I was reading about kids being used as chimney sweeps because their small size allowed them to be lowered by rope. Some of those chimneys were not straight shots and many children died inside chimneys. Absolutely terrifying when you think of a child being subjected to that.
Take a look at this absolutely horrific story:
https://www.stove.co.uk/chimney-sweeps/
As young and as hard as they did - yes. There's nothing wrong with kids having jobs to do, like helping with dishes, laundry, or setting the table, or even helping with gardens or things like that. But to have a 9-5 (well, Victorian Era, so... 6am-7pm?) is nuts.
I guess it was what people did to survive - scraping up pennies.
Dickens' family was originally middle class but went through financial difficulties due to his father's mishandling of money, landing the man in debtors' prison. The 12-year-old Charles was then forced to pawn his possessions and quit school. He ended up working in a squalid shoe-blacking factory.
This is part of what prompted him to write A Christmas Carol. He was appalled by the social injustices of the day: children living on the streets or working in tin mines, and people being put in prison because of debt.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Christmas_Carol#Background
Now you can’t even get healthy grown men to work
shareWhen I was a kid, ten or twelve years old, I'd go around the surrounding neighborhoods mowing lawns and washing cars at 50 cents a job to supplement my $1.50 a week allowance. At fourteen I got an afternoon and weekend real job, doing oil changes and other semi-skilled tasks in a motorcycle shop. I'm glad I had those experiences, but also glad I never got lowered down a chimney.
share