Mary Antin
Mary Antin
Mary Antinwas an American author and immigration rights activist. She is best known for her 1912 autobiography The Promised Land, an account of her emigration and subsequent Americanization...
NationalityRussian
ProfessionActivist
Date of Birth24 February 1909
CountryRussian Federation
prepared talked till time tutor
First, you had to have a tutor at home, who prepared you and talked all the time about the examination you would have to pass, till you were scared.
expected gentiles
There was one thing, however, the Gentiles always understood, and that was money. They would take any kind of bribe, at any time. They expected it.
chief close command gave honor love police positive prayer shall
One positive command he gave us: You shall love and honor your emperor. In every congregation a prayer must be said for the czar's health, or the chief of police would close the synagogue.
along burned delighted moved people until
As we moved along in a little procession, I was delighted with the illumination of the streets. So many lamps, and they burned until morning, my father said, and so people did not need to carry lanterns.
draw higher left life means nearer shining step
If education, culture, the higher life were shining things to be worshiped from afar, he had still a means left whereby he could draw one step nearer to them.
birthday house police
On a royal birthday every house must fly a flag, or the owner would be dragged to a police station and be fined twenty-five rubles.
world may born
Such creatures of accident are we, liable to a thousand deaths before we are born. But once we are here, we may create our own world, if we choose.
father tin-cans cooking
The first meal was an object lesson of much variety. My father produced several kinds of food, ready to eat, without any cooking, from little tin cans that had printing all over them.
bones refuse nations
What we get in steerage is not the refuse, but the sinew and bone of all the nations.
spiritual mother pain
Our mothers are racked with the pains of our physical birth; we ourselves suffer the longer pains of our spiritual growth.