Lucy’s Wish

by Joan Lowery Nixon

  She snatched Baby out of Emma’s arms and ran toward the bull’s pasture. By the time Lucy realized what was happening, Janetta had tossed Baby into the pasture.

  “No! No!” Lucy cried. As she watched, horrified, Janetta climbed through the rail fence, dashed to the doll, picked it up, and ran back.

  The bull, in the distance, raised his head and snorted.

  Both Emma and Lucy reached for the doll, but Abigail grabbed it. “My turn,” she said. She tossed the doll into the pasture and climbed through the fence to go after it, imitating her sister.

  “Come back! Hurry!” Lucy cried as the bull trotted a little closer.

  Laughing, Abigail ran to the fence and squeezed through the rails.

  With a cry Emma again reached for the doll, but Abigail held it high. “Your turn,” she said to Lucy.

  “No,” Lucy said, shuddering. “Don’t do that!” She watched the bull. He seemed to stare right at her. “The bull’s closer now. I’m not going in there.”

  “Yes, you are,” Abigail cried. She threw Baby into the pasture. “I said, it’s your turn.”

  “And I told you no,” Lucy said. “The bull’s too close. Besides, you threw it farther in than you did for yourself.”

  “Did not.”

  “Did too.”

  Lucy was so angry at Abigail, she forgot about watching Emma. It wasn’t until Janetta gasped and pointed that Lucy turned and saw Emma in the pasture, stumbling through the grass toward the doll.

  The bull raised his head. He snorted loudly and pawed the ground, kicking up clods of dirt.

  Abigail and Janetta ran screaming toward the house. But Lucy knew that help couldn’t possibly come in time. She ducked through the fence rails and raced toward Emma. Emma had picked up Baby and was standing quietly, cuddling the doll.

  From the corner of her eye Lucy saw the bull come a few steps closer. She grabbed Emma’s hand and tugged her toward the fence. Emma stumbled, but Lucy half-pulled, half-carried her, moving as quickly as possible.

  Lucy could see Mr. Snapes running toward them. He shouted at the bull, waving his arms. Behind him raced the others, screaming in terror.

  The thumping steps of the bull grew louder as he thundered closer.

  In a last burst of speed, Lucy reached the fence and pushed Emma through. She glanced over her shoulder and saw that the bull was almost on top of her. She threw herself to one side as the bull’s horns sideswiped the top rail of the fence. Then she dove through the gap between the two bottom rails. She didn’t have time to be careful. She hit her head hard on the upper rail.

  “Emma? Is Emma all right?” Lucy tried to ask, but her head hurt too much. She sailed into blackness.

  She awoke to feel gentle hands stroking her forehead. She heard a soft voice say, “I love you, Lucy. I love you.”

  “Mum?” Lucy asked. “Is it you?” She tried to wake up.

  The blackness went away. Lucy opened her eyes. She was lying on the ground outside the pasture, her head in Emma’s lap. “Love you,” Emma was saying.

  “She’s been babbling to you ever since you fainted,” Mrs. Snapes said to Lucy. “It seems you’re all right now.”

  “The bull?” Lucy asked.

  “The bull didn’t touch you. You just bumped your head.”

  Lucy sat up carefully. Her head still hurt, but that didn’t matter. She knew what Emma had said. Her wish really had come true. She wrapped her arms around Emma and murmured in her ear, “I love you, too.”

  Abigail was wiping her tears on her sleeve. “It was all Janetta’s fault,” she cried. “She threw the doll into the pasture.”

  “Did not!” Janetta screeched. “Abigail did it!”

  “Did not!”

  “Did too!”

  “You’re all to blame,” said their mother angrily. “Get in the buggy, daughters. We’re going home.”

  “Please don’t tell Father,” Abigail begged.

  Mrs. Porter thought a moment, then shrugged. “Well …,” she said. Her voice trailed off as she walked toward her buggy. “Since no harm’s been done …”

  Lucy was heartsick. “I’m sorry,” she said to Mr. and Mrs. Snapes. “You told me to keep Emma away from the pasture, and I didn’t.” Tears came to her eyes. She added, “If you want to send me back, I … I …”

  “Send you back? When I’ve just got used to you? What nonsense,” Mrs. Snapes said. “Besides, you have a knack with Emma. No one else has ever made her so happy.”

  “You were very brave to try to save our Emma,” Mr. Snapes said, putting his hand on Lucy’s shoulder. “We’re grateful to you.”

  Mrs. Snapes’s face reddened, and her voice grew husky. “We’re … we’re glad you’re here, Lucy.”

  “Thank you,” Lucy said, and she smiled.

  Mrs. Snapes hesitated, as if she wanted to reach out and pat Lucy’s arm. But instead she straightened up. “Well, there’s no point in standing around out here when there’s chores to be done. I must collect the eggs. You ought to lie down before you set the table for supper.”

  Lucy gingerly touched the lump on her forehead. It would probably turn red and purple and look a sight, but it didn’t hurt as much as it had.

  She got up, grabbed Emma’s hand, and followed the Snapeses to the house. As she walked, she smiled to herself. She might not have found the family of her dreams. And when school began there would still be unkind remarks from the boys and girls in her class. There would be many times when she’d have to stand up for herself and for Emma. But her wish had come true.

