Ellison Jack
A young girl named Ellison Jack, an eleven year old, described her long working conditions. She has worked underground in the mines for three years with her father. She goes to work at two in the morning and is finished at two in the afternoon. Ellison claimed to the Commission of Enquiry that she had to do twenty journeys a shift pushing a tub which weighed over 200 kilos and if she showed signs of slacking, she would be whipped. If she had it her way she wouldn't continue working at the mines, but her family needs the money.
Gertrude Smith
Gertrude worked the same hours as her coworkers while she was pregnant. Since she needed the money, she continued her long hours of labor even in her third trimester. In some of the areas underground water would come up to workers thighs as they carried heavy baskets of coal. This same woman claimed that she gave birth in the mines, and one the same day was expected by the mine manager to be back at work. Although she works the same hours as her brothers, Gertrude is paid less.
Sarah Gooder
Sarah Gooder is only 8 years old. Known as no. 116, her fairly famous letter displays the horrible conditions some children were put in by working in the mines. She writes, "I'm a trapper in the Gawber pit. It does not tire me, but I have to trap without a light and I'm scared. I go at four and sometimes half past three in the morning, and come out at five and half past. I never go to sleep. Sometimes I sing when I've light, but not in the dark; I dare not sing then. I don't like being in the pit. I am very sleepy when I go sometimes in the morning. I go to Sunday-schools and read Reading made Easy. She knows her letters, and can read little words. They teach me to pray. She repeated the Lord's Prayer, not very perfectly, and ran on with the following addition:--'God bless my father and mother, and sister and brother, uncles and aunts and cousins, and everybody else, and God bless me and make me a good servant. Amen.' I have heard tell of Jesus many a time. I don't know why he came on earth, I'm sure, and I don't know why he died, but he had stones for his head to rest on. I would like to be at school far better than in the pit."