Breaker Boys: 1911

I have worked in the printing business for over 30 years. I will say that I've never went through the hardship these kids went through but I had to start working when I was 13 years old. It seems the kids entering the print trade now who are in their early 20s are very immature. They strike me as being 16 years old and most don't cut it.

its just sad that you sick people are so jealous that you didnt have it that easy when you were young. heres an idea, be happy that your young ones dont have to go through that

It's not the kids that are idiots...it's the parents! Where on earth the concept of family, responsibility and personal pride have gone, I don't know. But it makes me think that hard labor for all would not be a bad thing.

One of the kids just left of center has lost an eye....
These really set you down and bring back ol mother earth.

great comment. i think this could be a real reality check for todays idiot video ipod kids.

What a great idea. We should have a history of people including children taught in elementary school with some descriptions of what life was like "in the good old days". This could supplement the history we teach that only shows the important successful adults. What an incorrect picture it is that we give to our children.

when the stock market crashed in 1929 my father grew up in during the Great Depression, his mother had food ration cards to use for buying flour, sugar and other things. his mom and dad worked in the textile mill for Guilford Wooling in Maine his dad and mother were both spinners in those days.

while my father and all his brothers had to help cut wood and sell it to other ppl as well burn wood in their own stove. they in return would cut all the wood on that lot to sell it and buy another lot to cut on those days when the chain saw first came out they would buy the chains saws to cut wood using horse driven sleigh hauling wood in the winter the snow will be waist deep those days cutting the wood...it would cost a lot of money fixing the saws back then only making half what they sold 4wood

there are a lot of kids out there who will never know what these poor children went through back then. the world of computers, rap videos, technology and other gadgets like cellphones, laptops did not exist then

if they had to go through time then they would all cry if they had to do the work back then to even to get a scrap of food

How did they do anything with those huge stiff gloves? It seems that no accommodations were made for their small size. How very, very sad.

As bad as the photograph looks, what the boys had to do was even worse. [Indeed. Click here for a photo and here for their story. - Dave]

"I want to see a ton of coal before lunchtime, or no SpongeBob!"

When my 10 year old students complain that life is unfair because they have chores at home, they have to clean their OWN room and didn't get the new video game console their for birthday, I will show them this picture.