The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1875-02-11
Chimney.SNeepers.

| OmnVy y-oWO0ROAce
Twenty or thirty years ago, it was
common thing in New York to see mite,
of boys following their masters in the
street, or issuing from the chimney top,
with their peculiar vail. Some of them
were not more than ten years of age, and
they looked so wretched that when q
child was ill-behaved its mother or nurse
would threaten to give 1t to the chimney
sweeps. -,a-.lt. Et.t,g
In Germany and France small boys
are still employed in cleaning chimneys
In Great Britain a law has been passed
forbidding the practice; but less than
fifteen years ago thesweeps, or" climbing
boys" were very numerous, and / car
remember seeing bit of lad crawling
out Of one Of the tallest chimneys in
London.
Until the reign Of James the First, the
houses were built only one story high
and the chimneys were swept from the
floor. The Scotch fashion of multiplying
the stories then came in, and twice OF
three times q year boys were sent up tO
sweep down the scot.
There was once famous highwayman
who had been climbing boy" and
think he was the only one of the tribe
who ever became notorious. At all
events, we do not hear more about them
in history from the time of James the
First until about the middle of the last
century, when Jonas Hanway called
public attention to their condition.
great philanthropists of his day, and was
the man who first carried an umbrella in
London, a performance which exposed
him to the jeers of all the impudent lit
tie butchers and bakers boys in the city.
No doubt he looked very queer as he trot-
ted along in the rain with the. new.
tangled thing over his head, and some
folks thought him utterly crazy. But
he was a wise and good man, living a
life that most of us might initiate to ad-
vantage.
When climbing boy" came to his
house, one day, Hanway was struck with
the poor fellows woful face, and asked
him how and where he lived. The an.
swers that he made excited the philan.
thropist's sympathy, and, through public
prints and the benevolent societies with
which he was connected, he drew attention
to one of the worst kinds of slavery that
ever existed. The climbing boys" were
mostly the children of dissolute parents,
who sold them to the men chimney
sweeps for few sovereigns, or, in Amer
ican money, fifteen or twenty dollars.
The novices had the greatest dread Of
ascending the chimney for the first time,
and there are several instances, of un-
doubted truth, in which the little fellows
were violently thrust in by their masters
and driven up. by fire lighted un-
der them. This seems too horrible
for belief, but it was sworn to by mas
ter chimney-sweep before committee OF
the British House of Commons. The
same man declared that he did not Use
his own apprentices in that manner, and
that when the chimney was small and the
boy hesitated about ascending he simply
used stick, or his fist
Sometimes the beginner was instructed
at the house of his master before any real
duty was required of him. An older boy
would follow him up chimney and
te,ch him how to climb by pressing the
knees and elbows against the sides Of the
flue. 1t was a most painful operation,
and the skin would be torn from the
child's arms and feet before he had nearly
reached the top. BY striving very hard
he would probably succeed, but not un-
til he had tumbled down several
times and alighted on the shoulders of
his stouter companion, who always kept
himself firmly fixed in anticipation of
such a mishap. Every time he fell he
had to begin anew, and, no matter how
sore he was, his master forced him to
reach the top.
A story is told that very small boy,
not more than four years of age, was once
sent up n chimney in country house at
Bridlington, Yorkshire, and that he tum-
bled down and hurt himself so severely
that the young ladies of the house took
him from his master and nursed him
themselves. Some food was brought to
quite delighted, exclaiming: "Papa had
such forks as those" He also said that
the carpet in the drawing-room was like
"papa's," and, when a silver watch was
shown to him, he declared that "papa's"
was gold one. At night he would not
90 to bed until he had said the Lords
Prayer, which he knew perfectly, and he
lay awake for several hours comparing
the furniture in the room with that in
his own home. When he was asked how
he came to leave his papa, he said that
he was gathering flowers in his mothers
garden, when a woman came in and
asked him il he liked riding. He said
eyes" and she told him that he should
ride with her. She put him on horse
in lane near by, drove with him to the
seaside, and carried him on board YES
sci.
The story does not tell what became
of the little fellow afterwards, and we
can only hope that he was Returned to
his parents, or that the young ladies at
the country house adopted him.-.S.
Nicholas.