Taken too Young

Narrator: As William, an older brother to Daniel, and Daniel, a young boy, were walking home
from the factory after a long day of painful, agonizing, work, William notices that Daniel was
very quiet and looked a bit pale, and he became quite worried

William: Are you feeling alright there Daniel? You look a little pale.

Daniel: I've honestly felt quite tired today, William. I might be getting sick, but I’m not quite
sure.

William: That’s not very good, I hope you’re not getting too sick, Mother and father are relying
on us to help pay bills now that we live in the city. The cost of living is a lot more expensive than
in the country.

Daniel: I know, I’m sure it's nothing, I probably just didn’t get enough sleep last night, you know
with all the noise outside coming from the factory, and the uncomfortable beds we have to sleep
on, it’s really hard to get a good night's sleep.

William: Yeah that’s hopefully what it is.

Narrator: The next day, Daniel woke up feeling very dehydrated and quite nauseous. He also had
a fever of 104 degrees, which is never good. When William woke up, to see Daniel looking very
ill, he immediately rush to mother and father to tell them that was Daniel not feeling well,
mother rushed to Daniel’s side.

1
Mother: I’m sure it's nothing, you’ll be just fine Daniel.

Daniel: My stomach hurts so bad and I’ve felt nauseous all night. May I please not go to the
factory today, I think I just need to get some rest, which will make me feel a lot better.

Mother: Unfortunately Daniel, we really need you to still to go to the factory. If you skip work,
you might lose your job, and we desperately need the money. It’ll also be good for you if you
keep moving, because it’ll make you feel better.

William: Are you sure about this mother, there’s so much bacteria in the factory it could make
him even worse!

Mother: I’m sure of it. Now you two run along, you need to get going before you’re late for
work.

Narrator: William and Daniel walked there way to work, but William was still very worried
about Daniel. Though mother told him them that Daniel was just fine, he knew that he still
wasn’t feeling well.

Narrator: After work William could tell right away that Daniel had not gotten better, but had
actually gotten even worse. Daniel had barely any energy to even walk home, though it was a
short distance just down the block. When they walked into the house, Daniel fell to the ground in
pain and exhaustion! Williams immediately rushed in the house and told mother to come quick
because he could tell that Daniel was very ill, and needed help.

Mother: Oh stop over exaggerating, I’m sure he’s just fine, but I’ll be right there in a moment.

Narrator: Mother made her wait downstairs, to see Daniel on floor looking very unwell, she
suddenly got very worried and knew they needed to get help right away.

Mother: John quickly, go fetch the doctor.

Father: Alright, it’s going to be a while, they’re not many doctors in this part of town.

William: He’s going to be fine, right?

Mother: I’m not quite sure William.

2
Narrator: William and Mother knew, that unless father managed to get a doctor quick, that there
wasn’t a very good chance of Daniel surviving. He had probably fell ill with from some of the
deadly diseases that’s founded at the factory, Daniel and William work at.

Narrator: After what seemed like days, of waiting and worrying, the doctor had finally arrived
back with father.

William: Mother, father is back with the Doctor!

Mother: Quickly son, get the door!

Father: Hello William, right this way doctor, my son is just over here.

William: Please tell me doctor, you’ll do everything you can to help my brother.

Doctor: I will try my best.

Narrator: As the doctor walked over and saw Daniel laying on ground, everyone could tell by the
the look on his face that it wasn’t very good.

Narrator: After not much of an examination it was very clear that Daniel, was suffering from
Cholera. Cholera is very deadly because it is a water board infection, that Daniel probably get
infected with from drinking the water at the factory that had the Cholera bacteria. unfortunately
in most cases it is very deadly because it’s fatally transmitted and can be fatal in a matter of
hours.

Doctor: I am very sorry but your son has Cholera, and unfortunately it’s too late and there’s not
much we can do except to comfort him.

William: Are you very sure? There has to be something you can do, it can’t be that bad.

Father: I’m sorry William, but the doctor already said there’s nothing we can do. It’s your job
now to stay by his side.

Doctor: I’m very sorry there’s nothing I can do to help.

Mother: Thank you.

3
Narrator: The doctor left, and William could still not believe it, he felt that as his older brother it
was his job to take care of, but unfortunately in this case there was nothing he could do. William
went over and sat with Daniel and held his hand, to show him that it was all right.

Mother: It’ll be ok William.

Narrator: That very evening, Daniel passed away. He died at such a young age, of only 10 years
old, which was about the average age of a child that was involved in child labor.

Narrator: Daniel wasn’t the only child to pass away from Cholera after this. The factories that
children were forced to work in were invested with many types of bacteria. Unfortunately, many
of these were extremely deadly and highly contagious. Children were forced to work in these
conditions, and couldn’t change anything.

Child Labor
During the industrial revolution, children were many of the people enduring horrendous
working conditions and suffered outrageous injustices. Many children were put into the labour
force because they had no other choice. Education was not mandatory, which meant many of the
working class children could not read or write. In order to survive as well, poor families needed
every person to work at the earliest age possible. Though every person work, wages were just so
low, the parents could not make ends meet. When children worked, they were particularly useful
in some industries such as textile factories in mineshaft because they were very small size. Most
children were employed to run in and out of the workings of the power rooms because they
could get their small hands into the workings of the machines to pick out loose threads or
tangles. Some young boys were also employed as a chimney cleaners, and were sent into the
chimneys of large homes and businesses to clean out the soot. During this time the working class
people including children suffered physically from their homes in factory environment because
they were exposed to pollution from coal burning as well as other industrial pollution. Though
they affected adults as well, the effects of the poor workplace were more harmful in children
because it stunted their growth and deformed their bodies
Source: Crossroads Textbook