Epigraph: Jesus said "Suffer the little children to come unto Me; forbid them not; for of such is the Kingdom of God." - Mark, chapter x., verse 14.
"Children are taken into mines as early as five years to trap doors...They were commonly excluded from light and companions, and were it not for the passing and re-passing of coal carriages it would amount to solitary confinement of the worst order." - from "Children's Employment Commission" pages 257-258.