A story popped up in my newsfeed this morning. It detailed the life of a late 19th century socialite who had spent her entire life trying to get to the top of the heap, sleeping her way through the aristocracy in Europe and finally successfully breaking up the marriage of a lesser royal. After securing the position and wealth she had so wanted, she spent several years at the top of high society. But then, her best laid plans blew up in her face. Literally. Never satisfied with her appearance, a botched nose job involving paraffin wax ended up distorting her face. The wax that was supposed to alter her nose's appearance somehow ended up in her chin. Not the look she was hoping for. The woman who had plotted so carefully to end up the richest and most beautiful woman in the world, ended up an insane recluse who began threatening her husband with a pistol. He finally evicted her from the house, and she ended up in a mental institution.
I was mulling over how it is that some people can utterly waste their years on this earth, and others cram several lifetimes of usefulness into their own brief allotment here on earth. It led me to thinking, once again, of how I had used and am using my own life.
I sometimes play the "What would I have done had I lived back then?" game. I always end up in the same place. Child welfare has always been important to me, and I know, without a doubt, that had I lived back in those days in our country, there would have been more work than you could possibly take on. The settlement houses with immigrants, the missions, the orphanages, the street kids, all of it would have been a scene calling for action. What a challenge people faced back then to try to make a difference.
I have had a personal hero from back in that era for over 20 years since I first learned about her. In my role as talk show host for a Christian network, I was contacted one day by a woman from Kansas who said she was writing a book about the orphan trains that used to take parentless children from the big cities out west in search of adoptive families. Poverty and illness took so many lives early back then. True orphans were common. She said her grandmother had been on the train and had a fascinating story to tell. I did that interview, and it began my interest in these trains and their role in over 250,000 lives over 75 years.
The name of the lady mentioned was that of Anna Laura Hill. a woman who dedicated her life to child welfare. She became the placement worker who traveled with the children at the various stops the trains would make in small towns. She made over 150 trips for this purpose. This loving woman would clean the children up as best she could, make sure the little girls' hair was nice, and present them at the churches and town halls where prospective families waited.
She became the nurse, the advocate, the childcare provider and teacher of these children all across the miles. She was their best hope to find families and get them out of the filthy and dangerous cities where they had been. She was also responsible for follow-up visits to families that had adopted children to make sure the placement was working out.
What a beautiful woman. Instead of sleeping her way across Europe in trying to snag a rich man, instead of living a vain, stupid and ultimately worthless existence, Anna Laura Hill poured her life into these children. God used Miss Hill as his own hands to help these children who had nobody in this world.
She was my inspiration when our family adopted two of our own children. She was also my inspiration when I was able to record waiting child features for radio for several adoption agencies. We saw over 150 children, many of them special needs, find families through those spots. When recording the waiting child announcements, I tried to find something about each child from the agency information that could be included. Each child was a unique little person, and this was their brief chance to have a moment in the spotlight.
Not all the stories of the orphans on the orphan trains turned out to be happy endings. Not all people who stepped up to adopt had the right motivation. Not all adoptions end up as fairy tale endings today. But for many children back then, as it is today, adoption helped launch them in life from a stable family, and it changed their lives forever for the good. The orphan trains represented a last shot for these children who would have only had the streets, except for the kindness and dedication of Christian people like Rev. Charles Loring Brace, the pastor behind the orphan train movement, and Anna Laura Hill.
God has called each of us to some sphere of usefulness, big or small. The celebrity fools on social media, so idolized by kids today, are the last people they should be looking at for inspiration in their lives. There is a sad world out there, and there are so many needs. A life given up to God for His use, will always find a place of need where a willing person can serve. God will never turn down your offer.
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