History of Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts, including Lynnfield ...

82 ANNALS OF LYNN 1 879.
tide of prosperity. Under date 1874 appear some remarks concerning
the then state of things.
From the following statements an idea may be had of the
provision for the poor. During the year, 523 families received
assistance from the public treasury, the number of individuals
being 1.992. The average number of paupers in the almshouse
was 52, and the cost of each, per week, for food and clothing,
was ^1.35. The number of tramps furnished with food and
lodging, was 1.757, the average cost of each being 14 cents.
Some account of the latter class may be found under date 1874.
The number of volumes in the Free Public Library, at the
close of this year, was 27.804. The average daily delivery during
the year was 461 volumes.
The appropriation for the free education of the youth of Lynn,
for 1879, was $83,000, which, with certain receipts, brought the
whole amount devoted to school purposes up to the generous
sum of $86,816.88. The number of schools was as follows: i
high school, 7 grammar and 55 primary schools, and i evening
drawing school. Whole number of pupils in all the day schools,
on the first of May, 5.413. Average daily attendance of pupils
in all the day schools, 4.667. The expenditure for school purposes,
for each inhabitant of the city between the ages of five
and fifteen years, was $15.66.
As noted under date 1864, the first steam fire-engine procured
for the city, arrived that year. And now, 1879, we have four
of those efficient machines, and the fire department is, in other
respects, well equipped. It has more than twelve thousand feet
of hose, and there are distributed about the city, some four hundred
hydrants, twenty capacious reservoirs, and a number of
public wells. The department is also provided with one large
four-wheel double tank chemical fire-extinguisher and seven hand
extinguishers. In former years Lynn has been, emphatically,
what is termed a wooden town, almost every building being
of wood ; and had it not been for the fact that there was no really
compact part, serious conflagrations would probably have occurred.
Lately, numerous capacious brick structures have been erected,
and as land increased in value, some of the business streets have
become as compact as those of any city. It can hardly be expected
that in the future we shall be as free from disasters by
fire as we have been in the past ;
yet, with the improved facilities
for grappling with the flames, and the improved modes in the
construction, heating, and lighting of buildings, there is reasonable
ground for hoping that our good fortune may continue.
The telegraphic fire-alarm, which was established in 1871, has
proved extremely beneficial, saving an immense amount of confusion
and delay on the occurrence of a fire.
Speaking of the later style of building, and the more compact