The Water Babies by Charles Kingsley - 1952 UK Edition - Alice Helena Watson - Vintage Book, Children's Books, 1950s

1952 UK edition of The Water Babies by Charles Kingsley, an indictment of 19th century England's brutal treatment of children framed as a children's story.

Written by Charles Kingsley. Illustrated by Alice Helena (A. H.) Watson. 1952 UK edition. Collins, London and Glasgow.

CHAPTER I

"Once upon a time there was a little chimney-sweep, and his name was Tom. That is a short name, and you have heard it before, so you will not have much trouble in remembering it. He lived in a great town in the North country, where there were plenty of chimneys to sweep, and plenty of money for Tom to earn and his master to spend. He could not read nor write, and did not care to do either; and he never washed himself, for there was no water up the court where he lived. He had never been taught to say his prayers. He never had heard of God, or of Christ, except in words which you never have heard, and which it would have been well if he had never heard. He cried half his time,and laughed the other half. He cried when he had to climb the dark flues, rubbing his poor knees and elbows raw; and when the soot got into his eyes, which it did every day in the week, and when his master beat him, which he did every day in the week; and when he had not enough to eat, which happened every day in the week likewise. And he laughed the other half of the day, when he was tossing half-pennies with the other boys, or playing leap-frog over the posts, or bowling stones at the horses' legs as they trotted by, which last was excellent fun, when there was a wall at hand behind which to hide. As for chimney-sweeping, and being hungry, and being beaten, he took all that for the way of the world, like the rain and snow and thunder, and stood manfully with his back to it till it was over, as his old donkey did to a hailstorm..."

Tom falls into a river, presumably drowned, and is transformed into a water-baby, and embarks on adventures that serve as moral lessons taught by fairies and other characters. When he demonstrates his willingness to do things he doesn't want to do because they're the right thing to do, he's allowed to return to human form.

Author Charles Kingsley (1819 - 1875), a professor, clergyman, and social reformer, intended The Water Babies to serve as an indictment of the brutality of child labor in 19th century Britain. The story remained immensely popular for decades until times changed and 20th century readers objected to the ethnic and religious stereotypes common to Kingsley's time.

Alice Helena Watson (1896 - 1984) was a talented if little-known illustrator of many children's books in the late-19th and early-20th centuries.

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Condition*: Good/Poor. Dust jacket: Water damage to spine; open tear, tail of spine; closed tear, head of spine; closed tears at folds and on back; chipped at edges. Blue cloth cover boards: water stained along the spine. Inside: pages are clean, undamaged, and complete, including illustrations.

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