Evening star., 1914-07-26
.F|REMEN ACTIVE
WHEN OFF DUTY
Are Best Housekeepers in the
District and Ply Many
Trades.
ALL THE STATION HOUSES
ARE MODELS OF NEATNEss
Vacant Lots and Parkings Nearby
Are Converted Into Flower and
Truck Gardens-Musicians.


are men-they admit it. Furthermore,
they differ from their better seven
eighths in admitting that they have pien-
ty of time to dicker around with other
useful pastimes after they have made
their beds and scrubbed their floors
There are not merely one or two OF
these model male housekeepers, either.
There are 4S5 of them. Besides Keeping
their houses scrupulously clean and al
ways in "apple pie order, they 90 the
accustomed work of men, as gardeners,
poultry raisers, machinists, cabinet max
ers, etc. Greatest of all, they are real
heroes, rsking their lives to protect the
lives and properties of their fellow-citi-
zens
Perhaps you have already guessed that
this is to be story about the firemen OF
the District of Columbia, who have rec
ord that is the envy of all other fire de-
partments throughout the United States
For twenty-four hours each day these
49, officers and men are on constant duty,
ready to jeopardize their lives at an in
stant's warning in the path of duty.
They are stationed in twenty-seven en-
gine companies, ten truck companies,
two chemical companies and one fireboat
For four days and nights, consecutlvely,
they are kept on duty. They get one day
off in five.
These men are expert housekeepers,
each man with his daily stunt before him.
They make the beds in thir bunkrooms.
they keep their engine not onV polished
like a mirror. but in the best of me-
chanical condition. knowing that lives de-
pend on its not being found wanting in
time of need. They keep their station
houses "shipshape.'' There is a place
for everything and everything must be in
its place. They keep their floors cleaner
Kitchen thSV
keep their horses carefully as the
| most costly race horse.
Diversity in Time Filling.
Much of the spare time of these men,
for they tell you that they have more
time than they know what to do with,
| is spent just at present in learning to be
chauffeurs in anticipation of the motoriz-
| ing of the entire department. Some of
| their other time-fillers are knitting
shawls. raising vegetable and flower gar
| dens, making dolly houses, making, in
, fact, sundry small articles for the con-
| veniences of their wives and the amuse-
| ment of their children.
| They are occasionally called in to sub
| jugate a belligerent inebriated husba nd.
| TO rescue a pet cat from tree, to climb
| through second-story windows to open
doors for women who have forgotten
| their keys, to punish obstreperous young
| sters who are getting beyond their moth
| ers control. and to mend the playthings
! OF little ones in the neighborhood. They
| solder up holes in the pans and kettles
OF the housewives near their station and
| make themselves generally useful and
| guardians Of their neighborhood.
| Not only within their station houses
but what small place they have outside
| is kept tidy and beautified. Nearly every
| engine house has its small lawn and
flower garden. AS buildings become more
congested in their neighborhood their
| garden space is more limited, but they
little is LETT to them. The suburban
houses have the advantage of larger
space for cultivation and some of them
have home-grown fruits and vegetables
for the family dinner table.
Boasts Best Garden.
The Tealeytown house. which shelters
| motor truck No. II and engine No. 2t
| which is to be motorized before winter
boasts of the best fremen's garden in
| the District. Thirteen of the seventeen
men in the house have laid out and cared
for i large garden adjoining the house
| From it they have already picked nine
| barrels of string beans and about 13C
| cucumbers. They have 30 tomatoe
plants with twenty-five and thirty to-
| matoes on vine. They also are raising
| lima beans. corn, cantaioupeS, eggplant
| peppers and carrots.
| Tenleytown iiremen are tied with those
| of No. Is engine company, stationed a,
9th street and Potomac avenue southeast
in shawl making. Last winter each
house knitted forty-eight beautiful
| shawis. The best knitters at the Tenley-
town house are Driver John +. Steine
Dennis Riley. II. c. James. Il. L. Volt
T. f. Copeland K. o. Lusby. w L. Hur-
ley. II. Hecht and Capt. w. J; Garner
The best knitters at No. IS engine house
are Capt. Joseph Simms. Engineer
Charles w. Buhler. F. G. Berry, j. NJ
Davis, E. C. Martin and Charles NJ. Nor
ton.
The men at these two houses also en-
joy banjo. mandolin and guitar concerts
The performers at Tenleytown are: Ban
jO. 4. l.. Woltz. and guitar. Lieut.
Charles F.. Roe. At engine company No
Is Engineer Buhler has fashioned him
self u guitar. and the other members OF
the orchestra, George NJ. Thompson and
F. G. Berry, are mandolin players, and
L. p. Martin. pianist.
| Some members of No. engine COM
pany, North Carolina avenue between 9th
and 9TH streets southeast, have builded
themselves a thirty-fve-foot motor boat
| which they use in turn when on furlough
for trips down the river and for fishing
and cunning trips. This boat has proved
very seaworthy. has a glass cabin and its
owners claim it Is one of the speedies,
! title craft on the river. 1t was built by
= D. L. Rollins. Richard Price. Over