Fire Extinguisher Hand Grenades. —Fill round bottles of thin blue glass with a mixture of equal parts of com mon borax and sal ammoniac or cal cium chloride. just enough water to dissolve these substances, thus making strong saturated solu tions.
Fire Drills.—Boys should be en couraged to prepare, under proper supervision, one or more of these fire extinguishers, and practice with them in putting out fires made out of doors for this purpose. A few experiments will insure that the directions have been understood, and will give valu able practice as a sort of fire drill in advance of the emergency, as there is always danger of fire, whether from lightning or other cause, in isolated farmhouses and other buildings, not within, reach, as in cities, of a fire de partment. A conflagration may not only destroy the results ot the labor of a lifetime, but also lead to loss of life from the flames or from conse quent exposure in severe weather. Hence the importance of such prepa ration can hardly be overestimated, especially when it can be done at very little expense. Moreover, such experi ments have an important educational influence.
To Extinguish Kerosene Fire.—Do not throw water on the flames of burning kerosene, gasoline, benzine, naphtha, or other petroleum products. The water will spread the flames and not put them out. Instead use milk, which forms an emulsion with the oil and extinguishes it.
Fire Escapes.—You may remember Mark Twain's story of the " poor white " in Arkansas whose roof leaked so badly that the bed in which he slept was wet by every storm. When asked why he did not mend the roof, he replied that he could not do so when it rained without getting wet, and when the weather was fair it was not necessary.
That is the attitude of many per sons in regard to fire escapes. Suit able provision for escape from attics, chambers, and other upper rooms is rarely thought of, except in the actual moment of danger, when stairways may be choked with smoke and flames.
Many persons have escaped from up per windows of cottages and other low dwellings by knotting sheets and other bed covers together to form a strong rope, fastening one end to the bedpost, and sliding down this to the ground. This plan should be talked over in the family circle so as to be clearly understood by children and others in case of emergency.
Or, if the rooms are too high from the ground to admit of this mode of escape, fasten a strong iron hook to the window casing, and have at hand a knotted rope long enough to reach to the ground.
Or, if this is not to be had, the bed may be thrown out of the window to assist in breaking the shock, and the person may make a rope of the bed covers and slide down as far as pos sible before dropping on the bed. A skylight should be cut in the roof of every dwelling and a permanent lad der fixed to give access to this, and also from thence to the edge of the roof and to the ground. This will admit of escape if the staircase should take fire and fall.
To Escape from Fires. — As the heated air, smoke, and noxious gases produced by combustion tend to rise, the purest air is next the floor. Hence, in escaping from fires, creep or crawl with the face near the floor. If time admits, a handkerchief or other thin cloth dipped in water and held over the nostrils will to some extent pre vent drawing smoke into the lungs. Bystanders may assist in the escape of persons who are obliged to jump by holding a horse blanket or other large, strong cloth or canvas to receive them. The larger the cloth, the more persons holding it, and the higher it is held from the ground, the better.