Ida's New World

by Lise Muusmann

  “What am I going to do here in America now?” Anna asked and sent them a despairing glance. “I am here all alone.”

  “You will just come with us.” Frederik said putting an arm around her. “Anna, I know that we can’t do without you.”

  Chapter 8

  “Welcome to Castle Garden!” Several men in uniform stood in the arrival hall and looked at them all curiously. Ida hid herself behind her father. She was afraid and the worst thing was, she did not understand a word of what was being said.

  “Father, why are they talking in such a strange manner?”

  “Strange? They are speaking in English. People here speak English, didn’t you know?”

  “You never said anything about English!” Ida burst out angrily. “Why can´t I understand them?” Ida stared angrily at the men who were now investigating their luggage. They were also speaking to her, and she hid herself behind her father.

  “Why don´t they just speak Danish like normal?” Ida was on the brink of crying.

  “In America they speak English and French,” replied Frederik patiently. “And they speak English where we are going to live.”

  “Is it difficult?” Ida asked and looked at their mouths where the strange sounds came from. One of the men lifted Ida up and looked carefully at her. He pinched her chin and pulled her long plaited red hair and said: “Beautiful.” Then he handed her back to her father. There was a never ending noise and bustle in the great arrival hall where people were fighting to push forward with their luggage. Luckily the family was allowed into America. The men looked at Anna for a long time and then nodded their approval.

  “Whew,” said Frederik. “Let’s get out of here. It feels like being trapped in a zoo.”

  When they entered the city of New York, Ida thought three million suns were shining down on her. She had never seen such tall houses with so many windows, where the rays from the sun were thrown straight back into her eyes.

  “My word, how can they build such tall houses?” Ida asked and craned her neck backwards to see the entire house. “Back in Nakskov the very best houses are only three-storied houses.”

  “Yes, it is quite different in New York,” Frederik answered as he was busy trying to keep an eye on the luggage, two women and Ida who was running around trying to take in the city. Suddenly she stopped and pointed upwards.

  “Look, there are train tracks in the air.”

  “Yes, there are two tracks. The trains on the right hand side are outward bound, and the trains on the left hand side are inward bound.” Ida jumped up and down while pointing. “Oh dad, can we try the skytrain?”

  “No, we have got to find the train going to Chicago. You will have to come back to New York another time to try out the skytrain.”

  Frederik had prepared a big sign that said CHICAGO. He held up the sign in front of passers by who rushed passed without taking any notice. Finally, he held up the sign in front of a small skinny lady, and placed the sign right in front of her face.

  “42nd street,” she cried and pointed westwards. They all nodded and started to move. Finally they arrived at the big station and looked around. There was a huge crowd, and people hurried in all directions.

  “My word, this is a big station,” said Katrina shaking her head. “This is unbelievable.”

  Frederik held the sign in front of a gentleman who was also bustling passed. He pointed towards a staircase and noticed their bewilderment. Then he took pity on them and helped them with their luggage to the staircase that led to the train.

  “Immigrant Train,” said the man and pointed towards a train with a lot of wagons. “Tickets,” he also said and pointed towards a train conductor, who appeared to be selling tickets. They said ‘Thank you very much!’ to the gentleman and hurried to buy the tickets from the conductor.

  Frederik took out his purse and paid for the tickets, then he put the purse back in his jacket indside pocket. The locomotive at the front of the many waggons gave out a sharp whistle and started to let go a lot of steam.

  “Oh, quick, let’s get on board!” Shouted Katrina and started to pick up the luggage. Ida hauled a big bag onto her back and headed for one of the waggons. There were wooden benches inside the waggons. The benches were packed with passengers, but Ida managed to get a seat at the window and looked around at the passengers. She had never before seen such diversified people. Some were beautifully dressed in gaily coloured clothes, and others were dressed in very plain clothes. “And so are we though,” thought Ida. The steam locomotive started up and the train slowly began to move and Ida looked out of the window at the city passing by.