  Maybe even Mrs. Snapes would give her more than a thank-you. One day Lucy might get a smile and a hug—just like Emma had already given her.

  Lucy grinned with excitement. She had someone to love her—someone whom she’d always love in return. She and Emma would always have each other.

  EPILOGUE

  LETTER FROM LUCY GRIGGS

  TO FRANCES MARY KELLY

  Dear Miss Kelly,

  On our journey to Missouri I had a secret wish. When I was placed out with the Snapeses I thought it had come true, and then I was afraid it hadn’t. I found out that I was looking in the wrong place! I now know that even though only a part of my wish came true, that was enough. Because the part that came true was the important part.

  I do have a sister. I love my sister, Emma, and Emma loves me. That makes us both happy. The word people use for Emma is “simple.” Mrs. Snapes said there’s nothing that can be done about it. I’m not so sure she’s right. I’m teaching Emma more words to say. I’m going to teach her to say them slowly and plainly so that everyone can understand her, not just me. That may not seem like much, but it will be important to Emma. And to me. I also know my mum would be happy that I am doing this.

  I love living in Missouri after all. Have you heard from Daisy? Please write to me. I hope that you are well and that your wishes also come true. Thank you for your kindness, Miss Kelly.

  Yours very truly,

  Glossary

  camisole kam’-i-sol A short, sleeveless garment worn over a girl’s or woman’s underwear, under her dress or blouse.

  cholera kol’-er-a An infectious, often fatal disease.

  committee ka-mit’-e A group of people elected or appointed to perform a service.

  embroider em-broi’-der To sew a design on a piece of fabric with needlework.

  evict e-vikt’ To legally remove someone from the property on which he or she is living.

  fort fort A military site, strengthened to prevent attack and occupied by soldiers.

  frock coat frok cot A man’s close-fitting coat, long enough to reach the knees.

  hem hem To fold back and sew down the edge of a piece of cloth.

  pallet pal’-it A small, makeshift bed of blankets or straw.

  parasol par’-e-sol A woman’s sun umbrella.

  placed out plased out The term used by the Children’s Aid Society to mean that a home had been found for a child on an orphan train.

&nbs
p; privy priv’-e An outside toilet.

  refuse ref’-yoos Something that is discarded as useless. Trash or garbage.

  sampler sam’-pler An embroidered cloth showing a beginner’s talent with the needle.

  tenement ten’-a-ment An apartment house in the poorest, most crowded part of a city.

  top hat top hat A man’s tall hat with a curved brim. Often made of silk.

  waif waf A child who has no home or friends.

  well wel A hole drilled or dug into the earth to get water.

  The Story of

  the Orphan Trains

  In 1850 there were five hundred thousand people living in New York City. Ten thousand of these people were homeless children.

  Many of these children were immigrants—they had come to the United States with their families from other countries. Many lived in one-room apartments. These rooms had stoves for heating and cooking, but the only water was in troughs in the hallways. These apartments were called tenements, and they were often crowded together in neighborhoods.

  Immigrant parents worked long hours for very low wages. Sometimes they had barely enough money to buy food. Everyone in the family over the age of ten was expected to work. Few of these children could attend school, and many could not read or write.

  Girls took in bundles of cloth from clothing manufacturers. They carefully sewed men’s shirts, women’s blouses, and babies’ gowns. Or they made paper flowers and tried to sell them on the busy streets.

  New York City’s Lower East Side during the late nineteenth century. Courtesy the Children’s Aid Society

  Boys shined shoes or sold newspapers.

  There were no wonder medicines in the 1800s. Many immigrants who lived in poor conditions died from contagious diseases. Children often became orphans with no one to care for them.

  Some orphaned children were taken in by aunts and uncles. But many of the immigrant children had no relatives to come to their aid. They had left their grandparents, aunts, and uncles in other countries. They were alone. No one in the government had developed any plans for caring for them.

  These orphans were evicted from their homes so that the rooms could be rented to other families. Orphans with no homes and no beds slept in alleys.

  This was a time in which children were expected to work hard, along with adults. They were expected to take care of themselves. But there were not enough jobs for all the orphans in New York City. Many street arabs, as they were called, turned to lives of crime.

  A New York City “street arab.” Courtesy the Children’s Aid Society

  Charles Loring Brace, a young minister and social worker, became aware of this situation. He worried about these children, who so badly needed care. With the help of some friends he founded the Children’s Aid Society. The Children’s Aid Society provided a place to live for some of the homeless children. It also set up industrial schools to train the children of the very poor in job skills.

  Charles Loring Brace soon realized, however, that these steps were not enough. He came up with the idea of giving homeless, orphaned children a second—and much better—chance at life by taking them out of the city and placing them in homes in rural areas of the country.

  Brace hired a scout to visit some of the farm communities west of New York State. He asked the scout to find out if people would be interested in taking orphan children into their homes. The scout was surprised by how many people wanted the children.

