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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What kind of education did most costermongers have?

2. Why were chimney sweeper apprentices often starved?

3. What occasionally happened to one of the bolder boys?

4. What did costermongers hope to do by dark everyday?`

5. What did a publisher who Mayhew knew do for the boy who talked to Mayhew?

Short Essay Questions

1. What area of trade did the Jewish traders dominant and what did Ragmen do?

2. What were the general appearance of chimney sweeps and who most often worked in this type of work and why did they?

3. About how much coal was used in London in a year and who was responsible for cleaning the aftermath of coal use?

4. What types of generalizations did Mayhew make about the London street people and how did this reflect Victorian thinking on industrialization?

5. Describe the facilities that were opened between 1847 and 1849 that caused the chimney sweeps to wash more often.

6. How honest were costers' suppliers and how did the costers deal with dishonesty?

7. What was the story Mayhew wrote about a Cheap Jack?

8. How did the costermongers obtain their merchandise and what were the circumstances for borrowing?

9. What were some of the circumstances in the better lodging houses for the street people?

10. What was the usual marriage and family situations like with costermongers?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Bolder boys sometimes climbed onto empty coal barges and swept up the leavings of the cargo. This was considered theft, and they were usually chased off by the owners. Sometimes one would be arrested and sent to jail for a week. Like coster children, they regarded a week in relatively warm, safe surroundings with regular meals as a vacation.

1. Do you think the sweepings of coal left behind should be considered theft? Why or why not? Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

2. Discuss what the fact that some children regarded the jail as a vacation says about the coster children's lives. Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

3. Discuss ways in which you see coster children as being abused in general in this era in London. Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

Essay Topic 2

Mayhew made sweeping generalizations about the different types of street people, and often relied on stereotypes. For example, he claimed that all blind musicians were highly religious while all "mechanics" or skilled laborers were melancholy, suffering from chronic depression.

1. Refute or defend the following statement: Stereotypes about people are generally true. Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

2. How do you think stereotyping or generalization in research can affect the results of research? Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

3. The only statement that can be true about a research population is if that population consist of only one person. Discuss this statement in view of Mayhew's tendency to stereotype groups of individuals.

Essay Topic 3

Most costermongers were uneducated, and had attended the free public schools only for a few years, or not at all. Although costers were adept at adding and subtracting to figure their profits, they were ignorant of multiplication and very few could read or write.

1. Discuss how lack of education contributes to poverty. Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

2. Discuss some of the reasons that might keep a child of a costermonger family from attending free public schools. Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

3. Taking into consideration the factors of poverty, should the government of London in this era have made school mandatory? Why or why not? Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

(see the answer keys)

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