The Orphaned, the Abandoned & The Adventurous
Francis Kane, my great-grandfather, sailed from Ireland on a cattle boat. He was 14 years-old and, probably, running away. He and his siblings had been “farmed out” or sent to work for farmers in exchange for their room and board, a state that generally meant a bed in the straw and rations that just fended off starvation. In Canada, his first job was in a brick factory, but by the mid-1920s he and his wife owned their own home and had nine children.
On St. Patrick’s Day, I think of Frank Kane and all the other children — the orphaned, the abandoned, and the adventurous — who set off or were sent off to make new lives in the new world. What bothers me most is that it still happens. Children still show up at airports around the world, escaping some horror I cannot imagine. They are still all alone. While we might have children’s aid societies, foster homes and means of tracking distant relatives, it seems to me that we can learn something from the exodus of past famines, wars, and epidemics.
It seems to me that saying, warmly, “You are welcome here,” is the best thing to tell a stranger. It seems to me the best celebration of St. Patrick’s Day.
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POSTED IN: Mommy Extras
6 opinions for The Orphaned, the Abandoned & The Adventurous
Ratphooey
Mar 17, 2007 at 10:45 am
What a wonderful post!
My great-grandfather came to America from the famine and dire poverty of Eastern Europe alone, at the unbelievably young age of seven. He got a job running errands for a man who owned a pushcart on New York City’s lower east side. It took him seven years to save the money to bring his twin sister over to join him. By the time my grandmother was born, he owned his own pushcart, selling paper and twine, and by the end of his life, he owned a little store that his family lived above.
kbaggott
Mar 17, 2007 at 12:44 pm
Do you ever wonder if it is still possible to make a life from nothing?
Ratphooey
Mar 17, 2007 at 12:51 pm
I think it is. But I think it is even harder now, if that is possible.
kbaggott
Mar 17, 2007 at 1:15 pm
You are probably right. I think it is also possible that people’s expectations of ease are too high.
Ratphooey
Mar 17, 2007 at 2:02 pm
I am sure that is so.
Babylune
Sep 7, 2007 at 8:24 am
[…] a mother and upped my stakes in what happens to the planet, I’ve been wondering if people can learn their lessons or if we’re all on some treadmill to create more misery. What do you think? Technorati Tags: […]
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