:clap: The Boy Owen got there first.

[Ash]

I'm pretty sure you could come up with a scientific basis for outlawing slavery and sending 6 year olds down the mines. Or at least I wouldn't write off the possibility.

Here's a scientific fact: Small children were useful down mines because they fitted better and required less food to reproduce their labour. See also: chimneys.

[redgunamo]

Here's a scientific fact: Small children were useful down mines because they fitted better and required less food to reproduce their labour. See also: chimneys.

Sort of like whippets? Cheaper to keep and feed and more manageable than greyhounds?

[Ash]

Sort of like whippets? Cheaper to keep and feed and more manageable than greyhounds?

Possibly. In some coal mines the kids' job was to open and close doors to manage the ventilation. Can whippets be trained to do that? Not sure how well they could handle a chimbley brush though. Opposable thumbs are scientifically superior.

[Burney]

Possibly. In some coal mines the kids' job was to open and close doors to manage the ventilation. Can whippets be trained to do that? Not sure how well they could handle a chimbley brush though. Opposable thumbs are scientifically superior.

They also used to send them under the looms to pick out the bits of cotton that might clog them up. If they were slow or fell over, they would obviously be horribly mangled, which was unfortunate, but people need cloth at the end of the day.

[Ash]

They also used to send them under the looms to pick out the bits of cotton that might clog them up. If they were slow or fell over, they would obviously be horribly mangled, which was unfortunate, but people need cloth at the end of the day.

Right. You can't make a shirt without breaking a few children's fingers.

[redgunamo]

Right. You can't make a shirt without breaking a few children's fingers.

And people had loads of kids back then, of course. Now we know why, I suppose.