The northern galaxy. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1844-1848, 1844-08-14

trance may be administered unto thee abun
dainty into his everlasting kingdom
"Amen," responded James, and died. The
chill ofdeaIh had suddenly came over him
and his spirit fled to the presence Of his Ma.
ker and Judge.
The father sat for long time on the GROUND
gazing upon his dear children. The curtain
of darkness was drawn over the scene-buf
here and there dissipated by the dying anc
r~eviving embers, and Pickering that still lin
gered on almost every spot over which the
awful conflagration has swept. An unsteady
lurid light. just sufficient to reveal the wide
spread scene of desolation, was thus flung
over the dark and blackened waste where the
consuming element had a few hours before
rode on in its respondent car. At the dis
lance of a few miles, and as far to the righl
and left as the eye could reach, rose one vas
extended column of fame, mounting up tc
heaven amid the darkness of midnight, ant
marching GU with the speed and %ferceness
and fury of a whirlwind. 1t was an awful
and sublime sight! Here the father sat by
the side of his ~lifeless and unbreathing chill
dren; the stiffness of solitude was around
him-and there, bursting up from amid thick
darkness, was this tremendous conflagration,
which seemed so bright, and fierce, and aw-
full, that one could hardly refrain thinking il
would burn up the world and melt the ele-
ments with its fcrvent heat.
But | ought before to have told the reader
the account the kentuckian gave of the fate
of those who were connected with the adj
v~ancing wagons. They had seen the smoke
of the fire that was to cook their evening
meal curling above the trees, and directed
their course to that point as the spot where
they should meet their friends. They were
not at all aware Of the coming of this awful
conflagration or of the approach of danger,
till they saw the whole prairie directly before
them lit up with one extended sheet of flame.
No one can depict the terror, the anguish, the
horror of that moment No one can depict
the sublimily and grandeur of the scene thai
at that moment burst upon their view But
fear and wild distraction took complete pos
session of the whole company. The very
cattle that drew the wagons seemed 10 sym,
pathize with them, and to discover at once
that their fate was sealed.
We have already remarked that the fire ex-
tended more rapidly in one lateral direction
than the other. This Charles s. observ-
ed, and Immediately sought to take advan,
take oft, and if possible get to the windward
of the fire. But long before they reached
the line Of flame, the fire had extended miles
in this direction. 1t was too late-tbere was
no escape-the fire was every moment APP
preaching them, Mrs. n clasped her
Young daughter to her bosom and sat still
in the wagon. The oxen, as the flames adj
vanced, became perfectly unmanagable. They
~ -. I'll H. f,-- ~ rrtlI anJ
maddened beasts into the thickest ofthe flames.
The one team took one direction, and the
other, another, but both Of them continued
to move on through the hottest column OF
fame, till at length the cattle one after anoth-
er fell down in the yoke, suffocated by the
flame, and believing like as though in the
agonies of death.
Long before the last OK had fallen, and the
wagon had ceased to move, Mrs. ~, with
her youngest child clasped to her bosom, had
given up the ghost. The tow awning which
covered the wagon in which she rode, took
fire almost as soon as they met the line OF
flame, and Instantly all the combustable ma
terials in the vehicle were in flames. Escape
seemed impossible, for already the oxen were
moving with the speed of the wind through
the thickest of the flames, and Mrs. N,
c~lasping he, child to her bosom, yielded to
her fate, committing all to God. Poor George
not al lie to keep pace with the teamh he drove,
as he saw the fame marching on, sought by
running, to escape from the face OF the de-
vouring element, but attempt was vain. The
whirlwind ofire soon overlook him, and lIkt
a resistless sea, rolled its burning waves ovel
him. When Charles s. saw the team he
drove could no longer be controlled, ant
that in order to follow them he must encoun
ter certain death. he left them to take thei
own course, and sought to rush through thu
line of flame, which had now become so ex-
banded, that long before he had passed thu
fiery column the flesh was almostburned from
his bones, and he at length fell down upon
the burning earth, unable TO move a step far
ther.
The fire still moved on with awful, una
bated fury over the wide and far EXTENDED
prarIe. No one that looked upon that awfu
sight could have failed to have exclaimed
"What a time it will be for the ungodly wher
this world shall be on fire." When the NOR
ming came, a melancholy spectacle was pre-
scented to our view over the blackened PLAIN
One solitary human form was seen slowly
moving amid the scene of desolation-anC
that was Mr.. n He fonnd Charles :
Just in the last agonies of death, from
whom, however he learned the particular
above stated. This young man soon expired
and Mr.. n alone, Of all that emigran
train, was left to tell the sad story of TIL
BURNING PRAIRIE.