Riding the Rails to Home: A Newsie Rides the Orphan Train

by Cleo Lampos

Stephen Reily finds relief from living on the streets. He gets a job as a newsie, selling newspapers during the day and living at the Newsboys' Boarding House. Sleeping on a cot, eating a hot meal, and attending classes at night help Stephen to survive. But his heart longs for a home, a place to belong. But who would adopt a street kid from Five Points, New York City in the late 1800's?

Selected to ride the orphan train, Stephen encounters difficult circumstances until he is chosen to live on a farm in Nebraska. Through the patience of the couple who foster Stephen, he faces his fears. He struggles with forgiveness and faith in a God who he cannot see. Only a quilt square reminds Stephen of his dying mother and sister, who was sent to an orphanage. How will the women of the town use this scrap of fabric to comfort Stephen? Can a cast-off child find a home? A place to belong?

Genres: Historical

134 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 29, 2019

About the author

I was born in Colorado, but raised on farms in Iowa and Wisconsin. My father died when I was three years old, leaving my mother with my five year old sister and seventeen year old brother. Within a year, my brother joined the Navy, and a few years later, my mother remarried. When I went to Fort Atkinson High School in Wisconsin, it was my eighth school.( New students in my classrooms always got special attention from me.)

After graduating from University of Wisconsin-Whitewater with a major in elementary education and a minor in library science, I taught in a Chicago suburb for two years. There I met and married Vernon Lampos and taught one more year before settling down to raise three children. When my son entered first grade, I attended St. Xavier College in Chicago, earning a Masters Degree in Learning Disabilities while working in the LD/BD Clinic as a diagnostician. Returning to the work force after ten years, I experienced all the classic "new teacher" mistakes. Reading my book, Teaching Diamonds in the Tough, you will realize the challenges that I faced while teaching 20 years in the district described as "an urban school in a suburban setting."

My husband and I have always belonged to a local church and been active in its programs. I have taught Vacation Bible School, written the preschool curriculum for an urban church, told missionary stories for Children's Church, co-authored plays, and spoken at homeschooling and women's meetings. Presently, Vernon and I garden for Share the Harvest, help with Pantry Kitchen, conduct Kids Konnex, and volunteer at Bibles for Missions Thrift Store. I collaborate with the Worship Planners in our church. Our ten grandchildren keep us busy.

As a writer, I have had numerous magazine articles published in Lookout, Teachers in Focus, Evangelizing Today's Child and others. In 2011, I received the Honorary Genesis Award for Young Adult for Year of the Locust, an historical fiction story of a boy on the orphan train. I have written curriculum for Urban Ministries/Chicago, contributed to Writing So Heaven Will Be Different, and published a family friendly book on Alzheimer's Disease, Grandpa's Remembering Book. I have been a member of a writer's group for twenty years, and also attend the group at our local library.

Reviews

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

A poignant story about a young boy’s journey to belong, Lampos depicts the time era of the orphan trains in the 1800s in an authentic way. The gripping events and hardships the young boy Stephen must endure move the story along, leaving the reader wondering what the next chapter will bring. Just when it seems Stephen’s life is settling down, a ravaging locust storm hits his home. Stephen’s utter defeat to embracing valor is realistically emotional. The themes of belonging and learning to trust in God for survival are fresh, intense at times, and powerful. Lampos skillfully handles Stephen’s dangers to be appropriate for young adult readers with the character traits of faith, courage, forgiveness, and hope interlaced throughout the story.

[Patsy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a story of Stephen Reily living in the streets of New York City in the 1800's. His Ma died when he was 12 years old, his dad an alcoholic threw him out of the house. He walked the streets in New York City, running from the cops. Until he meets a young boy selling newspapers on the street corner in New York.

The young boy trained Reily and got him in the Newsie Paper Boarding home for boys. Everything was routine rise early, bath, eat breakfast, pick up your papers and on the streets you go. He wished for a home and family. After a couple of years he wanted to ride the Orphan Train to find a foster home. Some homes have real families other just need workers. Can Reily live in someone else's house? Or will it all crumple for him?

