“OWW!!”. A loud cry filled the hallway. Mrs. Harris quickly ran towards the sound. She opened the door of a room to find a boy lying on the floor next to the chimney. He was crying as he clutched his right knee. Mrs. Harris shouted at two men to carry him to a doctor. She sat down on an armchair and sighed, “I guess we need to hire a new chimney sweep. Hopefully the next boy won’t be so careless and fall too.”

“Mother, are you feeling ok? Do you need anything?”, asked Roger. His mother smiled warmly, “Yes dear, I am fine. I am so sorry that you have to worry so much about me. I promise that I will get better soon.”

Roger’s mother fell sick on December 9th 1816. She had been sick for four days. 

The doctor had told them that she had a severe fever. She needed to rest till she got better. 

Ever since those four days, Roger has been trying to find a job to afford medicines for his mother.

Roger's father died in the mines when Roger was just 3 years old. It had been 5 years. His mother had always cared for Roger and stayed strong for him. Now was the time for Roger to stay strong for his mother and take care of her.

“Roger, didn’t you say that you were going out to find a job today? Are you still going?”. Roger snapped back to his senses. “Oh right. I will have to leave right now, mother,” he said. “Be careful. I will be back in just a few hours.” 

His mother smiled. She was happy to see her son grow. But she was really sad that he had to go through so much.

Roger went to meet his friend Patrick before trying to find a job. He heard that Patrick injured his leg while doing his job as a chimney sweep. “Roger!”, cried Patrick. He was happy to see his friend after such a long time. Roger had been very busy supporting his mother for the past few days. 

Roger and Patrick spoke for a while.

“Oh!”, said Roger. “I have an idea. I can fill in for your job as a chimney sweep until you get better.” 

Patrick had a serious expression on his face, “Sure, but it is very dangerous. Look at how I fell. You have to be careful”. 

“I will, don’t worry. Once you get better, you don’t have to search for another job,” said Roger.

After saying goodbye to Patrick, Roger went directly to the mansion where Patrick worked.

Roger gasped. The mansion was enormous! The person who owned it must be very rich. Roger knocked on the door and a lady opened it. 

“Good morning, ma’am. I am Roger. I have come in place of my friend who is a chimney sweep here. He had fallen down and injured his leg yesterday,” said Roger. “You mean Patrick? Yes, that careless boy did indeed fall from the chimney,” said the lady. Roger could see that she wasn’t very kind. Roger wanted to defend Patrick but he decided against it because he really needed that job.

The lady introduced herself as Mrs. Harris. She was the wife of the owner of the mansion. “Well you can start right away.” She gave Roger a brush and showed him where the chimney was.

Cleaning the chimney was very hard. Roger had to climb up into the narrow chimney and scrub it. He could barely fit in it.

All the time that he was cleaning, Mrs. Harris had kept shouting at him to do it faster. She spotted dust as tiny as an ant in places and kept telling him to do it again. Roger knew that it didn’t matter if it was that small. He knew that she was just trying to make it harder for him, but he obeyed and did as she said. He thought, “Rich adults are always so mean to us poor kids”.

Five months passed by and Roger had been going every day to that house to work. It was so hard for him! He was not given enough to eat for lunch and supper. Mrs. Harris always made him overwork and was fussy about everything. Even with the smallest errors, he was beaten! Mrs. Harris was always so unreasonable! Roger almost gave up many times.

 He had just finished for that day and was about to walk out of the garden when something caught his eye. It was weird and long with two big wheels on each end. He had no idea what it was. He went closer and looked at it. “What is that?”, he wondered out loud.

“This? It is my bicycle.”, said a man behind him.

Roger jumped! He was startled. “I- I am sorry, sir. I shouldn’t still be here!”, said Roger. The old man laughed. “Are you a new chimney sweep? You are covered in soot. I am Mr. Harris, the owner of this house.”, he said.

“M-m-my name is R-Roger, sir.” Roger was so frightened by him. Mr. Harris was tall. He was wearing clothes which looked very expensive. Was he going to be mean to him like Mrs. Harris?

Before Roger could say anything, Mr. Harris started speaking. “It is ok. I can see that you are interested in bicycles. They were invented just a few days ago by Karl von Drais. They help you get to places faster. I am also very interested in them,” he said.

Roger could see that Mr. Harris really liked bicycles.

“Wow..”, said Roger. He was fascinated with it. 

Mr. Harris smiled. “Would you like to learn how to ride one too, son?”. “Yes sir… but I am just a poor boy working as a chimney sweep, while you are a rich and wise man. I have no right to ask you to teach me.”, said Roger. 

Mr. Harris frowned. “Yes, you are indeed correct. There are many advancements these days, like the steam engine being invented in 1712, the spinning jenny in 1764, the production system shifting from homes to factories, and also the advancements in the textile industry.”