In the days of orphan riders...

Up to 200,000 orphans rode the orphan trains�

 

I stand here alone… unwanted… discarded… afraid…

So hungry for food… for shelter... for kind words…

No parent to defend me… seek me… say they love me…

No one to hold me or kiss me goodnight… not me…

I don’t dream anymore… at least I can’t remember any…

Here in New York… dirty and unsure… on the streets…

I’ll never see my home again… what brief time it was…

Children like me… scattered… they gather us like dogs…

Place us on trains… dirty... noisy… terrified…

Alone with a hundred others like me…

Staring into each others’ eyes…

Hoping to find a friend in these lonely moments…

Other “dirty waifs” like myself…

We are looked at as less than human…

High society people say we got what we deserved…

We were poor “because we wished it…”

Our folks lazy or cursed or heavy drinkers…

I travel a thousand miles… little sleep… no rest…

Stop on stop off… stand before ladies and gents…

Stuck with their fingers… talked about but never talked to…

They check my teeth.. feel my chest… my arms…

Wanting me not as a child.. not a blessed son or daughter…

But as hands to help… to milk and mend and move…
A stranger takes my hand… a lady…

Saying she will be my mother… I nod and walk with her…

Glancing back at nameless faces… pushed back on the train cars…

No one wanting them… not even for work…

I can wish that she will care for me… dream that she will love me…

But I told her my name… and she only ever calls me “boy…”

God, please promise me a warm bed… something good to eat…

And maybe… if I’m good… a future too…

Is that too much to ask?

 

Author's Note

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress..." ~ James 1:27

From 1854 to 1929, orphan trains from New York "placed out" 150,000 to 200,000 destitute children, mainly to homes in the farming communities of the Midwest. Some of these children, young infants to age 15, were orphans. Many were homeless street kids, and others were given-up by parents unable to provide for their well-being. Some had been abandoned by their families, were runaways, or had been removed from abusive homes. Children on the orphan trains came from the street gangs and orphan asylums of the city.

During the orphan train trip, children usually lined up in front of prospective takers on a platform or at a meeting hall. They were encouraged to look and act their best. Inspection sometimes involved poking and prodding; an attempt to ascertain their value as workers on farms or in local shops and businesses. Children that were not selected returned to the train to travel on to another stop.

It is estimated that around 2 million Americans are descendents of an orphan train rider.

Reviews

[emmajoy]

What a stupendous piece of writing set in your own unique way .. the theme is tragic, heart-breaking yet somehow, you give those children haloes by way of your wording.

No parent to defend me� seek me� say they love me�
No one to hold me or kiss me goodnight� not me�
I don't dream anymore�

So sad and, truth .. we can't forget that history, ever.

History has been wicked-evil to people of all ages but the thought of small children being treated like this is inconceivable - sent from their families, bewildered, mourning the break from parents, treated like animals, abused in every way.

A similar thing happened here in the UK .. children sent away during WW2 .. many to fine homes/people, but equally many went to abusive people who used them as slave and sexual labour. Many children were lied to, told their parents were killed in the war. How cruel is that.

How cruel the world has been and is to wee defenceless angels. Craig, thank you for writing this incredible reminder ..

[EmpressPoetess]

You make my heart so heavy with this awful reality for so many children. You put us inside the mind and heart of these children. The good news is that God has great purpose to erase this tragedy. Isaiah 65:1-25. The political system we live under right now cannot make the needed changes, but God's Kingdom can and will.
Matthew 6: 9-10, Psalm 37: 9-11, Psalm 37:22-29

[Mauricio Montoya]

It a wonder then in history and now something like this could happen this is an excellent write, my hat is off to you my friend. Mauricio

[Wendy Seames Garner]

How horrible for those poor children, alone, scared, hungry, treated like cattle. No one should be treated that way. Although, he wasn't on an orphan train, my great-grandfather was sent away from home, to work for a lumber baron, at the age of 8 years old. I just can't imagine how he must have felt. Thanks Craig for reminding us of this travesty. Let's hope that nothing like this ever happens again!

[Mama Topaz]

This goes beyond excellence... to the heart. Going in my library!

[MOON]

Thought provoking prose, too often in life we forget history, we forget on whose shoulders we stood and we forget our fathers and forefathers trials and tribulations.

[Patrick]

touches all the right strings on the heart :)

[Shelley Holt-Lowrey]

Ahhh another of the sad parts of our immagration stories during the 19th century. You give these children voice. The children of the Irish famine. A sad commentary of prejeduice. Ironic then that the Irish immagrants eventually came to look down on those who came later from Eastern Europe. Gotta love the story of our US. I do - rich in irony, love, fortitude and .... more. Thank you for giving voice to these babies.

[semifl]

Its important to keep remembering in new ways the struggles others have faced. Thanks for reminding us.

[Honeypot]

Excellent work. It looks like you did a lot of research for it. It's a really strong piece that evokes a sense of helplessness in the reader. You things like this may seem like ancient history but in reality it's not. Can you imagine the blind fear? Wonderful piece of writing my friend.