Page:Castlemon--Joe Wayring at Home.djvu/59

 cap, which made him look a great deal taller than he really was, and behind him the band, which discoursed as fine music as any body wanted to hear. Then came the hook and ladder company, two hundred strong, marching four abreast and drawing their heavy truck after them without the least apparent exertion. Next came a steam fire engine, drawn by men instead of horses, after that a hose cart, followed by a small company of about twenty young fellows in black dress-coats and white trowsers and caps, who pulled along something that looked like a skeleton road wagon, loaded with Babcock fire extinguishers.

"That's a little the queerest looking turn-out I ever saw," Tom remarked. "They couldn't do any thing toward putting out a fire. I suppose they are more for show than any thing else."

"Wrong again," said Mr. Farnsworth. "They have done good work, and the citizens, in recognition of their services, presented them with money enough to build an engine house for themselves, and furnish it in fine style."

Next came the soldiers, veterans, every one