Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1892-09-09
AT A FIRE IN JAPAN.
FUNNY L!LLlPUTiAk METHODS OF
JAPANESE elREMeN.

Fire Engines Fiat Ar. IT Yer, Littit
Service 10 Fighting Flam es-Plnck,
Hook and Ladder ne. Wh. Show 20
Judgment Ii Thei, Work
Suddenly our practicec ears caught the
distant boom Of the Gre bell Everyoody
| else heard t and .he effect was electrical
While one Of The ner ran ul The ladde.
| and began 20 hammer away at our station
bell, the officers hurried on their aniforms
| and sprang On to sheir horses. Kept ready
| caparisoned, 1he captain armln9 himsel;
with huge xisp of horsehair, the lie1-
tenant Selling his standard-a spear, from
the end OF which hung horse tail Mean
while. with much shouting and nc doubt
bad language, the brigade" had harnessed
itself to the three squirts, and the process.
sion was formed-officers leading, engines
next, hook and ladder men with US three
visitors bringing up the rear. Out we
went into the snowbound street, up which
a fierce northeaster was sweeping Ali
Shinagawa seemed &c have sprung into
active life during the few minutes which
had elapsed since she first notes of the ere
bell.
Men, women and children swarmed out
of every doorway, clustered about the frs.
door balconies, and even crowded the roofs
all chattering. gesticulating and utterine
EXPLANATIONS of terror and wonder as they
gazed at the broad lurid glare in the sky
Far away as they were from the scene OF
confagration, there was no retiring after
their first curiosity had been satisfied. A
man in Victoria street, Westminster, who
sees the reflection of fire. say. in the city,
may go to bed with q certain sense of Sc.
curity. but because two or three miles
separate the japanese spectator from the
burning houses he can be by no means sure
that in the course of an hour or so he NAV
not have to rush out of his house with as
many of his Lares and Penates as he can
gather together.
When we reached the locality of the fire
striking scene was presented to our eyes.
From half dozen houses the flames were
bursting forth with almost demoniacal
noise and fury. Half dozen more hao
already been Quilted and were mere shape
less shells of smoldering timber Hun
dreds of men and women were staggering
out of the houses in the line of fire beneath
the weight Of their humble household
goods, while piles of bedding, domestic
utensils, stocks in trade and all sorts of
lumber lay about in the snow. More than
once a quartet of men swiftly passed us,
bearing on their shoulders shapeless
something wrapped in dark cloth, and we
knew that the fire had claimed other vic
tins than mere shanties of paper and
wood. Our squirts got to work with COM
men6able smartness, and, as there hap
pened to be an abundance of water, were
soon pouring their feeble dribbles on the
flames.
Thud! thudi thud went the squirt han
dies, but the flames seemed to roar with
laughter and dance as if in mockery of the
poor little thin streams of water which
were turned on them, and drove the lieu
tenant from house to house with such ra-
pidity that more than once it seemed as ii
nothing but miracle could save him
Meanwhile the hook and ladder corps was
hard at work, and if we smiled with con-
tempt at the puny efforts of the ''engines"
we could not withhold our hearty applause
at the indomitable pluck, the energy and
the activity of the poor little fellows who
manipulated the hooks and ladders. Sal
amander-like, they seemed to revel in work
where the flames were fercest and the dan
ger greatest
But cui bono all this heroic dash and
self sacrifice unbacked by common sense?
We three representatives OF the west
watched it all with almost feeling of
anger that, for the sake Of little pride
pocketing, such wanton destruction Of
hearths and homes, such risking of valu-
able lives should be tolerated by people
in so many other respects advanced think
ers and practical reformers. One engine
from Waiting street Or single American
fire company could have nipped the fire in
the bud an hour before, but we were in
yited guests, and besides, being quite
aware of the delicate grounds upon which
the relationship between us aid our Japa
nese hosts stood, were difident in prefer
ing advice
But at last we could stand it no longer,
for the fire, ably seconded in its ravages
by a brisk northeast wind, threatened to
consume the entire quarter as far as the
city boundaries. So we pushed our way
forward to where the captain was thunder
ing anathemas and exhortations III man
ner which plainly betrayed that he had
lost self control, and with due humility
suggested that if the hook and ladder COM
pany was to turn its attention to a group
of yet unburned houses standing in the
direct line of the fire instead of wasting
CuCISy VI d DCGOCl CtSlAoC u pun AONSCS
which nothing could save a gap would be
created over which the flames, furious as
they were, would hardly leap.
The old gentleman did not welcome our
suggestion with enthusiasm, nor did we
expect that he would. Indeed he affected
to treat it cavalierly, and under the plea
that we were standing in dangerous posi-
ton motioned us back into the crowd. But
we had the satisfaction of observing that
the extreme urgency of-the situation had
prompted him to act on our advice, and we
presently saw the hook and ladder COM
pany timber up and dash off at the double
| toward the group of houses indicated by
u.s. The inhabitants of these shanties,
| sauatting outside with their heaps of
goods and chattels, evidently clinging with
| true Old World tenacity to the hope that
| the gods or the fremen or something
would stave calamity off their homes, re
monstrated warmly when the hook and
| ladder men told them they were about
to take the unheard of step of pulling
down untouched houses, but the captain
riding up soon silenced their objections ir
I harangue which from it's sound was evi
| IDENTIFY very much more forcible than ele
| giant, and the work of destruction, OF rather
| of salvation, commenced, and in very
| few minutes the hooks and batterihg poles
had made an open space which was an ef-
fectual bar to the progress of the flames.
But even they seemed to be imbued with
spirit of patriotism, for they made fierce
efforts to leap the gulf and SO nullify the
| counsel Of the ''foreign devils"
| But feebler and feebler grew their leaps,
and gradually they subsidized into grum-
bling and snorting and Kissing which
seemed to express almost in language
bafled rage. So at o'clock in the morn
ing the great Shinagawa fire was staid,
and we returned to the fire station with
| our hosts and their bruised and singed
subordinates. Temple Bar.
His Idea of Ladies.
1t was the day after one of the sensa-
tional races of the year had been run at