tweetybirdgenealogy

SOME HOME CHILDREN QUOTES


From Sheila Beatty Alexander Below are some quotes that I took from various books written about the Home Children and the Orphan Train Riders. I did this as part of a presentation I gave last year and tried to include a balance of experiences. It is a very small example of the similarities of the two groups. "He said "you are very small for eleven". My heart sank, fearing he would not accept me. Mr. and Mrs. �.. are still alive and they are the only parents I have ever known. Their home is my home. Home Child You have to understand�..my adopted mom was the only mother I had known. Orphan Train Rider I was lucky. The farmer I was sent to was one of the nicest and poorest people I have ever met. Home Child I had someone who loved me and I was well taken care of. Orphan Train Rider The other children were taken out at every stop and put onto a platform to be looked over by people and they would take whomever they wanted. Orphan Train Rider You would have thought that he was purchasing a horse the way he sized up my forehead, body and legs. Home Child ... [her children] always had milk to drink with their dinner, but she said I couldn't have any. �. I can truthfully say I never got enough to eat. Orphan Train Rider I didn't get enough to eat. I had to drink water for my meals and they had 8 cows milking. Home Child [at the orphanage]�I can remember lying in bed, looking up at the ceiling talking to my mother. I would ask her, "Why did you leave me? I miss you so much! Why hasn't anyone in our family come to visit us�.." Orphan Train Rider Why, for what reason, did our family have to be broken up? Home Child If I had not gone into the Home my future would have been anyone's guess. Home Child He arrived at the �..home, a place replete with sounds and sights different from those he recalled in the city. One of the first farm creatures he saw was a chicken. He had never seen one before, and he was afraid of it. Orphan Train Rider I became frightened and ran into the house - and being an ignorant city boy, I called out that there was a snake in one of the mangers. The boss came back with the rifle and shot a skunk. Home Child I was cursed like a slave not knowing what to do to please and I tried so hard. Home Child I was just a thing around the house and as I grew older I was a hired hand only without pay. Orphan Train Rider In the early 1920s an orphan was on the very edge of humanity, any show of love to an orphan was unheard of�.. Orphan Train Rider At this farm I was given to understand that an orphan was the lowest type of person on earth just about and the insults I had to take even at the age of 10 or 11 have always stayed with me. It's only the bruises on the outside that I don't feel anymore. Home Child Those 7 years were hell. I was beat up with pieces of harness, pitchforks, anything that came in handy to hit me with I got it. Home Child I had one pair of shoes for school. They were too small and left my toes crippled - they still are. Orphan Train Rider What does it feel like being an orphan?�..The only answer I could give to this question was, "It is the most unloved and unwanted feeling a child could ever have." Orphan Train Rider Actually I ceased to be a child at the age of 10. No one can understand my feelings of loneliness and despair unless they have lived through it. Home Child I remember we were all given new clothes for the trip. Home Child �the orphans were taken to a department store and fitted with fashionable suits. Orphan Train Rider He called me a silly bastard, and when I asked him what that meant, he said I had no father and I'd grow up to be a whore like my mother. Home Child Back in those days one really had to try hard to please people. I was even called a "bastard" and told that I didn't need to think I was so smart because I was nobody's kid. Orphan Train Rider I believe the hard training fitted me for my future and I am happy to say, stood me in good stead. Home Child �.I will have to say there was a lot of sadness and hard times but there was beautiful and happy times, too. Those are the ones I wish to remember. Orphan Train Rider I never saw the inside of a house for three months. Ate in the woodshed, slept in the woodshed, worked from daylight 'til dark�.My name was never mentioned, I was always called "the boy." Home Child He was never accepted as part of the family and was always referred to as the "Adopted Child." Orphan Train Rider Little did I think that I was going to be separated from my brother. Home Child All my life I wanted to find out about my mother and my heritage. Orphan Train Rider I don't know what I expected. We were conditioned to think great things were in store for us - that Canada was one big apple tree, and our worries were over for life. Home Child We had no idea where we were going, just that we were off to find a MAMMA and DADDY. I was little scared about this because I really didn't know what a MAMMA and DADDY was. Orphan Train Rider"

BACK

To Homepage