Little Pitcher Meaning

(idiomatic) A child.

Example: 1854, Charles Dickens, Hard Times, ch. 2:
  Thomas Gradgrind now presented Thomas Gradgrind to the little pitchers before him, who were to be filled so full of facts.
1875, Louisa May Alcott, Eight Cousins, ch. 15:
  "Promise not to tell, or I shall be teased to death," she added, anxiously, entirely forgetting the two little pitchers gifted with eyes as well as ears, who had been watching the whole performance from afar.