Industrial Child Laborer

Madison's Journal

Dear Journal,
I get up at 4, its not fun. My eldest sister, Marie didn't have to work in the factories when she was growing up on the land, she worked in the cottage with mama, that is before she died. Marie used to help her sew, cook and clean. Our cottage was small but I liked it. Now since mama aint here no more, we live in a Apprentice House, which is alot like the orphanage that me and Marie used to live in. It can hold lots more kids though, up to 90 total! A few weeks ago, my best friend Ellie was sold to  that got more than us. They got a whole 3 beds for all they servants. I was jealous but I tried not to show it 'cuz mama dont like no envious, unappreciative child.

Dear Journal,
I can't believe what went on in the cotton factories today. I was working the Spinning Jenny when lil ole Jimmy, a piercer, got his hand stuck in the crossbar, which holds the length of thread or yarn tight as they are spun. The wooden crossbars were spinning so fast that his hand got caught in one of the threads while he was trying to repair several threads that had become tangled, piercing his hand multiple times. The factory owner gave a look at his hand as though he was ready to get rid of it, but Jimmy pleaded and said that even though his hand was temporarily down it wouldn't stop him from completing his work. He was only eight or nine, I felt so sorry for him. The horrible conditions, contaminated air, barefoot work. The only reason why they pick us is because our speed, age and skillfulness. We are cheap, only getting paid two pence every week. Many children suffer from dust inhilation, bronchitis and as for me, I got some bad asthma. 



Dear Journal, 
My schedule is go go go! I wake up at 4, with only about 5 to 6 hours of sleep; which is not enough when you work all day everyday. My breaks continue to get shorter. A break at about 8 in the morning for 45 minutes. Then a lunch break at noon time, but they sometimes make us eat while we work if we are going slower than usual. The dripping bread and spoiled cheese is...yuck! (especially when the dust covers over it) My favorite food is the tea, although it seems a bit watery and flavorless. 

Dear Journal, 

They just announced a new Act that is made specifically for educating young girls and boys like myself. Thank the Lord for Lord Ashley who is the President of Ragged School Union and helped set it up. Hopefully, this will help me and other like me to be able to read like them other kids. Today is my first day of this new school. Wish me well! 

Superstitions, then and now

Superstitions can be defined by a unjustified belief in an supernatural thing(s) that causes someone to perform certain rituals.

Each superstition has an idea behind it. For example, never going under a ladder, especially if a black cat has walked under it. This has the idea of bad luck; which is what most superstitions are related to. Either good or bad luck and how you obtain one of these two.
In Macbeth you can see the fear which some may say lies within the first scenes where the three Witches in the dark hospital are chanting over a dead body. Really thereafter, the witches are seen in a negative light, people someone would go to if they needed the future to be told to them. But feared because very little is known about them and their abilities are seen as dark, evil, and unholy; perhaps even associating it with the devil.
Throughout the movie Macbeth are shown some of the victims that he murdered, they tell Macbeth their thoughts and feelings about him. Which leads into the point that superstitions can be in the form of seeing the dead.

Today superstitions are based off of stories where either the person in the story suffered a bad or good event because of it. TOday superstitions are still believed and followed so as to avoid bad luck or to encounter good luck.  In both now and the past, most superstitions are things that are usually seen in a negative light. 

http://www.angelfire.com/fl3/Defymcbeth/Super2.html

Scientific Revolution

Nicolaus Copernicus

I was born in 1473 on February 19. I was the youngest of four children, son of Nicolaus
Copernicus Sr. and Barbara Watzenrode. After my father’s death in 1483 my siblings and I lived with my uncle Lucas, who was a successful cleric that later became a bishop in 1489. My uncle got me very involved in the church and helped me with my education. I was enrolled in the University of Cracow in 1496, studying canon law. I was elected with an administrative position, just below a bishop. In 1496 I continued studying canon law at the University of Bologna.

While living at Bologna University I bunked with astronomy professor Domencio Maria Novara and there is where my first astronomical observations were observed.

Around 1500 is when I first adopted my theory. Corvinus helped me print my manuscript Commentariolus that included his theory of the earth rotating while the sun was the one standing still; which was never officially published. Around 1513 after leaving my uncles palace is when I decided to make my own outdoor observatory

My second book On the Revolutions encompassed more elaborate details of the first book which talked about the order of the heavenly bodies according to the sun. I also developed the Heliocentric System which is a depiction where the sun is in the center of the universe and the Earth and other planets are rotating around it. However, my theory was not very popular and accepted because I could not explain at that point why the stars seemed to remain in the same place while the Earth was changing viewpoints.

What inspired me to make this system was really just other people like Aristotle who believed that the  the Earth was the center of the Universe. I was curious for finding out the truth for myself, especailly since no could prove this theory.

Today my theory helps because we now know how long a year lasts and why the moon and stars appearsto disappear and reappear. Also, my theory explains and shows why we have seasons and day and night and why opposite regions of the earth have opposite temperatures.

 

Citations: http:// plato.stanford.edu/entries/Copernicus/