Why Grandma Came to America



Posted: Friday, August 14, 2009

by Carol Yourist

I was only 10 when she died but I remember, she spoke little English. She followed my brother and me with food all over the neighborhood because "kids were starving in Russia". My mother worshiped the ground she walked on. She drank tea in a glass I still have, with a spoon in it so the glass wouldn't crack when she poured the hot water into it.

Daddy remodeled her massive house, turning the living and dining rooms into our grocery store, leaving the kitchen with its pot belly stove intact. I remember the antiques I wish they hadn't given away, and the bread she made, using goose feathers to brush egg yolk on it which made it shine after it was baked.

Years later, watching the movie "Yentl", I felt a kinship with the heroine. She, like my grandmother, had strength and courage. They both had beautiful voices. They both wanted fresh new starts. They both were alone. They both got on a big ship and sailed to a new life in that place called America.

The Russian ship entered New York harbor in late September 1901, sailed past the Statue of Liberty, depositing its human cargo at Ellis Island. New York was draped in black she told my mother. The American President, William McKinley, had been assassinated.

She had heard America's streets were "paved in gold", but quickly, life became a sea of sweat shops, living with strangers and garbage lined those heard about streets. Yet, in that one photo of her I treasure, sits an 18 year old woman wearing a long white dress I presume she made herself, stoic yet determined.

That, was who she was!

Carol Yourist, who for right now lives in Texas, is a unique and talented person.  At the tender age of 6, she began sewing when her grandmother introduced her to a Singer treadle sewing machine. That instigated an interest in many artistic endeavors including writing.  Carol has taken classes including on line, to furthur her interests and progress in her search for a better life.

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