From the Stockport Ragged and Industrial School, unknown photographer
(Metropolitan Borough of Stockport Local Studies Library)
So small they have placed her on
something, perhaps a box, covered
with a rug or tarp. Atop she totters
touching the back of a chair for
balance. Bearing this bold stare, stead-
fast in the glare muted by the black
curtain partly drawn behind her. Some
care has been taken - she wears a white
work smock over her heavy dress. Why?
Invocation:
______________Will Scarlet, choose children's
______________charms and games for
______________Ellen to play.
______________Ellen may you never remember
______________a machine, but find friends, father,
______________and mother.
______________The anonymous maker-
______________let him stay so.
Industrial School: caught and taught
a factory job before puberty. Was her
serious, firm face and hard
stance slated for a "once a little
vagrant - now a little worker"
money-raising card?
The surveilled subject cataloged
without a crime
or height and a sight
less:
only her name known.
Ellen Walton, maybe 7,
definitely alone.
|