Secondly, there are an unknown number of private engines kept in
public buildings, and large manufactories, which sometimes do good
service when they arrive early at small fires in their neighborhood,
although, singularly enough, when called upon to extinguish a
conflagration in their own establishments, they generally "lose their
heads," as the Brigade men express it, and very many instances have
occurred where even the parish-engines have arrived and set to work
before the one on the premises could be brought to bear upon the fire.
The cause is clear. The requisite coolness and method which every one
can exercise so philosophically in other people's misfortunes, utterly
fail them when in trouble themselves. The doctor is wiser in his
generation, and is never so foolish as to prescribe for himself or to
attend his own family.
Thirdly, we have, in contrast to the immense rabble of Bumble engines
and the Bashi-Bazouks of private establishments, the small complement
of men and material of the Fire Brigade.
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