AMERICAN CHIMNEY SWEEPS.
By GeorgeLewis Phillips '31. Trenton: Past TimesPress, 1957. 88pp. $4.00.
Sweep, o-o-o-o. From the bottom to the top, Without a ladder or a rope, Sweep, o-o-o-o.
The state of our chimney flues is, today, a matter of minor concern. It was not always so, as Professor Phillips makes clear in his scholarly and fascinating "historical account of a once important trade," - that of the chimney sweep.
It does seem strange that our social historians have tended to overlook the role of the chimney sweep in our domestic history, for it was an important role. Until far into the nineteenth century, indeed, our forefathers with their wood and coal fires, which deposited quantities of inflammable soot in the chimney flues, were dependent upon the chimney sweep, not only for the cleanliness of their chimneys, but for protection against chimney fires. Such fires might well, and frequently did, destroy their homes, and occasionally resulted in serious conflagrations.
The adult chimney sweeps "garbed in the tawdry, sartorial splendor of ill-fitting, frayed frock coats, baggy, often-patched, striped trousers, and battered silk hats," must have been a picturesque and amusing sight as they roamed the early morning streets crying "Sweep, Sweep, Ho," accompanied by two or three small boys of eight to fifteen years of age, the smaller for their age the better. It was the boys who did most of the work. Stripped to his underclothes, with a cloth cap drawn down well over his eyes, the "climbing boy" would wriggle and claw his way up and down the chimney flue vigorously wielding his brush and scraper. It was hard, dirty work and could be dangerous in narrow or crooked chimneys.
Although there were white boys among the sweeps, most of the "climbing boys" in America seem to have been small Negroes, many of them slave boys. Perhaps this was one reason why the American public remained curiously callous to the conditions under which the boys worked and lived. In Britain reform legislation eventually came to the aid of the sweeps. In America such legislation never seems to have been seriously considered. Perhaps in time it might have been, but before that time could arrive the advent of mechanical and chemical cleaners had brought the career of the "climbing boys" to a close.
Professor Phillips includes in his study the various street cries of the sweeps, as well as their songs and the songs about them. These contribute much to the interest and pleasure of the reader, as do the well chosen illustrations.
Based on sound and extensive research, American Chimney Sweeps is a most satisfactory contribution to a neglected phase of American social history.
