The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-08-14
DOLLY DALRYMPLE
(Continued from Page Six)

have painted in your own mind as to the ideal fireman.
 If you told Captain Taylor this, I'm sure he'd wave the thought away with a kindly motion of his hand, and say that you were according him too much credit, but nevertheless you go away with that feeling after you've had l chat with him. realizing that the man is big and capable and strong.
 It has always been puzzle to my mind-worse than d Pigs in Clover puzzle, why anybody would choose q firemans life above all others to fol- low. and this thought came to my mind as Captain Taylor showed me over the orderly. well kept station house, No. 5 where everything is as neat as a pin tidy and in order-from the big boots and trousers that are placed by the bedside of the fire laddies so that they jump into them at night at the first sound of the "tingle belle.' to the little white beds, immaculate and neat, in which the fireman gets little or no sleep-restless disordered, no matter how much or little.
 Why did I choose to become a fire man. Captain Taylor repeated the ques- ton I asked. Perhaps the excitement. the adventurous spirit of the game had something to do with my decision. As a matter of fact when I was little boy I liked everything connected with the fire department and when I grew up I be- longed to the volunteer department of Pratt City. where lived, and that was a stepping stone to the position I now hold in the Birmingham fire department" l"
 'I have seen many thrilling sights and have been through some very disastrous fires during my service, he continued. Perhaps tn eworst fire, the most hope less, was the Birmingham Railway, Light and Power company. The hottest fire. one when the hose had to be turned on the flremen so that we could get through with our work. was the old Twenty-first street fire, the building that is now occupied by the Ledger. The biggest fire during the past 10 or F years was the Armour fire, which called out nearly every station in the city from Vivian to East Lake,.
 Have you ever had an accident-I mean anything serious to happen to you during . fire" I asked curiously.
 Captain Taylor rubbed his eyes and looked at me as if I ought to know about the very narrow escape he had only a few months ago, when a big stream of water from the hose hit him square in the eyes and knocvked him out completely; in fact. it was ''who-hit- Billy Patterson sort of an effect, for he didn't know what the trouble was until he was taken home and the doctors examined him. only to find that 1t was wonder he hadn't been made stone blind instead of temporary suf- ferer from the blow. For several weeks Captain Taylor had to undergo severe treatm for his eyes, sort of mist forming over them, which made it neces- sary for him to wear glasses-sOmething that he'd never done before.
 Again he told me of thrilling and dan gerous fire he was fighting some years ago when piece of timber from above hit him on the head and he never knew anything about what had happened until he found himself tucked away in his bed. the gash of several inches on his head being plastered up and his family and friends anxiously inquiring as to his safety.
 Talk to me about bravery! Why. right here in Birmingham cur splendid fire lad dies every day of their lives display a Leroism that is marvelous-a force and . strength that is unbelievable until you