  “My word, New York is big,” she said and sighed. “Just think, that one can build so high.” She looked at her father who was also captivated and gazing up at the sky scape. “How?” She asked him.

  “I do not know, Ida. It is something I know nothing about.”

  A little while later, Ida was fast asleep leaning against Anna who was snoring gently and in a deep sleep. The immigrant train was heading full steam westwards towards Chicago.

   Chapter 9

  ”Chicago! Chicago! Chicago!” The shouting went on, both inside the train and on the platform. They had been able to see the city and its tall buildings from afar for quite a while. Finally they had reached Chicago, the next major city. Katrina had made coffee for them on the small stove at the end of the wagon. Anna slept most of the way and they worried for her. When the train pulled in to the station, it was difficult to awaken her.

  “Anna? Anna! We have arrived in Chicago,” Ida said and shook her gently by the arm. Anna could barely open her eyes. When at last she managed it, she seemed to get a shock from seeing so many people around her.

  “Who are all these people?” She asked, staring at an Indian swathed in his blanket. He was selling pearl handcraft and small clay pottery items. She seemed both fascinated and disturbed by him. They helped Anna up from the bench, and gathered their luggage before leaving the train. Frederik found one of the conductors standing on the platform.

  “Immigrant train?” He asked and held a note in front of his eyes. The note said DAKOTA.

  The conductor pointed at a train on a platform quite some distance away. They hurried to get there. Waiting on the platform, they could see yet another immigrant train with worn brown wagons.

  “Oh, then we shall have to sit on hard wooden benches again,” complained Katrina. "It is not so nice for your back.”

  Frederik had a firm grip on Anna, who barely could keep up. She desperately clutched a small ladies purse.

  “Where are we going to live?” She asked and looked up at Frederik.

  “We are heading for Dakota,” he answered breathlessly. “We have to hurry now, to reach the train in time.”

  Luckily, they reached the platform and managed to buy tickets in good time. Anna opened her purse and gave some money to Frederik.

  “Why, but this is Danish money,” he said and sighed.

  “Oh, I thought money is money and could be used everywhere on the planet.” Anna answered a little tersely.

  “Over here one pays with dollars,” he explained, while placing their luggage on a narrow shelf above their heads. Katrina spread their blankets on the bench so that they could sit more comfortably.

  “When are we there?” asked Ida as the train slowly started to move.

  “It takes quite a while,” answered Frederik wearily, as though he had said this more than once, since leaving Nakskov. Which indeed, he had.

  “Why are we going to Dakotte?” Ida asked impatiently.

  “It is called Dakota. And we are going there because we can get a piece of land to farm and create our very own place.”

  “Are we going to live in a high-rise building?” Ida asked as they were passing some tall buildings.

  “No, there are no tall buildings in Dakota,” Frederik answered and laughed. “We shall probably have to build our own house from the very earth under our feet. I do not think there a
re a lot of houses out on the prairie.”

  “What is the prairie?” asked Ida and looked out the window as if she could spot the prairie.

  “It is an area where there is nothing but grass, just grass. And a lot of it.”

  “Hmm. What are we going to do with all that grass?” Ida asked.

  “We are going to see if we can cut down the grass and farm the land,” Frederik answered and noticed that Anna had once again fallen asleep against his shoulder.

  “Now she is asleep again,” said Katrina. “Such a long journey is too much for an elderly lady.”

  “Have we got anything to eat?” Ida asked. “I am hungry.”

  “Yes, luckily we still have some of the rye bread from the ship,” Katrina answered her. “Do you want a piece, even though it is a bit mouldy?”

  Ida nodded. As she was chewing, she wondered about how things were going back home in Denmark.

  Chapter 10

  Ida got more than enough view of the prairie, later in the day. She sat slap up against the window, she had been lucky once again to get a window seat. A boy her own age sat opposite her. When he began to speak to her in English, she turned her back to him and buried her face against her mother’s chest. But the exciting view was too tempting and Ida returned her attention to the window again. All of a sudden he stood in front of her tossing two dice into the air, one by one.

