The relationship between Molly and Vivien was wonderful and makes me think that there should be more opportunities to connect the generations in ways that really matter. The idea of the Orphan Train as a way to move children who were desperate and perhaps destitute to places where they might have a shot a living a life with at least the minimum of food/shelter provided. It was rather scary to think about the kind of \"crap shoot\" it really was depending on where they ended up, In some ways, is not unlike the foster system of today. Even with safeguards in place terrible things can and do happen to kids in foster care. So, Orphan Trains or Foster Care, we are still struggling to find best practices to deal with kids in unsafe/unhealthy or simply with no one to care for them.

Caution: The author may not have carefully research some details... refrigerators at that early date... some parts of rural MN did not get electricity until the 1940\'s and eye makeup for one of the women at that same time... hmmm? not sure about some of those details...