Victorian Child diary entry by Samantha

When I was working in the coalmine, if I ever stopped working for a rest I was beaten with a Kane or a ruler from someone else’s pencil box. My best friend Jane used to be hit and bullied by our Teacher Mr. Lewis he was really nasty and horrible. Also there was this young girl who worked in the mine and she was called Brenda. Once Brenda was beaten on the back of her neck 50 times and whipped 56 times on her back. One girl said,
I was working in school, I was left handed and me and some other kids were too the teacher Mr. Lewis tied our left hands behind our back and we were forced to use our right hand it was very very tough. Everyone in our class thought Mr. Lewis was horrible and nasty and vicious.  We all hated him! We all used to send notes to each other saying he is nasty he is mean in lots of mean ways. Also when I worked in the mine there was this young boy named David. David used to get hit 125 times if he fell over he was hit on the elbow 127 times for letting go of the cart and yelling loudly after that we never saw David again.