"In vain!—the thick smoke choked her, and with a frantic cry for her father, she sank upon her knees with a groan.

"Only for a moment, for her life was in danger. She next opened the hall-door cautiously, but was driven back by the hot stifling air. Her window was the only refuge. Throwing it open, she leaned out and looked down.

"A vast crowd of human beings filled the street below; dense clouds of steam arose from the fire-engines; policemen were brandishing their clubs, men calling and shouting, and the shrill whistle of the engines rose high above all. Over against the sky a vivid scarlet flame was reflected, which lit up everything like day.

For an instant Lulu looked and comprehended the scene, then her father!- unconscious perhaps, and alone.

"She darted to the water-faucet, plunged a towel in the stream, and throwing it over her face, ran bravely through the dressing-room to her father's beyond. She could not speak, but groping her way to the bed, felt all over it, and found, to her intense relief, that it was empty.

"In a few moments she was back in her own room, fainting and choked with the suffocating smoke that had now penetrated there. But she succeeded in reaching the window again, and at that instant was seen by those below.

"An eager rush was made by those brave men who impulsively sought to rescue a woman in peril. Quicker than lightning, a ladder was placed against the building, and a brave man rapidly commenced the ascent. Safely past the first, second and third stories he went. Would he get to her in time?

"Blinded and stifled by the smoke that now poured out of her window in torrents, poor Lulu had sunk upon her knees, with a dumb prayer for help, and agony at the thought of home.

"Suddenly a strong hand grasped her, then another, and she felt herself lifted and held close to a broad chest, whilst they commenced moving slowly downward. With a strange feeling of trust and weakness, she knew no more.

"Silently the multitude watched the heroic fireman and his lovely

burden.

"Her long light hair floated over his shoulder, and her drooping form sent a fearful thrill through those watching men and women

NE of the most remarkable chapters in the history of the Old New York Fire Department was the formation, at the beginning of the late Civil War, of the Ellsworth Zouaves, a band of brave and daring fellows selected exclusively from the different companies of the old volunteer organization.

A year or two before the war, Elmer Ellsworth, of Chicago, a young lawyer with no practice, organized a company of Zouaves, the members of which-lawyers, merchants, clerks, etc.- agreed to abstain from all sorts of immorality, including therein the wine-cup, and, I believe, tobacco. These young fellows Ellsworth drilled until they resembled a machine rather than a body of men, so accurate were all their movements. With his zouaves he traveled through the principal cities of the United States, sleeping on gymnasium floors, and giving public exhibition drills.

The fame of the Chicago Zouaves spread through the length and the breadth of the land, and Ellsworth became at once a wellknown character. He came to Washington in President Lincoln's suite, when that gentleman journeyed to the national capital in February, 1861. When the war broke out, and the unprepared North was crippled for troops to protect Washington, Ellsworth at once saw a source from whence troops could be created with almost magical celerity. He arrived in New York with a commission to recruit a regiment. He appealed to the Fire Department to form a Fire

Zouave regiment. The roll, like a fiery cross, went from engine-house to enginehouse, and in three days a regiment of twelve hundred able-bodied men, used to hardship and exposure, was formed.

On Monday, the 29th of April, 1861, these brave laddies, dressed in the rather picturesque uniform of a fireman's red shirt and gray jacket, with gray flowing trousers, and with Colonel Ellsworth at their head, marched through some of the principal streets and thence to Broadway, escorted by the Fire Department and an immense crowd of enthusiastic citizens. At Canal Street the regiment turned to the right, and down this thoroughfare to the North River, where they embarked on the steamer "Baltic" for Washington. The other officers of the regiment besides Colonel Ellsworth were Lieutenant-Colonel Noah L. Farnham, Major John A. Creiger, and Captains John Coyle, Michael C. Murphy, Edward Burns, Andrew D. Purtell, William Hackett, William H. Burns, Michael A. Tagen, John Downey,

John Wildey, and John B. Leverich. Before leaving, the Union Defense Company presented them with one thousand Sharp's rifles; Tredwell, Jarman & Slote with a number of uniforms; the Common Council with a stand of colors, and Mrs. John Jacob Astor with a similar gift, accompanied by the following letter:

COLONEL ELLSWorth,

Sir: I have the honor to present the accompanying colors to the First Regiment of Zouaves. In delivering the ensign of our nation to the brave men now under your command, I am happy in the confidence that I entrust it to men whose hands are nerved by a generous patriotism to defend it, whose hearts feel now, more deeply than ever, the honor of our country's flag, an honor held as sacred and precious as their own lives. Accustomed as we were to think of it in the discharge of ordinary duties with sympathy and well-founded pride, these feelings grow stronger in the solemn moment when they are going from us in a new and more perilous service. But, sir, I hope that Heaven's most gracious eye will be with you, and protect you; and believe me, with much respect, your obedient servant, AUGUSTA ASTOR.

The formation of this regiment partook of the patriarchal. The foreman of a fire company was the captain of a regimental company; his first and second assistants were his lieutenants; and the fieldofficers were chosen from among the assistant chief engineers. In one case every single member of a company volunteered for two years of the war. The raw material of the Fire Zouaves was excellent, but it needed a judge of human nature to work it up into something useful.

Unfortunately, Colonel Ellsworth, who understood thoroughly how to manage it, was killed. As will be remembered, that brave officer, while passing through one of the streets of Alexandria, accompanied by Corporal Brownell, saw a rebel flag flying from the cupola of the Marshall House in that city, and with characteristic daring and gallantry, rushed into the building and up to the roof, where he tore the ensign from its pole. Wrapping it about his body, he descended the stairway of the hotel, and had nearly reached the main corridor, when James W. Jackson, the proprietor of the hotel, discharged the contents of a gun into Ellsworth's left breast, killing the brave fellow instantly. Corporal Brownell revenged his colonel's death by shooting Jackson dead on the spot.

Noah L. Farnham, better known as "Pony" Farnham, who at one time was a member of 42 engine, and subsequently foreman of

Hook and Ladder No. 1 and an assistant engineer of the Department, succeeded to the command of the regiment. At the battle of Bull Run, Colonel Farnham was wounded severely, from the effects of which he died in the hospital at Washington.

Many funny stories are told of the "Pet Lambs," as the Zouaves were nicknamed. One, both good and true, is this: On their first

arrival at Washington, the "Lambs," of course, immediately inspected the fire-quenching apparatus of the city. It was so inferior to their own superb facilities for combating the destructive element, that it excited their derision, while the management of the first fire which they witnessed brought forth contemptuous groans. Shortly afterward, a conflagration broke out which threatened Willard's, at that time the great hotel of Washington. Despairing of conquering it, the city authorities sent for assistance to the Fire Zouaves, then quartered in the old Capitol.