The sweep, it seems, is' passing more quickly than the chimneys he is supposed to clean. Probably he was never in love with his job. Anyway, he has been quick to change it for some other at the first excuse of vanishing chim-noys. Central heating in Paris and other cities of France first gave him the idea of a world where soot might not enter into the scheme of things. Big hotels and blocks of flats which adopted new system of heating got along very well with one fine where a score had been needed before. Gas stoves and electric radiators have banished the chimney altogether in many cases. So the ie has forsaken chimneys, in seard perhaps, of pleasanter work; but, from his fellow-citizens' point of view, he has been in too great a hurry. The Old chimneys remain in the old houses, and householders find it more and more difficult every year to get them swept. No mechanical appliance has yet been invented which will take the place of hand labour for clearing soot out of flues, and obviously landlords cannot afford to rebuild old houses. The sweeps who have remained faithful to their trade will soon be in a position to demand big pay, and the housewife who happens to know a sweep will have a distinct "pull."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.