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Over 200,000 children left New York City to find new homes in the West and Southwest between 1854-1929. Many of the children wrote letters to the Agent who rode the train with them, telling of their new life. Some children were luckier than others.
Today's letter is from a girl who was very fortunate. After reading this letter it appears she was taken into a financially secure home. I would guess the new parents sat with their natural children and stressed the need to treat her like one of their own ... and it seems they did.
My guess is, her natural parents abused her.
This letter is much shorter than last week's, but it definitely reveals her new life. So you don't feel cheated, I will add another case that I had read some time back.
The letter is unedited.
188?
Dear Mr. Tracy,
When I lived in New York I had no bonnet. Now I have more bonnets that I can wear. I get no whippings and I have a father and a mother and brothers and sisters here and they are kinder to me than my own ever were. I think I will never be happier than I am now.
Mary
Another case:
The original plan by The Children's Aid Society was to have the Agent visit each child once a year to see how they were getting along. When the number of children placed in homes became so large, it became an impossible task. Therefore, some children were overlooked.
An Agent went to a home to check on a young girl and he found the man and the girl were a little too cozy for his liking. When he returned to New York City, he prepared papers to remove the girl from that home. When he returned a month later, they had moved.
Next week's letter is longer and ...
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In one case, Mary leaves an abusive home and finds a much happier one. In the second one, she leaves the streets only to be abused by her adoptive father.
I think your Bridie's Daughter was a wonderful story about children finding happy adoptive parents. But even then one of the children on that ride was abused by her new father...
I believe your books have captured these historical events in a wonderful fashion!