The Detroit times., 1911-04-07
OF BABES
Sent into West
TO FIND HOMES
Sixty-Six Infants From Founding
institutions Are Shipped To Places
Where Folks Know What
Home" Spells,
Times Special Correspondent Rides
on Train and Describes Incidents,
Both Humorous and Pathetic.
au w G. SHEPHERD.

n ERIE. Pa, April IA car full OF
~ Founding babies dashing on the EN-
| nire State express toward the Dig
4 west. where real homes and real iatn'
ers and mothers await them.
| They were all SO young that IN
after years they will forget the Trip:
h 4 pnt I won't; l rode several hundred
4 miles with them.
|f There were sc of them, half or them
boys and half girls, averaging three
IA years In age. The youngest was John,
\ fourteen months, and the eldesV
Helen, seven years.
IN Nv the time they had reached their
IL priyate car IN New York, after a
N street car ride from the New York
n foundlfng hospital, over half OF them
were crying.
The nurses and sisters OF charity
n mt them three in q seat In the car.
some walled, others howled.
Then came a work OF magic. Inc
\ nurses passed down the aisle Gus,
tributinY crackers. They left trial
Iof busy, happy silence behind them.
,lApparently a cracker is 10 a healthy,
Il crying child what muller is 10 al
kautmohile-ande even more.
II Acood-eye, Dear Old Broadway"
When II was nearly time for the
|ltrain TO start, Mrs. McMullen, nurse,
|SDlump. motherly and bespectacfed,
|IvaIked ND and down the aisle distrio-
|uting dolls, horns and mouth organs.
Noise began Immediately. Then, tax
Ting a baby In each arm, she walked
lap and down the aisle, singing:
3 aGoodby, dear old Manhattan isle!
Goodby, dear old Broadway
n You bet It was goodby, dear old
Broadway"--Broadw with its sin
and shame and foundlings. And good
iriddance to Broadway, too! We were
ION for the big west, where folks know
what HOME spells.
d We began to settle down into the
y dun routine of the trip-only to dis
cover that there wasn't going 10 be
any dull routine. For instance, John.
5 the youngest OF them all, suddenly
began to cry,
HE wants his ride" said the sister
+ to nurse. You see, II didn't matter
TO John that he was riding on the
second fastest train in the United
States; his custom was to ride every
Afternoon at o'clock in his go-cart.
II was o'clock now, Where was
the go-cart? That was what John
wanted to know.
John Gets His Ride.
But IL John thought he had caught
folk mapping he was mistaken, Out
from q mass Of baskets and hampers
s the nurse drew folded go-cart, and
IN q few moments John, in perfect
peace, was being wheeled up and
down the aisle of the car, Just to
fool him completely, Mrs. McMullen
tied his lace hood over his head, as
az he were riding outdoors.
! "A passenger with a camera, trying
to snap the children, felt a tug at
his machine and discovered that Alex
lander No. 33 had found the cameras
4 rubber bulb dangling near him and
had seized It and put 1t into his mouth.
when Alexander bit, the passenger
!got good photograph OF the ceiling
of the car.
Occasionally baby would roll on
his seat. One OF them rolled of onto
John In his go-cart and woke him
'from q sound sleep. He had to be
Nheeled again.
Charles O'Hara, special agent for
the New York founding hospital, went
Through the car with big tin pail
dlled with chopped meat. He was on
his way to the dining car to heat the
meat and mix 1t with hot chicken soup
\ Tor supper. A general howl arose for
food.
To restore peace the nurse distri-
buted lollypops. The lollypops lasted
until O'Hara returned with two big
pals Allied with soup. After supper
came bedtime.
o'Hara placed boards across TIE
seats. The nurses made beds on
these. There were no upper berths
for whoever heard Of anybody who
Was tall enough to say, Now / lay
me- beside an upper berth?
saw the babies kneel In the car
aisle and pray.
They slept four in section, vita
their feet toward the aisle.
Mrs. McMullen, In the middle Of the
car, hummed a wholesale lullaby.
Hush. my dears; lie still, and slum.
Der.
Holy angels guard they beds"
oHara and I went out for smoke,
and he told me more about the babies.
Most 90 To Farms.
Every year." he said. New York
has q big crop or foundlings. We get
applications for babies from all over
the country. Every application is per.
socially investigated by special
agent. The babies In this carload are
going to good homes In the west and
south. Most OF them will 20 to the
farms OF childless couples In Texas
Oklahoma, Wyoming and other west
ern states. Only very few Of them
20 to cities.
I'VE don't give the babies away
The couples who take them must
make monthly reports to the hospital
until the children are OF age. and nov
and then an agent will call on then
10 SEQ how they are getting along.
Every year we find homes for a
least 500 OF New York city's crop ot
fopndlings. Every baby in this cal
Wa picked up on doorstep or In tbs
streets.
There's something funny about
. foundlings. too, I've been In this bust
ncua Tor many years and I've yet tC
see n foundlinE that wasn't an extra
hn|&s bright baby, brighter than -.
orfInary,"
1rokea lantern unused IRE I'm q
~<&nt Trunk freight car nc the foot
81 Elrord-st.. early Friday morning
THO car was loaded with cloth and