The Water-Babies

The water-babies: a fairy tale for a land-baby by the Rev. Charles Kingsley...; with illustrations by J. Noel Paton...
by Charles Kingsley. Boston: T.O.H.P. Burnham; New York: O.S. Felt..., 1864.

This moral fable about a young chimney sweep who turns into a "water baby" after a falling into a river, was written for children and first appeared in Macmillan's Magazine in 1863. The Rev. Charles Kingsley, who, in addition to being an author, was a professor, historian, and an amateur scientist, used it as a platform to discuss moral education and ideas about social reform. Kingsley was also receptive to Darwin's recently published ideas about evolution, and he features such debates among leading biologists in the novel.