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A {* VOLUME II. OXFORD, N. C., WEDNESDAY, MARCH 8, 1876. NUMBER 10. the FOSE DEPAUTMEWT OF ]VEW YOKK CITF. The Fire Department of New York City, which electricity con trols, is the finest and most ex tensive in the world. Great big London and brilliant Paris have nothing to compare with it. It costs us a good deal of money to keep it going, but we are proud of it, and no one who has seen it at work can fail to admire it. The engines and horses are the best that can be obtained, and the men are skillful and brave. Per haps you have stood in some street when an alarm of fire has been sent out from one of the boxes. A minute or two after ward a fireman has dashed around the corner, clearing the waj’ for his engine, which has followed along behind at race-horse speed, with bells ringing and a trail of smoke pouring from the chimney, —the wheels a bright scarlet, and every bit of brass-work throwing back the sunshine in blinding rays. Then the hose carriage has come,—a drum on wheels, with hundreds of yards of leather tub ing wrapped around it, and a half a dozen men clinging to their seats for their lives, and slipping on their coats as they were whirl ed onward. It seemed like a calvary charge in a battle, and has stirred your blood with ex citement. The busiest man on tlie thronged street has paused to watch the heroes galloping to their work. The vehicles in the roadway, that were all wedged in together, have draw'n aside and left a clear passage in the center. So, within a few mintutes of tlie time of the alarm, tlie gallant firemen have reached the burning building, and have scaled the walls and poured torrents of wa ter on the flames, perhaps putting tliem out in less than half an hour, and perhaps fighting them for the greater part of a da}^. The moment the knob in the little house is pulled, all the cog wheels revolve with a noise like clock-work, and Eilectricity leaps out of the roof and along the ivrres with a -warning to the en gine houses. Away he goes over the highest buildings in the city, up this street, down that street, now along a narrow cornice sev enty feet high, then around a church steeple, stopping for the millionth part of a second on a fifth story, then down to the ground, never pausing until he alights at his destination with a crash like the sound of a bad boy tumbling through the roof of a glass house. And when he arrives there? What then ? Well, I will tell ex actly what happens then ; but be fore doing that, I must ask )'ou to swallow a few, nice, dry, im portant facts. You understand, of course, that no great business attends to it self, and in the Fire Department each man hf s a particular place and some particular duties assign ed to him. The whole city, from the battery Park at one end to Fordham at the other, is divided into districts, each of which has a certain number of alarm-boxes and station-houses in it. The station-houses are occupied by companies of firemen, and are built of brick, three stoiies 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 a small library and pictures of celebrated firemen on the walls. Above this are the dormitories, with long rows of narrow iron beds, and a wash-room. Altogether, these sta tion-houses look very comforta ble, and many bo3's will, perhaps, consider a fireman’s a very desir able life. Suppose that jmu and I drop into one quite by chance some af ternoon or evening; it matters little what the hour is, for the fire men 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 marvelous neatness of everything. The floors are scrub bed to a degree of whiteness that would do a tidy woman’s heart good. The calcimine on the walls is spotless, and a groat big brass gong shines like a minia ture sun. The engine, standing in the center, is as bright as though it had just come from the builder’s hands. Its wheels are painted a flaming scarlet, and ev ery bit of the brass-work is a looking-glass. Yet it was at a fire only last night, and was drenched with water and clouded with smoke. The furnace is filled with fuel, and a brand of cotton soaked in kerosene lies near b\', ready to be lighted the moment 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 fur- nance, you will see that twenty- five pounds of pressure are regis- teted, which amount of steam is constantly maintained in the boiler b}^ 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 securely hal tered, with the pot name of each written in golden letters over his bed. Some of the firemen, who are mostly j'oung, wiry, and muscular, are in the parlor over head, reading or playing domi- noe.s. Others are chatting in the rear yard. Although the station is on a noisy thoroughfare, it is as quiet as a church within, and an over fed kitten is coiled up in tranquil sleep on the door-mat. But a 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 out of the stable one after the other, and stop short in front of the engine and hose-carriage. The men leap about like bounding Arabs. There is a 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 his watch in his hand, comes toward us, who are dumbfounded, and smilingly sav’s to us : “Exactly thirteen seconds, gentlemen !” What on eartli does he mean f Simply that, in order to show us what his men could do, he gave a false alarm, and that a little more than a quarter of a minute after Master Electric ity had sounded the gong, every man was at his place, horses were harnessed, and all things were ready for a fight with the flames. Whenever the knob in the lit tle 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 that marvelous fellow Electricity, it disengages the horses from their halters by a connecting iron rod, and thejq trained to their duties, spring to their places with as much eager ness as the men. The same sig nal tells exactly where the fire is, and within ten minutes four en gines are on the spot, sucking water from the mains and throw ing it eighty or ninet}’ feet high. If the knob is pulled a second time, four more engines are call ed ; and if again, four more ; and by repeating the call, all the en gines in the city may be brought to the ground. Doesn’t all this recall the storj' of Jack the Giant-killer to j'our mind ? Electricity is Jack, who, although such a bit of a fellow, has the pow’er to command this great giant of the Fire Depart ment.