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| Nebraska Narrative Contest Winners |
1st Place - Winner of Herbert Hoover dollar donated by the Endorf's (Herbert's parents
passed away in their 30's. He rode a train a great distance as an orphan to live with relatives.
In his adult life he contributed to children's causes because of this.)
By Page Bohaty - Today I woke up and it is cold and bumpy on this train. I wish
we were there already! I wonder what my new family will be like. Will I have a new
family? Wait...the train is stopped. I think we're in Nebraska!!
When all of us kids get out of the train it is so beautiful here. When it is time for
the grown-ups to pick one of us, I was one who got picked!! Some dreams have
happy endings.
2nd Place - Winner of Kansas Quarter set donated by the Endorf's
By Amber Meyer - If I was on the Orphan Train and I was in New York going all the
way to Nebraska, I would feel very scared and lost. The reason why is because I
was in a big city and then I would be going to the great plains. I hope my new
family won't be scared or mean to me.
After awhile I would get used to it, but I would still feel like something is wrong with
the new environment (land). I would get a new place to live. I will be able to grow
crops like corn and wheat. I will be scared of the new family and home. But I will
get used to it. Many things I will be able to do are feed the animals because we
are on the great plains. I will be an orphan who rode the Orphan Trains!
3rd Place - Winner of $2 donated by the Endorf's (Many kids received a silver dollar by the
mayor when they arrived in a new town. Norfolk bankers didn't seem to have any on hand in
2008 so suggested this instead!)
By Cayden Schmidt - Today I was put on a train. I thought it would be great but it
was just awful. My first feeling was, why did this happen to me? After awhile it got
a little better. But then they brought out the food and it looked disgusting. It
tasted okay but the after taste was like dirt. So far, I hate it! Then after lunch, I
met a friend. His name was Charlie. He was really nice.
He hated it until we got to Nebraska and right away he got adopted. I was sad and
mad for losing a friend! Soon after he was adopted I was! My new family is great!
4th Place - Winner of Friends Ty Beanie Baby donated by the Madison Museum
By Aaron Gnirk - Today is a lonesome day, there are other children on the train
but everyone is sad. I wonder what my new home will be like. Will the people who
take me in be rich, poor or strict? I do not know.
Today the wind is blowing hard, the rain is pouring. I just want to get this over
with, could I be more sad and lonely? There is one good thing, I made a new
friend, she is quiet but she is the only thing keeping me running after my parents
abandoned me. I miss home. I just can't bear seeing all these little kids so sad.
We're here. I was adopted by a nice family.
passed away in their 30's. He rode a train a great distance as an orphan to live with relatives.
In his adult life he contributed to children's causes because of this.)
By Page Bohaty - Today I woke up and it is cold and bumpy on this train. I wish
we were there already! I wonder what my new family will be like. Will I have a new
family? Wait...the train is stopped. I think we're in Nebraska!!
When all of us kids get out of the train it is so beautiful here. When it is time for
the grown-ups to pick one of us, I was one who got picked!! Some dreams have
happy endings.
2nd Place - Winner of Kansas Quarter set donated by the Endorf's
By Amber Meyer - If I was on the Orphan Train and I was in New York going all the
way to Nebraska, I would feel very scared and lost. The reason why is because I
was in a big city and then I would be going to the great plains. I hope my new
family won't be scared or mean to me.
After awhile I would get used to it, but I would still feel like something is wrong with
the new environment (land). I would get a new place to live. I will be able to grow
crops like corn and wheat. I will be scared of the new family and home. But I will
get used to it. Many things I will be able to do are feed the animals because we
are on the great plains. I will be an orphan who rode the Orphan Trains!
3rd Place - Winner of $2 donated by the Endorf's (Many kids received a silver dollar by the
mayor when they arrived in a new town. Norfolk bankers didn't seem to have any on hand in
2008 so suggested this instead!)
By Cayden Schmidt - Today I was put on a train. I thought it would be great but it
was just awful. My first feeling was, why did this happen to me? After awhile it got
a little better. But then they brought out the food and it looked disgusting. It
tasted okay but the after taste was like dirt. So far, I hate it! Then after lunch, I
met a friend. His name was Charlie. He was really nice.
He hated it until we got to Nebraska and right away he got adopted. I was sad and
mad for losing a friend! Soon after he was adopted I was! My new family is great!
4th Place - Winner of Friends Ty Beanie Baby donated by the Madison Museum
By Aaron Gnirk - Today is a lonesome day, there are other children on the train
but everyone is sad. I wonder what my new home will be like. Will the people who
take me in be rich, poor or strict? I do not know.
