Ten-year old Earnest Fowler was indentured
in April 1910 by the Washington City Orphan Asylum for a period
of more than five years. Just a few months later, he wrote this
letter to an orphanage official.
Falmouth, Virginia
Nov. 1, 1910
Dear Mrs. Squires
I would like for you to find me another place
as I don’t like this one. I want it to be in the country where
there is a man. I don’t want to stay here no longer. If you
can find a place let me know. If you can’t find one, then
I will want to go live with my dady. Write as soon as you can as
I want to know. I rather be home if you can’t find another
good country place. Miss Lizzie and Mrs. Barber says I will have
to go away that she don’t want me to stay here. Because I
don’t want to do what they want me to do. And can’t
talk polite to them. I would like to be with a man that keeps cows,
horses and chickens or a man that is a carpenter. I am a good hand
in carpenter.
Yours very truly,
Earnest Fowler |