pumps to put out just such fires in the London warehouses, and Mr. John L. Hays tells of their great efficiency in mills. For putting out the fire in the tank, I have no doubt an extinguisher would have been an efficient machine; for dashing out the lint on the walls, the small pumps would have been the best. Again, one workman should not go alone into such a place to work. Another man, with a pump to dash out in a moment a fire, as is done in the theatres at Paris, would have prevented all the fire and loss. In London, one man alone is never allowed in a house on fire. The tank of grease could have been covered at very little expense.

The "grease" is made safe in some factories, and the lint of course can be. For the protection of the lives of the inmates, for the interest of the stockholders and the insurance companies, and for the general safety of cities, should not there be a person in the interest of the State whose duty it would be to have charge of such important interests as the safety of these great buildings from fire?

NEW YORK'S DANGER.

That every man, horse, engine, and all the other appliances of the Fire Department of New York are as nearly perfect as possible, I do not presume

NEW YORK'S DANGER.

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to doubt; but the city, from the vicinity of Trinity Church to beyond Union Square, is constructed in such a manner that should a fire occur in a dry time, and in a gale of wind, it might end in a conflagration to which those of Boston and Chicago would seem only as bonfires.

The Holly system, perhaps the best in the world, invented by Mr. Holly of Lockport, New York, should be adopted, and Mr. Holly instructed to place in the portion indicated, the very best and most powerful engines he can construct (in the smallest possible time). They should be kept in full working force in every high wind. These, with his new hydrants containing hose, to be placed near the doors of warehouses and manufactories, by which great streams could be thrown almost instantly upon fires, and the hydrants in the streets, would be equal to many hundreds of steam fire-engines. New York has expended millions. for its parks and squares; now let it give one or two millions to prevent its destruction by fire.

CHAPTER XI.

CONCLUSION.

THE following letter is selected from the work entitled "The Early Years of his Royal Highness the Prince Consort. Compiled under the direction of the Queen."

"COBURG, 18th October, 1838.

"DEAR GRANDMAMMA,- I have again delayed writing to you, but when a man is once sunk in idleness, it is difficult to get out of it.

"I learned from your dear letter to Ernest, that you are better, and that you have moved into your pretty winter residence, in all its new splendor.

"How perishable it all is, we felt seriously yesterday, when, if God had not held his protecting hand over us, the whole palace of Coburg might have become a prey to the flames, nor we ourselves able in any way to escape.

"A fire is lit in our rooms every morning, lest we should find them cold when we come down to town occasionally in the afternoon.

"It happened the day before yesterday, that we stayed in town after the play, in order not to catch

ance.

ROYAL FIREMEN.

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cold driving back to the Rosenarr. The next morning I was awakened by an unpleasant smell. I sprang out of bed to see whether the register had not been forgotten to be opened in one of the stoves. The smoke met me thicker and thicker, but I could not discover anything. In the fourth room I was met by the flames darting towards me; it was all on fire. I called out fire! fire! when Ernest and Cart came from their rooms to my assistNo living soul was in this wing of the palace, except us three; it was also so early that nobody was astir in the neighborhood. You can fancy our alarm. We did not take long to consider, but closed all the doors and shut ourselves up with the fire. There were only two jugs of water and one with camomile tea at our command, of which we made the most. Ernest took my cloak and his own and, threw them upon the flames, while I dragged all my bedding there and pressed the mattresses and large counterpanes against the burning wall. Cart (their servant) lifted a marble table with incredible strength, and threw it against a book-case enveloped in flames, causing it to fall down. Having thus subdued the fire, we could think of calling for more help.

"Ernest ran, just as he got out of bed, downstairs to the sentry, who gave the alarm, while I and Cart were still working up-stairs. The heat

and smoke were so powerful that all the windows had fallen out; even the glasses of the framed pictures were cracked, and the pictures shriveled in, and the paint of the doors is quite charred.

"Help now came in haste from all sides; a number of workmen brought water up and extinguished the smouldering fire. A book-stand with many books, and all our prints, two chairs and a table, a looking-glass, etc., have been burnt.

"There is no other harm done but that Cart and I have burnt the soles of our feet, as we got barefooted into the cinders.

"The accident was caused by the ignorance of a stoker who had heated a stove that was not meant to be used, and on which books and prints were lying and against which a quantity of maps were standing. The only picture that was not injured is the one of the fire at the palace of Gotha.

66

Farewell, now, dear Grandmamma, and always love your faithful grandson, ALBERT."

It is to be hoped that all the young ladies and gentlemen of America who imitate foreign people, may, if a fire occurs in their dwellings or in the immediate neighborhood, imitate those splendid firemen, Albert, afterwards the first gentleman of England, his brother and their servant Cart. A better fought fire, a better description of one, or