Today the wind is blowing hard, the rain is pouring. I just want to get this over
with, could I be more sad and lonely? There is one good thing, I made a new
friend, she is quiet but she is the only thing keeping me running after my parents
abandoned me. I miss home. I just can't bear seeing all these little kids so sad.
We're here. I was adopted by a nice family.
| Student Contestants Each student was given 15 minutes to write their narrative. |
| Adult Contestants |
1st Place - Sarah Endorf - "Flowers of Faith" $20 Gift Certificate to Madison
County Museum Gift Shop
Like my quilt blocks these nine people inspire me in these ways;
Lela Newcombe was only two years old and at 94 years old still remembers
crawling into cupboards on a search to find any food she could find to survive. I
can relate really well to Lela because I was ill with Borreliosis or Lyme disease
and on IV’s from my 8th grade year to my Sr. year. I felt alienated. I was not well
enough to attend high school or date. Lela had a controlling mother who chose
to tell her misleading information about dating and pregnancy. Even though she
was not ill, her experiences were as slim as mine.
Lois Gillett - memories are best kept with photos and scrapbooks. Nobody
does this better than Lois. I share this love for scrap booking. Lois also writes
letters and keeps in touch with beautiful penmanship. I have four pen pals that I
personally keep in touch with. We also have the love to make crafts. The
beautiful quilt, “Flowers of Faith” is beautiful proof that together our crafting skills
make wonderful useful objects!
Merle Lebsock always had a positive and giving attitude. Even though she
had to have not been feeling well herself, she always asked my condition first
thing when she called. She was so proud of our Plains Bound book. She was
like a book store outlet out of her house. She would call every once in awhile to
get more books for neighbors. I am sure she is smiling in heaven today to know
By Train They Came: Volume 2 is in her memory. She knew another book was in
the works and worked with mom many times by phone and mail to get it “just
perfect” as if she were speaking. She thought a full color book would be great for
kids and collectors. So, it is only appropriate that it ends up being in her memory.
Carmella Schend overcame sickness just like I am. She got very ill on the
train ride from New York. With patience and persistence on her parents’ part she
got well. She went to a Catholic school like I did and she helped with Orphan
Train Celebrations like I have too.
Catherine Tichota came to West Point, Nebraska on the train. I went to West
Point and have many friends there from Toastmasters. Catherine loved to ride in
parades. We have a picture of her riding in a parade in Beemer, Nebraska in
one of our books. With our books we have had many opportunities to ride in
parades as well. When she was about my age (18), she must have liked furs.
The photo artist, Ines Dejmal, brought to life in color shows her with a fur collar. I
share this passion as lots of my jackets and vests have fake fur collars for fun!
Mary Josephine Boland - her foster parents had requested a blond hair, blue
eyed little girl, which would be just like me! However, Mary Josephine was a red
head, just like my mom! Her parents kept it a secret for 23 years as she always
thought she was their only child. She found out she was adopted at age 23. She
got mad and ran away. I think I would have done the same because I would have
been upset with them that they kept that from me. I would also wonder, “What
else have they kept from me?” She got over it and did keep in touch though.
Father Fangman (another Orphan Train rider) helped her at a reunion to try and
trace her roots. After she passed away her granddaughter finished tracing her
roots. Her descendants have also hosted Orphan Train Celebrations.
Clarence Castner - his mom died after giving birth to his baby sister. His dad
could not keep up with things so the four kids went to an institution in New York.
They lived there for two years then Clarence and his little brother Albert were
shipped by Orphan Train to Madison, Nebraska. Clarence loved his new family
and appreciated their kindness. He was able to attend the University of Nebraska
for one and a half years before returning to Madison, Nebraska to take care of
his parents in their old age. He ended up organizing the Sidney National Bank in
Sidney, Nebraska where he worked for 33 years until he retired and sold the
bank.
George Johnson was left by his parents at five months and rode the train at
age four. He was placed with farmers by Orleans, Nebraska. He became a
lifetime farmer never leaving Nebraska. He kept a postcard from Agent Alice
Bogardus for over 85 years because it was so special to him.
