The Andrew County Republican. [volume] (Savannah, Mo.) 1871-1876, 1875-02-19

fifteen years ago the sweeping, or "cllmb
ing boys" were very numerous !; and |
can remember seeing a bit of a lad
crawling out of one of the tallest chin
neys in London.
Until the reign of James the First, the
houses were built only II story high,
and the chimneys were swept from the
floor. The Scotch fashion of multiplying
the stories then came in, and twice or
three times a year boys were sent up to
sweep down the SCOT.
There was once a famous highwayman
who had been a climbing boy" and l
think he was the only IL of the tribe
who ever became notorious. At all
events, we do not hear more about them
III 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. Han
way, You must know, was II of the
great philanthropists of his day, and was
the man who first carried an umbrella
in London, a performance which ex-
posed him to the jeers of all the impu-
dent little bakers and butchers boys in
the city. No doubt he looked rather
queer as he trotted along III the rain with
the new-fangled thing over his head, and
some folks thought him utterly crazy.
But he was u wise and good man, living
q life that most of rs might initiate to
advantage.
When a." 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
answers that were made excited the
philanthropist'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 "climb-
ing boys" were mostly the children Of
dissolute parents, who sold them to the
men chimney-sweepsf for a few sovereigns,
or, in American 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 I'M
doubted truth, in which the little fellows
were violently thrust in by their masters
and driven up by a fire lighted undre
them. This seems too horrible for be-
lief, but it was sworn to by a master
chimney-sweep before a committee OF the
British House of Commons. Thesame man
, declared that he did not use his own APP
prentices III that manner, and that when
the chimney was small and the boy hest
tated about ascending, he simply used a
stick or his fist
Sometimes the beginner VAS instructed
ut the house Of his master before real
, duty was required of him. An older boy
would follow him up a chimney and teach
him how to climb by pressing the knees
and elbows against the sides of the tiue.
1t was Il 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 until he had
tumbled down several times and alighted
on the shoulders of his stouter com
panion, who always kept himself firmly
fixed in expectation 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 a very small boy,
not more than four years old, was once
sent up a chimney in a c~ountry-house at
Bridlington, Yorkshire, and that he tmm-
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
him, and, seeing a silver fork, he was
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 Il silver watch was
shown him, he declared that "papa's
was a gold one. At night he would not
go to bed until he had said the Lords
Prayer, which he knew perfectly, and he
Law awake for some hours comparing the
furniture in the room to that III his own
home. When he was asked how he came
to leave his papa, he said that he was
gathering flowers III his mothers garden,
and that a woman came in and asked him