Course I
know all folks ain't the same as you and Peter; but in the long run,
children are _safer in homes_ than they are in _squads_. 'Most any kind of
a home beats no home at all. You can stake your liberty-birds on that."
"You surely can," agreed Mrs. Harding.
"You just bet," persisted Mickey. "When I didn't know what they would do,
I didn't want them pestering 'round, maybe to ruin everything; and when I
_did_, I didn't want them any more, 'cause then I saw their idea would be
to take her themselves, and in one day they would a-made all I could do
look like thirty cents. She was mine, and what she had with me was so much
better than what she would a-had without me, or if the law got her, that I
thought she was doing well enough. I see now she could a-had more; but I
thought then it was all right!"
"Now Mickey, don't begin that," said Mrs. Harding. "What you did was to
find her, and without a doubt, save her life; at least if you didn't, you
landed her in a fairly decent home where all of us will help you do _what
you think best for her;_ and there's small question but we can beat any
Orphans' Home yet in existence.
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