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She had got up behind the chaise and her cloak had been caught by the wheel and was jammed in and it hung there. She was crying after it. Poor thing. Mr. Graham took her into the chaise and the cloak was released from the wheel but the child's misery did not cease for her cloak was torn to rags; it had been a miserable cloak before, but she had no other and it was the greatest sorrow that could befal her. Her name was Alice Fell.

Dorothy Wordsworth#4

ChildhoodChildrenLossPovertySadness

About this quote

What does it mean?
A child named Alice Fell loses her cloak to a chaise wheel and suffers profound distress over it.
In plain terms
A girl cried when her worn cloak got torn after being caught by a wheel.
What can you take from it?
Small losses can cause great sorrow to those with little.

Where it applies

  • noting social hardship
  • observing children

Putting it to work

  • social observation
  • documentary writing

Questions to consider

  • What small object holds great value for someone you know?

Another view

It focuses on a tragic moment without offering resolution.

More from Dorothy Wordsworth

  1. We saw a raven very high above us. It called out, and the dome of the sky seemed to echo the sound. It called again and again as it flew onwards, and the mount…

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  2. When we were in the woods beyond Gowbarrow park we saw a few daffodils close to the water side:At last under the boughs of the trees, we saw that there was a l…

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  3. One only leaf upon the top of a tree - the sole remaining leaf - danced round and round like a rag blown by the wind.

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