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Kansas Charley is placed on an Orphan Train and sent to another farm in Minnesota. He is again whipped for bedwetting and was not provided sufficient clothing.
Early in 1887 an "orphan train" was on its way to St. Charles, Minnesota. Aboard that train, hopefully headed to a home where he could make a future for himself, was Charley Miller. A Place to Belong-MaybeCharlie's flaxen hair and blue eyes stood out from amongst the other eighteen orphaned boys and girls that arrived in Minnesota. His fairness made him appear that here, amongst these Norwegian, German, and Swedish folk, he belonged in Minnesota. William and Nancy Booth though so too and took Charley home with them to their 160-acre farm. On the way Charley leaned that he would be an "only child." The Booth's other children were now grown and gone from home. The Booths lamented that the year previous, 1886, they had had to shell out $150 on hired help. What they really needed, the Booths informed Charley, was a boy that they did not have to pay wages to while helping them bring in the crops. The Booths hoped Charley would be happy with them. Mr. Booth added that the opportunity of a good farm or ranch could well be in the boy's future when he reached the age of twenty-one. It probably wasn't much of an incentive to a twelve-year-old boy to labor long hours without pay. Especially, as Charley probably saw it, for the next nine years. But who could then believe that some of those years would never exist for Kansas Charley. Same Old Work and a New PlanWith little time to adjust to his new life, Charley went to work, hard work, farming-a life this young orphan boy from Manhattan's West Side was mostly unfamiliar with. Besides, he missed his brothers and was given little time to get to know the boys from nearby farms. Later, Charley voiced other complaints about his life with the Booths. He felt he did not get to go to school enough, and that "the Booths 'used' him badly," explaining that they whipped him and did not provide sufficient clothing. And then there was his old uncured and uncontrollable problem of bed-wetting. But Charley had his own plan to rectifying his situation, plans that involved his older brother Fred who lived in Kansas. Kansas Charley and the Orphan Train: New Home, Old Work, No Wages , continues with Kansas Charley and His Brother Fred: Running Away and a Guarding Angel. Previous: Kansas Charley Reaches Puberty: Will Drastic Surgery Cure His Disease?
The copyright of the article Kansas Charley on an Orphan Train in American History is owned by Mary Trotter Kion. Permission to republish Kansas Charley on an Orphan Train in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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