The Little Sparrows (21 page)

“It’s her young age, honey. It will just take time.”

“I suppose so. I’ve prayed a lot lately and asked Jesus to help her to understand so she won’t cry like she does.”

“Mary?”

“Yes, ma’am?”

“You talk like you know about being saved.”

“Mm-hmm. I asked the Lord Jesus to come into my heart and be my Saviour two years ago when I was six. He washed away my sins in His blood, and I was born again.”

Rachel’s heart seemed to swell within her. “Oh, honey, I’m so glad to hear this. So your parents raised you this way.”

“Yes. Mama and Papa were both faithful Christians and loved the Lord with all their hearts. Papa was a deacon in our church. My little brother got saved about six months ago.”

“Well, Mary, you and I have something in common. Both of my parents are in heaven too. And what a wonderful moment it will be when we meet our parents in heaven.”

Lizzie looked into Rachel’s eyes. “I wanna go heaven now. Be with Jesus an’ Mama an’ Papa.”

Rachel kissed her forehead. “That would be wonderful, Lizzie, but Jesus still has plans for us down here. Don’t you cry, now. Be a big girl. That will help your sister.”

Lizzie nodded slowly. “Big girl. Help Mary.”

“That’s it. Well, Mary, I have to keep moving. I’m glad I got to meet you and Lizzie, and I’ll look forward to meeting Johnny.”

When Rachel had gone, Lizzie looked up. “Mary?”

“What, honey?”

“Is the next town where people will look at us?”

“No. It will be the town after that. It’s called Kearney. We’ll be there tomorrow.”

Mary noticed that Laura Stanfield and Tabitha Conlan were out of their seats and moving toward the front of the coach. “Are you hungry, Lizzie?”

The little child’s face lit up. “Uh-huh!”

“Well, Mrs. Stanfield and Mrs. Conlan are about to pass out the trays so we can eat. They’ll bring the food from the cooks, and we’ll have our supper.”

“Oh, goody! Will Johnny get supper?”

“Yes, he will.”

Supper was over by 7:30, and the train made its stop in Omaha, Nebraska, at 8:45. It pulled out at 9:30. The children were reminded in both coaches that lights-out time was ten o’clock.

By ten o’clock, many of the children were sound asleep, curled up on the seats. The sponsors dimmed the lanterns in the coaches, and began covering them with blankets and placing pillows under their heads as they moved down the aisle. Those who were still awake were handed pillows and blankets.

In the girls’ coach, when all the children had been tucked in, Laura Stanfield, Tabitha Conlan, and Rachel Wolford stood at the rear door and ran their eyes over the blanketed forms in the dim light. Some were lying flat on the seats and others were slumped down in a seated position. Sniffles could be heard as some of the lonely little girls were seeking comfort in sleep. Two or three could be heard calling for their mothers.

Rachel looked at Laura and Tabitha and sighed. “I know we’re doing all we can, but my heart is so heavy for these dear little ones who are too young to fully understand what has happened in their lives. I know the Lord cares more for them than I do, but it’s so hard to hear them cry for their mothers. I wish I could just make one big happy home for all of them.” She sighed again. “But that’s impossible.”

“I know how you feel, Rachel,” said Tabitha. “It affects Laura and me the same way.”

Laura nodded. “And when we return to New York, there’ll be another coach full of them heading west, looking for someone to take them in and give them love and shelter.”

In the boys’ coach, as Derek Conlan and Gifford Stanfield were moving down the aisle handing out pillows and blankets to the boys who were still awake, Barry Chandler was standing in the aisle speaking to little Jimmy Kirkland. Johnny Marston was curled up beside Jimmy and already asleep.

When the two sponsors drew up, Barry was telling Jimmy good-night. A sleepy-eyed Jimmy was smiling up at him.

Gifford Stanfield said, “Barry, Mr. Conlan and I very much appreciate the interest you’ve shown in Jimmy and for protecting him from the boys who would pick on him.”

Barry was patting Jimmy’s head. “I can’t stand to see someone with a weakness of any kind be ridiculed for it. My little brother, Billy, also stuttered. He didn’t lisp, but so many children used to tease him about his stuttering and make him cry. So I understand how Jimmy feels. This is why I feel a special kinship with him, and why I went to his defense when Jason and Rick were picking on him.”

Jimmy looked up at the sponsors. “I really l-like B-Barry.”

Conlan smiled down at him. “Well, we can understand why.”

Stanfield set his eyes on Barry. “You spoke of your little brother in the past tense.”

“Yes, sir. Billy died when my parents died.”

Conlan’s brow furrowed. “How did it happen?”

Barry’s face pinched. “We lived in a tenement in Queens. One night, just two months ago, when I was staying all night at a friend’s house a few blocks away, the tenement caught fire. My parents and little brother were trapped on the fourth floor and burned to death.”

The two men spoke their condolences to Barry, then Derek Conlan covered the sleeping Johnny Marston and put a pillow under his head.

As Gifford Stanfield was about to take care of Jimmy, Barry took the pillow and blanket from him. “I’ll tuck Jimmy in, sir.”

Stanfield smiled and nodded silently, then moved on with Conlan beside him.

Barry placed the pillow under Jimmy’s head and laid the blanket over him. “Okay, little pal, it’s night-night time.”

Jimmy nodded, then looked at the sleeping boy beside him. “J-Johnny and I are g-good friendth n-now, Barry.”

