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Show 1 J ' ft it ir i si 11 -' i; lvfJ H f-V7?5:.jv2&5y H wk "John Doe, No. 104," a nameless sHl waif, was in one day transferred SHy from a possible life of squalor to the IBS home of the FInlcy J. Shepards a.nd KJ made heir to millions because, as his Hu new foster-mother expresses it, he H "was such a little man." Hjl The blonde hair and blue eyes of H this boy of four won Mrs. Shepard's V, heart from the time she first saw IHj him. She learned he had been found Hf- on a church doorstep after having f.Hjj been abandoned. She took him to iHt her home on a visit and he became fill '' nursed hfm, learned to love H him and got her husband's consent HI lo adi)t him- ill ,J,U0 Shepards, after doctors had H pronounced the boy mentally and IMf- physically perfect, had detectives H search the city for his folks so that MM thcy mlsat uot bol) UP at some fu- iKI ture date and destroy his life by Hf claiming him and taking him back HR to squalor. HT If children should ever taunt Fin- Kf ley J. Shepard, Jr., on the fact that Hf he is an adopted and not a natural w sou, he may reply as did another W lad In similar circumstances: llS! "Well, my parents selected me l'i from a number, while your parents fm had to take you as you came,", for he HffK vaa chosen from hundreds of chll- IffliM'v drcn met by Mrs. Shepard in her PJl; charitable career. Tho foster mother S& spent ?50,000 In trying to ascertain gfj his parentages w When the Shepards decided to 2m- adopt the boy they left nothing un- I t done to protect his future and when 4 the matter was made legal by court f sanction the new foster father an- nounced that the lad was to be his "lie will be brought up as any clh- f or healthy boy. He will not be mol- lycoddlcd. He will be allowed to se- l lect his own career," faid his fos- t-ji tei father. Fiuley J. Shepard. Sr., prefers that he take up a railroad career so lhat 1 he may succeed him as head of the I Gould possessions. I "Ho is such a littlo man," said 1 Mrs. Helen Gould Shepard in ex- 1 plaining her love and that of her K husband for the nameless youth they la have made their own. m Because "John Doe, No. 104" was r euch, a "littlo man" he has. won a lit ' m place in the world that thousauds might envy. No more poverty, no more friendless existence in an orphan's or-phan's home, but a great financial future, with everything he might desire, de-sire, opportunity to study and travel, are before him. Physicians, scientists and social workers always have maintained that a child left to its own resorts makes the best man in tho long run. If that be the case- then this child by his own efforts won the love of Air. and Mrs. Finley J. Shepard tnat means his future fortune. On tho night of September 17, 1914, a policeman walking his beat found a boy shivering on the steps of SL Patrick's Cathedral in New York City. The youth, then four vcars old, was taken to the precinct "station, where at nnst he said his father left him and later referred to the one who had abandoned him as "that man." He did not know where Ins home was and his name, as nearly as bis accent could be distinguished, was Austin McCleary. At any rate by this name, alias John Doe No. 104, he went on the official record. He was kept at the Children's Society So-ciety until October 9. 1914, when he appeared before Justice Hoyt in Children's Court and was sent to St. Christopher's Home. IjIIvE ADICKEXS CJIAHACTJUt. In all this time he might-well have been compared with the homclC33 orphan, Oliver Twist of Dickens' famous novel. Had it not been for the kindly Intervention In-tervention of tho Shepards tho fcto of "No. 104" might have been similar simi-lar to that of Oliver Twist's when the parish Beadle came to take him from Mrs. Mann's where he had been farmed out at the village expense. "Make a bow to the gentleman, Oliver," said Mrs. Mann. (Dickens' tale). Poor Oliver made a bow lhat was divided between the beadle on tho chair and his cocked-hat on the table. ta-ble. "Will you go along with me. Oliver?" Oliv-er?" asked Mr. Bumble, the beadle, in a majestic voice. Oliver was about to say that lie would go along with anybody with great readiness I when, glancing upwards he caught sight of Mrs. Mann, who had got behind be-hind the beadle's chair and was shaking her fist at him with a furious furi-ous countenance. He took the hint at once for Ihc fist had been too often impressed upon his body not lo be deeply impressed im-pressed upon his recollection. "Will she go with