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Jonathan Gibson Davis's avatar

“as the

root is to the flower.

It is not long since conditions in the mines were worse than

they are now. There are still living a few very old women

who in their youth have worked underground, with the har-

ness round their waists, and a chain that passed between

their legs, crawling on all fours and dragging tubs of coal.

They used to go on doing this even when they were preg-

nant. And even now, if coal could not be produced without

pregnant women dragging it to and fro, I fancy we should let

them do it rather than deprive ourselves of coal. But-most of

the time, of course, we should prefer to forget that they were

doing it. It is so with all types of manual work; it keeps us

alive, and we are oblivious of its existence.” Orwell, The Road To Wigan Pier, 1937

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