How I Came to Dowagiac
Memories of an
Orphan Train Rider
Book Review
Written by Nancy Marie
Payne (nancymariepayne.blogspot.com)
Illustrated by
Debra-June Batcher
Available for $10.00 +
2.00shipping and handling from
http://tbmbooks.corecommerce.com
Reviewed by Linda
Goodman
I spent less than one hour reading
this slim book, and yet it is still in my head three weeks later.
Good things do, indeed, come in small packages.
This book begins in New York City in
1854, when ten-year-old Elsie Dowdel begins her day with everything a
child needs, only to end it homeless and with no family to look after
her. After being taken under the wing of a “beggar girl” that she
had befriended, Elsie learns to live in a crate, to steal food, and
to beg.
Eventually, both Meg and Elsie are
picked up by constables and taken to the Children's Aid Society,
which leads to their going west to Dowagiac, Michigan on the Orphan
Train. There the children will be farmed out to families who will
care for them in exchange for their help with the chores on their
farms. Brothers may be split apart and friends may be parted, but all
harbor hopes of obtaining what all children need: “a warm bed, food
on the table, and someone to give thanks for.”
The exquisite little details of this
book are what make it so charming and so real: hiccups born of
anxiety; the very real fear of not getting chosen by a family; the
comfort of being wrapped in strong, loving arms; restitution made to
clear a guilty conscience. Regional colloquialisms abound, evidence
of good research that make the readers feel as though they are
traveling with the children from New York to Michigan.
I cried twice as I read this book:
once for sadness when young Elsie loses her home and family; again
for happiness when she gains a new home and family.
When I finished reading the book, I
pondered the fact that all the children in it found happy endings.
According to the Author's Notes, agents kept tabs on the placed
orphans with yearly visits. One can only hope that this level of
attention kept sad stories to a minimum.
This book is a fictionalized account
of the first “Train Riders,” though many of the children's names
are taken from a letter written by one of the chaperones. The
Children's Aid Society still exists. This story, however, is Payne's
own charming creation.
