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In 1924, seven-year-old Alton Lou Clement's mother died in childbirth. His father, unable to take care of his seven children, sent the oldest three out into the world, gave the baby to a friend of the family, and gave the other three (including Alton) to an orphanage. Before he knew it, Alton and his brothers were bundled onto a train and sent towards Texas. The train they were riding was called an "orphan train." The orphan trains, running from 1854 to 1930, would carry young orphans from overcrowded Eastern orphanages out to (hopefully) loving families in the Midwest and West. This is the story of Alton Lou Clement (later Lee Clement Nailling), and the orphan trains. The story of the orphan trains is one not known by many people. (I only first heard about it when reading Changes For Samantha by Valerie Tripp.) This wonderful book simultaneously tells the heart-wrenching stories of Lee Nailling, the conditions that orphans lived under, and the orphan trains that ran for nearly a century. Thankfully, the story of Lee Nailling and his brothers has a happy ending, and also contains Lee's uplifting thoughts. This is a wonderful book.
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