Days of Toil and Tears: The Child Labour Diary of Flora Rutherford

Dear Canada

by Sarah Ellis

An eleven-year-old orphan is reconnected to her mother's family, but her courage and strength are tested as she is put to work in a textile mill. Flora is a young, imaginative girl who has dreamt of having a family to call her own since her parents died from pleurisy when she was three. She dreams of family dinners. She dreams of friends. But mostly she dreams of leaving the orphanage. As the diary begins, Flora is still in an orphanage in Kingston, but her Auntie Janet has just married, and she and her husband James send for Flora to come and live with them in Almonte, Ontario. Once she arrives at her aunt's, Flora begins work in the Almonte Mill, even though she is underage - typical for many children of the era. She works from dawn to dusk, near huge and noisy machines, and she sees the effects of the mill on workers who have lost an arm or their hearing. Still, this life is better than going back to the orphanage. But when Uncle James loses several fingers at the weaving machine and can't work anymore, money is really tight, and it's up to Flora and her aunt to find a way out of the predicament. Through all her trials, Flora writes down her feelings in a journal, one she addresses to "Dear Papa and Mama", because it makes her feel close to the parents she lost when she was young. Days of Toil and Tears includes historical background giving readers the social context of young mill workers, and a map of the textile industry of Canada, as well as fascinating photographs from this era.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Canada, Childrens, Young Adult, Fiction, Historical, Middle Grade

219 pages

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Writer, columnist, and librarian Sarah Ellis has become one of the best-known authors for young adults in her native Canada with titles such as The Baby Project, Pick-Up Sticks, and Back of Beyond: Stories of the Supernatural. In addition to young adult novels, Ellis has also written for younger children and has authored several books about the craft of writing. Praised by Booklist contributor Hazel Rochman as "one of the best children's literature critics," Ellis "writes without condescension or pedantry. . . . Her prose is a delight: plain, witty, practical, wise."

Ellis was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, in 1952, the youngest of three children in her family. As she once noted, "[My] joy in embroidering the truth probably comes from my own childhood. My father was a rich mine of anecdotes and jokes. He knew more variations on the 'once there were three men in a rowboat' joke than anyone I've encountered since.

Reviews

[Manybooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Truth be told, I have indeed been rather pleasantly and happily surprised by Sarah Ellis' Days of Toil and Tears: The Child Labour Diary of Flora Rutherford, and have most certainly found Flora Rutherford both a delightfully observant and likably engaging fictional diarist, with a personable narrative voice that feels absolutely authentic with regard to how an eleven to twelve year old girl would generally tend to think and write, not to mention that the historical time and place thematics and contents of Days of Toil and Tears: The Child Labour Diary of Flora Rutherford also present themselves as very much realistic and authentic, and that therefore, author Sarah Ellis has definitely (and in my humble opinion) penned a both interestingly engaging and naturally also at times rather saddening, thought provoking and even heartbreaking account of what life for a working class family could and often would be like for adults as well as for labouring children in late 19th century Ontario (and of course also more than likely elsewhere).

But even more importantly for my own and personal reading pleasure, while Days of Toil and Tears: The Child Labour Diary of Flora Rutherford certainly does feature much pain and heartbreak (and clearly demonstrates how difficult and dangerous working conditions could often be and that if one ended up severely injured, like Flora's Uncle James, there was often not much if any support either given or even readily available), Flora's diary is also not just a total sob-fest of one tragedy after another, but rather a delightfully and happily balanced combination of both the sweet and the bitter, of both joy and sadness, so that Flora and her aunt and uncle's life is not just depicted as being primarily and only a vale of tears and sadness (but that nevertheless, the dangers and the harsh working conditions of the textile mills are clearly depicted and shown within the pages of Days of Toil and Tears: The Child Labour Diary of Flora Rutherford, within Flora Rutherford's fictional diary entries and which is also kind of why I do feel that the book title is actually and in fact a trifle too relentlessly negative, as Flora's journal certainly feels much much more than being simply about toil and tears).