me?" inquired poor Oliver. "No, she can't," replied Mr. Bumble, Bum-ble, "but she'll come and see ou sometimes." This was no very great ..consolation to the child. Young as he was, however, he had senso enough to make a feint of feeling great regret at going away. It was no very difficult matter for the boy to call the tears into his eyes. Hunger Hun-ger and recent ill-usage, (Oliver had been locked in a coal cellar without food), arc great assistants if you want to cry; and Oliver cried very naturally indeed. Mrs. Mann gave him a thousand embraces and what Oliver wanted a great dual more, a piece of bread and butter, lest ho should seem too hungry when he got to the workhouse whore he was to be taken by Mr. Bumble, the beadle. GMEF OF OLITBH. "With the slice of bread in hiB hand and the little brown cloth parish cap on his head, Oliver then was led away by Mr. Bumble from thei wretched home where one kind word had never lighted the gloom of his infant years. And yet he burst into an agony of childish grief as the cottage gato closed after liim. Wretched as were the little companions compan-ions of misery he was leaving behind be-hind hfm, they were the only friends he had ever known; and a sense of hfs loneliness in tho great wide world, sank into the .child's heart for the first time." This might have beon the fate of "John Doe, No. 104," 'he might havo like Oliver Twist fallen Into the hands of a Bill Sykes and a Fagin had not the horoscope of his early days turned toward tho good fortune for-tune that now is his. When Mrs. Helen Gould Shepard , cast eyes on this pretty infant, the many boys whose early grief and abandonment had left him with those qualities of sclf-prcscrvatlon and independence that made Mrs. Shepard decide he was "such a little lit-tle man." Mrs. Shepard found him in the course of one of her charitable visits and was attracted by his light hair, blue eyes and bright manner. It seemed that every time she came there the waif stretched out his arms to her and that poor little soul that had known no love and happiness in life was calling out to her for a share of tho gouerousMove that filled her heart to overflowing and left enough there to distribute as beams of sunshine among the poor and neglected. neg-lected. Last February Mrs. Shepard took him to her home, 679 Fifth avenue, New York. For the first time in his life. "John poc, No. 104" knew what the outside world was like. For the first time this nameless orphan knew what real toys are like. He obtained his first glimpse of riches. The light of wealth and happiness flashed into his childish mind and blinded him as a man who has been blind from childhood is overwhelmed overwhelm-ed by the sight of the sun when his gaze is suddenly restored. case or C1I1CKEX rox. "John Doe, No. 104." played with the two children of Frank- J. Gould and the three became allicted with chicken pox and it meant the enforced en-forced stay of tho waif in the Shepard Shep-ard home. Those were happy (?ays for the little waif. Never before had he known such- loving care as was given him by the kind Helen Gould Shepard. It was like being in heaven heav-en for this lad to feel her tender touch or her lips sweeping his feverish fe-verish brow. It was then that Mrs. Shepard's heart went out to the boy. She timidly tim-idly broached the subject to her bus- band and was overjoyed when he gave his consent. The matter of adopting an heir to the the Gould millions is no simple matter. Physicians were called and made very known test to determine if the adopted son, at some future date, might develop physical or mental peculiarity that would eis-grace eis-grace hiB foster parents. Such were the possibilities of the liuure. n me cnna 3 laim-i iiiiu been a drunkard It were a possibility, possibili-ty, considering the uncertain laws of heredity, that the child might become be-come one at some future date in the midst of ihc prosperity that surrounded sur-rounded him. If the mother and father fa-ther both were mentally deficient it were possible that at some future date the adopted- Shepard might not develop an inability to carefully manage the great financial duties to which he would be intrusted. ' If there were any criminal tendency tend-ency in the family it might be developed de-veloped in the heir of the Gould millions. mil-lions. So the doctors employed all known tests and finally pronounced tho boy mentally and physically perfect, per-fect, well able to bear the duties that would be his in the futuro when he shall Inherit the wealth of his