West Paris High School - Nautilus Yearbook (West Paris, ME)

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.' 'qs . I CROSSED THE OCEAN Until 1948 I lived in Helsinki, which is the capital of Finland. During the second world war our home was bombed and burned as the result of a sneak attack. i Because of the great need for help my mother, as a nurse, gave her services for her country. As we left the burning city, I remember seeing children of all ages at the station, with their suitcases and tags around their neck, waiting for the move to shelter. I was among them. Some of them were sent to Sweden, Denmark, and even to Norway. I went north to live with some relatives. After the war was over my father came home and we were a family once again until a couple of years later when he left us to come to America. It was in the summer of 1948 that I first became aware of some excitement going on in the family. It finally dawned on me that we were going to meet my father in America, the country ol' which I had heard so much. On july 28, at the break of dawn, my mother, sister who was but ll months old, and I, dressed in our best, shaking with excitement, and longing to see this America, boarded a plane in Helsinki's airport. That was the first time I had seen a plane that close, say nothing about being on one! 1 was terribly afraid that we were going to fall down, as I had seen so many do during the war, and to add to my fears, a lady dressed in a uniform came and tied us to our seats!! The next thing l knew, we were on our way, high up in the sky with the birds, traveling at lightning speed. This was all too much for me to take in at onceg I couldn't believe it was really happening to me. The stewardess brought us a tray, and the thing that caught my eye was a round fuzzy thing which reminded me of an apple. l had never seen one before. Hm-m, it was good, so I asked for another hairy apple. I wondered why she laughed, but I learned later that they are called peaches. The plane stopped once to refuel - in Copenhagen, I think. By that LIIIIC l was getting used to the plane and I felt very proud and important. Soon we were up in the air again, headed for Amsterdam. By this time, I didn't know what was going on because the new stewardess in charge spoke differently! At Amster- dam, we had a two-hour wait for a change of planes. There we were directed to a big hotel-like building, with an open porch covered with huge umbrellas to keep the hot noon-day sun out. Sitting in the shade, sipping my soda through a straw, I was thinking of what my friends would say if they could see me now!! VVhen our names were called, we boarded a bigger plane. This one had six big motors buzzing and making such a noise that we couldn't hear each other talk. This time we were heading to London, England, across the English Channel. The plane flew so low that it gave us a clear view of the Thames River winding along lazily under us. As you may recall, I9-18 was the year when the Olympics were held in l.on- don. Due to this fact, the city was crowded. A taxi from the airport brought us directly to our hotel which looked so nice from the outside, but to our great amazement, was dirty and filthy inside. The room had one big bed in the middle of the floor, a few chairs, and a wash basin. The air was so hot that it was hard to breathe. A few minutes later, I found myself walking down the street, clutch- ing a handful ol' English coins, to the corner fruit stand to buy some more of those delicious hairy apples. On my way back to the hotel, I froze in my tracks! l met a bunch of Negro ids running and laughing. I had never seen one before: l thought they lived in story books only!! After that, I stayed pretty close to the hotel except fora walk in the ark in front of the hotel. There I made friends with a stray pup, and it seemet good that someone understood my language. at least I thought he did. 25

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After our four-day stay in London, we moved on. In my excitement I hadn't noticed that the driver was driving on the left-hand side of the carg the traffic was all a big circus to me. When the taxi deposited us at the station, there again was another surprise-the Deisel. It seemed so big, and I saw no smoke stacks nor smoke. Then away, and within a matter of hours, we had reached South- ampton. That is England's biggest seaport and from there all the big ships leave the country. The train stopped, right in front of this enormous ship, which, l found out later, was the Queen Elizabeth. Somehow in this fast living our lug- gage had reached there before us. It was all a puzzle to me. As we walked up covered-bridge-like steps, a city in itself appeared before us. We were ushered into our cabin and one o the officers offered me some candy from a big bag. I thought he meant it was all for me so I grabbed it and ran alter my mother. The next five days were like living in heaven. Every morning after a delicious breakfast, I used to go up on the top deck and play all kinds of games with some of the other children whom I met there. Once t e officer, who had offered me the candy. saw me and joined me in tossing rings in a game on the deck. I tossed one so hard that it went sailing over the railing! Every afternoon I had the time of my life splashing in the swimming pool on the bottom deck, and all my evenings were spent in the movies on the second deck. I got scared only once, and that was when I got lost in the first-class quarters. They were having a partyg the orchestra was playing and people were dancing, but no matter how many doors l tried, l couldn't find my way out. When I finally ran into my mother who had been hunting for me all over the ship, I don't know whether she was glad or mad, but she left me in the nursery with other kidsg most of them were babies, too. During the four days on the high seas, the sun didn't come out once. When we neared New York, a hazy mist of skyscrapers could be seen on the horizon. As we neared the Statue of Liberty, the engines of the ship were quieted and the crowd of passengers gathered on the decks and then their voices rose in a mass, and it was heart-moving to listen to them as we slowly drifted by. It was so beau- tiful and touching that it is impossible to describe the feeling in words. I didn't know the meaning of it then, but I do now. Then, slowly the Queen Elizabeth was towed into the harbor and for the first time, I faced the big beautiful city of New York. We were not allowed to leave the ship until the next morning and it was real suffering to wait all night to land when I knew that my father and aunt were waiting for us. It was then August 5. In about a month I started school. There I quickly picked up the English language with the help of my teachers and classmates, but the first real friend I had was a little Negro girl. She always had a smile on her face and she talked constantly. She was always by my side and I got to like her so much. It was with her that I tried most to talk in my broken English because she never laughed at me when I said something, and probably said it backwards, as others did. I have often thought of her-my first real friend in the new world. In the spring of 1949 we moved to my grandparents' farm in West Sumner and it was there I finished my grammar school education. Once again our home was levelled by fire and once again we moved-this time to West Paris where I have spent four years in high school. During these years I have continued to make new friendsg to learn the American way of life, and perhaps of greatest im- portance, to me-become an American citizen. 'In 1954 I received my naturaliza- tion papers. All this and more is included in my jump from the old world into the new --this America, the land of the free, where one can choose his friends, just as I did mine. If only people here knew how fortunate they are-. Some have never seen the other side of t e Atlantic, nor do they realize how the people there live and what they have had to endure, but believe me, if they did they could more fully appreciate the fact that they live in America, the sweet land of liberty. Myra I-Ialme '56 26