Highly recommended as an engagingly delightful and educational instalment of the Dear Canada series, Days of Toil and Tears: The Child Labour Diary of Flora Rutherford has indeed been a solid four star reading experience for me. And yes, my only reasons for not ranking Days of Toil and Tears: The Child Labour Diary of Flora Rutherford with five stars is that for one and as already mentioned above, I do find the book title just wee bit overly negative in tone with regard to what Sarah Ellis' actual printed words, with regard to what Flora Rutherford's diary entries in fact do feature (toiling and tears, definitely, but indeed also not only this) and for two, that like with all of the Dear Canada books, I do miss the inclusion of a bibliography with suggestions for further reading in the non fiction supplemental historical details and documents section.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love these books. It gives you a look into history, some good, some bad. This one in particular addresses child labor in 1887. Flora is an 11 year old girl whose parents died and was sent to an orphanage. Eventually Flora's Aunt and Uncle are able to obtain jobs at the local mill and take her out of the orphanage to come live with them. Flora is able to get a job at the mill as well. Working at the mill is very dangerous and technically she should not have been hired, but at the time that law was ignored and not enforced. Flora tells about her time at the mill through diary entries.

These were honestly some scary times, but this was all that the people in this time frame really knew. You worked you got paid, you don't work, you don't get paid. No vacations, no PTO unless it was a holiday. You work 6 days a week in conditions not suitable for a human being. You get hurt and you are really in trouble. It really makes you think.

[Nikki in Niagara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a decent enough story, entertaining and a quick read. It's a simple tale of the daily life of an orphan girl who goes to live with her aunt and uncle, both workers at a textile mill where she also takes a job to support her addition to the family. I didn't find this book nearly as historically interesting as many of the others in this series as it didn't really live up to the subject suggested in the title: "toil", "tears" and "child labour". The picture on the cover looks like a street urchin or a waif, but our main character is certainly not as such, but rather a robust, healthy (though poor) girl living with family who loves her and sees she's taken care of to the best of their ability. The Victorian era is a particular interest of mine and I've read much Dickens, many contemporary Victorian novels, historical fiction and non-fiction on the subject of child labour in the UK and US and it is entirely more of a hardship than this book dares to detail. Rather than speaking of her toils, Flora, describes daily life and spends much more time regaling us with tobogganing, Dominion Day, Victoria's Golden Jubilee, going to church, fairs, festivals and Christmas. I'm not knocking the book, which was entertaining, but the reader is not going to get much insight into the real life of child labourers, Flora is 11 and there is a little girl much younger than her at work also. I usually love the back matter in these books and the author does give more of a real history of child labour and the laws in Ontario at the time (which existed but were largely ignored). However all the photos of actual child labourers were American, and from Southern US at that. Not exactly representative of small town Ontario, which was disappointing. Not a bad slice-of-life historical fiction of a labouring family from the time period but not exactly a portrait of victorian era child labour.

[Angela Sanders · Rating 2 out of 5]

The title is very overdramatic, although you would expect it to be accurate. after all, she's a little girl working in a mill. aside from occasionally lamenting that other kids have more free time and an unfortunate accident her uncle suffers, this book is surprisingly upbeat. I'm expecting a book on child labor to be less positive, I think. I'm not a big fan of small children working in mills, personally :)

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

i have so much schoolwork to do but what am i doing? reading this instead

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Young Flora Rutherford grew up in an orphanage in late 19th century Canada, where she and the other children spent their days dreaming up imaginary lives where they had families and homes. So Flora is thrilled when she learns she is to leave the orphanage now that her aunt and uncle have found jobs and a place to live in the mill town of Almonte, Ontario, and can finally provide a home for Flora.

Flora loves her aunt and uncle, who are very kind to her. And she is thrilled to have a family of her own after so many years living in the orphanage. But there is also hardship, as she must become a child laborer at the mill her aunt and uncle work at, rather than go to school and play with her friends as a child should. Flora describes everything that happens to her in a diary written to her parents who died when she was young.

Days of Toil and Tears is an excellent book from the Dear Canada series (a Canadian version of the Dear America series) that shows the hardships of life for poor children in the 1800s, who often had to give up their childhood and work grueling jobs so their families could surive. This is a good book to give to a preteen who enjoys historical fiction, and although I am much older than the target audience, I did really enjoy this book as I love historical fiction written in diary format - the Dear America series was my favorite series as a preteen and young teen and I was so sad when they stopped publishing them, so I was thrilled to find the Dear Canada series.

[Lady Knight · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much like most of the other reviewers, I was not amazed at what I found here. It was a good children's read, but I don't think too many adults will love it.

