Jack and Jill Went Up A Hill

Bicycle Safety - Cherubic Victorian Children Teach Lessons on Safety

In this version of Jack and Jill, the youngsters depicted are riding their bicycles up the hill to retrieve their water, rather than walking. As in the previous versions, the children have a mishap and come tumbling down the hill, but in this version they fall off their bicycles. The text is also slightly different:

Jack and Jill rode up the hill,
To fetch a pail of water,
Jack’s cycle slipped, and down he tipped
And Jill’s came over after!

The text of the rhyme has changed slightly to convey a message of bicycle safety. Although there is no date for this version of the rhyme, it seems that the illustration dates from an era when bicycles were gaining popularity in everyday life as a mode of transportation and pleasure. The children are dressed in the Victorian style of the late 1800s. The boy wears a sailor shirt and cap, with knee britches, while the girl wears a frilly white cap trimmed with pink ribbon, to match her pink dress and white apron. The children are depicted in the rather idealistic, sugary style of the Victorian era. They are pink-skinned and round-faced cherubs, who are so angelic that they manage to hold the bucket between them as they cycle up the hill together. They are riding bicycles that have wheels of equal size, which date back to the same time period as the clothing (1880s-1890s). It seems that this version of the rhyme was adapted to teach a lesson about bicycle safety, just as other versions of rhyme have been used to refer to historical and political events and convey moral lessons or commentary. Riding a bicycle with one hand is dangerous, even for cherubs!