The advance of civilization

26 August 2003

Then:

One boy,
Boy for sale.
He’s going cheap.
Only seven guineas.
That—or thereabouts.

Now:

They rose before the sun on a crisp September day in 2001 and headed off on the long drive from Groton to Fenway Park. Sticking close together, and to the social workers who drove them in, Joe and Art found their way into the old stadium and out onto the mesmerizing green of the field…

It was an “adoption party,” one of the festive but controversial such events organized by public and private agencies. Interested adults were invited to scan the crowd of foster children from a distance and, reserving a measure of anonymity, ponder whether to take the first cautious step toward adoption.

• Later: Quiquid latine dictum, altum videtur
• Earlier: The evolution of slash