The occasion upon which we are assembled, commemorating the completion of one of the most stupendous public works of the Union or of the age, furnishing so rational a cause for rejoicing, is welcomed by no portion of your fellow citizens with more sincere pleasure, than by that portion which I have the honor to represent. While some have looked merely to the introduction of pure and wholesome water into the city as being an indispensible requisite of

public health, and others, regarding the distance from which it has been brought, and the obstacles overcome, as constituting an enduring monument of the enterprise and public

spirit of our citizens, the firemen of the city, while participating in the feelings of both these

classes, yet with that devotion to their duties by which they have ever been distinguished,

rejoice chiefly, because this great work, in giving increased efficacy to their exertions, affords additional security to the property of their fellow citizens. perhaps not too It is

much to say, that nearly all the great fires by which large portions of our city have been . devastated, might have been early arrested, had the department possessed the same facilities for obtaining an abundant supply of water, as that which they will now enjoy from the introduction of the Croton. In view of these facilities, and animated by this expression on the part of the city government, the members of the department will continue to discharge their duties with increased zeal, and cherish the recollection of this day, as among the brightest in the history of their institution."