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1. Voyage from Liverpool to Philadelphia
- Indiana University Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
1 Voyage from Liverpool to Philadelphia In January 1885, Doctor Rachel Bodley, Dean of the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania, wrote me a letter, earnestly inviting me to attend the graduation ceremony in Philadelphia in March 1886, at which Mrs. Anandibai Joshee would receive her medical degree.1 At the time I was studying and teaching at the Ladies’ College at Cheltenham in England. At ¤rst I did not accept her invitation for reasons of my own;2 but she entreated me to come to America by writing again herself and by getting Mrs. Anandibai Joshee and Mr. Gopalrao Joshee to write to me, so that I could not bring myself to decline the invitation, despite my several problems. For one thing, Miss Bodley has put us under a great obligation by showing such concern for Hindu3 women, although she herself belongs to another race4 and religion. Secondly, Anandibai Joshee’s is the very ¤rst example of a Hindu woman having studied a dif¤cult subject like medicine and earned a degree. So I had a great desire to witness the happy occasion when she would receive her degree. That is why, despite the many obstacles to my coming here, I entrusted myself to God Almighty, and sailed with my daughter for America on February 17, 1886, from the port of Liverpool in England, on the ship5 The British Princess. My English friends did not at all wish me to come to this country; so they disapproved of my voyage, needless to say. Many of my women friends even prophesied that we would be shipwrecked and would drown in the ocean, because February is not a propitious month for sea voyages. Moreover, there were a great number of storms during the month that year, and several ships were wrecked off the coast of America. Severe cold had frozen the ocean around New York City and within a radius of twenty-¤ve to thirty miles; and the continent of [North] America was ringed with ice. Be that as it may, there was no sign of a storm for three days after our ship left the port of Liverpool; but on the fourth day our ship approached an area in the Atlantic Ocean, midway between England and America, which is known as the “Devil’s Pot.” That is when a terrible storm broke, and we began to witness the dreadful aspect of the ocean. There were not many passengers on our ship as the time was not favorable for voyages. The First Class had four men and three women, and the Third Class had altogether 190 passengers, including men, women, and children. These 190 people had come from different countries of Europe in order to settle in America . (See the brief account of the condition of immigrants, which appears later in the book.6 ) On Sunday some pious persons among these 190 gathered together on the middle deck, held a service, and sang hymns. That night there was a dreadful storm. I heard such a strange tale from a woman at the time that I cannot resist recounting it here. This woman had the First Class cabin next to ours, so I became particularly friendly with her in the course of the voyage. She was of the Roman Catholic persuasion. She told me that there was a man on the steamer who could not tolerate the above-mentioned passengers singing hymns; and he complained about their behavior, prophesying that there would de¤nitely be a storm that night. He said that the people were provoking the Devil by praying to God, and that the Devil would certainly retaliate with a storm. By a coincidence , a storm did break that night, and his prediction came true. A few days later the same people started singing hymns one night, which enraged the man even more. He predicted another storm like the one before; and this prediction also came true. The following Sunday was calm and pleasant, so some children went to the upper deck and started singing “Hallelujah, hallelujah” (a Hebrew word meaning “Praise the Lord”). Our leader7 could not control his rage then; he immediately rushed out and shut the mouths of the thoughtless children. But one could say that the Devil really persecuted our leader that day, because our ship was about to be submerged in the ocean. If this anecdote be true, one can say that many of the educated and progressive people in England still harbor a staunch belief...