“I’m glad for that.”

Jimmy lifted his arms toward the older boy. When the muscular Barry leaned down and hugged him, Jimmy said, “You are m-my very betht friend.”

Touched by this, Barry squeezed him extra tight. “Hey, little pal, you’re my best friend, too. Sleep tight.”

Barry walked away, and with a smile on his face, Jimmy put his pillow close to Johnny’s head, laid a hand on Johnny’s shoulder, and fell asleep.

I
n the coach just ahead of the girls’ car, Lance Adams sat alone on his seat, reading his Bible. The lanterns had not yet been turned down in the regular coaches.

Lance was reading in Genesis 32 where God changed Jacob’s name to Israel. “For as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.”

He grinned to himself.
Yes, sir, Jacob, you were a prince, all right!

He finished that chapter, then went on into chapter 33, where Jacob and Esau came together and were reconciled. Lance smiled when he read: “And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept. And he lifted up his eyes, and saw the women and the children; and said, Who are those with thee? And he said, The children which God hath graciously given thy servant.”

Lance paused in his reading and thought about the children in the two coaches behind him. A lump rose in his throat. His mind went to Carol and the fact that she could never bear children. He thought again of the orphans on the train and of the people in towns along the line ahead of them who would choose a child, or even more than one, and take them home. He couldn’t help the longing that often arose in his heart to be a father.
Though he could never be the literal father of a child, it would be a pleasure to adopt one—or even more.

His eyes fell on Genesis 33:5 again, and the last nine words seemed to stand out like letters of fire against a night sky: “The children which God hath graciously given thy servant.”

The Scripture reference in the margin next to the verse caught his eye. Psalm 127:3–5.

Lance turned to Psalm 127 and read the verses:

Lance shook his head. “Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them. Lord, I don’t even ask for a full quiver. I’d just like to have at least one.”

His mind went back to that day not so long ago when he mentioned adopting a child to Carol, and how she was cold to the idea. “Lord,” he said in a whisper, “You know that I love my precious Carol with all of my heart. She is a wonderful wife. I just—well, I just wish she wanted a child in our home like I do.”

He sighed and flipped back to Genesis 33.

After reading for some time, Lance closed the Bible and placed it in his briefcase, pondering what he had read in verse 5 of that chapter, and verses 3 through 5 of Psalm 127.

His attention was drawn to the conductor as he came through the front door of the coach and began dimming the lanterns so the passengers could go to sleep.

Scooting down on the seat, Lance laid his head back, wishing the train had a Pullman car, and closed his eyes. His thoughts
went to Carol, who awaited his return in San Francisco. His heart yearned for her and his arms longed to hold her. “Lord, thank You for giving Carol to me for my life’s mate.”

And soon he drifted to sleep.

In the girls’ coach, Rachel Wolford was moving down the aisle toward her seat at the rear. As she came to the seat where Josie Holden and Wanda Stevens were sleeping, she stopped, bent down, and put a soft kiss on the top of Josie’s head. Though Rachel did not know it, the twelve-year-old actually was not asleep. And though her eyes were closed, she knew who was kissing her.

As Rachel moved on, Josie opened her eyes and smiled.
Miss Wolford
, she thought,
you are the sweetest person I know
.

Josie’s thoughts went to her father, and tears came to her eyes. She moved her lips silently, saying, “Oh, Papa, I miss you so very much! I love you and Mama and my little brother with all of my heart. I always will.”

She continued weeping, but soon the steady clicking of the wheels beneath her and the sway of the coach lulled her to sleep.

Upon reaching the rear of the coach, Rachel Wolford had noted that both Laura Stanfield and Tabitha Conlan were asleep. She decided to go into the boys’ coach to make sure all was well.

In that coach, she found only Derek Conlan awake, and he assured her all was well.

Satisfied, Rachel returned to the girls’ coach. Before sitting down on the seat she occupied by herself, she looked forward to where she could see Josie Holden’s dark head lying still by the dim light of the lanterns. She sat down and whispered, “Dear
Lord, that precious girl has stolen my heart. There has been no indication that she knows You, and I am burdened for her. Please help me to reach Josie for You before someone takes her to be their foster child.”

Early the next morning, the sponsors moved up and down the aisles calling for the orphans to wake up.

Most of them came awake slowly, rubbing their eyes and stretching arms and legs, stiffened by their cramped positions through the night.

In the girls’ coach, Laura, Tabitha, and Rachel moved among the girls, seeing to their personal needs: brushing hair and washing faces.

Most of the younger ones were nervous and a little confused about what was happening to them. Laura and Tabitha carefully explained the procedure for appearing before the people in the railroad station, doing all they could to calm their fears.

Some of the younger ones who had been in orphanages started to cry. They were confused as to why they were on the train in the first place, having been taken from the orphanage, which they had known as home. It seemed they all shared one basic emotion: fear of the unknown. They were going to strange places where they would be taken from the railroad stations by strange people. In the orphanage, they had grown close to one another, forming a bond of sorts. And now, they were facing separation.

The sponsors tried to comfort them and give them hope of a better life and a new family with which to bond.

The sponsors knew that even the older children were nervous
about it all. Everything would be foreign to them. On one hand, they wanted desperately to be chosen and to start a new life in a new home; but on the other hand, they didn’t want to be separated from each other and the “family” that they had considered themselves since being at the Children’s Aid Society headquarters.