Ethan awoke to voices at the other end of the coach. He sat up and looked around. On the seat facing him, Bert still slept soundly. The sky was getting lighter, but it appeared to be very early. As he gazed out the window, still drowsy with sleep, Ethan listened idly to Riley and Mr. Glover.
“Are you always awake this early?” Riley was asking.
“Yes. I need to get ready for the day. It’s the only time I have to read my Bible and pray before everyone is awake.”
“You read your Bible to yourself every day?”
Charles Glover admitted that he did.
“Matron reads to us every morning, and we always have Sunday school on Sunday afternoon,” Riley said. “I’ve heard a lot of the Bible, but I never read it myself.”
“It’s time you did,” Charles told him. “You’re old enough to read and understand it on your own.”
“Don’t have a Bible.”
Charles nodded. “I suppose not. But I’ll see that you get one before you leave the train. You need to start learning verses. If you memorize them, they have a way of coming back to you just when you need them.”
“I do know a few verses,” Riley said, “and I remember a lot of stories. But I suppose there’s a bunch I haven’t heard yet.”
Ethan’s mind wandered away from the conversation as he recalled the noises he’d heard in the night. He wasn’t sure he hadn’t dreamed it, but it had seemed real then. As the train chugged around a curve, he looked back at the cars that still followed them. There were three freight cars and one more passenger coach on the end. They must have picked up a lot of mail and baggage in Davenport.
Bert awoke, yawned, and stretched. He eyed Ethan and frowned. “How come you woke me up in the night? Who’d you think was in here?”
So he hadn’t dreamed it. Ethan shrugged.
“I don’t know. It sounded like something with awful big feet and a loud voice.”
“What’d it say?”
“What do you mean? It didn’t say anything—just made a lot of noise.”
“You was dreaming,” Bert decided. “Nobody else heard it, did they?”
“I guess not. But I was awake enough to wake you up.”
Bert couldn’t deny that. The boys folded their blankets, then headed for the washroom. Matron had promised a thorough scrubbing later, so a dab of the face and a brush through the hair took care of their preparations for breakfast.
The others were soon ready, and Matron and the girls appeared with hard-boiled eggs, bread, and cocoa. As a special treat, each child was given an orange.
“I was going to save these for noon,” Matron told them, “but if you’re going to get sticky, do it now before we begin baths. Mr. Glover tells me that we’ll reach one of our stopping places this afternoon.”
Silence fell over the group, and they regarded each other fearfully.
“Which of us is gonna get took, miss?” The question came from one of the Chicago boys.
“I don’t know, Pete,” Matron replied. “That will be up to the people who come to see you. Do you all remember what we are to do when they take us to a church or a town hall?”
Heads nodded solemnly. Now that the time had come to be parted from friends and those they depended upon, the children weren’t as sure about this adventure as they had been.
“As soon as we’ve had prayers this morning, we’ll go over the song together and practice the pieces you’re going to say,” Matron said. “You will all do just fine.”
Philip shuffled his feet. “I think I’m going to be scared. What if I forget what I’m s’posed to say?”
“Just look smart,” Bert advised him. “Sometimes if you keep your mouth shut, people think you’re smarter than you are.”
Mr. Glover gave Bert a look of respect at the excellent advice.
But Matron swiftly reassured the boy. “Don’t worry, Philip. You’ve been saying it a long time, so you won’t forget. The Bible says, ‘What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee.’ Who is this One we trust in?” she asked.
“Jesus!” chorused the Briarlane children.
“I don’t trust nobody,” Arthur stated. “Who’s this Jesus fella, anyway? I don’t know Him.”
The orphanage children looked at Arthur in horror, then back at Matron. What would she do to a boy who talked like that?
To Ethan’s surprise, Matron’s eyes filled with tears.
“We want you to know Him, Arthur. He is the Son of God, and He came to earth to die because He loves you.”
“Me?”
“Yes, you and all of us.”
Arthur scanned the circle of faces. “You ain’t stringin’ me, are you?”
“Of course she ain’t!” Shala looked outraged. “It’s right here in the Bible. Just look at it for yourself.”
“I can’t read no Bible,” Arthur muttered.
“You neither? Well, never mind. We’ll read you the story about Jesus if you want to hear it.”
“Yeah, we can even tell it to you,” Bert put in. “Ain’t you never been to church or Sunday school?”
“Nope,” Arthur declared. “Didn’t know there was such a place until Mr. Glover brung me to Hull-House. I wasn’t there very long, but I heard a story about a man who got beat on by some thieves, and two guys wouldn’t help him, but then a third guy did. Was that one Jesus?”
“No,” Matron replied, “but that man was acting the way Jesus wants us to act. This is a story Jesus told to the people. We’ll hear more stories, Arthur, while we’re on the train. And you’ll have a chance to go to church with the new family you live with.”
After prayers, the children practiced the song they had learned to sing to the people who would come to look them over.
If I only had a home, sweet home, someone to care for me,
Like all the other boys and girls, how happy I would be!
A kind papa and mama dear, to call me all their own,
This world would be like sunshine if I had a home, sweet home.
Everyone sang loudly and as much in tune as possible. Matron and Mr. Glover agreed that the children had done well. Some of them sang little songs by themselves or recited poems that were sure to impress the listeners.
My name is Nell,
And I can tell
That you are good and kind.
If you will take me home with you,
I’d promise I will mind.
As you can see, I’m big and tall
And strong as I can be.
You won’t have to work so hard
If you had a boy like me.
It was Arthur, however, who won the admiration of everyone with his acrobatics. He walked on his hands, did back and front flip-flops, and rolled like a ball down the train aisle.
“He looks like he don’t have any bones,” Bert commented. “I wish I could do that.”
“You could if you practiced,” Arthur told him. “It’s better to try it on the grass, though. You need lots of space to learn.”
Ethan watched all this activity with interest. There was no reason for him and his siblings to recite poems or perform. They had already been chosen.
“You’re lucky,” Bert said. “I’d like to know where I’m going.”
“I don’t know where I’m going,” Ethan replied. “Just because a family spoke for me doesn’t mean they’ll like me.”
This was the fear of most of the older children. What if the families who chose them decided later that they didn’t like them?
Matron tried to reassure everyone. “The Lord has promised to guide us with His eye. He’s not going to lead us the wrong way, is He? We’re going to trust Him for good homes for all of you. Now, let’s make ourselves presentable for our first stop.”