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farm

To contract, after the manner of those who engage to feed and lodge children belonging to the parish, at so much a head; a fruitful cause of starvation and misery. See Oliver Twist. The baby farmings, unconnected with the parishes in which they occurred, which ultimately resulted in the trial and execution of Margaret Waters, on the 11th October, 1870, have caused the word FARM as applied to any dealings with children, parish or private, to be one of obloquy and reproach.

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