Yesterday, feeling like watching a movie, I flipped on the television to see if anything “good” was playing. The movie, “Far and Away” starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman was just starting. I felt transported in time, back to Ireland. I felt pain to watch “Tom” as he worked his father’s farmland, trying to get the earth to cooperate in providing potatoes, with his ornery mule not cooperating either. I felt infuriated to see the Thatch-roof cottage burned to the ground by the collectors who were thwarted in their attempts to collect unavailable “land rent.” There is much more to the Irish end of the story, but I will move ahead to the time when the two protagonists decided to emigrate to America.
Here they were, rooming together in a house of ill-repute, pretending to be brother and sister. “Tom” could fight well, and he fought others at the local bar as a way to earn money, based on wagered bets. All the time, his goal was to save enough money to buy land. His father, on his deathbed, had told him that without land, a man is nothing. A local Boston “boss” broke into Tom’s room and stole all of his money. Then, he threw the couple into the street where they wandered without food or shelter, and unable to find work.
There were many asides and twists to the story but the message was clear. In Boston of the 1890s, the prevailing statement was expressed in signs: “No Irish Need Apply.”
This was one of the bloody, heart-breaking movies I’ve ever sat through. I was relieved that it had a happy ending. It would not have been bearable, otherwise. I was riveted to both the storyline, to the physical beauty of the protagonists, and to the portrayal of the Irish in the late nineteenth century. The time period was set at about 1892. Of course, I thought of my own Irish ancestors and all they must have endured.
Yes, America is a melting pot. Our families came from somewhere else. That’s a good thing to always keep in mind as we meet newly-arrived immigrants who are candidates for American citizenship. America is what it is because it was built on the sweat and the toil and the tears of the Irish, the Chinese, the French, the Polish, the Lithuanians, the Russians, and many other groups who came here, seeking freedom from want, and freedom from oppression. They built the railroads, they worked the mills, and they took every dirty job possible, and were mistreated for their efforts. The promise of freedom is what kept them going.
God bless America!
Patricia Cummings
Quilter’s Muse Publications
