat for a pillow.
In the morning some more passengers boarded, and the boat continued down river. Before
long they had reached the place where the Leine flows into the Weser River which
grew wider and wider as the boat neared Bremen.
The deck was so crowded with people and their belongings that Mina climbed up on
a box to see the passing shoreline. She held onto Papa's shoulder with one hand to steady herself. Up
ahead Mina saw the roofs and spires of a great city beside the river.
Closer and closer to Bremen they came until the boat pulled alongside a pier.
"Come, Mina, get down, for we may bump."
Two crewmen jumped onto the pier, and hastened to tie the boat, fore and aft. People
from other riverboats were milling about on the pier.
"Well, we have an hour's stop here before going on to Bremerhaven." Papa
took Mina's hand, and put his other arm on Mama's shoulder. "Come, let us take
a walk and see the city."
"Papa, I want to see the statue of Roland."
"Very well, Ernst, but someone must watch our belongings." Mama got up
from her seat on a box.
"Ja, Minchen, I will ask Frau Muller over there."
When Papa had arranged everything, they stepped onto the pier and walked along the
street. People hurried along on foot until a carriage passed, scattering them in
its wake.
The street led into the market square which was surrounded by tall stone buildings.
Mina counted seven stories in one of them. But most amazing of all was the giant
statue of Roland-at least two stories tall-standing before the City Hall. He had
a shield over his left shoulder, and held a broadsword on his right.
Mina caught her breath. Roland looked so heroic. She imagined his holding the sword
aloft and saying, "Never surrender-stand and fight to the end." He had
fought until all his men fell, and he too was mortally wounded. Then she heard him
blow his enchanted horn. Its clear piercing melody floated over the mountains, finally reaching the ears of his uncle, the Emperor Charlemagne, sitting in his war tent. But when Charlemagne came with his army to help, Roland lay dead, his face turned toward the fleeing enemy.
So lost was Mina in her thoughts that it startled her when Papa said, "It is
time to get back." Papa took her hand, and they started toward the river. Mina
felt herself being pulled along as she looked this way and that. She could not get
enough of all the city sights.
It was only a short walk to the pier. They made their way through other passengers
to where their boxes were.
Mama sighed. "My, it feels good to sit down."
But Mina was not tired. She watched the men cast off from the pier, and a black puff
of smoke came out of the smokestack. As they pulled away, the ancient city of Bremen
began to slip into the distance.
Daylight was fading when they docked at Bremerhaven and stepped onto the cobblestoned
quay. Great ships lined the long quay as far as Mina could see. On the closest ship
sailors were taking their ease on deck lighted by lanterns that swung to and fro.
Above them rose the skeletal masts and yardarms. Water lapped and splashed on the
hull, and somewhere a sailor played a harmonica.
"Which one is the Margaretha, Papa?"
"We will see tomorrow, Mina." That night they spent in a building that opened right onto the quay-a warehouse the Adelsverein provided for its members. It was just one huge room where everyone slept on cots.
In the morning Mina was awake early. She had slept only fitfully. For one thing she
was uncomfortable sleeping in her clothes, and for another there had been a chorus
of snoring all night. Besides it was hard to wait to see the Margaretha when
she knew the ship was right outside along the quay somewhere, waiting for her.
The Adelsverein served coffee from a table set up at one end of the room.
After some bread and cheese that Mama had brought along, Mina finally got Papa out
the door and into the warm sunshine on the quay. It was a wide walkway with bobbing
ships on one side, and substantial stone buildings on the other.
Even being so wide the quay was congested with people and their boxed belongings
waiting to board ships. Mina danced along holding Papa's hand. In his other hand
Papa held his long stemmed pipe, and the smoke trailed behind as they walked along.
Mina looked at the stern of each ship for the name. There were the Ida, the
Hercules, the America. About halfway along the quay they came to a two
massed brig, and on its stern was painted Margaretha between two circular
flower designs.
"Papa!" Mina caught her breath, "there she is." Mina's heart
leaped within her chest, and she began to pull Papa closer to the rocking ship.
