Reminiscences of the old fire laddies and volunteer fire departments of New York and Brooklyn. . the duty was laborious, and the prospect of a good nights workahead favorable, the partysoon were revelling in theluxury of a little booze,and kept repeating the dosesat regular intervals. Soonthe jug was emptied, and theforaging was at an end. Thenext day, of course, theowner of the booze missedthe liquid, and at once under-stood who must have takenit. It was too good to keep,and the family was notifiedby the lady that the whiskywith which for some timepast she had been accus-tomed to bathe her rh
Reminiscences of the old fire laddies and volunteer fire departments of New York and Brooklyn. . the duty was laborious, and the prospect of a good nights workahead favorable, the partysoon were revelling in theluxury of a little booze,and kept repeating the dosesat regular intervals. Soonthe jug was emptied, and theforaging was at an end. Thenext day, of course, theowner of the booze missedthe liquid, and at once under-stood who must have takenit. It was too good to keep,and the family was notifiedby the lady that the whiskywith which for some timepast she had been accus-tomed to bathe her rheumaticfeet and legs had been drankby thirsty firemen, and therewas not a drop left in the jug. The Story got OUt, and an in- Francis J. Reilly, Chief of nth Battalion quisitive asked oneof thefire- Kew v°rk F,re DePartment- men who had been of the party how he liked the whisky he gotout of that jug. The reply was given with a smacking of the lips: Oh, it was immense ; I drank about three horns myself. Furthercomment is unnecessary. Tastes vary, as the old woman said whenshe kissed the 392 Reminiscences of the Old Fire Laddies. The old Commissioner had some very practical views concerningmodes of extinguishing fires. Said he to me on one occasion: Every one knows that fire is easiest put out in the the tendency in America, of late years, has been to concentrateattention upon means of extinguishing great fires when under head-way. The steam fire-engine is a grand invention ; but we want alsoa cheap $10 engine in every house, or every neighborhood, to attackfire at the beginning, while it is controllable. A garden-pump, de-livering water through a hose, will, with three gallons of water, putout a very large and formidable fire. With the great fire enginesthere is also a desire to throw the water high. Everybody has seenmany hogsheadfuls of water thrown completely over a burningbuilding, so that it fell upon the ground on the opposite side, andmany more pourin
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, bookidldpd63166850, bookyear1885
