First, we learn that Else and Lil Kelvey are lower class, “daughters of a lively, hard-working little washerwoman; they were the daughters of a washerwoman and a convict” (Mansfield 71). Consequently this separates girls based on their social distinction derived from society, having a mother belonging to the working class is considered not respectable. In addition to that, their peers will not associate with them due to their lower class status; their clothes come from the neighbors' clothes that the mother receives from the houses she cleans, they provide arguments for the other children to look down on them further. Ultimately, the cruelty these girls endure is heartbreaking, but what's even more devastating is that their families, peers, and mentors forgive it all.