Jim Fischer spent the first seven years of his life in the New York Foundling
Hospital. He was bounced in and out of foster homes twice only to be returned to
the hospital. The hospital was really strict. He remembered nuns whacking his
knuckles with rulers or hairbrushes. At age seven he was placed on a train
headed for Omaha, Nebraska. Their first stop was a hotel to get a bath, then out
to buy new clothes. He remembered crying like a baby. No one told him
anything. He had not even celebrated holidays in his seven years. While in the
store shopping, he spotted a cowboy outfit. He told his new parents he would quit
crying and stay till the Fourth and July if they bought it for him. Of course, they
did! In Tekamah, Nebraska, he met his new family. They were nice and friendly
compared to the strict people he was used to at the Hospital. As he grew up he
had a love for the town. When he passed away he left about $2 million to the
Tekamah, Nebraska community.
We have traveled over eight thousand miles and inherited over 40 families.
All Orphan Train riders are heroes in my eyes. I could insert any of their names
in the boxes and tell a story of inspiration as they would have perished in the
streets of New York. That is why I named my quilt “Flowers of Faith” it took a little
faith to get through the bad times and turn them into memories that will live
forever!
2nd Place - Lois Gillett - Won "Welcome" Apple Plaque from Madison County
Museum
"Family"
There were three of us - Merle, Lois and Irene. We came from Suffolk County
Long Island, New York. We all three had a good home. Merle and I were
adopted. My sister Irene live in foster homes until she got married. Merle and
Irene have both passed on. I am the only one left and I am 89 years old.
I will tell you some of my family. My husband's name is Robert Gillett. We have a
married daughter. Her name is Sharon. We also have a son. His name is Ray
Gillett. He is also married. Sharon lives in Broken Bow, where we live. Ray lives
in Oklahoma. We just celebrated 67 years of married life. We are in pretty good
health. We have lots of grandchildren and great-great grandchildren.
My mother and dad were very nice people. Dad was a rural mail carrier. My
mother was a music teacher. I lived in Blair, Nebraska. They are both gone now.
They treated me really good. I was one of the lucky ones.
3rd Place - Marilyn Coffey - Won Ordinary Orphan Train Riders Who Became
Extraordinary Friends DVD donated by Endorf's
"Orphan Train Rider" - Teresa (Jessie Feit) Martin
I admire orphan train rider Teresa (Jessie Feit) Martin. I knew her in the last
decade of her life, and she often amazed me. She was so kind. Nearly every day
she took her little dog, Timi, to visit residents in a next-door St. John's Rest Home
building; there she and Timi made the rounds, lingering to chat with men and
women. When little Timi died, Teresa's apartment manager would not let her own
another dog, but that did not stop her. She just went to the humane society,
borrowed a dog for a few hours, and kept on visiting the St. John's residents.
I also admire Teresa's great love of education, kindled by two nuns, her grade
school teachers. Against almost insurmountable odds, Teresa managed to
graduated from high school by studying part time, then from college. She was 48
years old and a grandmother of four when she graduated in 1944 from Fort Hays
State University. Her achievement was so unusual that the Daily News in Hays,
Kansas, headlined it and the university recognized it by asking Teresa to walk
down the aisle by herself at commencement.
Did Teresa then quit being a student? No. She moved to Denver and began
graduate studies in library science. Soon she worked in some of Denver's top
hospitals as a medical librarian specializing in research. Teresa's love of
education had brought her to that peak. Slowly but surely she lifted herself from
her first jobs (which she hated) cleaning other people's homes.
Teresa never stopped learning. Sometimes she read to prepare a speech for
Toastmasters or for the national meetings of the Orphan Train Heritage Society
of America; at other times, she accompanied me to libraries and historical
societies where we researched the details of her life for her biography, Mail-
Order Kid: An Orphan Train Story. (See http://www.marilyncoffey.
net/MailOrderKid.html for details about Teresa's book.)
4th Place - Lela Newcombe - Won Madison County Museum Cookbook
"One Life"
I was born in Utica, New York February 8, 1914. At the age of 3, my sis 1 year
and 8 months were taken away on a cold/rainy day, in a touring car! It was black
with Itzen windows snapped to keep the rain from coming in on us. We were
covered with covers (quilt or blankets I suppose) and were taken to the Children's
Aid Society. It was a big building with lots of children and big folks.
We were there for awhile. Our bedroom was a long room. One side was lined up
for small children, like cribs. Opposite the crib were regular size beds for the
bigger girls. The bigger girls were to take care of the littler ones opposite their
bed. Led us to the bathrooms, dressing hallway! Cupboards on either side. Left
was for the little ones. Right side for the bigger ones. There again, big ones
help the little. Brush teeth, wash and get ready for breakfast.
