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 ..

[Nautili]

Craig,
Powerful piece! We must learn from the travesties of the past so we do not commit them in the future. It reminded me of the teen-age abductions happening right here in our country, where children are being taken off the streets to be sold as sex slaves, drugged and beaten, and threatened (as well as threatening them they will go after their loved ones) if they try to escape. We cannot continue to abuse children, seeing them as property and ignoring their need to be valued and protected. We will pay the price in our society if we do not care for our children, who are our future.

[Stacey Watts]

This piece was simply wonderful. I love it when people take events and put a human faace to it. It is in my opinion what makes a historical fact so much better. This was a piece that definitely pulled at the heartstrings. Those poor little children who seem to be neglected and taken away from families and everything they know. Just to be used as housekeepers and farm hands. Fantastic piece on this one very well written.

[The Rock And Roll Cowbo..]

Wow what a painfully gut wrenching piece but that is the way to get the point out there... the thing is this piece can relate well to today too and how poor people are looked upon and how kids today seem to be nothing but property to many adults.

[deeps]

Almost made me cry! Some just should consider themselves lucky inatead of complaining and whinning so much. They don't realize some have it alot worse than them. I like this and the veiws you have here.
Slavery is a horrible thing. I can't handle those who looks at us and think we don't care. It was a long
time ago. But some still think and feel to this day we hurt them. It's over now. It's time to let it go.
I know it hurts but the past i sthe past. No I don't know what they went through but its' time to
put it behind. This is such a tragic piece here and heart breaking. Thank you for putting your
heart and soul into this write.

[cest la vie]

Craig,
In reading this I had shivers of another such "train" which was called slavery. To be discarded, poked, inspected for your potential value for use as a farm hand.. The mere thought literally chips away at my heart. To be perfectly honest, I was totally unawares of this part of our history. Why is something this important not taught in our schools?
You wrote this is in your classic, eloquent fashion. Thank you so much for a heartbreaking, yet beautifully written piece.
Lynne