  “Dice,” he said.

  “Terning,” Ida answered and pointed at herself. “Ida. Danmark.”

  “Denmark,” answered the boy and laughed. “Edward. America.” He pointed at himself.

  Ida looked at the boy. He was rather pretty. He had dark hair and his clothes did not look at all like Danish clothes. His trousers were light blue and his shirt was red. Ida caught one of the dice in the air. Edward sat down on the floor and pulled Ida along with him. They played a game of dice and Edward won every time.

  Whenever the dice came to rest, he started counting out loud in English.

  “.. one, two, three, four, five, six...” Ida said. She repeated the numbers carefully after him.

  “Good!” Edward smiled encouragingly. Ida looked up at Frederik.

  “Now I can count to six in English,” she said proudly.

  “Don’t you want to see the prairie?” Katrina asked and pulled her back up on to the bench.

  “My, the grass is so long,” she burst out. “Do they never cut the grass?”

  Her parents laughed out loud. Ida got angry at first, but then she noticed Edward playing on a small mouth organ. It sounded very nice. Frederik leaned towards Edwards mother, who was a beautiful young woman in a red taffeta dress.

  “Station?” he asked and looked enquiringly at her.

  ”Britt,” she answered and pointed out of the train. “Iowa.”

  “Hm,” answered Frederik and pulled up the sign with DAKOTA written on it. She shook her head and pointed upwards.

  “Nord?” Frederik asked.

  “Yes, North.”

  Ida looked at Frederik and was full of admiration.

  “Now you can speak English as well, father,” she said. “North.”

  The young woman nodded and smiled. Edward was playing on his mouth organ until her mother got tired of listening to it and took it away. He sighed and looked sad.

  “Look at all the flowers on the prairie,” Ida shouted. “And there are some big brown bulls running around. They are too big to be cows.”

  “Buffalo,” explained the woman. “Big,” she added and held her arms wide apart.

  “Big,” Ida shouted. “Buffalo.”

  Katrina got up and walked to the end of the wagon where she put the kettle on and started to make coffee. They drank from the old chipped cups they had brought along from Denmark. All the good ones, the heirlooms, had been sold for the trip. Katrina pointed at the cups and the coffee.

  “Kaffe, Danmark.”

  “Coffee, Denmark,” replied the woman and drank the coffee. Her eyes widened with pleasure at the taste. “Mmmm, coffee! Denmark!” She repeated appreciatively.

  The train continued steaming along the tracks the whole day and then the whole night as well. Several times they stopped and waited for some hours. The next morning the train stopped at Britt station. Everybody got out onto the small platform. It was a wet and cold spring morning. All around the town lay swamps and moor.

  “We are surely not going to stay here?” asked Katrina and shook herself.

  Edward and his mother helped them to get hold of a stagecoach. She explained to the coachman where they were going. Frederik held up the DAKOTA sign again.

  “Jump aboard,” shouted the coachman in English. “Bill,” he said and pointed to himself. Next to him sat a tall young lad, who said “Alex, son.” He pointed at Bill and said: “Bill, father.” And smiled. Bill threw all their luggage up onto the roof of the stagecoach and roped it down.

  Ida shook hands with Edward.

  “Farvel, Edward.”

  “Goodbye, Ida.”

  Katrina shook hands with them both and nodded goodbye to them. They waved at each other as the stagecoach started to move.

  “Will it ever be possible to see Edward again?” Ida asked and put her head out the window of the coach door and waved eagerly.

  “Maybe you can meet him again,” Katrina answered.

  “Do you think he lives here?”

  “I think so,” answered Katrina and leaned back against the hard seat. She closed her eyes and fell asleep shortly after.

