The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-01-10

more than once where a child that came
from the lowest parentage. if put in a fam
lily where all of its surroundings are of the
best, where it has good. comfortable clothes
and plenty of nourishing food and where
it will receive education, that child will
turn out all right. In ninety-nine cases out
of hundred this will be true. Everybody
has. some time in his life, known some good
family which has had "a Maynard son or
daughter, which is generally called the
black sheep of the family. Suppose that
every one would believe that the child in
herited its waywardness from its parents,
what. often. should we think of the par
ents?
This society, since II came into existence,
has found homes for more than eight hun
dred children. Many of them by this time
have become grown, and in that whole
number only two have had the charge
of felony placed against them. If
child is taken when 1t is young and before
its brain is matured it is susceptible to any
kind of training that it is given. and if this
training be good the child will grow up
all right. OF course, If you take children
after they are fourteen fifteen years old
II is harder to break them to their new sur
roundings. but often at this age they are
susceptible to good environments, and after
they get into their new life grow up very
good citizens.
We have applications" continued Mr..
Reagin, "for children from the babys age
20 those sixteen years old. Some OF these
applications are very pathetic, for they are
from mothers who have lost their babies
and are endeavoring to adopt little ones
into their homes to take the places of the
ones that died. Often they are disappointed,
for IL Is hard matter TO find a baby
to take the place of ones own. And that
Is the reason that we have frequently to
replace the child after 1t has been taken.
There is a much larger demand for girls
than boys. To be exact, we have now
four times as many boys as girls in the
home, and therefore 1 ask that everyone
who applies for girl be sure that he has
good reasons for doing so, for girls are
very scarce"
vICISSITUDES OF LIFE.
The saying that truth is stranger than
fiction is proven in many of the lives of
these children. In fact, many of them have
a tinge of romance surrounding them that
makes them an interesting study. To prove
this, some years ago woman whose hus-
band was of no account and who finally
deserted her, surrendered her child
which was a girl, and after that lost all
trace of her. The woman as years went
by, came into more prosperous circum-
stances, and then she began to long for her
daughter. She put a local detective on her
track and he hunted for seven years, and
was just about to give up the search when
he was rewarded by finding the child. She
and her mother were united and the girl at
the present time is doing well and is in
good circumstances. OF course there are
few children for whom this society finds
homes that have any parents. In many
instances they have died, while in others
the children have been deserted by both
father and mother and left to shift for
themselves.
It is very noticeable that ii is seldom
that the rich apply for a child. In
the majority of cases those who want chill
dren are people in moderate circumstances
Once in a while some one who is we'll off
financially will take a child and adopt it
into his home and treat it as if 1t were
his own; but in the majority of cases these
children are taken into homes for the
company they afford the woman of the
house. Often railroad men and others who
are away from home a good deal, thus
leaving their wives by themselves, will
give a home to a girl just for her COM
pany.
In the case of boys the society much pre-
fers to find them homes in the country, for
il believes that the surroundings are better
for them than those of the city. 1t also
claims that they make better and stronger
out in the open air. 1t is certainly a great
improvement to many of these children to
be taken from the old shacks and novels