The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-12-03
F|REMAN'S LIFE IS
 FULL OF HARDSHIP And Some People Say He
 Has a ''Cinch'
DUTIES ARE EXACTING.
He Risks His Life Day in and Day Out and Is Practically a Prisoner at All
 Hours
By ANGUS A. AGREE

Usually, when one sees a fireman sit
 ting around the fire station talking,
 laughing and having good time in gem
 eral with his fellow firemen, one is prone to exclaim: Gee, that fellows got cinch,"
 Well, dear reader, more glaring mis- 1 take was never made. Whenever that remark is made the speaker can usually
 be put down in the little red book as
 being one who is entirely ignorant of fireman's duties When one looks at a fireman, he looks at a man who has given himself to the city, man who has sworn to protect the property of the citizens, at the risk of his own life, | if needs be, for $50 a month.
 | The dangers attending firemans life are many. The discomforts are too many | to mention. This article is not intended
 to discourage those who might be con- templating entering the service of the
 city along those lines. or to make those
 already in believe that their life Is the | next one which must pay the toll, but
 is intended to show that the fireman is
 not pensioner as many seem to think. A fireman, off duty, is at liberty to
 roam the city at will and go where he l rleases, yet he is a prisoner. When the | fire alarm sounds, although he has been
 granted leave, he is expected to jump in with the rest of the boys, even though he | has on his Sunday clothes. He cannot l leave the city under penalty of summary dismissal except for five or ten days out of every 365.
 1 He is allowed to go to his meals, yet while at the table, on his way there or on | his way back, he is expected to answer all alarms. He cannot sleep at home. He
 must stay at the station to protect that | which is yours. At all unseemly hours I of the night, he is called from his bed
 to answer an alarm. And this weather, l it is fierce.
 1 Yet never a murmur is heard. Although | they are subjected to much danger and 1 the many discomforts, they are the jol- l Hest set of boys in the city. When one 1 begins to groWl, he is called ''piker'
 and that usually puts an end to it. l The grave danger to which fireman | is subjected was fully eXemplifed at the 1 Bragg building fire on November 20, when | John Massey, one of the ablest firemen, one of the most gentlemanly fellows who | ever rode a fire wagon, met his death in such tragic manner, and when two other gallant young men came so near meeting their deaths.
 The floor upon which these men were | fighting the flames which threatened to destroy whole city block looked as | solid and as sound as a dollar. The l spot upon which they were standing had | never been burned. Yet without warn l ing heavy piece of machinery, weigh l ing 5000 pounds, came crashing through l the floors above, on through the next two l floors beneath them, taking one of them to death, and the other two to injury. | These men were fighting for the preserva-
 ton of property in which they had not | the least financial interest. Yet one or 1 them paid the toll with his life.
 l Since the death of MT. Massey. he and l the other firemen have been criticised | for going on that floor, saying that It l was too great risk to take. Possibly | it was. Probably they knew that the 1 three ton press was on the fourth f1oor | but took their lives in their hands
 for the express purpose of saving an | other mans property. Many of these l same people who have, criticised MT. Massey, the Inartyred fireman, and his | fellows for taking this risk were equal | ly if not more active in criticisng the fremen for not entering the Armour | building when it was falling in. In
 the first case they are fools for un- dertaking such a risk in the sec | ond instance they are towards for not
 entering a falling building in the face 1 of instant death.
 Inconsistent?
 l All this the fireman has to face, and yet some say that he has cinch The principal reason they say he has cinch | is because he chats and laughs with his comrades and is sitting around the fire station Take bunch of men sentenced | to be hanged and put them all together | in one cell, and even on the execution | eve there will at some time be signs of merriment among them. It is but human l nature.
 Who fanciSs jumping (not crawling) out of bed at al hours of the night a cinch? Who calls riding through biting cold at breakneck speed cinch? Who calls entering burning building with a wet hose on a. cold day or night cinch? Who fancies going out in the cold half dressed and getting on the rest of his clothes on the side of a flying fire wagon a cinch? Who calls falling through a floor in company with a three ton piece of machinery cnch? Who calls hav- ing to stay away from home and loved
 ones 355 days in every 365 cinch? Who
 oa lla sIeepinp away from home a cinch?