Department of Credit Where Credit Due Dept?
http://www.gospelcom.net/moh/WinkPrat/DTM/ContractOnChildrenPart2.htm
(...)
Yet a protected childhood is a relatively new thing, introduced by
Christian reformers. Only a century ago, children in England were made
to work in coal mines because they were considered the only ones with
bones flexible enough for the horrifying conditions. Imagine the
terror of their days in the mine shafts.
Human Flesh Was Cheaper
The simplest job was being a "trapper." A child was lowered 50 feet
down a shaft to squat in the mud in total darkness with trickling
water, beetles, and rats, waiting to open the trap door for other
children pulling coal cars. He would let the coal through and then
close the trap door again. That way, if there was a mine explosion, it
only killed the children between the doors. The trap doors cut off the
exploding gas from spreading further. Little children, seven or eight
years old, would sit in the dark every day, sometimes 18 to 20 hours,
listening for the coal cars. Some went insane. Yet in the mines, that
was the best job.
The children suffered terrible cruelty at the hands of adults, who
bargained for them, used them, and dismissed them as they pleased.
Many working underground were only eight or nine years old, girls as
well as boys. Some began toiling in the pits when they were only four
or five. They only saw the sun on Sundays. There were no hours of
relaxation, their meals were mostly eaten in the dark, and they lived
with parents who devoted them to this life.
Think about the actual pulling of the coal cars. Women or small
children had to crawl on their hands and knees dragging enormous
weights along narrow passageways that were only 18 to 24 inches in
height, and were as wet and slimy as common sewers. Women remained at
this work until the last hour of pregnancy. Boys and girls performed
the work by using a girdle and chain. A girdle was put around their
naked waist. A chain from the carriage was hooked to the girdle and
passed between their legs. Crawling on hands and knees they drew the
carriages after them.
"It is not necessary to describe," says Shaftesbury, the Christian
politician who fought against this horror for most of his life, "how
their sides were blistered, their ankles stained, their backs chafed
from rubbing against the roofs, or how they stumbled in the darkness
and choked in the stifling atmosphere. It is enough to say they were
obliged to do the work of horses or other beasts of the field, only
because human flesh and blood was cheaper in some cases and horse
labor was impossible in others."
(...)
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