Steerage

 When my grandson Matthew was about 5 years old, I explained to him my mother, his grandmother Bobba Lena, was not born in this country. She was born in a small village in a European country called Poland. At the age of sixteen, she and her 18 year old sister Ida, decided to come to America. That meant they had to travel halfway across Europe and then take a boat across 3000 miles of the Atlantic Ocean to reach New York City. They had very little money which meant they would be traveling steerage class in the ocean liner Campania.

Matthew wanted to know what steerage class meant. I explained that like many things in life, the amount of money one had often determines the level on which one lives. The boat had three different classes and depending how much money one had, they would travel either first, second or steerage class.
First, was for the very rich who were given beautiful state rooms with ocean views, excellent food and entertainment. Second class was unlike first class, but was comfortable. Poor people like Bobba Lena travelled steerage which was located in the lowest part of the ship, overly crowded, no windows, unsanitary and very little and poor quality food. They had to endure those terrible conditions for about tens days it took to cross the ocean.
Our discussion took place on the send floor of Matthew’s home in or near his bedroom. When I finished talking, I went downstairs. Mathew remained and about 20 minutes later he called me to come back upstairs. I did and he showed me what he described as a boat he made with steerage class. He pointed to a couch with soft pillows piled on top which he said was first class. He then pointed to the bottom of the couch where there was a disarray with piled up boxes and paper, and said that was steerage class. He then handed me a ticket and said I am to travel steerage class and said to crawl into the ship.

I did so and much to my surprise, there was Momma to whom I was able to console her that a good life was waiting for her.

Ben Haber