The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1885-04-11
A SAVIOR OF CHILDREN.
What George Smith Did for the Little
TOilers of the London BrIckyards.


TOiIers of the London BrIcl<yards.
The wonder grows upon him who
watches the current of events, as de-
scribed in the columns of the news
papers of the day, why any one need
go elsewhere for stories of noble
human effort and. beautiful self-sacri-
fees and heroism. No classic pages
contain more inspiring recital than
the account given in q recent number
of the Pail Mall Gazette of the labors
of George Smith in behalf of the hard
worked infant slaves of Great Britain.
The degradation and misery of the
children, who, until George Smith APP
peared as their savior, toiled from ear
lest history in the brickyards and on
the canals of Great Britain, can never
be appreciated by those who have not
seen it, What the child's life in the
brickyards. really meant may be inn
agined family from the fact that 1t was
no rare thing to see little child toll
ing under. the weight of forty pounds
of clay, which it was the duty of tho
children to carry to the table where tho
bricks are made. These mere babes
some of them only four or five years
old--would do such work as this for
thirteen or fourteen hours day, and
work nights in addition. George
Smith was the son of q poor brick
layer, and began his life as one of the
little serfs of the brickyard. For six
pence a day he would carry these heavy
weights of clay, walking the equivalent
of fourteen miles, and on every night
of extra work, carrying weight which
mounted up to a total load of five tons.
His siXpences he spent in books. The
vitality that gave him margin of
energy above that needed for tho
drudgery of his daily tasks pushed him
up into the position of manager of q
brickyard, but his personal success did
not deaden his sympathy with the cruel
victims of the system from which he
had escaped. He set himself at work
to Tighten their loads and ease their
lot, and as a result lost his situation.
Thenceforward he gave his whole
life--body, soul and mind--to the cause
of the poor children in whose behalf he
had sacrificed himself. There were
$4,000 children living in the bondage of
the brickyards, and in their behalf this
noble-hearted though imperfectly
equipped philanthropist laid siege to
the public and the Legislature, and by
the mere dint of enthusiasm, and hard
work, and what the unjust Judge in
the parable called continual coming"
compelled the country to listen, and
succeeded in obtaining three acts Of
Parliament. His first achievement was
the Brickyards act of 1871, by which
these $4,000 children were taken out of
their pens and sent to school. When
he had done this for the 10000 brick
yard children he turned to the rescue Of
go, 600 children who lived on the canal
boats of Great Britain in an ignorance,
! degradation and brutality even worse
than that of the brickyard children.
In 1877, six years after the passage Of
his Backyard act, he got from Parlia-
ment the Canalboat act, by which these
$4,000 children, too, were allowed to
escape from tho little six-feet square
cabins of the canalboats into school.
The Canalboats act as it came out of
Parliament was not all that was needed,
and this interchangeable man set himself
to work to have it amended. This took
seven years more, but at the end OF
| IHdb bllut IHC MOIh was hhug
thanks to the unselfish herosm OF
George Smith, 10000 brickyard chill
dren and 10000 canalboat children are
now given through education an escape
into the life of real humanity which,
but for him, they never would have
breathed the air of.
While George Smith was doing this
for others he was doing nothing for
himself, and to-day he is white-haired
man, too old to obtain employment
untitled by his peculiar occupation fol
the last twenty years from doing
manual work, penniless, and witt
a family living in distress and poverty
His mission is not ended. The gypsy
children of England are still to b.
: rescued, and he had set his heart upor
doing that work before he shut hi
eyes. He has recently had gran
from the Royal Bounty Fund of on
thousand five hundred dollars to saw
him from immediate restitution, blu
this makes no permanent provision TO
him. The nation which spends tire
: million year for the support of it
royal oilers should not be willing t
$ see the man who has done the roya
: work accomplished by George Smit
t abandoned to actual want and CON
!. PEELED to cease his philanthropic efforts
S The Pail Mall Gazette well says the re
d ward of philanthropy such as hi
t should certainly not be literally stai
s walton, and man of his disintereste
l. enthusiasm and capacity for philar
a thropic work should at least be a
d lowed his rations. Even convicts hay
= as much as that. 1t is worth passin
e notice that this magnificent philaI
y thropy is not the fruit of any profe
d sionai labor agitation nor of any us
s. of the great power and wealth of tt
20 trades unions, but of the simple, una
sisted, individual self-sacrifice of OF
man. Communism, Socialism, trad
le unionism never spoke a word or lifte
a. finger in behalf of the ninety tho
(. sand children whom George Smi
D has given his life to save hica!
le Tribune.
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