I loved the smell. I believe it was CoCo. Anyway chocolate! Then to a big room
upstairs with two older girls. They tried to make us say PLEASE. As, we couldn't
say our P's. We were tormented by the two girls. They would hold our nose and
mouth so we couldn't breath for awhile. They held Melba, my little sisters too
long, until she slumped to the floor. I ran in the hall screaming and yelling, they
are killing my sister. The house mother came. They took Melba to a room with a
white table. They took the girls away. We never had to go to that big room with
anybody again.
One day we were cleaned and dressed and were taken to the train. In Missouri a
lady and man came to the train and took us home to their house, a farm. Oh my!
Cows, horses, chickens, pigs, ducks, dogs, cats. Wow! A big windmill with a
trough filled with water and mud all around. I remember them showing us the
rabbit tracks in the snow and saying, "Look what Easter Bunny brought you". On
their screened in porch sat two big baskets with big, stuffed rabbits in each for
Melba and I.
I liked to dig dandelions. I'd dig two bucketfuls for the chickens. I'd fill their water
dishes with fresh water in the summer. I'd mow lawn with a push mower but I liked
doing that sort of thing. Raking lawn, picking up sticks, filling buckets of dead
grass and giving it to the chickens in their pens, then washing the front porch with
the hose. It looked so nice and clean.
I was moved to Lincoln, Nebraska for high school. I was with an abusive and
controlling woman then. One day coming home from school which was 3 miles I
saw a green paper as I stepped from the curb. I bent down to pick it up. It was a
$1 bill. I put it in my raincoat pocket. I forgot about it. The next night my foster
mom got home before I did. She said in her broken English, "Get in the house
and take off your clothes."
I thought to myself, "What is she mad about now?" I soon found out! Whew!
She started beating me with a mop stick. I tried to keep from being hit on my
face, but on my back, legs and arms she got me. She finally stopped. She held
the $1 in front of me and said, "I'll teach you not to steal money out of my pocket
book. I tried to explain that I'd found the $1 but she then slapped me across the
mouth and split my lip for talking back. I couldn't sit down in school the next day.
I had to go to the office to explain to the principal why I couldn't sit down. I asked
the principal not to tell anyone else or I'd get beat again. I was allowed to stand
in the back of the room until I healed enough to sit down with the rest of the
class. The principal just told the teacher that I'd hurt my back.
At 19 I got married, left her house and never went back.
But I can't complain, because I always had food and a clean place to live and
through it all, I learned what love should be. I also learned morals, which have
brought me where I am today at age 94.
Janette Jones, Pen Name
Lela Newcombe, Orphan Train Rider we know and love! 2008
County Museum Gift Shop
Like my quilt blocks these nine people inspire me in these ways;
Lela Newcombe was only two years old and at 94 years old still remembers
crawling into cupboards on a search to find any food she could find to survive. I
can relate really well to Lela because I was ill with Borreliosis or Lyme disease
and on IV’s from my 8th grade year to my Sr. year. I felt alienated. I was not well
enough to attend high school or date. Lela had a controlling mother who chose
to tell her misleading information about dating and pregnancy. Even though she
was not ill, her experiences were as slim as mine.
Lois Gillett - memories are best kept with photos and scrapbooks. Nobody
does this better than Lois. I share this love for scrap booking. Lois also writes
letters and keeps in touch with beautiful penmanship. I have four pen pals that I
personally keep in touch with. We also have the love to make crafts. The
beautiful quilt, “Flowers of Faith” is beautiful proof that together our crafting skills
make wonderful useful objects!
Merle Lebsock always had a positive and giving attitude. Even though she
had to have not been feeling well herself, she always asked my condition first
thing when she called. She was so proud of our Plains Bound book. She was
like a book store outlet out of her house. She would call every once in awhile to
get more books for neighbors. I am sure she is smiling in heaven today to know
By Train They Came: Volume 2 is in her memory. She knew another book was in
the works and worked with mom many times by phone and mail to get it “just
perfect” as if she were speaking. She thought a full color book would be great for
kids and collectors. So, it is only appropriate that it ends up being in her memory.
Carmella Schend overcame sickness just like I am. She got very ill on the
train ride from New York. With patience and persistence on her parents’ part she
got well. She went to a Catholic school like I did and she helped with Orphan
Train Celebrations like I have too.
Catherine Tichota came to West Point, Nebraska on the train. I went to West
Point and have many friends there from Toastmasters. Catherine loved to ride in
parades. We have a picture of her riding in a parade in Beemer, Nebraska in
one of our books. With our books we have had many opportunities to ride in
parades as well. When she was about my age (18), she must have liked furs.
