Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1876-03-02

his destination with acrash like The sound
OF bad boy tumbling through the roof Of
a glass house.
And when he arrives there. What
thens Well, will tell exactly what han.
pens then: but before doing that. | mus,
ask you to swallow few nice. dry, inn
portant facts.
You understand, of course, that no prea,
business attends to itself, and in the Fire
department each man has a particular
place and some particular duties assigned
to him. The whole city, from the Bat.
terry Park at one end to Fordham at the
other, is divided into districts. each of
which has certain number of alarm
boxes and station houses in it. The sta
ton houses are occupied by companies of
firemen, and are built of brick. three
stories high, with wide green gates in
front. The first floor is level with the
street, and contains the engine, in the rear
OF which are stalls for the horses. On
the second story there is a sitting room
nicely carpeted and papered, containing q
small library and pictures of celebrated
flremen on the walls. Above this are the
dormitories, with long rows of narrow
iron beds, and wash-room. Altogether.
these station houses look very comforta-
bic, and many boys will, perhaps, consid-
er fireman's very desirable life.
suppose that you and | drop into one
quite by chance some afternoon or even
ing; 1t matters little what the hour is for
the firemen have no respite, and are on
duty all day and all night.
As we enter the house from the street
we are at first impressed with the marvel
Gus neatness of everything. The floors are
scrubbed to degree of whiteness that
would do a tidy woman's heart good. The
kalsomine on the walls is spotiess, and u
great big brass gong shines like minia-
ture sun. The engine, standing in the
center, is as bright as though it had Just
come from the builders hands. Its wheels
are painted flaming scarlet aud every bit
OF brass-work is looking glass Yet it
was at fire only last night, and was
drenched with water and clouded with
smoke. The furnace is filled with fuel,
and brand of cotton soaked in kerosene
lies near by, ready to be lighted the mo-
ment it is wanted. Perhaps you have not
observed the pipe that comes up through
the floor. But if you look at the little
dial over the furnace, you will see that
twenty-five pounds of pressure are regis
tered, which amount of steam is constantly
maintained in the boiler by means of this
pipe, which is attached to another boiler
in the cellar beneath; SO that when the
engine is called out, and her own fire is
lighted, she is Immediately ready for use
In the stalls behind the front apartment
three plump, well groomed horses are Sc
curely battered, with the pet name of each
written in golden letters over his bed.
Some of the tiremen, who are mostly
young, why and muscular, are in the
parlor overhead, reading or playing dom
inoes. Others are chatting in the rear
yard.
Although the station is on noisy thor
oughfare, it is as quiet as a church with
in, and an overfcd kitten is coiled up in
tranquil sleep on the door-mat. But IA
surprise is in store for US, and when it
comes it shakes our nerves.
crash The roof seems to be falling in
Crash! crash! crash! again and again
The three horses come galloping ont of
the stable one after the other, and stop
short in front of the engine and h1se-car-
riage. The men leap about like bound
ing Arabs. There is rattle Of harness {;
the drivers spring TO their seats, and the
wide doors fly open. Ready!
And the Captain of the station, who has
been standing quietly in a corner with a
watch III his hand, comes toward us, who
are dumbfounded, and smilingly says to
us: " Exactly thirteen seconds, gentle
menu What on earth does he mean =?
Simply that, in order to show us what his
men could do, he gave false alarm, and
that little more than a quarter of min
ute after Master Electricity had sounded
the gong, every man was at his place,
horses were harnessed, and all things were
ready for fight with the flames.
Whenever the knob in the little houses
on the telegraph poles is pulled, the same
things occur in at least four engine
houses. The moment the hammer OF the
gong falls, which it does when touched
by chat marvellous fellow, Electricity, it
disengages the horses from their halters
by connecting iron rod, and they, trained
TO their duties, spring to tn cir places with
as much eagerness as the men. The same
signal tells exactly where the fire is, and
within ten minutes four engines are on
the spot, sucking water from the mains
and throwing it eighty or ninety feet
high.
Ii the knob is pulled second time,
four more engines are called; and il
again, four more; and by repeating the
call, all the engines in the city may be
brought TO the ground.
Doesn't all this recall the story of Jack
the Giant-killer to your mind? Electric
Ity is Jack, who, although such bit of a
fellow, has the power to command this
great giant of the Fire Department
Nm III. Ridetng, in st. Ntcl.oLas for