CHAPTER X.

FIREMEN'S ANNIVERSARIES, CELEBRATIONS   AND CONTESTS.

The Soci.vl Spirit Ch.xr.^cteristic of Firemen—A Contribution to City
Gaiety and Depart.xient Efficiency—Ti-ie Fourth of March
Parade—Preparations and Peculiar Features—Firemen in Civic
Celebrations—Trials and Champion Contests—The " Horns "—
The "Eagle"—A Mid-Century "Washing-Match"—Nexv Orleans
AND Mobile—State Fair Trials—Thirtieth Anniversary of the
Department—Firemen's Festivals—" Blue Ribbon " Contests and
"Blue Ribbon Fever"—A Caricature Tournament—The Christen¬
ing OF Engines—A Record-Breaking Year—A Trip to the North
—Famous Fire Department Horse R.\ces—The Value of Fun to the
Fire Department.

O class of men have realized better than the firemen of this coun¬
try the truth of the adage, " All xvork and no play makes Jack a
dull bov." The volunteer fire service has shared this feature with
the volunteer military service, and it has alxvays been true of the
soldier or the fire laddie off duty, that he xvas ready for a good time, and
generally managed to have it. In large measure this has been due to the
superior grade of men xvho have enlisted In this service ; for, besides being
men who are alert for duty and brax^ely chivalrous in the discharge of it, they
have also been men who had many resources xvithin themselves for their
leisure time, xvith plenty of invention for their amusements and plenty of
high animal spirits for the enjoyment of them. Much of the popularity of
the volunteer fire service all over the country seems to have come from
the attractions of the.social life connected xvith it; and no truer friend¬
ships were ever formed betxveen man and man than those which were
founded on the close personal intercourse between members of the same
fire department, who not only stood shoulder to shoulder in the moment
of clanger and death, and met over the council-board, but also shared the