I welcome you to the "Nursery". This page is not specifically for children but it's about children of the 19th century. Here you will find a variety of topics regarding children: education, labor, clothing, diaries, toys, etc. Some of
which will not be so delightful. Most children who were not of wealthy families had a hard-working childhood unlike children of today. However, respect was alive and so were the dreams of every child. Below, I start this page with a small article describing my personal feelings of a diary that I read of a 10 year old girl who had gone through the traumatic Civil War.
A Young American Girl's Diary
 It has been somewhat of a challenge finding information about children of the 19th century. The truth is there were many differences and commonalities among children of different cultures. I read the journal entries of a ten year old American girl named Carrie Berry. She had been writing entries in her diary during the end of the Civil War. She and the rest of her family had endured the shelling of Atlanta and the burning of it's houses and buildings. It was saddening, yet eye-opening. She wrote of her constant fears that her house would be burned by the Yankees.
 But during all the calamity little Carrie wrote of the simple things of life and the daily goings on that helped sustain her family. How important it seemed for life to go on as usual even in the midst of a disaster. I was impressed by how much she accomplished around the home and in school. She could cook and sew at the age of 10 and wrote of daily chores such as ironing and nursing a sister who had been ill. She helped care for a new baby sister. Carrie was a child concerned with her studies at school and learning her multiplication tables. Having to get up to do chores, go to school, do after school chores and help out with anything the family needed helped nurture this young girl's character. This was not abusive to the girl but helped develop a good character. Once upon a time instilling good work ethics was common in building the child's character and to prepare them for adulthood. (I'm not speaking of the abuse of child-labor of the 1800's but good, honest, hard work that can only give the child the sense of accomplishment....as it did with young Carrie).
 Carrie showed excitement in getting a Christmas tree and making decorations for it and making presents to lay underneath it. She revealed to me that some children were very devoted, dedicated, hard workers who enjoyed the unity of the family. She wrote of her family's loneliness when her father had to leave the family for days to look for work. I am certain that she found time to play but she sounded the most pleased when her family was united. A birthday wish she had was to have peace in her land. I was pleased to find this diary. It is certainly educating to learn what children were like during the 19th century. To learn how different we were and how similar we are has been the whole issue of this page. And that we may capture the essence of our golden youth by getting to know the children of our past. If you would like to read it for yourself please click on the icon below.
The Diary of Carrie Berry
Early American "Common-Schools"
 Until the 1840's education was not an established system, as of yet, in the United States. The only schools functioning were local and regional private institutions. The extent and type of schooling depended on the funds, resources and values of the city or town. Most schools provided an education to boys of wealthy families. And some received tutoring from private tutors. But Horrace Mann and Henry Barnard had a vision to provide a fulfilling education to all young people rich and poor. The reformers created the "Common-School Movement" as to provide an education to all children. Their main focus was on the education of young elementary children. By the end of the 19th century the reformers had pretty much obtained their goals in providing an education for all American children of elementary age. Soon it would become mandate for children of elementary age to attend school.
 In America the first schools were, of course, made with logs or boards. Students were taught in a multi-grade school room. Children of various ages were taught by one teacher in this one room school house. The school could be quite cold in the winter. For the only source of heat might be a small wood burning stove in the corner. Sometimes the children and teacher would gather around the stove on the cold days to do their learning. Children who attended school started their day off with chores. Following their daily chores they would set off for their long journey to school.
U.S. Child Labor in 19th Century
 In the 19th century children ages 7 to 12 made up one-third of the workforce in the United States factories. The shortage of male workers was due to the desparate need for farmers to farm land. This helped to exploit child laborers. Some strong puritanical beliefs about the "evils of idleness" of children led most adults to keep their children working. So most impoverished families had their children, along with the many orphans from crowded orphans' homes working in factories or wherever they were needed.
 After 1836 many states began to examine the lack of literate children working in the factories. Some states required that a child had to have some schooling if they were under the ages of 12 to 15 before being allowed to work. But none of the laws required proof for the child's age nor was there enforcement of these laws. It took some years before the early development of the child was considered and eventually the laws did change regarding child labor near the end of the 19th century.
British Child Labor in 19th Century
 In the 19th century many families of England could not support themselves unless their children worked. A very low percentage of children in London had any schooling. The rest were put to work to help sustain their families. Some children found work as apprentices, some as miners, some as maidservants, houseworkers and many labored in factories. Some of these children were very young, even as young as five, being made to work many hours a day with very little time for dinner and rest. After the act in 1847 this limited adults and children to ten hours of work per day.
Children who were late was often beaten as were children who were slow or fatigued. They were strapped by their "overlooker" who felt it necessary to keep the children's attention. This was often most unbearable for these young children. They woke up in the morning dreading to go to work, knowing they would be "strapped". Fortunately, as time went on more and more children were going to school including females in (1850). It was at that time that attention was given to rearing a child and helping children to progress as children and to prepare for adulthood rather than treating them as "little adults", as they often were.
 In Britain, around 1870, significant changes occured in the family. The birth rate plummeted. This increased a child's worth. For the first time clothes, toys, games and books were made especially for them. Parents began to provide more privacy for their children, even giving them separate rooms. This occured with lower classes as well. Being that the upper class still concerned themselves with their state of wealth and inheritances to be handed down to the next generation the child's self-improvement was not always encouraged. However, the middle class began to make every effort to spring their child ahead in the world by gearing them towards education, learning, and self-improvement. This also became so in the United States. It was during this time, of reassessing, that the dreams of children began to come to life. Teaching children to work was not a bad thing. But what children needed most was to be nurtured and loved as children, not as "little adults". It remains my opinion that a little hard work is good for the character of any child. However, the children of the era we are studying needed to work their minds, as well. They needed to prepare for adulthood and progress as nature had intended. To love and nurture a child and to help guide them to maturity, should be the desire of every parent.
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