Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1890-01-15
WAITS IN DEMAND.
Plenty Of People Willing to Adopt
Forsaken Little Ones.
Girls n . General Rule, Preferred-Chil-
dren with Golden Tresses Said to Be at
aPremium-How Charitable Insti-
tutiOns Dispose of Their Charges,

tutions Dispose of Their Charges.
Nature has implanted in the human
heart love for children and desire for
their companionship.
Every charitable institution founded
for the benefit of children owes it's sue
cess in great measure to this fact.
They all find their labors lightened by
it. When children, from any cause
whatever, are deprived of their natu-
raj protectors-their parents-and are
thrown upon the charity of the public
they come under the care of some asy-
lum. They are tenderly watched over,
but it is the aim of the asylum to secure
for them permanent homes, and the eff
fort is In almost every case successful.
There is not day." said Mrs. M. R.
Spangler, superintendent of the Home
for the Friendless, to a Chicago News
reporter, that we do not have applica-
tons for children. These requests come
from all over the country. We can not
begin to supply the demand. We have
from lit to 160 children in our home all
the time, but only a small proportion of
them are in our care absolutely. Most
of them are transients, children whose
parents are in unfortunate circum-
stances, but who subsequently take their
little ones away and care for them.
Those who are surrendered to US we
give away when we have secured good
homes for them, and it is not hard to
dispose of them, either. We could put
great many more children than we
have at our disposal into good homes.
'The demand comes from different
classes of people. Sometimes we are
visited by people who are rich, or re-
ce1ve letters from them, but generally
they are people in comfortable circum-
stances. OF course we like to give a
child to wealthy people, who are worthy
in other respects, but the first thing wa
satisfy ourselves about is the ability Of
the people to give the child Christie 4
training.
People who want to adopt child, en
are required to bring at least Rlree
written references from their paseoy .phv-
stefan and lawyer or other parties. They
are allowed to take the children on trial
for three months. During that lime thew
are visited by somebody from the home.
who ascertains how the child ia being
treated, and whether 1T is. being edu-
Gated and properly cared FIR. If the re-
port OF the visitor is not favorable, the
child Is taken away hom the foster
parents and returned to the home.
III the report is favorable, the Home
for the Friendless rer.ounces its guard
1anship at the end of three months and
the child belongs te, the foster parents.
We have sent children to homes in
Maine, as in the case of a colored girl a
short time ego, and. recently we sent one
to Oregon.
1T seems to be a wise dispensation
OF Providence" said Mrs. Spangler.
that there are so many people ready
ana willing to receive these little ones
to their hearts and homes. They are
generally the best kind of people. Some
t1ro es they are childless couples who
6-now that they will never have any
children of their own, but who do not
want to be deprived of the joy of own
ing and raising the little ones. Some
times they are Cd people who have
raised families, butwhose children have
all gone to homes of their own. They
miss the prattle of little voices and the
patter of little footsteps, and feel lonely
without them"
''Is there any preference as to sex?"
''Girls are mostly in demand. These
people generally want children from
two to five years of age, so young that
they will not be likely to remember
any thing of their former lives. The
people who adopt children want them
for thnir nd ~ 10 orf1
they take the little ones totheir hearts.
1t is very seldom that one comes back
to us. Among farmers the demand is
generally for boys. The letters from
people in the city generally ask for
girls. They want girls with long.
golden hair, and as for moral attributes,
they demand perfection, of course"
''Are blondes favorites""
''No. 1t depends a great deal on cir
cumstances. These people generally
want children who look like themselves.
If a woman can adopt child who re-
sembles her in complexion or features,
or who looks like her husband, she is
greatly pleased. Not long ago we gave
away little girl who greatly resembled
the woman who adopted her, and the
lady was delighted. 1t was probably
the design of the foster parents to have
the world believe the child was their
own. The matter of resemblance cuts a
great figure"
what kind of people are they who
are willing to give up their children"
''Not the best kind of people by any
means. Sometimes the parents are dead,
or the father is drunken and worthless
and the mother can not support her
little ones Sometimes both parents are
unworthy, and the courts take the
children from them and turn them over
to US; but there are always homes for
them If they have no physical or mental
defects. People do not adopt children