Hands in boiling water, head in a frenzy, back torn off: How children worked 100-200 years ago and how it threatened them

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The nineteenth and early twentieth centuries seem to be the time of the onset of civilization. Women everywhere began to be educated. Children from peasant and poor urban families were recognized as trainees. Scientific and technological progress more and more connected people with each other. But, alas, in terms of humanity, this period actually left much to be desired. First of all, because of the attitude towards child labor.

Miner children

Large numbers of child miners of both sexes worked in England and the United States in the nineteenth century. The working day lasted half a day. Despite attempts to impose age restrictions (in England they set the lower bar at ten years old), parents brought their children to work in the same mines where they worked themselves, from the age of six to eight: miners, especially women and children, were paid so little that every penny in the families was counted. The managers asked the age formally, no one checked anything. The mines needed working hands.

Do not think that the children were doing something like sweeping or other light work in the mine. They picked up the coal that fell from the carts of adults into the trolleys, which they pulled behind them like donkeys or oxen, or simply carried coal with which the trolleys were filled by adults; lifted baskets, sorted coal. The weakest were attached to open the gates for the trolleys. They were usually very young girls. They sat for hours in pitch darkness, in dampness, motionless, and this had a bad effect on their health and even more so on their psychological state.

Children chimney sweeps

Little chimney sweep assistants were very popular in Europe: by launching a child into the chimney, the chimney sweep achieved a much better effect than if he himself tried to clean everything with the help of special equipment. Moreover, the children were much cheaper than the equipment.

Little chimney sweeps began their careers at the age of four: it was believed that there was nothing difficult in scraping off soot for a child, and a small age meant small sizes and guaranteed that the child would not have to change for quite a few years. In order for the little assistant to remain suitable for climbing into chimneys for a longer time, he was very poorly fed - if only he did not stretch his legs. A thin boy is a good boy when it comes to cleaning pipes.

They launched the child into the chimney from below, from the fireplace, and eventually he had to get out from above, onto the roof. But the children were scared to crawl between the steep walls so high upward - there was a serious risk of falling off and crippling, falling back into the fireplace, so the adult chimney sweep owner urged the baby on, lighting a little light under him.

The occupational risks for children in this business were very high. They, in addition to being thwarted, also suffocated and got stuck. The soot and soot, which for years layered on their skin (the children could wash themselves only before the holidays, so as not to waste the owner's coal on heating water and soap), led to severe oncology, most often cancer of the lungs and scrotum. Even after changing jobs, little chimney sweeps did not heal in the world. Their health was hopelessly compromised. The exploitation of children by chimney sweeps began to decline only in the last third of the nineteenth century.

Peddler children

Girls in big cities were often accommodated for street trading. It could be a small family business, but more often the girls worked for someone else's uncle, receiving the goods in the morning, and handing over the proceeds in the evening. The most active sales time were the hours before the start of work for all kinds of clerks and employees and the hours after the end, so in order to make the proceeds, the girl got up at five o'clock, got ready and, often without breakfast, wandered the streets for several hours with a heavy basket or tray (it was worn around the neck and looked like a flat open box on a belt, on which the goods were laid out).

Girls were often robbed, because they could not run after any bully who grabbed goods from the stall; the value of the stolen goods was deducted from their earnings. Colds due to constant walking on the street in any weather (often without the ability to dress normally) were common, up to pneumonia and the development of rheumatism. If a girl tried to linger on the street in the evening in order to increase revenue, she was at risk of harassment: in the evening, many men were looking for what they considered amorous adventures, although the word "love" is rather difficult to describe their actions.

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the work of a newspaper seller was popular among boys. Everything is the same: you get up very early in the morning, pick up the newspapers, and bring the proceeds in the evening. You will be fined for spoiled or stolen goods. The hottest trading hours are in the morning, when gentlemen buy a newspaper on their way to work or footmen - when they return home with purchases for the owners.

To trade briskly, you need to run for hours on the streets, including running across the pavement with lively horse traffic, and shout loudly, breaking your voice. In addition, from constant contact of the skin with lead, with which letters were imprinted on newspaper sheets, problems began with the skin. But this work was still considered much safer than that of miners or chimney sweeps - and even more so than in a factory.

Courier children

Getting a job as a messenger for the boy was great luck. All day, in any weather, I had to run, sometimes with a heavy load, but in the intervals between "flights" I could sit quietly in the warmth. In addition, at some point, large companies began to issue beautiful uniforms to messengers. True, in winter it did not really warm. The biggest misfortune of the boy-courier was the hooligan attacks of his less fortunate peers, who, out of envy, could try to take and tear envelopes and papers or take away goods from the store that the courier carried to the client in their favor.

Children in factories

With the industrialization of society, there was a huge need for workers in factories. The labor of women was valued above all by the factory owners - they studied faster, were more accurate and more obedient than men, and besides, according to established customs, women were paid less for the same amount of labor. But the children had to pay even less, so in many factories there were benches near the machines, and on the benches there were boys and girls aged six and older.

Children were the perfect consumable. They learned quickly, did not dare to dare, they cost a penny, and, no matter how often little workers were crippled, there was always someone to take the empty place. And accidents in factories were rampant. The girls could pull their hair into the machine - after all, there was no time to straighten up and fix a sprawling hairstyle, and for every unnecessary movement, they also hurt painfully. From malnutrition and lack of sleep, many babies lost their vigilance, and with it - an arm, a leg or life. The treatment, of course, was not paid. The little worker was thrown out into the street.

This attitude towards children in factories was widespread - in Russia, Europe and America. Humanists and progressives have fought for years to improve conditions for child labor, to no avail. The benefits outweighed any arguments and efforts. Psychological tricks were also used. When humanists tried to prohibit the use of child labor in factories that produce silk - in order to unwind a silkworm cocoon, it was necessary to dip it into very hot water, almost boiling water, and the children's hands were disfigured - the manufacturers spread a rumor that there was no silk (and taxes from factories) will be in general, because only gentle children's fingers can make a delicate thin thread.

Children on the plantations

There is a very popular legend that the best tea in China was considered to be the tea collected by young virgins. After all, their purity makes the taste of the tea leaf especially pure! Indeed, young virgins (from five to six years old) in many countries worked to harvest something lighter than potatoes or rutabagas. Only their purity has nothing to do with it - the labor of little girls cost literally a penny. Together with young virgins, tea and tobacco were also collected by young virgins of the same age range, pregnant women and old people still able to move.

The use of child labor in fields and plantations around the world was considered the norm. The working day, regardless of the weather, lasted about twelve hours, with one break for food (during which the workers often simply fell asleep, unable to even chew). Children weeded, picked berries and other relatively light fruits and leaves, destroyed pests, ran with watering cans and buckets to water endless beds. They were crippled in smaller fields than in factories - mostly, they ripped off their backs or "ripped open their stomachs" (a common problem for girls). Heat and sunstrokes and burns, bone aches and bronchitis due to long work in bad weather were not surprising either.

Dishwasher children

To attach a child to the kitchen to wash the dishes, even for free or only for payments on holidays, many parents considered it happiness. To begin with, the child will stop asking for food - after all, both in the house and in the tavern, he has the opportunity to eat scraps. Some children spent the night at their new place of work, especially since they often had to scrub pots, pots and pans until late.

The only drawback of working as a dishwasher was the need to constantly carry weights - tubs of water or the same boilers. In addition, not all children tolerated the constant heat and fumes in the kitchen well. If you lost consciousness once, you will be forgiven, but after the second time, goodbye, a satisfying place.

Read also: What professions did women "choose" about 150 years ago, and what they most often got sick from because of their work.