  They drove along a rutted wheel track, and the tall grass swept the sides of the wagon, so Ida could reach out and pull the grass heads off. Anna gazed out over the wide landscape, and shook her head now and again, muttering.

  “We shall probably be there soon,” Ida said softly and patted her on the hand. She stared out at the vast expanse of grass. Then it became too much for her as well and she fell asleep with her head leaning against Anna’s shoulder. The wagon kept on going steadily northward. Out in the night a gentle rain fell, but nobody inside the stagecoach noticed it.

  Chapter 11

  As the day went by they came to a small town with a grocer. The stagecoach stopped and the coachmen got down to water the horses and give them nose bags of oats to eat. Alex stayed with the coach and took care of the horses. Bill went in to the shop with his passengers. Ida was taken aback by the powerful smells that met her. She had never in her life seen so many different kind of goods for sale. She wandered around and stared at big bags with flour and sugar and small bags of fragrant spices. When she stood in front of a thick black fur with head and horns she became frightened. The smell was quite pungent. Ida pointed at it and looked to her father.

  “Is it the devil hanging there?” She whispered in a frightened voice.

  “It is a bison,” answered Frederik and laughed. “Yes, it is big.”

  “Have we got enough money?” Katrina asked.

  “Yes, there is still quite a bit left.”

  The coachman got hold of Frederik and drew him toward a counter where lay various weapons. Frederik shook his head. The coachman kept on pointing at a revolver. He opened his mouth and pointed at it.

  “My God, is he suggesting you buy a revolver and shoot yourself?” Katrina asked in a frightened voice. Frederik laughed so much he had to hold his belly.

  “No, silly. With the revolver we can shoot wildlife and have food on the table. And I suspect we also can defend ourselves.”

  “Hm, do you have money for such a … thing?”

  Frederik went to the grocer and pointed at a revolver that looked to be second hand. The coachman shook his head and pointed at a new weapon next to it.

  “Dollars?” Asked Frederik and the grocer showed with his hands how much he wanted for the weapon. He turned around and took out the wallet and counted the money and handed it to the grocer.

  “Frederik, is that the last money we have, which you are using to buy a weapon?” Katrina asked angrily. “How are we to live?” She demand
ed.

  “Take it easy.”

  Katrina went to the counter and gripped it tightly, bursting into tears. The grocer and people in the shop stared at her. Ida rushed to her side and hugged her mother.

  “Do you really need to buy such things?” Asked Anna and stared in bewilderment at Frederik.

  “Father, what is wrong with you?” Ida asked.” You never had a gun at home.”

  “I think Bill is right,” he answered. “There are not many shops where we are going to be setting up and we will have to kill what we can, to eat.”

  Katrina howled even louder. The grocer took a couple of notes out from the bundle Frederik had given him and handed him back the rest. He looked at the notes for a moment before he took them. The weapon was lying on the desk. They all gathered around it. A little while passed before Frederik took it up and put it in his sack.

  “Bullets,” the grocer said and put a small box on the desk. Frederik took the box and opened it. He looked surprised and then smiled.

  “Oh, cartridges,” he said. “Of course, cartridges are needed before one can shoot at anything. Katrina, please stop crying. Is there anything here you want?” He turned and looked at Anna as well. “And how about you, Anna?”

  “There are some nice buns, I would like to have,” sniffed Katrina, drying her eyes.

  “I do not want anything,” Anna said. “Buying a gun is quite enough for today.” She hurried out of the shop.

  Now they were traveling again at a good clip northwards along the dusty trail. There were now two more passengers in the stagecoach. An elderly couple, who immediately fell asleep. The woman’s hat kept on falling down over her forehead whenever the coach lurched over a bump in the road.

  “Where are we?” Ida asked and looked out at the prairie with all its beauty waving around them. “Is there nothing but long grass and flowers in America?” She asked.

  “I believe we are still in Iowa,” answered Frederik. “Yes, there is plenty of land and grass in America. Which is also why we have come here. We are going to select a good piece of land in Dakota.”