The Mangling Hook

There must have been seven chimneys

In the great house on the hill,

I never actually counted them

While the house was standing still,

But the years had brought their own neglect

And the house was well run down,

By the time we pulled the place apart

For a new estate in town.

We couldn’t just use a wrecking ball

It was too immense for that,

When we took it brick by brick apart

We could build a hundred flats.

The chimneys were the hardest part

For the flues had twists and turns

As they rose up through three storeys with

Each hearth, soot black and burned.

It had been the home of Dukes and Earls

Back in Victoria’s day,

With gardeners, cooks and pantry maids,

All with a place to stay,

There were balls and more for the gentlefolk

For the vicar and local squire,

And after the garden parties they would

Huddle, in front of the fire.

We chipped away at the chimney stacks

And gradually brought them down,

Brick by brick to the local tip

As red dust covered the ground,

But then a guy gave a sudden cry

During a working lull,

‘I think I see, what it seems to me,

The top of a human skull.’

The top of a human skull it was

Of a child, no more than six,

Jammed up tight in the chimney there

Imprisoned by old red bricks,

We managed to pry him loose at last

And lifted him from the flue,

But then the horror came home to us

For his legs were missing, too.

We saw the mangling hook they’d used

That lodged in one of his ribs,

That tore the body apart to clear

The chimney, for His Nibs,

The kid was lodged in a twisting flue

They knew that his case was dire,

And tried to make him climb up and through

By lighting a smoking fire.

We couldn’t tell if the sweep was dead

Or simply allowed to choke,

When someone ordered the fire lit

And sent up a cloud of smoke,

Perhaps he screamed as the smoke had streamed

And the fire burned, but slow,

He was just a sweep, his life was cheap

Compared to the guests below.

The little lad’s in the cemetery

He was laid with special care,

With everyone but nobility

Gathered to lay him there,

It’s a page at last from a cruel past

That we turned, but won’t forget,

Great wealth destroys our humanity,

Have we learned that lesson yet?

David Lewis Paget

Reviews

[Marie]

I don't think we have learned that lesson, but at least we don't sent small boys up in chimneys. I know that it was once a practice to light a fire under a chimneysweep to make him go up. About this mangling hook I am not familiar, but I can certainly imagine it.

[R Smith]

brilliant! David, did they care about a little boy sent to sweep chimneys, I guess we know that's not the case, a child is expendable for the greater good of the wealthy who need their fire, long may such human scum rot in their mighty mausoleums, great and inspiring writing David :)

[Jane Taylor Hardy]

Wow a stunning write....great imagery.....fantastic meaning and philosophy in this pen.

[TPK Stories]

Another great story David.

[Delmar Cooper]

So why am I thinking abortionist when I should be thinking Dickensian?

[Valentine]

I love these old time writes of yours that are based on facts. There is no telling of just how many skulls and bones that could be found in a place like that as royalty ruled. Nice write. Valentine

[Confuser]

David: Your message rings loud...I loved the write all the way through, waiting in anticipation for the departure to slowly creep in upon me, as always. But I enjoy your poems so much, I forget it's coming; all the better. I love the history as well: 17th, 16th centuries literature, the pleasantries, the class structure. I following along a path of flowers, observing the work, with your descriptions, it's easily done; and then the sad tale. Envisioning the pleasure they must have received; and that evil exists today. I could imagine a group of drunkards laughing at his pain. It's a mad world. Thanks as always.

[Lady Lola]

I very much like the moral of this piece. Each person is worth as much as everyone else and wealth shouldn't factor into it at all.
I didn't know about this practice of using little boys as climbers by chimney sweeps, it's abhorrent... I love Victorian times, but there were many social injustices going on at the time. Sadly, there are still enough around today, as you pointed out.

[andrew mitchell]

So well said, reminds me of the movie Oliver and how cheap were people's lives if they were poor, the expendables!