The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1879-05-15

The Chimney-Sweeps' Festival.
Even those poor little sooty imps thut
used to spend their days in sweep.
the dark, winding chimneys of smoky
London, had one grand holiday, and
that was the first day of May.
How they must have locked forward
to this one day of the year when they
could dress up and caper and dance and
shout in the open air, with the "lord
and lady of their own choosing, and
the evergreen moving garland of their
own making.
never saw but one of these May-day
merry-mallings of the sweeps, but il was
so comical that | thought and talked of
1t for many days after, and think their
walking green man." us | called their
garland, is the funniest of all.
1t Is great cone six or seven feet in
height, of holly and ivy framed upon
hoops. 1t goes up smaller and smaller
TO the top, where 1t is tied with gay-
colored ribbons, and decorated with
bunches of flowers.
At the very top there will be crown
nade of flowers, or little flag flying.
All down the sides of this evergreen
hlllock are knots of ribbon and punches
of flowers.
Round it as it goes from street to
street, the little sweeps caper and dance.
lneir mats and jackets are trimmed all
over with colored and gilt paper. and
flowers stuck in wherever they can put
one, Willie their black legs (for they like
to leave them sooty for this days fun)
are co!ored in figures with Dutch pink,
or white chalk, and some of them leave
their faces black that they may
ornament them in the same way.
We little folks were puzzled to know
how their bower of green moved along
OF itself, but when we looked down close
to the ground-why, there we some
times saw two feet peeping out!
Ihen we knew all about tit was
Jack-in-t -the-green. Yes. there was a
pretty, big man inside, and this was
something us he looked to my Young
eyes.
My lord and lady," however. are in
the eyes of the sweeps the grandest of
all things in their May-day show.
The " lord is generally chosen from
some other profession than that OF
chimney sweepers, and is splendidly
dressed in cooked hat, trimmed with
red and yellow feathers; laced coat; en-
broidered wastcoat; silk stockings
large knee buckles, and cane with u
shining knob.
The "lady" is usually boy in girls
dress, which is gaudy and bedizened as
ries in her right hand brass ladle.
When "Jack-in the-green'' stops.
they dance most elegantly round him.
while all the little sootikins make sweet
music by striking their brushes and
shoves together!
Then my lord and lady, bowling and
courtesying to each other, with cooked
hat and brass ladle in hand, and all the
sweeps with their sooty shovels, 20
round to the Spectators" Smallest do
nations thankfully rrccivpd!" and the
silver and pennies as they drop into the
lad lie and slovels make pleasant Jingle
in the ears of the little sweepcrs.
But, am sorry to say, their greedy
taskmasters get the lions share of thes1
May-day offerings, and tomorrow his
poor little overworked sootikin will b.
climbing IL 'se dark, crooked chimnevs.
scraping a,.d sweeping, and half stihed
with SCOT and dust
Still the brave little fellow will toll
up t9ES%ga n g2fe St Mipaps i ySn sar
faint shout. You run out to see th
sooty little imp perched upon the top Of
tne tall chimney, waving his brush, and
II he has breath enough left, shouting.
"Sweep or
Did you ever hear the true story of n
little chimney-sweep, who was sweeping
the chimncys at Arundel Castle, and
was lost?
1t was hot day in summer when his
master sent him up into those tall
chimneys. and when noontde came. and
he had not appeared at the top, and they
had called and searched. but could find
nothing of him, they were all terribly
frightened, and even his muster began to
think that he had been suffocated in
some fthose winding fiues.
Then they went from one drawing
room to another, and through all those
splendid chambers, shouting up the
chimneys, until they came to one of the
handsomest of the Estate chambers"
There within the curtains ofrich Grim
son silk that surrounded Ine Ded, anu
under the whitest and finest of sheets,
with the silken coverlet over him, lay
fast asleep the lost little ''Sweep or
1t seems that the poor little fellow had
got completely lost in those great Chin
peys leading ore into another, and had
come down frightened, and hot and
tired, int this very comfortable bed
room, Snd then the bed looked so TEMPT
ing, md it was all so quiet, that he laid
his little black head upon the soft pillow,
snd was soon sound asleep.
lhey were all so glad to find him that
feel sure the kind duke that lived in
that grand old castle would not allow
his master to punish his little sweep for
taking a nap in ducal bed Youths