. Town and city. The Scaling Ladder The hook at the top will be turnedto catch over the window sillabove it 70 TOWN AND CITY A man does not save another by accident. He has toknow how. He strives for it; he drills for it. But beforethe striving and the drilling there must come a clearhead and steady nerves, for the drill tests both of these. When he drills aman must learn tojump from a third-storywindow into a fire netwithout a momentshesitation; he must bestrong enough andskillful enough to usethe slender scaling lad-der; he must learn topull a fellow firemanthrough a fourth orfifth-story win
. Town and city. The Scaling Ladder The hook at the top will be turnedto catch over the window sillabove it 70 TOWN AND CITY A man does not save another by accident. He has toknow how. He strives for it; he drills for it. But beforethe striving and the drilling there must come a clearhead and steady nerves, for the drill tests both of these. When he drills aman must learn tojump from a third-storywindow into a fire netwithout a momentshesitation; he must bestrong enough andskillful enough to usethe slender scaling lad-der; he must learn topull a fellow firemanthrough a fourth orfifth-story window andcarry him safely to theground. He must alsobe able to relax hismuscles; he must actas if he had fainted and let another man carry himdown the dizzy ladder as if he were the one beingrescued. He must learn how to stand in any perilousplace without being dizzy; he must be ready to do anydangerous thing without being afraid. Truly a firemanneeds to be as brave as he is A Water TowerIt pours a stream of water into a high building FIRES 71 If he finds that he loses his head, or is dizzy or afraid;if he cannot climb and jump fearlessly, and crawl throughsuffocating smoke, he may be useful somewhere else inthe world, but he cannot be a successful fireman. In1903 there were over seven thousand men in the servicein Greater New York, and the city paid about fivemillion dollars for their services that year. No doubt their hardest work is in the tallest tenementhouses, because the greatest danger and the greatestsuffering are just there. At the same time almost half thefires of New York City are in those very buildings. NewYork learned this when her tenement-house commissionstudied up the subject of air shafts and fires. It seems that ever since air shafts were first put intobuildings firemen have said that they act like hugechimneys, drawing the fire up and flashing it into everywindow on the way. This is evidently true, for the samecommission investigated
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