The Illinois free trader and LaSalle County commercial advertiser. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1841-1843, 1842-07-15
NO. Z.

u. ne holerS lay on
Their sides, with the water COVERING their
lower thighs. There was not a murmur
OF complaint. Indeed one of the most
remarkable things in the pit wa, The
cheeriulness with which men and bows
proceeded with their work, seemingly
unconscious OF there being any hardship
in it,"
Unconscious, indeed The wonder il
now the poor children retain any consci-
BUSINESS at all. That they did no, COM
piaIn while in the pit is easily accounted
for. The evidence in numerous passages
shows that they are treated by the older
hands with excessive barbari,y, every
real or supposed offence sublecting them
TO the most unrestrained violence. They
dld complain bitterly to more than one Of
tue ub-commissioners. sin some pits.n
says Mr.. Fellowes, "the water is con.
sfanlly dripping upon them from the roof,
so that IN short time after they have
commenced the labor of the day their
clothes are drenched, and in this state.
with their feet also in water, they work
all day. The children especially-and
IN general the younger the age the more
painful this unlavorable state Of the place
is ielt-complain bitterly of this and it
must be borne in mind tina, it is in this
district that. according to the evidence,
the regular hours of a full days labor are
IA, and occasionally TO-"
But bad as is the condition of the child
rem who are taken by their own parents
INTO the mines, there is another class
whose fate is infinitely worse-the or
phans who are apprentlced by some poor
law unions as curriers'" The usual
plan is to bind them to this morse than
negro siarery IN its corst days, from the
age OF nine years TO twenty but even
this merciful Limitation of the bondage il
ovaded without scruple. Mr.. Symons,
sub-commissioner, mentions "vcry gross
case" of the Dewsbury union apprenticing
i.--'''''--"''o was moi J1ue years OF age,
ana having been demonstrated with, plead
ga that they had not formally bound him.
and should not until he was nine! Az
Halifax "a great number Of children are
apprentlced by the boards of guardians as
hurrlers, from the age of eight years 10
twenty-onc, getting rid of the children
by payment of sovereign; and at Old.
ham "tIey have bound more parish child
rem apprentices to miners lat,erly than 10
any other trade"
The overseer candidly stated that sea.
Sos oil cruelty to apprentices in coal-mincs
were very common. lie was obliged to
summon three cases within the last week
where boys had been numerically used /:
they were all bad cases, blu, one of them
nearly proved fatal" The outrage, for
some trivial fault, he thus described -
"a man got the boys head between his
legs, and each boy i'll the pit, and there
were Is or 20 of them, inflicted IL strokes
on the boys rump and loins with cat.
| never saw such a sight in my life. Tho
flesh of the rump and the loins were bea-
ten to a Jelly. The surgeon said the
boy could not survive, - but he did,"
The ovcrseer farther stated that had the
other boys refused to take part in this
brutality they would have been served
the same; and so far from the case being
an extraordinary one, it was quite COM
mon one! Bad as we think of the poor
law commissioners, we did not dream that
they would sanction such mode Of dis.
posing of helpless orphans as this.
No care whatever is, in fact, shown by
any party for these poor children Their
$1,000 r~~--.- -. '''--'ore would no, cripple
or MAIN them because it would be against
their own interest to do so; but the adult
miners treat them with relentless persecu-
ton, and neither the proprietor, nor the
under-s'eward, nor the "butiy," takes the
sIIghtes, trouble to prevent it. "In many
mines the report says, "tie conduct OF
the adult Golfers to children and young
persons who assist them, is harsh and
cruel tho persons in authority in these
mines never interfering to preven, ii, and
many distinctly stating tina, they do not
conceive they have any RICH, to do so"
Fortunate 1t is for them ,f they get food
and relTeshment, and still more fortunate
lir they get time to enjoy ii; ba, amusc-
meni or recreation they have none, many
Eof them never seeing daylight for weeks
in the winter; and as for education, secu-
lar or religious, they have no opportunity
TO acquire it, even if there was any one to
impart it. Their condition combines all
the toll and reiincmen,of the galley-slave.