Paired Passage: Anne of Green Gables/Orphan Trains

A. Both suggest that the people who arranged these adoptions were criminals.

B. Both illustrate that orphans at the time had little control over their own fate.

C. Both use stories of real people to show the effects of illegal adoptions.

D. Both claim that adoption was better than leaving orphans homeless.

A. At orphanages, children were typically underfed and undereducated. Once children reached the age of 14, the orphanages would usually release them.

B. Brace began transporting children via train from New York City, which had a large number of orphans, to central and western states. He believed those parts of the country--in particular, the Midwest--could offer the children a better environment than the East would.

C. Once they arrived at their destinations, the orphans would be put on display. This was often a humiliating experience for the children, who were examined and questioned by people they'd never met before.

D. Families who were interested in children would first have to be approved. Once the children joined them, the families would receive yearly visits from agents.