The photo artist, Ines Dejmal, brought to life in color shows her with a fur collar. I
share this passion as lots of my jackets and vests have fake fur collars for fun!
Mary Josephine Boland - her foster parents had requested a blond hair, blue
eyed little girl, which would be just like me! However, Mary Josephine was a red
head, just like my mom! Her parents kept it a secret for 23 years as she always
thought she was their only child. She found out she was adopted at age 23. She
got mad and ran away. I think I would have done the same because I would have
been upset with them that they kept that from me. I would also wonder, “What
else have they kept from me?” She got over it and did keep in touch though.
Father Fangman (another Orphan Train rider) helped her at a reunion to try and
trace her roots. After she passed away her granddaughter finished tracing her
roots. Her descendants have also hosted Orphan Train Celebrations.
Clarence Castner - his mom died after giving birth to his baby sister. His dad
could not keep up with things so the four kids went to an institution in New York.
They lived there for two years then Clarence and his little brother Albert were
shipped by Orphan Train to Madison, Nebraska. Clarence loved his new family
and appreciated their kindness. He was able to attend the University of Nebraska
for one and a half years before returning to Madison, Nebraska to take care of
his parents in their old age. He ended up organizing the Sidney National Bank in
Sidney, Nebraska where he worked for 33 years until he retired and sold the
bank.
George Johnson was left by his parents at five months and rode the train at
age four. He was placed with farmers by Orleans, Nebraska. He became a
lifetime farmer never leaving Nebraska. He kept a postcard from Agent Alice
Bogardus for over 85 years because it was so special to him.
Jim Fischer spent the first seven years of his life in the New York Foundling
Hospital. He was bounced in and out of foster homes twice only to be returned to
the hospital. The hospital was really strict. He remembered nuns whacking his
knuckles with rulers or hairbrushes. At age seven he was placed on a train
headed for Omaha, Nebraska. Their first stop was a hotel to get a bath, then out
to buy new clothes. He remembered crying like a baby. No one told him
anything. He had not even celebrated holidays in his seven years. While in the
store shopping, he spotted a cowboy outfit. He told his new parents he would quit
crying and stay till the Fourth and July if they bought it for him. Of course, they
did! In Tekamah, Nebraska, he met his new family. They were nice and friendly
compared to the strict people he was used to at the Hospital. As he grew up he
had a love for the town. When he passed away he left about $2 million to the
Tekamah, Nebraska community.
We have traveled over eight thousand miles and inherited over 40 families.
All Orphan Train riders are heroes in my eyes. I could insert any of their names
in the boxes and tell a story of inspiration as they would have perished in the
streets of New York. That is why I named my quilt “Flowers of Faith” it took a little
faith to get through the bad times and turn them into memories that will live
forever!
2nd Place - Lois Gillett - Won "Welcome" Apple Plaque from Madison County
Museum
"Family"
There were three of us - Merle, Lois and Irene. We came from Suffolk County
Long Island, New York. We all three had a good home. Merle and I were
adopted. My sister Irene live in foster homes until she got married. Merle and
Irene have both passed on. I am the only one left and I am 89 years old.
I will tell you some of my family. My husband's name is Robert Gillett. We have a
married daughter. Her name is Sharon. We also have a son. His name is Ray
Gillett. He is also married. Sharon lives in Broken Bow, where we live. Ray lives
in Oklahoma. We just celebrated 67 years of married life. We are in pretty good
health. We have lots of grandchildren and great-great grandchildren.
My mother and dad were very nice people. Dad was a rural mail carrier. My
mother was a music teacher. I lived in Blair, Nebraska. They are both gone now.
They treated me really good. I was one of the lucky ones.
3rd Place - Marilyn Coffey - Won Ordinary Orphan Train Riders Who Became
Extraordinary Friends DVD donated by Endorf's
"Orphan Train Rider" - Teresa (Jessie Feit) Martin
I admire orphan train rider Teresa (Jessie Feit) Martin. I knew her in the last
decade of her life, and she often amazed me. She was so kind. Nearly every day
she took her little dog, Timi, to visit residents in a next-door St. John's Rest Home
building; there she and Timi made the rounds, lingering to chat with men and
women. When little Timi died, Teresa's apartment manager would not let her own
another dog, but that did not stop her. She just went to the humane society,
borrowed a dog for a few hours, and kept on visiting the St. John's residents.
