The Water-Babies: Large Print Edition

Once upon a time, there was a young chimney sweep named Tom, who lived in a great town in the North country. Tom could not read or write, and he never washed himself, as there was no water in the court where he lived. He had never been taught to say his prayers, and he had never heard of God or Christ, except in words he had never heard before and which it would have been well if he had never heard. Tom cried half of the time, and laughed the other half. He cried when he had to climb the dark flues, rubbing his knees and elbows raw, when the soot got into his eyes, which happened every day, and when his master beat him, which also happened every day. He cried when he did not have enough to eat, which was a daily occurrence. However, Tom laughed the other half of the day when he was tossing halfpennies with the other boys, playing leap-frog over the posts, or bowling stones at the horses' legs as they trotted by, which was excellent fun when there was a wall nearby to hide behind.

One day, Tom encountered an upper-class girl named Ellie and was chased out of her house. As he fled, he fell into a river and died. However, he was then transformed into a "water baby", as he was told by a caddis fly, an insect that sheds its skin. As a water baby, Tom began his moral education.

The story is thematically concerned with Christian redemption, and Kingsley also uses the book to argue that England treats its poor badly and to question child labour, among other themes.

product information: