. Our firemen. A history of the New York fire departments, volunteer and paid ... 650 engravings; 350 biographies. . ke an activeinterest in the munici-pal a hairs of Alexan-dria. It is related that in the last j-ear of his life he was one day riding down KingStreet, when a fire broke out near the market. He was accompanied by hisservant, also on horseback, and noticed that Friendship Company engiue waspoorly manned, though a crowd of well-dressed idlers stood about. Riding upto the crowd he employed very vigorous language in rebuking their indifferenceat such a time. He ended by calling out,
. Our firemen. A history of the New York fire departments, volunteer and paid ... 650 engravings; 350 biographies. . ke an activeinterest in the munici-pal a hairs of Alexan-dria. It is related that in the last j-ear of his life he was one day riding down KingStreet, when a fire broke out near the market. He was accompanied by hisservant, also on horseback, and noticed that Friendship Company engiue waspoorly manned, though a crowd of well-dressed idlers stood about. Riding upto the crowd he employed very vigorous language in rebuking their indifferenceat such a time. He ended by calling out, It is your business to lead in thesematters, and throwing the bridle of his horse to his servant, he leaped offand seized the brakes, followed by a crowd that gave the engine such a shaking up as it never knew afterwards. Washington voted for the last time, in Alexandria, in 1799, a few weeksprevious to his death, which occurred just before the dawn of the nineteenthcentury. How the Old Volunteers of New York would have enjoyed the spectacle!The great General pulling on a rope! The survivors must feel a greater. GEORGE WASHINGTON AS A FIREMAN. 772 OUR Fl R E M E N. pride ill their profession, knowing thai Washington had been one of theirnumber. Tlie rapid rise of New York is unprecedented in history. Nearly two cen-turies and a half ago the island was a wilderness north of the Battery. In1651, Indians, in canoes, paddled about the waters of the Hudson and the EaglRiver. About twenty years before, the whole island had been purchased from theManhattans for the sum of twenty-four dollars. Think of it, ye rich New Yorkersof to-day, who willingly pay thousands of dollars for a few yards of this sameland ! Two hundred and fifty years back a lire alarmed thecolonists, and becauseit destroyed much of their property, set them 1 hinkin<r about finding waysand means to prevent such occurrences. Wooden chimneys and thatched roofswere often the cause of fires, and in 1G48 an ordinance wa
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