I also admire Teresa's great love of education, kindled by two nuns, her grade
school teachers. Against almost insurmountable odds, Teresa managed to
graduated from high school by studying part time, then from college. She was 48
years old and a grandmother of four when she graduated in 1944 from Fort Hays
State University. Her achievement was so unusual that the Daily News in Hays,
Kansas, headlined it and the university recognized it by asking Teresa to walk
down the aisle by herself at commencement.
Did Teresa then quit being a student? No. She moved to Denver and began
graduate studies in library science. Soon she worked in some of Denver's top
hospitals as a medical librarian specializing in research. Teresa's love of
education had brought her to that peak. Slowly but surely she lifted herself from
her first jobs (which she hated) cleaning other people's homes.
Teresa never stopped learning. Sometimes she read to prepare a speech for
Toastmasters or for the national meetings of the Orphan Train Heritage Society
of America; at other times, she accompanied me to libraries and historical
societies where we researched the details of her life for her biography, Mail-
Order Kid: An Orphan Train Story. (See http://www.marilyncoffey.
net/MailOrderKid.html for details about Teresa's book.)
4th Place - Lela Newcombe - Won Madison County Museum Cookbook
"One Life"
I was born in Utica, New York February 8, 1914. At the age of 3, my sis 1 year
and 8 months were taken away on a cold/rainy day, in a touring car! It was black
with Itzen windows snapped to keep the rain from coming in on us. We were
covered with covers (quilt or blankets I suppose) and were taken to the Children's
Aid Society. It was a big building with lots of children and big folks.
We were there for awhile. Our bedroom was a long room. One side was lined up
for small children, like cribs. Opposite the crib were regular size beds for the
bigger girls. The bigger girls were to take care of the littler ones opposite their
bed. Led us to the bathrooms, dressing hallway! Cupboards on either side. Left
was for the little ones. Right side for the bigger ones. There again, big ones
help the little. Brush teeth, wash and get ready for breakfast.
I loved the smell. I believe it was CoCo. Anyway chocolate! Then to a big room
upstairs with two older girls. They tried to make us say PLEASE. As, we couldn't
say our P's. We were tormented by the two girls. They would hold our nose and
mouth so we couldn't breath for awhile. They held Melba, my little sisters too
long, until she slumped to the floor. I ran in the hall screaming and yelling, they
are killing my sister. The house mother came. They took Melba to a room with a
white table. They took the girls away. We never had to go to that big room with
anybody again.
One day we were cleaned and dressed and were taken to the train. In Missouri a
lady and man came to the train and took us home to their house, a farm. Oh my!
Cows, horses, chickens, pigs, ducks, dogs, cats. Wow! A big windmill with a
trough filled with water and mud all around. I remember them showing us the
rabbit tracks in the snow and saying, "Look what Easter Bunny brought you". On
their screened in porch sat two big baskets with big, stuffed rabbits in each for
Melba and I.
I liked to dig dandelions. I'd dig two bucketfuls for the chickens. I'd fill their water
dishes with fresh water in the summer. I'd mow lawn with a push mower but I liked
doing that sort of thing. Raking lawn, picking up sticks, filling buckets of dead
grass and giving it to the chickens in their pens, then washing the front porch with
the hose. It looked so nice and clean.
I was moved to Lincoln, Nebraska for high school. I was with an abusive and
controlling woman then. One day coming home from school which was 3 miles I
saw a green paper as I stepped from the curb. I bent down to pick it up. It was a
$1 bill. I put it in my raincoat pocket. I forgot about it. The next night my foster
mom got home before I did. She said in her broken English, "Get in the house
and take off your clothes."
I thought to myself, "What is she mad about now?" I soon found out! Whew!
She started beating me with a mop stick. I tried to keep from being hit on my
face, but on my back, legs and arms she got me. She finally stopped. She held
the $1 in front of me and said, "I'll teach you not to steal money out of my pocket
book. I tried to explain that I'd found the $1 but she then slapped me across the
mouth and split my lip for talking back. I couldn't sit down in school the next day.
I had to go to the office to explain to the principal why I couldn't sit down. I asked
the principal not to tell anyone else or I'd get beat again. I was allowed to stand
in the back of the room until I healed enough to sit down with the rest of the
class. The principal just told the teacher that I'd hurt my back.
At 19 I got married, left her house and never went back.
But I can't complain, because I always had food and a clean place to live and
through it all, I learned what love should be. I also learned morals, which have
brought me where I am today at age 94.
Janette Jones, Pen Name
Lela Newcombe, Orphan Train Rider we know and love! 2008