—Si. Nicholas Jor March. CHEMISTKY FOB GIBES. BY E. TIIOMPSOX, D. D. Something that every woman should read. This is properly styled a utilitarian age, for the inquiry, “What profit?” meets us eveiywhere. It has entered the temples of learning, and attempt ed to thrust out important studies, because their immediate connec tion with hard money profits can not be demonstrated. There is one spot, however, into which it has not so generally introduced itself—the female academy—the last refuge of the fine arts and tine follies. Thither young ladies are too frequently sent, merely to learn how to dress tastefully and walk gracefully, pla}y write French and make waxen plumes and silken spiders—^all are ])retty, but why not inquire, “ What profit?”" I take my pen, not to utter a dissertation on female education, but to insist that young ladies be taught chemistry. They will thereby be better qualified to su perintend domestic affairs, guard against many accidents to which households are subject, and per- ha.ps be instrumental in saving life. We illustrate the last re mark by reference merely to the subject of poisons. The strong acids, such as nitric, muriatic and sulphuric, are viru lent poisons, yet frequently used in medicine, and the mechanic arts. Suppose a child in his ram bles among the neighbors, should enter a cabinet shop, and find a saucer of aquafortis (nitric acid) upon the work-bench, and in his sport, seize and drink a portion of it. He is convejmd home in great agonv’’. The phj’sician is sent for, but ere he arrives the child is a corpse. Now as the mother presses the cold clay to her breast and lips for the last time, how will her anguish be aggra vated to know that in the medi cine chest, or drawer, was some calcined magnesia, which, if time ly administered, would have sav ed her loveljq perchance her first and only boy. Oh ! what are all the bouquets and fine dresses in the world to her, compared with such knowledge? Take another case. A hus band returning home, on a sum mer afternoon, desires some acid ulous drink. Opening the cup board, he sees a small box, label led ,‘salts of lemon,” and making a solution of this, he drinks it freelj'. Presently he feels dis tress, sends for his wife, and as certains that he has drank a solu tion of oxalic acid, which she has procured to take stains from linen. The phj'sician is sent for; but the unavoidable delay attending ills arrival is fatal. When he ar rives, perhaps he sees upon the very table on which the weeping widow bow's her head, a piece of chalk, which, if given in time, would certainlj^ have prevented any mischief from the poison. Corrosive sublimate is the arti cle generally used to destroy the vermin which sometimes invest our couches. A solution of it is laid upon the floor in a tea-cup, when the domestics go down to dine, leaving the children up stairs to plaj’'; the infant crawls to the tea-cup and drinks. Now what think jmu would be the mother’s joy, if having studied chemistry, she instantly called to recollection the well ascertained fact, that there is in the hen’s nest an antidote to this poison ? She sends for some eggs, and breaking them, administers the white. Her child recovers, and she weeps for joy. Talk to her of novels—one little book of nat ural science has been woi’th to her more than all the novels in the world. Phj'icians in the country rarely carry scales with them to weigli their prescriptions. The}^ admin ister their medicines by guess, from a tea-spoon or the point of a knife. Suppose a common case. A physician in a hurry leaves an over-dose of tartar-emetic, (gener ally the first prescription in case of billions fever,) and pursues his way to another patient, ten miles distant. The medicine is duly administered, and the man is poisoned. When the case be comes alarming, one messenger is dispatched tor the doctor, and another to call in the neighbors to see the sufferer die. Now there is, in a canister in the cupboard, and on a tree that grows by the door, a remedy for this distress and alarm—a sure means of sav ing the sick man from threatened death. A strong decoction of young hyson tea, oak bark, or any other astringent vegetable, will change tartar-emetic into a harmless compound. Vessels of copper often give rise to poisoning. Though this metal undergoes but little change in a dry atmosphere, it is rusted if moisture be present, and its surface becomes covered with a green substance—carbonate or the protoxide of copper, a pois onous compound. It has some times happened that a mother has, for want of knowledge, poi soned her family. Sour-krout, when permitted to stand tor some time in a copper vessel, has pro duced death in a few hours. Cooks sometimes permit pickles to remain in copper vessels, but they absorb poison. The Church Union. WHO BOB OBCHABDS ! In a certain village in the far West was an atheist. He was a great admirer of Robert Dale Owen and Fanny Wright, but he could see no beauty or excellence in the Sun of righteousness. This man of course, never en tered any place ot worship. In deed, in the fruit season he was specially busy on Sunday in defending his orchard from his great enemies, the woodpecker and the idle, profligate persons of the village, who on that day made sad havoc among his apples and peaches. One day, while at work with his son-in-law—an atheist, like himself, although a more kind and courteous gentleman—as a pastor of a congregation was pass ing, he veiy rudely accosted the ministers; “Sir, what is the use of your preaching ? What good do you do by it ? Why don’t you teach these fellows better morals ? Why don’t you tell them some thing about stealing in your ser mons, and keep tliem from rob bing my orchard ?” To this the minister pleasantly replied; “My dear sir, I am sorry that yon are so annoyed, and I should most willinglj^ read the fellows who rob your orchard a lecture on thieving, but the truth is, they are all so like you and the major here that I never get a chance.” “Good, good,” replied the ma jor, laughing ; on which the elder atheist, blushing a little, and in an apologetical tone, said : “Well, well, I believe it is true enough; it is not the church-go ing people that steal my apples.” —-Kind Words. SECBET OF HAPPIIVESS. An Italian bishop, who had struggled through many difficul ties without repining, and been much opposed without manifest ing impatience, being asked by a friend to communicate the secret ofhis always being happy, replied, “It consists in a singly thing, and that is, making a right use of my eyes.’ His friend in surprise, bogged him to explain his mean ing. ‘Most willingly,’ replied the bishop. ‘In whatsoevei" state I am, I first of all look up to hea ven, and remember that my great business is to get there. I then look down upon earth, and call to mind how small a space I shall soon fill in it. I then look abroad in the world, and see what multi tudes are, in all respects, less hap py than myself. And thus I learn, where true happiness is placed, where all my cares must end, and how little reason I ever had to murmur, or to be otherwise than thankful. And to live in thl spirit is to be always happy.’
The Orphans’ Friend (Oxford, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
March 8, 1876, edition 1
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