the chimney-sweep's ledger

soot-fingered · part-receipted · the road kept in pencil

flues · swept1893

datehouse · flue · notehpaid

jan 02no. 14 kitchen flue, soot heavy after new year1 ¼2/6

jan 14no. 22 parlour, two flues, jackdaw nest at top2 ½5/—

feb 03no. 7 old keeper, paid in jam1 ——

feb 19no. 31 attic flue, half-blocked by mortar2 —3/8

mar 08school three flues, before easter4 —10/—

apr 04no. 14 return: bird's nest, sparrow, complete1 ¼2/6

may 02presbytery single flue, the bottle returned empty1 ¼3/—

hours worked · the month62—

— · fol. 18

soot · sold to the gardens1893

datebuyer · usebu.paid

jan 30the curate's vegetable plot28d

feb 28mrs. h., for onions & cabbage41/4

mar 26the gardens at silvergrove, contracted144/8

apr 18— bushel left at gate, no name —1—

jun 02the school, for the new bed31/—

aug 14mrs. p., late peas (returned half)½—

oct 01the orchard, for autumn dressing82/8

bushels · sold the season32 ½10/4

— · fol. 19

a small octavo bound in black sheepskin, every page furred with soot at the bottom corner. j. coalbreath kept it on the seat of his cart and wrote in it on doorsteps; his son took it over in 1899 and kept writing without changing the hand. on a careful page, three different decades can be seen at once.

the trade ran in two directions: the sweep took the soot down and sold it back to the gardens and the vegetable plots; a flue cleaned in the city paid twice — once at the door, once at the gate. the ledger keeps both columns honestly.

what is missing: the page for the great chimney at no. 1, which no sweep would attempt and which is here recorded only as a single ruled line, dated, blank.

field note · charcoal smear, lower margin the chimney remembers what was burned in it. the sweep remembers what the chimney remembers. the ledger remembers neither, only the hour and the shilling.