DAY #7 - Wow, A Week Already?!

Today was a marathon day - I started talking at 8 am and finished at 8 pm! Luckily my throat held out. I do think I may have figured out what I am having an allergic reaction to out here in Kansas - Cottonwood Trees. Big fluffy white polen is floating all around and since I don't have allergies at home (nor do I have cottonwood trees) I'm going to blame it on them. Other than that, and my complete disgust with Mapquest, the day was exceptional!

I began the day at Lakewood Middle School speaking to 6th graders followed by 4th graders at Huesner and Meadowlark Elementary Schools and finally, 5th graders at Coronado. From there I went straight to the Salina Public Library for a talk and book signing and finally - after a quick burger at McDonald's - my last talk and book signing at Kansas Wesleyan University where I spoke to education students not only about the orphan trains and my books, but also about independent publishing and integrating my books and this subject into school curriculum.

During my typical school presentation, after talking about both the orphan trains and the baby trains and the differences in how the two trains worked, I always point out that, "interestingly, many of the children who rode the baby trains through the Sisters of Charity at the NY Foundling home were actually adopted by the people who took them in, as opposed to the children who rode the orphan trains through the Children's Aid Society who were more likely not to be adopted." Then I ask students why they think that might be. In all the presentations I've given over the years....hundreds by now....no student has ever come up with the main reason for this difference. Today, at Coronado, a fifth grader named Eli was the first student to ever answer this question! Congratulations Eli, you're a very bright and thoughtful young man!

SISTER MARY IRENE FITZGIBBON

Around the same time that Reverend Brace was beginning his work on behalf of the homeless children in New York City, another person of faith, Sister Mary Irene Fitzgibbon of the Sisters of Charity, felt God’s calling as well. With beginning capital of just five dollars, Sister Irene sought help from charitable women and raised enough money to rent a small house located at 17 E. 12th Street where, on October 11, 1869 she began preparations for opening what would be called the New York Foundling Hospital. The mission would be to save the thousands of infants and very young children who were being left to perish in alley ways and trash heaps around the city. Appropriately enough, October 11th is the Feast of the Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Sister Irene, along with the other Sisters of Charity, intended to take three months to get the home ready to open, but on the very first night an infant was left on the front steps and without ceremony, the Foundling Home was in operation. By January 1, 1870, when the Sisters had originally intended to open their doors, they had 123 babies in residence.

Placing a white cradle in the foyer of the Home, while leaving the front door unlocked, word was sent out that a desperate mother could enter the Home and leave her child in the cradle with no questions asked. All the Sisters asked was that when leaving, the mother ring the bell by the front door so that the Sisters would know that there was a new little one to be gathered up and brought upstairs with the other babies.

Prior to the opening of the Foundling Home, abandoned infants found alive on the streets were taken by police to Blackwell’s Island (a prison and workhouse) where they were cared for by aging prisoners. Few survived infancy.

In the following six years, the NY Foundling home relocated twice to larger buildings to accommodate more children. By 1876 it became apparent that another solution was needed to solve the problem of homeless infants….Mercy Trains, or Baby Trains as they were sometime called, would be the answer….

HOW IT BEGAN......

In the middle of the 1800’s, New York City was awash with immigrants from European countries. From 1840-1860, 4 million people entered the city through Ellis Island and amazingly, most of them stayed. With barriers related to language, transportation and income, new arrivals were soon confronted with the reality of their new life. The Land of Milk and Honey with Streets Paved in Gold was in fact, a crude existence plagued with overcrowding, a shortage of jobs, unsanitary living conditions, and difficult - often heartwrenching - decisions.

With no social programs available (no food stamps, workman’s compensation, unemployment, welfare, etc.) families were left to their own devices. If a father was hurt on the job and left unable to work, there would always be another immigrant ready to take his place. Often, with a lack of resources and a growing number of children to try and care for, parents were forced to make the difficult choice of sending their older children (ages 8 and up) out on the streets to fend for themselves.

Commonly known as “street arabs” “waifs” or “street urchins”, these children would often band together in small groups for protection and friendship. Selling newspapers, shining shoes, or begging a few coins was their only means of support. By 1853 it is estimated that 30,000 children were living on the streets of New York City. This growing problem was soon to be addressed by two people: Reverend Charles Loring Brace of Connecticut, and Sister Mary Irene Fitzgibbons of the Sisters of Charity. Both Rev. Brace and Sister Irene felt called by God to help the thousands of children who not only struggled to eek out their existence, but also posed a growing threat to the crime problem in the city.
More to come…..