The Margaretha was not the biggest ship docked at the quay, but she was not
the smallest by any means. And after the river steamer she looked grand to Mina.
On her bow just beneath the bowsprit was a wooden figure-head of a lady in a long
flowing blue-green dress the color of the sea. Her blond hair rippled down her back in lovely waves. In one hand was a cross which she held over her breast. Her head was held high as she surveyed
the horizon.
Sailors were busy at various jobs-painting the deck, repairing sails and rigging,
making the Margaretha ready for the long voyage.
Three days passed, and at last the Captain sent word that passengers should board.
Tomorrow at dawn they would sail. The very word sent a tremor through Mina's
body.
Papa, Mama, and Mina hauled and pushed their boxes one by one up the ramp and onto
the deck of the Margaretha.
"I cannot go another step, Ernst, without resting."
"Ja, Minchen, you and Mina rest here on the boxes we need for the voyage.
I will see to getting these others stored in the hold."
"Let me go with you, Papa."
"Nein, Mina, you stay with Mama."
Mina plopped down on a box with a sigh. She did not want to sit at such an exciting
time. She flipped her braids over her shoulders, and swung her feet out to the side
and back, bumping her shoes together with a snap. She watched as other passengers
struggled up the ramp with their boxes.
When Papa returned, the three of them carried their boxes down the narrow stepway
below deck to steerage where their living quarters were to be. Coming from the sunny
deck into steerage was like day into night.
"But it is so dark in here," Mina complained.
There were no windows, and the only light came in through the doorways at either
end of the big room. Once her eyes got accustomed to it she could see that the walls were lined with compartments of four berths each. They were open to the central space. People were busy in some
of them rolling out mattresses and making beds. In the center of the room was the
lower part of the mainmast as it passed down through the ship. A bench circled it,
and a lamp hung from a peg on one side.
"Let us take that one over there." Mama pointed to a compartment across
the room next to the end wall. "It will be more private."
They pushed the boxes into the space between berths. Mama opened one of them, and
took out a blanket.
"Ernst, do you think you could hang this across the opening?"
While Papa hung the blanket, Mina opened a box, and took Johanna out. "We are
on our way to Texas, Johanna, and this is our room to live in." Mina set Jo
hanna on a box with her back against the wall.
Mama took off her bonnet. "First we must get our things unpacked. Ernst, take
out the mattresses, and we will make the beds."
After the beds were made, and Johanna was resting comfortably on Mina's upper berth,
they began to unpack the tin dishes. Mama hung the cups and the coffee pot from pegs
in the beam overhead. They arranged the boxes to make a table and two benches between
berths. Before long the compartment looked comfortable.
"There." Mama sat down with a satisfied sigh. She looked pale. The work
had tired her out.
"Mama, you must rest now."
Just then Mina heard the cook calling from the galley above, "Supper is ready." "I will get your supper, Mama." Mina picked up three bowls and gave one to Papa.
There was already a long line waiting outside the galley. When at last Papa and Mina
reached the galley door, the cook filled their bowls with peas and bits of pork.
Then when they were back in the compartment, Mama took out a loaf of bread and cut
some slices. The pork was dry and tough, but Mina was too hungry to mind. After they
had eaten Mama seemed to feel better.
That night Mina crawled into her upper berth, and snuggled Johanna next to her. She
could hear other families talking in their compartments, and sometimes chil dren
crying. Next door was the Kaufmann family who came from Armstedt, a village near
Wehrstedt. Anna, their daughter, was ten years old also, and Frau Kaufmann
was expecting a baby in early January.
Mina tapped on the thin partition that separated them from the Kaufmanns. "Anna,
are you in your berth?"
"Ja, Mina." Anna tapped back. "My berth is right next to yours."
"Good, we can send messages to each other."
"Go to sleep, Mina," Papa said. "We will be up early in the morning."
Mina took a deep breath, relaxed, and let the Margaretha rock her gently to
and fro. It was like being a baby in a cradle-really very comforting-and slowly she
felt herself being lulled to sleep inside the great ship.