The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1874-03-05
PHE ,FIREMAN'S STORY.

Inc ooA'
THE -FIREMAN'S STORY.
WeY, ,tl,ere's, no mistake about it,
ours IS a dangerous calling, though
not quite so dangerous perhaps as
many think. There's some people as
haSe an idea that we're a regular lot
of fire. CATERS -salimanders,a as they
eau ,eJn :. They pietpre ns'alweys a.
rushing Through flahles, Sor hanging
onibyt the eyeIfds somewhere, with q
woman over q one, shoulder and a
couple of children over the other.
But, 10r bless you, That's thesort of
thing as, yOu only see ON the stage,
or read about Just at the "to be con-
tinued in our next" paft t-of a. a.story,,
wliere q, fellow is leftyfnS a blazing
room, or hanging from u. third floor
window-sill for q week. !. . We'll risk
our lives fresY serPyqlEs a14To risk
'em many z time; but Tor all thatWe,
SSOaAaitf 6 ST ys5s, shs tsss Ss sssas
of more firelifen lost and fewer other
"gssssxtN,A. ,n.1A@s,..,@,,,, .,,,,,
you are in y Rouse that Is on fire,
iialhE4bun3t jDhf someWhere, cd 6 to
bar Your passage out, and then seeiNg
that you are M FOR H, you know that
there ,isnnothing for itpbutur .rlsh
through, and You act according !, You
lowers Your head So as, to make yer
helmet act as sort of cutter, and
catch as, much OF the blaze as pos
sible, and then drawing yer breath
and clinching yer teeth, and with all
sorts of thoughts flashing through
your mind, you make the dash. But
no fireman W0uldgo into q room that
was already in flames. , Untler ortlin-
ary.circumstances there would be no
need for him tU do 50, IF there were
people In the room, and they had got
to the window, TREY could be:got ont
with the escape ;.while II they hadn't
got to the windowyiit would be. fifty
chances to ono against their being
alive. ThesmOkeWould most likely
have done its work on them before
the.flamcs broke out 80 far Us hui
man life is cOncernett,, smoke is smOre
fatal than fire; and tits perhaps, well
that is, for suflicatiOn is more
merciful death thanS burning would
be. I've had one Ortwo pretty bad
burns, and once was I'm the smoke
till Il dropped ipsensible, SO that L
know what Pmitalking about. illi'lS
What caused me to stay in the
smoke 80 long Well, I'll tell you
the only one thing that could have
made me, stay-tO save my life. 1T
was at my first fire. / had been In the
brigade some months, and knew my
duties. as, far, as instruction and drill
could teach me, but till this night i
had never been atan ACTUAL fire. s's
Well, just before twelve O'Clock,
and while I was on duty, they tele-
graphed to us from the next station
YOU know each station isgenerally in
direct. telegraphic communication
with three or four otI,ers-tfat there
was a,fire at a big draper's up their
way. i gave the alarm, and i'm less
than q minute my mates were out
and buckling-tO, and in less than five
minutes we were dashiDg along the
road, giving mouth to our ''Clear the
way !s'11 when we got to the place
there were two engines at work, and
a great crowd cheering and shouting.
We'll, 4 wasa q strong, healthy young
fellow, and had joined the brigade as
much from liking to the work as
any thing, seeing there was a dozen
other things I could earn the same
money at; for three-and Isixpei1cc q
day Which Is what you are started
at, isn't killing pay However, that
is neither here nor there; the hustle
of getting to the fire, and the still
greater hustle that was going on at 1t,
stirred my blood, and made me feel
in u fire. -earting frame Of mind
wanted chance to do a bit of real
work, and before had been on the
ground q couple of minutes got 1t.
kman from one Of the other sta
tiOns was brought down the escape
regularly dead beat, and could Just
gasp out that he believed. two of the
shOp-girls were still in the room that
he fad just come out of, beaten back
byI the heat and smoke. That was
handkerchief in water, sticks 1t my
belt so Is to be handy, mounts tht
ladder, and creeps into the room.
threw myself flat, and though 1t was
drcadfullys hot. ? l. managed to keeI
pretty well underithesmOke. Open
ing my eyes just for an instant.
caught a sort of glimmer Of some
thing white, and wriggling myself tt
it, i found it was one of the girls
who was, of course, quite insensible
gotta good hold ofsller, and thet
talfinE b suck at my handkerchiof
made my way back ahd put her iiitt
the escape. / stepped out for &
second or two just to get breath, an,
then In I went again to try for th'
other poor, girl, worked weak I,
work.ker along ying down, as hat
done the other 80 hoping might b
able to stagger over the few feet Z
the window, L rose to my feet bu
the sulphury smoke fioored me in al
instant, j dropped senseless with he
i'm my arms, and knew no more till
found myself coming-to in the opel
air.
How had / been saved? Well, il
this way 3 Fastened TO the top Of tli
escape is a lifeline, which we take II
our hand when we 20 In among tn
smoke, 80 that we may guide our
selves back by It. had stuck hart
&c. this, and when, 1 went down hat
given II such a jerk, that q man VIII,
was on the escape watching for me
guessed pretty well how. things ha'
Sone. and hauling in steadily brOugh