foundling Quotes

“From the moment he’s left as a foundling in a lambing-pen on Outoverdown Farm, Spider Sparrow is surrounded by animals. Adopted by the kindly shepherd and his wife, Spider has comes to know all the animals on the farm, including the crows he must scare away from the newly sown wheat.”

The center of this novel is the monstrous Otis Gardiner -a peddler known as “the Coram man” for his sham reputation as a representative of Thomas Coram’s famous foundling hospital in London. Utterly pitiless, Otis adds to his living by disposing of unwanted children and illegitimate offspring handed to him by distraught young women as he passes through towns and villagers and calls at wealthy country states.

“Foundling (noun) also wastrel. Stray people, usually children, found without a home or shelter on the streets of cities or even, amazingly, wandering exposed in the wilds. The usual destination for such orphaned children are workhouses, mills or mines, although a fortunate few may find their way to a foundlingery. Such a place can care for a small number of foundlings and wastrels, fitting them for a more productive life and sparing them the agonies of harder labor.”