Irma is horrified by Madame Helene’s report of children in the mines of Alsace. Here is an image of a girl pulling a coal wagon. In Victorian England, she was a “putter” and the wagon a “hutchie.” Child labor in the mines of Alsace was not outlawed until 1903. The image of the “little trapper” is from the American coal fields. This is a short post because there is not much to add to these pictures except to note that the unions so vilified today helped stop this practice. 
Pamela Schoenewaldt, historical novels of immigration and the search for self in new worlds: WHEN WE WERE STRANGERS, SWIMMING IN THE MOON, and UNDER THE SAME BLUE SKY (all HarperCollins).
pamelaschoenewaldt.com 
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