Evening star., 1897-02-27

arous1ng sort, but, in the eyes Of the
small lads of that period. he was not
half so heroic or mysterious q char
acter as the monkey-like pickaninny
boy who invariably accompanied him. COW
cred with SCOT from head to foot, and wear,
ing the tall red Ounce headgear affected by
his grinning, vast-lunged colored chief. In
the vision of all other boys, black and
white. the chmney-sweep's boy was an
OBJECT OF reverential awe on account of his
often-repeated daily performance of allow
ing himself to be engulfed in the inky
maws of big chimneys, whence, hauled out
by rope in the hands of his boss on the
chimney top. he would emerge after a half
hour or SO. quite as much alive and as
cheerful as when he disappeared into the
vertical caverns. The idolatry with which
the brass bands drummer boy of the pres
ent day is regarded by other boys is as
nothing compared with the profound ad-
niration that the chimney sweeps boy of
quarter or century ago used'to excite in
the minds of the little chaps of that time.
Then and Now.
The chimney sweep himself always
seemed to have the best end of the job in
the old days. While his boy with stout
rope around his waist would be working
away, half-smothered, like a sooty beaver
himself would take it easy enough, stand
ing on the chimney top, and shouting his
quaint retrains, advertising to the people
for blocks around that he was in the neigh
borhood. favorite verse of one of the
chimney sweeps of the early '7O's was this:
See dat lady all dressed so fine
She just come in on de B. and O. line
y get you alfs chimney clee-e-anedr
rms and other doggerel of a similar char
acter ne would shout in deep, musical
passo that would bring heads to windows
within radius of many squares and the
owners OF many of these heads thus at
tracted by the sweeps deep diapason. would
decide that the chimneys of their houses
required cleaning. Thus there was method
days. - 0 o'i@-
Nowadays all this is changed The old
time fantastic sweep has totally disap-
peared II otten happened a quarter of
century ago that when householder want
ed to have his ehimneys cleaned he would
nave 10 spend days in the quest of a chin
ney sweep. Today, the householder has
s.mh1 SIMPLY to mail mah postal. addressed to
Chimney Sweep. - precinct station
house. and the next day sweep will
present himself for business.
The Official Chimney Sweep.
Washington was the first city In the Unit
ed States to establish as part of it's govern
ment an official chimney sweep system.
Baltimore followed soon after, and at the
present day nearly all of the country's
great municipalities have official chimney
sweeps. Washingtons three official Chin
ney sweeps are colored men, who before
their official designati had carried on the
business of sweeping chimneys since their
early boy hood. The city is divided into
three chimney-sweeping districts The first
Includes all of Georgetown, the second all
of the city east of Rock creek and west of
7th street. and the third all of the city east
OF TIN street. None of the official Chin
ney sweeps draws any salary from the
District government. They derive their
revenue from the citizens of Washington
whose chimneys they sweep. The District
governments purpose In appointing Chin
secure reports as to the chimneys swept
during the year in compliance with the
local ordinances. together with reports as
to those In need of cleaning for the pre-
vention of fires, and second, for the estab-
lishment of uniformity in the charges
made by the sweeps for their work. In this
latter respect the position of the official
chimney sweep is analogous to that of the
cabman The charges which the chimney
sweep is permitted to make for his work
are carefully fixed by District ordinance.
and. since they were thus fixed, they have
become pretty well known to the household
ers of Washington. For instance for
cleaning a three-story flue. the official
sweep is allowed to charge 60 cents: for a
ferr-story flue, 80 cents; for a five-story
hue, 81, ana so on. ANY OF the official
sweeps who attempts to charge more than
these established rates is subject to dis
missal, and. as the three official sweeps of
Washington make a pretty good thing of
1t during the busy season, they are careful
to keep within the law.
The Order Boxes.
A good many persons who do not own
the houses they live Iii and who do not
possess much familiarity with District or
dinances for. the regulation Of the affairs
Of property owners affecting the comfort
of the general public have wondered what
the iron boxes hung on posts outside all
of the citys markets and labeled Chimney
Sweeps" were for. The man who owns his
own house. however. knows that these
boxes thus prominently displayed for
the reception Of property owners, orders
TO have their chimneys swept. Each day
the official chimney sweep of each district
makes a tour of the police stations of his
district, as well as of the markets where
these boxes are placed. to collect the or
ders sent in the first case, through the
mails. and, in the latter. those that have
been dropped in the boxes. He attends to
the orders in the. order in which they are
received-is, in fact. required to do SO by
the police regulations. No discrimination is