The Istoriaphile’s Corner

Now that Halloween and it’s cornucopia of scary stories is past, it’s time to look at the final part of the year, when the shadows lengthen early and the evenings run cold.  These are the evenings when it’s good to snuggle up with a few, warm comforts as we step into the long nights of the year.  So, pick up a warm drink, a good companion and a nice, old-fashioned kid’s book, like The Railway Children. It makes sense that the Industrial Age created “the Cult of the Child” and Children’s Literature. Before then time, working and middle-class kids went with their parents to the fields and shops and started helping as soon as they could stand.  Children weren’t read aloud to at night because many of their Georgian-era parents lacked the energy, or ability to read at the end of the day and they had no money for books.  Then came the era of machines and their descendants started working indoors. The money was better but these Victorian parents were often absent from their children’s lives and they missed the little ones they labored for.  It’s no surprise Victorian children were read aloud to in the evenings and that…