Fires and Firemen [pp. 199-208]

GREAT FIRES.
the ladder, and descends amid the long, loud shout that hails his
safety and his triumph!
Is this but a picture of fancy-the coruscations of an inflamed
imagination? No such scenes have occurred a thousand times in
the iannals of our cities, arnd they show the courage, the chivalry,
the heroism of our firemen. All honor, then, to the brave sentinels
and soldiers of peace!
But there are other properties of character in the fireman, which,
if less strilking and brilliant, are equally honorable and praiseworthy.
The disiterested beinevolecce, the unselfish devotion, the philan thropic purposes, looking( to no recompense but a consciousness of
well-performed services, which are the parents of all such associa tions as this, and amiong the highest characteristics of human nature, and
which, when wxidely developed among a people, are the sutrest reli aIice, the richest property of a nation. Rightly did I hear an elo quent orator say in Congress, that if we had no other standing army,
our country would be safe in her firemen-her sword in war, as
they are her shield in peace.
NOTE BY THE EDITOR.-GREAT FIRES.
The above paper, contributed by our eloquent friend, cannot be
considered altogether out of place in the Review. A glowing fancy
has painted, in strongest colors, the terrors of the devastating elemnent which sweeps away our cities at a breath, and involves in ruin
great communities. Are not fires and firemen subjects of practical
interest enough, to secure them a place among the other agencies
which control our lives and fortunes?
In every city in the Union, the FIRE DEPARTMENT has come to be
of leading importance, and comprises the most active, energetic, and
valuable citizens. They are a surety to our property and our
lives-the watchmen who snuff the first approaches of danger.
It is true that their institution is of modern date. Other ages had
little of the kind. The conflagration raged at will, and mocked the
undisciplined efforts of mere crowds, awing them into blind dismay or
stupid resiygnation!
''The FIRE or forcing ENGINE is ascribed to the inventive genius of
Ptolemiy Philadelphus. It is supposed the Romans were acquainted
with some such invention, for the letter of Pliny to Trajan coinplains that Nicomedia was destroyed by a neglect in using it. The
ancients, howNever, must hlave made little use of the engine, since it
is ascribed as the independent invention of a Germtan. In 1518S, it
was usedl in Augsburg, Germany. Engines began to be built in 1657
extensiv-ely by Hantsch, and were introduced into Paris, 1699.
These were very rude, and it was long after that the air chamber
was appended. Small engines of this construction weighing sixteen
poundls, and carried I)y one man, threw a jet of water thirty feet,
and this wHas the model! The hose was invented by two Dutchmrnen
at Amsterdam, and it is said that before its introduction the city lost
1,024,130 florins in ten years, and afterward but S18,355 florins in
five years, by fire. Mr. Perkins added the rivets, instea(l of seamns.
Of the subsequent improvement in the engine, the text has sufficiently
spoken.
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