nductor Rickell at a Fire at the `Rose and
Crown' public-house, Bridge Street, at one o'clock on the morning of
February 1st, when, but for his assistance there is little doubt that
the Conductor would have perished. On the arrival of Conductor
Rickell with the Mile End Fire Escape, not being satisfied that all
the inmates had escaped, the Conductor entered the house, the upper
part of which was burning fiercely; the Conductor not being seen for
some time, the Inspector called to him, and, not receiving an answer,
entered the house and ascended the stairs, and saw the Conductor lying
on the floor quite insensible. With some difficulty the Inspector
reached him, and, dragging him down the staircase, carried him into
the air, where he gradually recovered."

While attending fires in London, I wore one of the black leather helmets
of the Salvage Corps. This had the double effect of protecting my head
from falling bricks, and enabling me to pass the cordon of police
unquestioned.

After a night of it I was wont to return home about dawn, as few fires
occur after that. On these occasions I felt deeply grateful to the
keepers of small coffee-stalls, who, wheeling their entire shop and
stock-in-trade in a barrow, supplied early workmen with cups of hot
coffee at a halfpenny a piece, and slices of bread and butter for the
same modest sum. At such times I came to know that "man wants but
little here below," if he only gets it hot and substantial.

Fire is such an important subject, and an element that any one may be
called on so suddenly and unexpectedly to face, that, at the risk of
being deemed presumptuous, I will, for a few minutes, turn aside from
these reminiscences to put a few plain questions to my reader.

Has it ever occurred to you to think what you would do if your house
took fire at night? Do you know of any other mode of exit from your
house than by the front or back doors and the staircase? Have you a
rope at home which would support a man's weight, and extend from an
upper window to the ground? Nothing easier than to get and keep such a
rope. A few shillings would purchase it. Do you know how you would
attempt to throw water on the walls of one of your rooms, if it were on
fire near the ceiling? A tea-cup would be of no use! A sauce-pan would
not be much better. As for buckets or basins, the strongest man could
not heave such weights of water to the ceiling with any precision