This was a book that pulls at your heart from beginning to the end . This was a fast paced, well written book. The characters were well defined, each boy in the boarding school had problems, some larger than others. This is an interesting time period in American our history. I enjoyed the book, I recommend this book for all ages of children and adults. I love reading about America History. Thanks Ms Lampos for sharing your talent with us.

[Carol Pennington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stephen is 12 years old and he is homeless in New York City. His drunkard father has banished him to the streets. Determined to eat without stealing, Stephen finds a way to become a Newsie. As a turn of fate soon after his mother dies of illness, he finds himself on an orphan train headed to The West. Will he find the home he longs for, or will he be treated as a slave?

This is an excellent book. It was so enthralling I couldn’t put it down. I finished it in one setting. The story is both heart wrenching and heart warming. The author does a particularly amazing job of painting a realistic portrait of life on the street during this time period. There’s no doubt she did her research. I appreciate that it is a clean book. This is something I would have no issue reading to my grandchildren. There is a little violence in the story. I highly recommend it!

[Jeanie Womack · Rating 5 out of 5]

From homelessness and heartbreak to hope and home

Stephen has had a tough life, being thrown out of his family's tenement apartment by his hard drinking father. Leaving his mother and younger sister has been the hardest thing he's had to face in his young life. His trials are only beginning.
You'll want to follow Stephen's story as he grows through difficult and good times! I hope you enjoy this story as much as I did!

[Jt Furbay · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the paperback version. This is about a boy who lives on the streets of New York City and how he tries to survive. He helps a sick friend by taking his place as a newsboy. This goes into the life of these poor boys and how they try to avoid the police who will dump into a jail. Stephen is selected to ride the orphan train heading west that is trying to find good homes for these kids .Will he find a place to live? Read the book and find out.

[Terrie Wiederich · Rating 4 out of 5]

By the end, I was immersed in the story

I enjoy reading stories about the orphan trains. I was aware this one was likely to be unpolished because I got it free. It does need a little more editing but halfway through the book I was hooked! I ended up reading it straight through to the end.

[James f. white, jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sad but heart warming storyline guaranteed to grab your heart strings

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Riding the Rails to Home. It’s a fast paced novella and factual. I recommend it to everyone who loves historical stories

[Carlos mutua · Rating 4 out of 5]

Life of orphan

Reading this Stephen story gives the remainder day to day situation and challenges of all orphans in the world, some of unseen demons they keep on fighting with each day. The writer did a good reader he here.

[Babs M · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed it. The book was a feel good type of read.

[PAMpublish · Rating 5 out of 5]

This well-written heartwarming Christian orphan train adventure is a delightful, inspiring novella about the plights of a 'newsy' boy who became one of many who traveled west from NYC to find homes. Obviously thoroughly researched except for the initial couple who looked down on riding on the train with these noisy ruffians, when supposedly traveling to Albany which would have been due north and not west of NYC. Otherwise, learned much about the lives and existence of the times. Would have liked to hear more about Stephen sister's fate toward the end, but that may be in a sequel.

[Mary Hake · Rating 4 out of 5]

This children’s novel gives a picture of the hard lives many faced in the late 1800s. Stephen Reilly, a boy forced by his dad to live on the streets, tries to avoid arrest. Introduced to the newsie life, he thinks he may be able to survive. Then he hears about the opportunity for children to travel west for adoption. Since he has no home, he hopes this will be his answer. But his troubles aren’t over yet. This adventurous story would be great to read and discuss as a family or in school as well as be enjoyed on its own. I received a copy from the author. All opinions are my own.

[Jarm Boccio · Rating 5 out of 5]

The sad plight of orphans abandoned in NYC who were ultimately moved out West to be placed with families is fodder for many a story. Some had great experiences and others not so. Lampos’s MG novel is one of hope and restoration which can only come with faith in God and His plans. “Riding the Rails” is a sweet, well-researched book which connects the Newsies to the Orphan Trails in a warm-hearted journey of Stephen, a boy who finds that forever home at last.