Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 91.djvu/190

 The Vanishing Chimney Sweeps of Paris

���On account of the modern construc- tion of chimneys in larger cities the day of the chimney sweep is about over. But occasionally one encounters him even in Paris. Here one is seen preparing to clean a baker's oven

��Below: The little chimney sweep was formerly a familiar sight, and his shrill call "O-o, O-o! Void le ratnon- eur!" (Here is the chimney sweep) was one of the accus- tomed early morn- ing noises of the city

����With his tight-fit- ting cap pulled down over his head and his soot bag fastened at his side the little gamin begins his work at about three or four o'clock in the morn- ing so that he will have finished and disappeared from sight by the time folks are astir.

��An older man, called the "patron," accompanies the gamin, making his contracts and over- seeing his work. Where the chimney is too small for the boy to enter, his "porcupine" brush is lowered into it. Its stiff outstanding bristles scrub the walls mechanically

��When the sweeping is over the soot is brushed into a bag and carted away. The gamin requires only about ten min- utes to clean out the largest and dirt- iest of chimneys. His patron receives the remuneration, which grows less and less with the progress of time

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