The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1900-01-01
THE CHIMNEY SWEEP.
UFucItics Pr1ctIccd Upon Children Ina
EnEIa-I Thirty Years Ago.

IT 4
generation to believe the stories that are
told OF sufferings inflicted on children in
this country but a few years ago. Were
they not only too well authenticated we
would say that Il was incredible that law
could have been so lax. religion so useless.
and humanity so dead as 10 make these
things possible Al the beginning OF the
Queens reign there were many occupations
in our land in which the little ones were
Tuthlessly tortured but perhaps Tor cruelty
and hideOusness this one OF chimney
sWeepers was never equaled How long it
had continued we cannot tell. but IL j. not
much more than twenty years since II was
finally stamped out. / remember when |
was q boy at school In the seventies hear
Ing about this and being told that little
children were then being sent up chin
leys 90 sweep them. and il must have
been this that induced me 70 try climbing
up and sliding down chimneys Of a house
building near, to the great destruction Of
my clothes and--of less consequence IN
my guardians eyes-bruises and scratches
innumersbe on my body and legs l NOW
see that this must have been about the
year 1876. when the question OF this en-
ployment Of children was fer the last ume
brought up I'm Parliament and the abolnl-
nation pat Su end to. \ Parliamentary
committee had been appointed few years
before and this proved up % the hill the
ALLEGATIONS Of he friends Of the children
regarding the degradation and suffering
OF those employed in this work. One fact
they stited vas that out Of $Nl children
they hs,i examined only six could write
and twenty-six could read, though very
imDerfcCtlv
To find the evil. however. IN full swing
and unObyt ructCd activity we have to so
back another thirty years. 60 the time
when Lord Shaftesbury brought the mat
ter before Parliament and carried on
vigorous crusade until he induced the Leg
islaturc 20 pass the chimney sweepcrs bill
OF 1880.
In that year he stated in the House OF
Commons that to his personal knowledge
a child OF fom and a half was being sent
up daily to sweep chimneys. He had seen.
he said the little ones when OF work
sleeping. quite naked. on heaps Of SCOT
They were never washed. for their owners
SAID: What's the good" They often
contracted a loathsome and painful dis
ease. whicn went by the name Of "soOty
cancer" II was shown that over all the
country children from four 20 eight years
OF age were constantly employed in this
work. The majority OF them were orphans.
the rest bartered or sold by brutal parents
They had TO be taken young and trained
10 their hideOus work OF pushing their way
through long, narrow. tortuous passages
chOkCd up with sOOt To clean this away
they had TO move up and down by pressing
every joint OF their bodies against the hard
and often broken surface OF the chimneys.
To prevent their hands and knees from
streaming with blood the children we're
rubbed with brine before a strong fire 20
harden the flesh. To drive them mp the
Chimneys when they hesitated burning
straw was applied to their feet. and this
was also found useful TO bring them
around il they tainted or stuck i'm the hue
That is no fancy picture that Dickens
draws in the beginning OF oliver Twist
" the sort OF masters the children had.
The reader will remember that Gamdeld.
after stunning his donkey 10 make fl stand
still, walks up 10 the workhouse gate.
whereou was notice that 60 and Oliver
Twist were offered TO anyone who would
apprentice him to any calling.
Gamfeld reflects that this would just
suit bin. and steps in before the board TO
make his oner III the parish would Ike
him 10 learn a hght- pleasant
trade in good. spectacle
chimbley sweepin bizniss wants
prentice and am ready TO take him. "
The board thought a little. It's nasty
business" said one gentleman. Young
boys have been smothered in chimneys
before now" said another That accuse
they dImped the straw afCre they lit iJ
in the chimbley tC make EN- come down
agiu." said Garfield; that's all smoke
and no blaze. vereas smoke amt q no use
AT all i'm maxim a boy come down. FOR il
only sends him 10 sleep. an that's what
ne likes. Boys Is very ohstinit. an very
lazy. gen'lmen. and there's nothinl,
like a good hot blaze 10 make 'eu come
down with a run. It's humane
too. gen linen. accuse. even if they're
stuck IN the chimbley -Oastin' their feet
makes EN- struggle to heNtricate their
selves" The board however. maintained
that IL was = nasty trade and seeing that
it was SC r-ey beat down Garfield TO Sc
10 shillugs and agreed 10 give him olive
with that such were the guardians and
masters the children then had. Later in
the same book. We find Bill Skies and his
friends complaining bitterly OF recent leg
isiation which had reduced the supply Of
diminutive children thar were needed by
Them in their business" to put through
the small apertures Of the windows To- opeu
for them the doors OF houses they mean
to rob II was their custom to hire BOYS
from the master chimney sWeepers al so
much per Job
Lord Shattesbury himself had a,t-allv 10
buy many Of the boys from their masters
that he might rescue them and have chen,
educated aud set up in life. lie intercs.ct
others i'm them, and before legislation did
anything many were saved from their .r-
rible life. But though there were humsre
men IN England IL Is surprising 10 learn
now strong was the opposition against any
legislative interference with the ehildren's
lot. Petitions were sent to Parliament
ngainst Shaftesbury's bill. The insurance
companies Of London aud other cities
clam0Ted az inst It. Pamphlets and a1ti-
clcs were aritten TO destroy IT, and fl
Eeeded all Shaftesbury's solemn elOIUence.
backed Up by the terrible facts he pro
duced. 10 obtain majority in 1870
But though the evil was then seotcbed
II was 6Y no means killed. II went on more
secretly Dut now and again the pub ie
were startled by hearing OF a boys dest-
in a fue. There seemed TO be a rerrudas
csncc OF the evil about 1872. for in that
year there were several fatalities In o.
tober 1872. a boy was sent up the iue Of a
fernery in StanordshiTe. Not appearing, in
fifteen minutes, the hue was hastily oplned
and the boy found dead. Soon after a.
other very similar death took pace az
Canterbury. but this time public opinion
was reused, and the master was sentenced
10 six months Imprisonment This Rad
the most salutary effect. II was seen shat
the iniquity would be no longer toIersts7
and other methods had 20 b. employed Tor
sweeping chmneys. The legislation OF 1876
made that form of child torture and degra-
datiOn a thing OF the past