for the homeless children, the best men in the place--the judge, the
pastor, the local editor, and their peers--are prevailed upon to form a
local committee that passes upon all applications, and judges of the
responsibility and worthiness of the applicants. In this way a sense of
responsibility is cultivated that is the best protection for the child in
future years, should he need any, which he very rarely does. On a day set
by the committee the agent arrives from New York with his little troop.
Each child has been comfortably and neatly dressed in a new suit, and
carries in his little bundle a Bible as a parting gift from the Society.
The committee is on hand to receive them. So usually are half the mothers
of the town, who divide the children among themselves and take them home
to be cared for until the next day. If there are any babies in the lot, it
is always hard work to make them give them up the next morning, and
sometimes the company that gathers in the morning at the town hall, for
inspection and apportionment among the farmers, has been unexpectedly
depleted overnight. From twenty and thirty miles around, the big-hearted
farmers come in their wagons to attend the show and to negotiate with the
committee. The negotiations are rarely prolonged. Each picks out his
child, sometimes two, often more than one the same child. The committee
umpires between them. They all know each other, and the agent's knowledge
of each child, gained on the way out and perhaps through previous
acquaintance, helps to make the best choice. There is no ceremony of
adoption. That is left to days to come, when the child and the new home
have learned to know each other, and to the watchful care of the local
committee. To any questions concerning faith or previous condition that
may be asked, the Society's answer is always the same. In substance it is
this:

"We do not know. Here is the child. Take him and make a good Baptist, or
Methodist, or Christian of any sect of him! That is your privilege and his
gain. The fewer questions you ask the better. Let his past be behind him
and the future his to work out. Love him for himself."[23]

And in the spirit in which the advice is given it is usually accepted.
Night falls upon a joyous band returning home over the quiet country
roads, the little stranger snugly stowed among his new friends, one of
them already, with home and life before him.

And does the event justify the high hopes of that ho