onerous one; but, when the city was expanded miles in extent, it exacted an amount of time which few were able to give who had their own business to attend to; and, consequently, this class was gradually withdrawn from the department, which was filled by those who could give more time to it. The increasing extension of the city demanded, moreover, a constant augmentation of the force of the department; and, as it increased in numbers, it degenerated in quality. The engine-houses became loitering-places for the idle and the young, and at which the latter learned little except to become rude in speech and imperious in manner. Thus was brought forth and fostered a character very closely resembling the gamin of Paris, familiarly known as the "b'hoy," who seems now to be disappearing with the causes that produced him. The rivalry between companies engendered animosities; and street brawls among the firemen at a fire, occasionally expanding into street riots, in which free use was made of the brickbat and the paving-stone, were not of unusual occurrence until the system had reached the point when grave men propounded the inquiry of how to get rid of it. The remedy was found in substituting for it a body of picked men, permanently engaged and regularly paid for their services, and by the general introduction of steam fire-engines, or, as they are called, "steamers." This was effected in 1865, by the creation and chartering by 1865. the Legislature of the present Metropolitan Fire Department, with Charles E. Pinckney president, and that fine old fireman, Philip W. Engs, treasurer. The consequence of it has been increased efficiency in the extin guishment of fires, a large diminution in the number of men requisite for that purpose, and an entire cessation of the demoralizing influences to which reference has been already made. In 1863, the voluntary department consisted of 4,122 men. The present department (1871)

consists of 599 men, or about one seventh of the former force.

The new act allows twelve steam fire-engines and hook-and-ladder companies,-the engines to have one foreman, one assistant, an engineer, stoker, driver, with seven firemen. Of the hook-and-ladders, each one has a foreman, one assistant, a driver, and nine firemen. Their pay is fixed at $3,000 per annum to the chiefengineer; assistant, $2,000; district engineer, $1,500; foreman, $1,100; assistant, $900; engineer of steamengine, $1,080; stokers, drivers, and firemen, $840 each, superintendent of telegraph, $1,800; telegraph-operators, $1,000 each; battery boy, $500; line-man, $1,000; and bell-ringers, each $800. The department are uniformed, and the number of their engines has increased to fiftysix, and the hook-and-ladders to twenty-five.

How different the Fire Department now from the one of former years, when men were the horses to drag the ropes of the machine, and their strong arms the motive power to work them! Now we have in their places horses to pull the engines, and the mighty giant, steam, to force the water upon the raging fiery element. Still, the little old-fashioned hand fire-engines did wonderful service in their day; and, indeed, the noble bearing, bravery, endurance, and success of our New York firemen had a worldwide fame.*

* In Appendix No. VIII. will be found an interesting letter from Colonel T. Bailey Myers to the author, giving an account of the Firemen's Lyceum, organ ized by him, as Trustee, for the use of the Department, and as a means for the improvement of the men.

CHAPTER XIII.

1865.

PREVIOUS to the year 1802 no special effort had been made to establish an institution for art in the city. In that year, however, the idea of a "New York Academy of Fine Arts" was first mooted, which, in 1808, culminated in one being chartered under the name of the. "American Academy of Arts;" Robert R. Livingston, president; John Trumbull, vice-president; and De Witt Clinton, secretary-Trumbull being the only artist. "The first exhibition was held in Greenwich Street, near Morris, in a building formerly used as a circus. In 1825, an association was formed by the artists of the city under the name of the New York Drawing Association, which was afterward organized under the name of the National Academy of the Arts of Design, with S. F. B. Morse as the first president. The first public exhibition of the new Academy took place in May, 1826, in the house on the south-west corner of Broadway and Reade Street. The room in which the first exhibition was held was in the second story, and was lighted with gas-six burners in all for the whole exhibition-which consisted of one hundred and seventy pictures." "'* Let the reader contrast these humble beginnings with the present delightful receptions,

* Mary L. Booth.

For a detailed history of the National Academy of Design from the finished pen of T. Addison Richards, see Appendix No. X.

which are attended by all of the wit, culture, and beauty of the city, and which are held in the elegant building on the north-west corner of Fourth Avenue and Twenty-third Street.

The building itself has a front of eighty feet on Twentythird Street, and of ninety-eight feet and nine inches on Fourth Avenue. "The main entrance is on the former front, level with the second story, and reached by a double flight of steps. This second and principal story is thus divided: A wide hall extends from the entrance nearly the whole length of the building. In this are the stairs leading to the third story. To the right hand, on entering, is a range of four large rooms, which occupy all of the Fourth Avenue side. These rooms are lighted by the eight windows shown in the engraving-forming an arcade which extends from the entire depth of the longer façade -and by the three windows of similar design on Twenty

third Street. The grand staircase leading to the upper galleries is a feature of the building. They are wide, massive, and imposing in effect. Exhibition galleries occupy the whole of the third story, which is lighted from the roof. The interior of the building has been handsomely fitted up at great expense. Most of the woodwork is of oak, walnut, ash, and other hard woods, oiled and polished, so as to show the natural color and grain. The rooms of the second floor, except the lecture-room, are finished like the parlors of a first-class house. Each of the four large rooms on Fourth Avenue has an open fire-place, with a hearth of ornamental encaustic tiles, and rich mantel-piece of oak. The windows are fitted with plate-glass sliding sashes, and the rooms communicate through a series of plate-glass sliding-doors. The vestibule at the main entrance has an ornamental pavement of variegated marbles, and the floor of the great hall is walnut and maple in patterns. The design of the exterior was copied from a famous palace in Venice; and, being the only instance of this style of architecture in the city, or we believe in the country, it possesses a peculiar interest. It is one of the most brilliantly decorated edifices in the country. The double flight of steps leading to the main entrance--rendered necessary by the circumscribed limits of the lot on which the building stands--has been skillfully made an ornament rather than a defect. It is beautifully carved, and underneath it is an elegant drinking fountain, radiant in color and other exquisite embellishments. The walls of the lower story are of gray marble, marked with intervening lines of North River blue-stone, and the entire elevation is thus variegated in blue and gray and white. The cost of the building was one hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars." *

New York Illustrated.