From the S&S archives:
The chimney sweep, Germany's good-luck symbol

(Click here to see photos of the Sembach chimney sweep at work)

TOP HAT, double-breasted short-coated black suit, white kerchief around his neck, ladder over one shoulder and a coiled wire-handled brush over the other, the chimney sweep brings you good luck if you catch sight of him first thing in the morning.

But why a chimney sweep for a good luck symbol?

"It's just an old German tradition," said Peter Scherne, master chimney sweep (Schornsteinfegermeister) in the Sembach-Lohnsfeld area. "Possibly it had its roots in the fact that we're the original fire-prevention specialists. It's good luck when a house can stand two or three hundred years without ever having a fire, isn't it?"

Scherne, 23, is the sixth generation of his family to become a master chimney sweep, and he works under his father, Leo, 54, of Winnweiler. A brother, Walter, 16, is now in his second year of apprenticeship to the profession which his family took up in 1810.

A master chimney sweep is responsible for more than just cleaning out soot, Scherne said. He inspects chimneys on all new structures in his district while the buildings are going up, and he continues to check them periodically to make sure they are holding up properly.

If there should be a fire traceable to a defective or dirty chimney, the district master is answerable.

Such an old profession as this has its rules pretty well laid out. There's no crossing another man's territory, and there's no cut-throat competition for jobs. The German government through an agency at Bonn sets the area of coverage and the minister president of the Rhineland-Pfalz (or other state) sets the charge.

For instance, Scherne collects 1.50 D-marks (about 37½ cents) for cleaning the base heating plant chimney at Sembach. This is a typical charge. Besides looking after Sembach AB chimneys, he also has such other American installations in addition to homes, factories and schools.

Scherne's father handles inspection of all new construction in a radius of 25 miles from Esselfuerth to Boerstadt and Donnersberg.

A master sweep could make from $1,500 to $2,000 a year without being "boss" of an area, while the boss who controls the area will make from $3,000 to $3,500. It amounts to a guaranteed income since both area and fee are controlled, as is the number of annual inspections.

If your house is heated by coal or oil, there will be four inspections — and cleanings — a year. If you use gas, twice a year is considered enough.

Most houses are built with a "hatch" into the chimney from an attic. The sweep uses his long brushes to knock down the soot, then cleans it out from a lower hatch. Other times, he must climb onto the roof and use his brushes from the top, Scherne said.

"It's seldom we have to climb down into a chimney, but in Westphalia there are many chimneys so built that an apprentice must learn to "'hutch" his shoulders and body down and up the chimney. If he can't do that, he won't pass his test," Scherne said.

An apprentice works under a master for three years, observing techniques and helping. During the first two years, he is allowed to work only while under the master's eye. If he should cause any damage, he must pay for it. In the meantime, he must also go to school one day a week and three full weeks during the summer.

The apprentice learns heating construction, how to read blueprints for stone house construction, how to follow gas lines and complete heating duct installation. He also learns where controls are and how to operate them.

His first examination comes after three years and if he flubs that, he's out, Scherne said. At the end of five years, he is permitted to take his test for a master's license and if he passes, he may exchange the black skull cap he has worn as an apprentice for the master's top hat.

THE CODE of ethics for chimney sweeps is so rigid, Scherne said, that if an apprentice or master is convicted of stealing from a householder or of any immoral acts while he is on the job, his career is finished. There is no second chance.

The custom of using chimney sweep figures and pictures in New Year's greetings dates only from the early 1900s, according to Scherne. "The professionals as a group went from house to house wishing each householder the season's greeting and because the householder had not had a fire within the past year, suggesting they would like to continue serving for the next year."