It follows the tale of Flora, a young orphan who dreams of having a family. After her aunt Janet writes stating that she and her husband can take her in, Flora is extatic and thinks life could never be more perfect. After arriving, she learns that her aunt and uncle work in a cotton factory and that she is expected to help. Flora is used to work and doesn't think twice about it. Now understand that the aunt and uncle are not cruel, unkind, or unloving. They simply are doing what was common/right for the time. Flora's varied experiences working in the factory and socializing with the other workers form the basis of the novel.

[Meaghan Steeves · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a first time read for me, and I have to admit that I avoided doing so for a long time because of the content and the fact that Flora is an orphan (this is not a spoiler). It is very rare in these diaries for the character to have both, if not one, of their parents alive, so this was very new. I must say, however, that I enjoyed it very much and am kind of sad it took me so long to read it. Learning about this fascinating, albeit rather sad time of history was very worthwhile.

[Jenna Leigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't remember specifics about this book, but I do remember that I really enjoyed it! I've said it in other reviews of this series, but I'll say it again: read the Dear Canada books!! They're not super in-depth, but you always get something out of them, and they have a lot more detail in them than much of the other historical fiction books out there.

[Meghan · Rating 3 out of 5]

While mill life is not presented as pleasant, I do not think that “toil and tears” quite matched the tone of the story. Even though the story is about child labor, it’s not what I would have chosen to put on the cover.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Did not enjoy as much as the other ones.

[Twyla]

my favourite part was when flora had a chance to move somewhere she could go to school and not have to work in the mill. the worst part was when her uncle hurt his arm in the mill. My favourite character was flora because she was not annoyed to have to work like i would have been. My least favourite character was Mr. Haskin because he was mean at times, like when the machine had to stop because of Smokey the cat. Auryn 13 years old, 2016

[Shanelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Days of Toil and Tears is another book from the Dear Canada series about a young girl named Flora Rutherford, who works at a mill at the age of 11. She's working during a time where child labour is starting to be considered and this book focuses on how Flora manages to keep her job at the mill during this time.

[Carina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really good book, and I loved how it was really like a diary in many ways. It is really interesting to read about how the life of a girl around my age runs, and how she and her aunt and uncle survive through tough times. I recommend this book to anyone with an interest in historical fiction, as this book is from the perspective of a young girl in that time.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. The character was so realistically and endearingly written. The story was well done and though I think it would have been better if she was forced into the labour because it would have shown the difficult situation I appreciate that it was sometimes necessary to keep families afloat.

[Hayley · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was all right. I didn't really enjoy the epilogue, it wasn't very detailed and didn't live up to my expectations. I live in a town 10 minutes outside of Almonte, where it takes place, and, for a girl in the area, I say it could have been better. And didn't make much sense that Flora liked being put to work each day, it doesn't work with historical facts.

[Shanelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Days of Toil and Tears is another great book in the Dear Canada series, one that provides the reader with a wealth of knowledge about Canadian history. Although it took me forever to read through this book (thank you finals week!) I enjoyed passing some time by reading about Flora Rutherford's own story.

[RealmsQueen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the concept of the Dear Canada series, and this is the first one I've read of them so far. I did enjoy this book, but the ending was rather weak and disappointing. Hoping the next I pick up will be better.

[Patricia Kaniasty · Rating 2 out of 5]

Definitely not the most exciting book in the series. The title did not describe the story well at all. It was rather a happy story, not a sad one. Nothing memorable or exciting happens. Just over all.......dull.

[Brooke · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book made me to say 2 words: I’m sorry. I’m sorry Flora lost her parents to pleurisy. I’m sorry she lost her brothers too. I’m sorry about her work schedule. I’m sorry I’m not interested in the history of child labor.

[Ursina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great Dear Canada book. Prefect for young girls grade 5 and up to learn a bit about history.

[Jessie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was a little bored with this one but I'll still give it 5 stars because the history is fascinating.

[Shreya=Drastically Random. Find the emoticon. · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's told in such a mundane, boring way. The characters seem like robots.

[Felix · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was about a girl who had to work as a doffer girl but she liked it even though it was harsh.

[Breanne Bannerman]

http://breannebannerman.wordpress.com...

[Georgia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I actually give this one 4.5 stars. I personally think this book was a great edition to the Dear Canada series and deserves a higher rating on Goodreads.

[Hannah]

I read this book during my Dear Canada phase, and it sticks out in my memory because it was the only one that was especially happy. I really liked it. Review to come when I reread it.

[Leia Skywalker · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was good .

[maven calore’s venice b!tch]

the arm cutoff mention traumatized pre covid me 😭

[Penny · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.6