When children worked in mines.

Pre-Abolition"...............(when children worked in the mines)

"I don't want to go back Dad!"

Said the little child who's eyes grew wild

And the coal dust still on her face,

"Don't make me go there again, Please Dad,

It's dark as a spade and it makes me afraid,

It's like being in hell in that place!"

What can you say to your young one

Who's years number seven, who's Brothers in heaven,

Well lass ya Mam needs ya pay,

Your childhood will soon be a thing gone,

So work with ya Dad and make him feel glad

For you may well not reach age eleven!

"Suffer little children" but who decreed that they must?

You must suffer their pleas as they skin their knees

And choke on the foul black dust!

Take her to smell the flowers,

If she's not too tired for the walk,

Carry her then lest she not come again,

Show her the sun before its too dark!

©Christine May Turner.

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