adopted parents. But this was not sufficient. The Shepards were determined that nothing should mar the future of their heir. SEARCH FOR PAHENTS. They employed private detectives to make every effort to traco the boy's parents. If the parents. existed exist-ed there was the possibility that at some future time when the boy bo-came bo-came wealthy and won his place in the business world that these aamc parents might claim him and drag him from the pedestal of wealth back into poverty and mystery. After a search of several mouths the detectives reported that they could find no trace of the people who had abandoned the child in the church. Thereupon the Shepards announced they had adopted the lad and took the legal steps necessary to make him the heir to their millions. The boy as said before has blue eyes and "fair hair. He is very intelligent in-telligent and well mannered and was a favorite in the orphan homo wiil'iiui; lie uaun;. When he was taken to the Shepards Shep-ards country home. Lyndhurst, he made himself right at home and has been romping there since in the ecstacv of his new found joy. He is very fond of Mrs. Shepard and fiom the first called her mother and Mr. Shepard father. That the two are absolutely enamored enam-ored of their adopted son goes with-'out with-'out saying. Otherwise they would not have undergone the publicity of having adopted him' and made a former nameless waif heir to inn-lions inn-lions and tohave provided for lim the place in the social and financial world that will bo accorded him when he becomes of age. "The lad is our son in every senso of the word," says Fiuley J. Shepard Shep-ard Sr. "Our adopting him is In no sense an experiment- Wc adopted him because wc love him and because be-cause wc wanted a boy. He shall bo our heir. "My son will have every advantage advan-tage wc can give him, but there will be no mollycoddling. He Is, I believe, the most remarkable 5-ycar-old boy I ever have seen full of life and very intelligent. He gives every . evidence of having come from a good family." A RAILROAD CAREER. Shepard, when asked If he planned i a railroad career for his adopted son : said: "No, not especially. Both j Mrs. Shopard and I believe a youth should follow his natural bent. Of : course, I would be glad to have him select a railroad career, but that will i be up to him." 1 So tho young Shepard heir is lo be i allowed to follow his own whims to 1 a certain extent. Already he has his 1 own governess who has been charged charg-ed with the particular duty of sec- i ing that .he Imbibes from his sur- ' roundings and from the presence. of J his foster parents the necessary seeds or culture that will sprout and grow when he enters manhood cud will make him fit to take his place in the world aud will bear the nnmo that has been given to him as sort of a gift from Providence and at tho same time Is the greatest gift two loving souls could bestow. The bestowal of her name and wealth on. this otherwise nameless lad Is in line with Helen Gould Shepard's Shep-ard's sincere kindnesses of the jutst. There is not a railroad man from New York to San Francisco who docs not know her and in knowing her loves her. From her father sha inherited a sort of a lovo and tender feeling for the men on tho Gould lines. She mingled among tho n en. doing charitable works for them and it was she who established the various vari-ous railroad Y. M. C. A.s and from her own wealth gave- the funds necessary for their buildings. H So when that far-reaching love for H mankind was still overflowing and S sought to embrace moro territory her eye was cast on children. Sho might have selected any of a nun- M dred or even a thousand waifs yet H her pity went out to the most un- H fortunate of all a child who had no family or even friends or relatives. H whose future life could bo nothing but a vast waste with its entire his- H tory based on the time it had spent in orphan homes. H "No. 104" was on the road of hun- H dreds of other children when ho H was grasped from the cruel hands of H the fnto that swallows up children H ;iud makes them slaves, and trans- H ferred Into the lap of wealth as mid- H jcnly as if his childish hands had H rubbed Aladdin's lamp. H Certainly the Shepards have douo aiore than adopt a mere waif. They H dave given their hearts and their H riches to making a man and a wor- H :hy man out of one whose natural H sent might havo been in some other H ind less worthy direction had they H jot wrested the brand from the firo -"BECAUSE HE WAS SUCU A H LITTLE MAN." |
