“I could be bitter or I could be better. I chose to be better.”

These words were said to have been spoken by a woman who had once been put on an orphan train, sent from her home and separated from her siblings.

An article in a Minnesota newspaper recently reported on a program given at a library about orphan trains. A woman whose grandmother had ridden an orphan train presented the program to about 120 people. The presenter also displayed a quilt she had made to honor her orphan train grandmother.

According to the newspaper, many of those who attended were unfamiliar with orphan trains. They were unaware that trains were once used to take children (most, but not all, orphans) to places where they could find homes. Most of the orphans came out of the New York City area and were taken to the Midwest.

Times were very hard in New York. People in the ghettos could not make ends meet and there was much sickness and death, therefore, creating a large number of orphans. Child-care officials felt these children would at least have food if they were taken out to the Midwest where most of them went to live on farms.

Many of these children had wonderful adoptive parents, but there were some who were treated more as servants than as members of a family. Most worked in the fields and around the farm as did their foster brothers and sisters, but some felt they were slighted or even treated badly. Many who were unhappy eventually ran away.

It is easy to see why these children were confused, upset and perhaps even bitter about their experience. So it was good to read how the woman who was the subject of the library lecture chose not to be bitter. The granddaughter who presented the program said because her grandmother chose to be better, the world was better also.
I was very taken with this quote about choosing whether to be bitter or better. I'm sure my friends are likely to hear me use that phrase from time to time. I think I appreciate it so much because people who are bitter, and can never let go of a bad experience, appear to have a sad life. They never seem to be happy deep down inside.

Everyday, I think it’s important to choose better over bitter. It may be hard to do at times, but the end result is — well, better.

o o o

As some of you may have read, we had a busload of visitors at Newtonia two or three weeks ago. They were touring Civil War battlefields in the Midwest, and we were lucky enough to be on their schedule. Since that time, we have heard from several of them. One in particular has gotten my attention. He is a retired Marine major who, in retirement, is volunteering on historical sites and doing some writing. He asked about writing his view of his visit to Newtonia for The Post. I gave him the opportunity to give it a try, and his comments arrived last weekend. I will use them in next week’s issue of The Post, along with some photographs I made of the group’s visit.

This gentleman is very involved in researching the history of Fort Worth. The fort was on the site that is now part of the city with that same name. Apparently, Fort Worth is completely gone, mostly paved over, and there is very little left to tell its story. But my Marine friend is leading the charge to spread the word about “old” Fort Worth.

Speaking of Newtonia, I hope you read that Neosho’s Dr. Ed Porter attended the last meeting of the battlefield group and presented us with a very nice, historic gift which one day I am sure will be on display. Just a couple of days after that, I received a nice monetary donation from a lady here in town who called Newtonia “a truly worthwhile project.”

April was a good month for Newtonia. I always associate April with the Civil War because it began in April and ended in April. A really fine juvenile book about the Civil War is titled “Across Five Aprils.”

Now we move on to the merry month of May.