What is the effect of telling the story through the eyes of the townspeople instead of joe or spunk?

Read this excerpt from leah missbach day's foreword to wheels of change.bicycles have long played a role in my life. as a young woman, i rode one year-round before i had a car. but it was later in adulthood that the bicycle became more than a source of transportation for me. the bicycle actually began to truly shape the way i saw the world.what is the author's purpose for including this in the foreword?

What is meant by “eternally burning black pipes”? what is this implying about the personality of the firemen?

Lens quotation: "character is what you are in the dark." -dwight lyman moody