“True,” say the children, “it may happen That we die before our time! Little Alice died last year her grave is shapen Like a snowball, in the rime. 40 We looked into the pit prepared to take her — Was no room for any work in the close clay:
How poignantly EBB describes Alice's grave: "…no room for any work in the close clay." It makes one feel as if Work chases the child to the grave, stands there, looks down at the pit, and ponders if there is room for it to join little Alice-as if death is not escape enough. In reality, Victorian children do suffer many injuries and violent deaths in work related accidents. Take chimney sweepers, for example. Usually little boys 5 to 6 years old were employed to clean out narrow, twisted chimneys. They came out scraped and bleeding from the tight confines and suffer long term breathing problems due to soot and creosotes. If the child got stuck, the master chimney sweeper would light a fire in the fire place to encourage the child to get out faster. This little tale of the chimney sweeper speaks of the Victorians' general attitudes toward child labor (Alexandrova).