Chimney+Sweeps

[[image:Victorian-Children-Chimney-Sweeps.jpg width="374" height="494" align="right" caption="Image Source: Victorian Children"]]The Chimney Sweeper: When my mother died I was very young
By [| William Blake] When my mother died I was very young, And my father sold me while yet my tongue Could scarcely cry " 'weep! 'weep! 'weep! 'weep!" So your chimneys I sweep & in soot I sleep.

There's little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head That curled like a lamb's back, was shaved, so I said, "Hush, Tom! never mind it, for when your head's bare, You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair."

And so he was quiet, & that very night, As Tom was a-sleeping he had such a sight! That thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned, & Jack, Were all of them locked up in coffins of black;

And by came an Angel who had a bright key, And he opened the coffins & set them all free; Then down a green plain, leaping, laughing they run, And wash in a river and shine in the Sun.

Then naked & white, all their bags left behind, They rise upon clouds, and sport in the wind. And the Angel told Tom, if he'd be a good boy, He'd have God for his father & never want joy.

And so Tom awoke; and we rose in the dark And got with our bags & our brushes to work. Though the morning was cold, Tom was happy & warm; So if all do their duty, they need not fear harm. @http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/172910

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 * Facts on Chimney Sweepers:**
 * Children would stop working as chimney sweepers at age 9 or 10
 * Major fears: lung damage caused by smoke inhalation, children getting stuck in chimneys, physical harm
 * There were laws against the use of children as chimney sweeps. These laws had to be enforced as new laws were enacted.
 * __Chimney Sweepers Act of 1788__: Children cannot work as chimney sweeps under the age of 8.
 * __The Chimney Sweepers and Chimney Regulation Act of 1840__: It is not legal for a person under the age of 21 to climb up or into the chimney for the purpose of cleaning.
 * __Chimney Sweepers Act of 1875__: All chimney sweeps had to be registered with and supervised by the police.