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Posted by Alia Ahmed on March 2, 2009 at 9:44 a.m.

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The Rest of the Story…..

Paul Harvey was a masterful storyteller. One of the most inspiring yet heart-wrenching stories he ever told was about a little girl named Mary Ellen McCormack. In 1873 a janitor told a church worker, Etta Wheeler, about a little girl living in an apartment building in New York City who was being severely abused by her adoptive parents.

Mary Ellen was tied to the bed, beaten and struck with scissors by the parents. Etta Wheeler went to law enforcement to try to rescue the little girl from her life of horror but there was nothing can be done. Child abuse was not against the law at the time.

A few years earlier in New York City a man named Henry Bergh founded the SPCA, the Society for Prevention of Cruelty against Animals. Mr Bergh heard of little Mary Ellen's horrible plight and agreed to represent the little girl's interest in court. Although child abuse was not against the law, abuse and cruelty to animals was. Mr. Bergh had Mary Ellen brought into court on a stretcher. She was bruised and battered, she was disheveled and Mr. Bergh implored the judge that the little girl was indeed an animal. The judge agreed that it was a crime what was happening to Mary Ellen and other children like her. Mr. Bergh went on to found the SPCC, Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children, believed to be the first child protection agency in the world.

So now you know the rest of the story........................ that because of a law protecting animals from abuse, this little girl's life and countless other lives have been saved.

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