Sparrows in the Scullery

When Colley, or Jed, is kidnapped and placed in the dreadful Broggin Home for Boys, he has no friends. No friends, that is, until he performs a very courageous deed. By doing this he saves another boy from the dreaded "hole", and everyone is then Colley's friend. After an incident in the glass factory, where most of the boys work, they must face the fact that someone wants Colley dead...

The sparrows are 19th century boys who have been sold to, shanghaied by, or stumbled into the clutches of a boys home, which has hired them to the unscrupulous managers of a glass factory. There the boys, including the hero, Colley, are worked unmercifully and are in danger of death both from frequent accidents in the extreme heat and because they are weak and underfed. But the sparrows make the best of these grim and scary circumstances. They become friends, create a secret hiding place, even find a pet, albeit an unusual one. The boys learn what it means to be friends, and working together (with a little help from grownups) escape their scary circumstances.