Food Canneries
Food canning was another industry that employed children. Canning season was short and frantic. Once the season was over, they were out of work. Children who worked in canneries were even younger than most children working. Work started before day break, at 3 o’clock in the morning, work ended by later afternoon. Boys and girls, some as young as four, worked all day.
Life in seaside canneries was very difficult. Sharp and rough oyster shells ripped open the children’s hands, shrimp was far worse. When they peeled the shrimp, the shrimp oozed out an acid so powerful, that ate holes in their shoes. Swollen, bleeding, fingers of children were very common. Peeling shrimp and peeling oysters went on for hours until the supply was gone.
Fruit and vegetable canneries, the hours were longer. Children worked more than twelve hours a day. They used sharp knives to husk corn, snip the ends of beans, or peel the skin off apples. Many injuries were due to the knives slipping.
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- Working all Day, and Waiting for Change -
Non-FictionIn the time of the Industrial Revolution, the children of the families who moved to the crowded cities had their work situation go from bad to worse. In rural areas, children would have worked long hours with hard work for their families farms, but...
