CHILDREN'S HOUR

WITH SELIGOR IN THE CASTLE LIBRARY

When my mother died I was very young,
And my father sold me while yet my tongue,
Could scarcely cry weep weep weep weep,
So your chimneys I sweep and in soot I sleep.

Theres little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head
That curled like a lambs back was shav'd, so I said.
Hush Tom never mind it, for when your head's bare,
You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair

And so he was quiet.and that very night.
As Tom was a sleeping he had such a sight
That thousands of sweepers Dick, Joe, Ned, & Jack
Were all of them lock'd up in coffins of black,

And by came an Angel who had a bright key
And he open'd the coffins and set them all free.
Then down a green plain leaping laughing they run
And wash in a river and shine in the Sun.

Then naked & white, all their bags left behind.
They rise upon clouds, and sport in the wind.
And the Angel told Tom, if he'd be a good boy,
He'd have God for his father and never want joy.

And so Tom awoke and we rose in the dark
And got with our bags and our brushes to work.
Tho' the morning was cold, Tom was happy and warm
So if all do their duty, they need not fear harm.

The Chimney Sweeper     William Blake,   1757 - 1827

In this clip from the film Mary Poppins, Burt and the other Chimney Sweeps make it look fun sweeping the chimney's. But it wasn't, oh no! quite the opposite for the young assistants like Tom in the poem who didn't last very long on the job his father gave him away to do. Life was very hard in Victorian Times. If you ever get the chance to see The Water Babies, I think I have it on diddilydeedotsdreamland. Have a look at the film and you will get the real story of the Chimney Sweepers of Old London and other places.

The Water-Babies on the other hand is, A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby is a children's novel by the Reverend Charles Kingsley. Written in 1862–1863 as a serial for Macmillan's Magazine, it was first published in its entirety in 1863. The book was extremely popular in England during its day, and was a mainstay of British children's literature through the 1920s.

The Water Babies by Charles Kingsley

The boy is Tom, a young chimney sweep, who falls into a river after encountering an upper-class girl named Ellie and being chased out of her house. There he dies and is transformed into a "water baby", as he is told by a caddis fly—an insect that sheds its skin—and begins his moral education. The story is thematically concerned with Christian redemption, though Kingsley also uses the book to argue that England treats its poor badly, and to question child labour, among other themes.

Tom embarks on a series of adventures and lessons, and enjoys the community of other water babies once he proves himself a moral creature. The major spiritual leaders in his new world are the fairies Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby, Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid, and Mother Carey. Weekly, Tom is allowed the company of Ellie, who had fallen into the river after he did.

Grimes, his old master, drowns as well, and in his final adventure, Tom travels to the end of the world to attempt to help the man where he is being punished for his misdeeds. Tom helps Grimes to find repentance, and Grimes will be given a second chance if he can successfully perform a final penance. By proving his willingness to do things he does not like, if they are the right things to do, Tom earns himself a return to human form, and becomes "a great man of science" who "can plan railways, and steam-engines, and electric telegraphs, and rifled guns, and so forth". He and Ellie are united, although the book makes clear that they never marry.

The Water Babies [Hardcover]

Charles Kingsley (Author), Jane Carruth (Author)

Available at Amazon.co.uk

The Water Babies [1978] [DVD]

James Mason (Actor), Billie Whitelaw (Actor), Lionel Jeffries (Director) | Rated: Universal, suitable for all | Format: DVD

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