  Charles Loring Brace, founder of the Children’s Aid Society and the orphan train program. Courtesy the Children’s Aid Society

  A boy proudly holds up his Children’s Aid Society membership card. Courtesy the Children’s Aid Society

  One woman wrote, “Last year was a very hard year, and we lost many of our children. Yes, we want your children. Please send your children.”

  Brace went to orphans who were living on the streets and told them what he wanted to do. Children flocked to the Children’s Aid Society office. “Take me,” they begged. “Please take me.”

  “Where do you live?” the children were asked.

  The answer was always the same: “Don’t live nowhere.”

  The first orphan train was sent west in 1856, and the last one in 1929. During these years more than a hundred and fifty thousand children were taken out of New York City by the Children’s Aid Society. Another hundred thousand children were sent by train to new homes in the West by the New York Foundling Home. By 1929, states had established welfare laws and had begun taking care of people in need, so the orphan trains were discontinued.

  Before a group of children was sent west by train, notices that the children were coming would be placed in the newspapers of towns along the route: “WANTED: HOMES FOR CHILDREN,” one notice said. It then listed the Society’s rules. Children were to be treated as members of the family. They were to be taken to church on Sundays and sent to school until they were fourteen.

  Boys on board an orphan train. Courtesy the Children’s Aid Society

  Handbills were posted in the towns where the orphan train stopped, where people could easily see them. One said: “CHILDREN WITHOUT HOMES. A number of the Children brought from New York are still without homes. Friends from the country, please call and see them.”

  A committee of local citizens would be chosen at each of the towns. The members of the committee were given the responsibility of making sure that the people who took the orphan train children in were good people.

  Most committee members tried to do a good job. But sometimes a child was placed in a home that turned out to be unhappy. Some farmers wanted free labor and were unkind to the boys they chose. But there were many good people who wanted to provide loving homes for the orphans. Many people were so happy with their children that they took a step beyond being foster parents and legally adopted them.

  Not all the children who were taken west on the orphan trains were orphans. Some had one or both parents still living. But sometimes fathers and mothers brought their children to the Children’s Aid Society.

  Families that wanted to adopt an orphan train rider had to follow rules such as these. Courtesy the Children’s Aid Society

  “I can’t take care of my children,” they would say. “I want them to have a much better life than I can give them. Please take them west to a new home.”

  What did the orphan train children think about their new lives? What made the biggest impression on them? They were used to living in small spaces, surrounded by many people in a noisy, crowded city. Were they overwhelmed by the sight of miles of open countryside?

  A group of children ready to board the orphan trains, and their placing-out agents. Courtesy the Children’s Aid Society

  Many of them had never tasted an apple. How did they react when they saw red apples growing on trees?

  When they sat down to a meal with their new families, did they stuff themselves? And did they feel a little guilty, remembering the small portions of food their parents had to eat?

  Were they afraid to approach the large farm animals? What was it like for them to milk a cow for the first time?

  During the first few years of the orphan trains, the records kept by the Children’s Aid Society were not complete. In 1917 an agent made a survey. He wanted to find out what had happened to many of the orphan train children who had grown up.

  He found that among them were a governor of North Dakota, a governor of the Territory of Alaska, two members of the United States Congress, nine members of state legislatures, two district attorneys, two mayors, a justice of the Supreme Court, four judges, many college professors, teachers, journalists, bankers, doctors, attorneys, four army officers, and seven thousand soldiers and sailors.

  WHAT IS NEEDED

  Money is needed to carry forward this great child-saving enterprise. With more confidence do we ask it, since it has been so clearly shown that this work of philanthropy is not a dead weight upon the community. Though its chief aim is to rescue the helpless child victims of our
social errors, it also makes a distinct economic return in the reduction of the number of those who are hopeless charges upon the common purse. More money at our command means more power to extend this great opportunity of help to the many homeless children in the boys’ and girls’ lodging houses in New York, and in the asylums and institutions throughout the State. We therefore ask the public for a more liberal support of this noble charity, confident that every dollar invested will bring a double return in the best kind of help to the children, so pitifully in need of it.

  This chart, from the Children’s Aid Society’s 1910 bulletin, shows the number of children who rode the orphan trains and the states to which they were sent. Courtesy the Children’s Aid Society

  Although there were some problems in this system of matching homeless children with foster parents, the orphan train program did what it set out to do. It gave the homeless children of New York City the chance to live much better lives.

  Three sisters who were taken in by the Children’s Aid Society after their mother had died. At the time the photograph was taken, the two youngest girls had been adopted. Courtesy the Children’s Aid Society

  New York City in the 1860s

  New York City in the 1860s was a fast-paced, crowded, and sometimes dangerous city. Almost half the population of the city had been born in another country. Most of these immigrants came from Ireland or Germany.

  The streets of New York City were full of life. Food and other items were sold in markets, and children played marbles and other outdoor games. Horse-drawn carriages clattered noisily down the bumpy streets, which were paved with cobble-stones.

  Many of the people who settled in New York City in the 1860s moved to the southern part of Manhattan. There they could be close to the factories and docks where they worked. They lived in tenements—cheaply built, overcrowded housing. People in tenements used outdoor communal toilets that often overflowed and enabled diseases like cholera to spread quickly.