Show ta rz tz A peru n k dangerous bistress bu stress too danger ous for me I 1 onder how these fire firc men get the nerve to risi their lives like thata and the grocery clerk who had been watching a crew of firemen build a chain of ladders up the sheer k bald side of the blazing tenement f r house opposite dodged to get out of the way of a fire engine unmindful of the suffocating smoke and the flames firemen were scaling the high wall by means of ladders consisting of hickory sticks from which branched short pegs for steps on either side with a hook at the end to hang the ladder from the window sill above they built a perpendicular staircase from the pavement to the roof toof then climbing nimbly from sill to sill they began the work of res cue tying ropes around the half crazed tenement dwellers they low ered them swiftly but safely to the street or grasping children in their arms they themselves sprang into the air and by means of the life rope twisted around the hooks in their belts they slid down to the street as lightly r as a ball of down those who like the grocery clerk wonder how the fireman gets his nerve merve may learn the reason by visit t ins fire headquarters in east sixty seventh street in the bis big yard to the rear which faces in sixty eighth street the raw recruits who hope some day to wear ear the blue uniform and fire ax buttons of a new york fi foremal remal are taught how to save life and most of all how to get a fire man Q lierde the morning class was thus being I 1 ga put though their round of work one att day re antly and one of the pupils had fastened his scaling ladder in the top wiy wil dow on oil the sixth floor of the ip fire headquarters building on the Is rear of which the men are drilling when apt andrew F fitzgerald who I 1 was instructing the class in the ab sence pence i f the chief shouted he there no 4 what s the mat ter afraid the man had fastened his ladder and was climbing up tt the windo above with a cautious ner tons as if he expected every p instant the ladder he was on would I 1 break and he mould go crashing down into the life net below no 4 made no ansbe but only clung to the ladder more snore timidly go ahead up routed ell the instruct tor use ilse your hands your ladder is 1 all bigit but no 4 climbed still jy more cautiously and reaching the roof toof at last slowly drew himself over the ede edre A tha fellow will never make a fire man inan said the instructor in an under ML i f tone he wants to do the work but be can t he ile can cant t get the nerve then after a pause tee captain said now novi watch match this man and see the difference this fellow Is born for the bus ness turning around to the class he sho tied no 6 build a chain no 5 leaped from his seat grasped a scaling ladder hung the two toot foot steel hook at i s end on the sill of the story tory window and then lightly 11 I 1 1 using life lines and seal ng ladders as a cat eat ho he climbed up its peg steps reaching the second story pill he fastened the hook at his belt into the ladder and then threw back his body till it hung at an angle of thirty de grees to the nail mall here he waited until a comrade from below reached up to him arother scaling ladder with his body st 11 barging by the hook no 5 quickly hung the ladder handed him to tip th c sill of the third etory story window and tl ti ea en unfastening in on he be nimbi v climbed ui un to the nett story again he hooked hook ed himself fa P caught another ladder hookfi it into the next windo v and so ay y and apparent lj without the leas fear or shrinking mounted to the root roof with a dash and a spring which made the crowd of children who were watch ing him in sixty eighth street give a mingled ho vl vi of terror and admira tion with the same confidence in himself no descended from hie his lofty perch unhooked the ladders passed them down to the me men n below him and finally leaped to the ground with ith a broad smile on his face the instructor had not said a ward word through the whole hole performance no 5 had taken his seat when he said good work no 5 no 7 build a chain and smother another man started to kit e I 1 I 1 r firemen using the scaling ladders to 0 o gt G at t from a window to the pie roof over a cornice repeat the feat after the work of bui bul ding chains of ladders t ams of 0 two men each were put to work standing on the sills and thus one man would stand on the sill of a win dow and hook a ladder into the win dow above while his ills comrade would stand inside and hold fast to his belt in this way two men with a single ladder would quickly moui mou t to the root roof the teat feat of strad fling tte the tt e sills followed fol lomed a mai trial without the help of a comrade within hung to a window and hooked his lace ladder ider into the casement above I 1 wouldn t order any of tl em I 1 do that kind of wark when they first come here said the instructor I 1 doat don t believe in endangering the live lives of the men I 1 work them higher as they develop nerve all t these IS es a M men ea are what are called probationary men mer after making out an all application for a R position on the force they are given a mental and ph physical examination and if successful they are sent hero tor for instruction after the three thre weeks of work here learning to handle seal ing ladders to tie knots and most of all to get nerve the probationary prot atio nary ary man is assigned to a fire station tation where he learns the alarms the apparatus of trucks engines harness and all the appliances of fire machinery afar he haa has shown his fitness here he ats his uniform how many of aes nes probationary men get their uniforms 9 1 was asked nearly all was the answel luese 17 bese fellows have made up their mind to be firemen before they make application they have a pretty gool idea of the work although they d da cot not perhaps real za ze fully the hara ships of the I 1 fe they know it is no barkeeper s job they come to the training yard and see what a course of sprouts they will be put through and the cowards quit before they start A few like no 4 show soon tha they cant get bleir nerve ani an drop out from sheer fright the out aider alder says that we risk our lives well we do sometimes but as the life insurance companies will tell you there is no greater percentage of deaths among firemen than in the average t ade and that is because we have confidence in 0 ir selves in other words we me get nerve they fol low this life beca fe ie they love it new york exchange |