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2013 Fall Home Improvement September 25, 2013
Special edition of LINCOLN DAILY NEWS.com
by Roy Logan
CHIMNEY SWEEPS
The history and folklore of
Oftentimes, chimney sweeps were
mere children who were forced
to work 12- to 16-hour days for
no money in their pockets. Back
in an era when everyone heated
and cooked with wood or coal, the
work of these children was a neces-
sity.
Actually, the children were inden-
tured servants bought from their
parents or an orphanage. Their
masters were to provide them
with food and shelter, but that was
greatly lacking. The children were
relegated to the basement and fed
scraps.
The children sought were usually
around the age of 5 and sometimes
as young as 4, but generally not
over 8 years old. The younger chil-
dren were desirable because they
could literally climb up the chim-
neys, brushing and scraping as they
climbed.
Soot was collected in a bag and
sold to farmers as fertilizers. The
bags also doubled as the children’s
blankets at night. The masters col-
lected the money, and very little of
it was given to the children, which
resulted in them begging on the
street corners.
Given the work conditions, the
child chimney sweeps had terrible
health problems, with many of
them dying at a very young age.
Many had respiratory problems
due to the coal tar and soot. Also,
because they were forced to climb
in such close, contorted conditions,
their ankles, backs and wrists were
misshapen for life.
In America, many communities
had laws that made it mandatory to
have chimneys cleaned on a regular
basis. Because homes were built
so very close to one another, entire
neighborhoods could be lost to fire.
Around 1865, laws were passed that
didn’t allow anyone under the age
of 21 to work as a chimney sweep.
Today’s chimney sweep offers no
comparison with what their histori-
cal predecessors went through. But
the folklore of their hard lifestyle
still lives in urban legends in many
areas.
The tradition of top hats and tails
came from funeral directors tak-
ing pity and giving the sweeps their
castoffs. And that was very practi-
cal, given the color of the clothes
and the sooty job.
It is also said that when the chil-
dren wouldn’t climb the chimneys,
their masters would poke them
with pins or sticks. Another custom
was to build a small fire and force
them to climb. Hence, the expres-
sion “put a fire under him” that still
exists today.
And for whatever reason, the
sweeps were believed to be good
luck on a wedding day. Lore says
that if a chimney sweep blessed
the marriage, it brought long and
happy lives to the couple.
The children would loiter around
churches, hoping to make some
money. Yet today, it is believed that
to shake hands with or receive a
kiss from a chimney sweep is good
luck.
Perhaps it was the chimney sweeps
themselves who came up with the
kissing part, due to wanting to kiss
a pretty young lady!
And, tradition shares that on New
Year’s Day they would carry a pig,
and for a donation, you could make
a wish and pluck a hair from the
pig.
Be it real or legend, it is always
kind of fun to know these peculiar
bits of history. Now you have some
icebreakers for the water cooler at
the office. “Hey, did you know that
chimney sweeps …”
Poppins certainly put a Cinderella spin on chimney sweeps. The whimsical
story was most certainly not the life the real sweeps endured.
MARY
