The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1864-04-28
Hcr the courier.-r
What Happened aa., Evening.

What Happened Gast Evening.
II is sad thing to haveea house burn
DOWN, very sad a ministers house. with his
little all Of furniture; his books, his manu-
scripts, the accumulation If years Of study,
and have his children perish in the flames
How in this case happened whatsdd hap
pers we, by invAa.ion atan early hour in
the'afteruoon went out to a. practitioners to
tea and from there went to prarer1fnecting.
Having given directions to the young mem
hers of the family to 90 to bel early we ex.
p cted the lights would be extinguishei and
that all would be q,iet ani safe on our re.
turn. but as we approached tn 81 ,oaIe what
did we bebold? Light from rear and front
streaming ont from every window In rapid
succession the language what are those
lights. What can that mean? The house
is on fire! The house il on fire We walk.
ed East-we ran; the door being reached the
voices of numerous, perSns were heard in.
side. 1t was soon seen tfrt the house was
filed with people. and that the light pro.
ceeded from numerous lighted lamps and
candles. rs4f~ 3-v ,sf .-.%,, a..f-.rg
No furniture, books, or sermons burned,
and no children suffoca'ed, and there being
a rallying from fright other matters received
attention. fse. 81 sea Sos higo,s Elf tr.
Whist some forty or fifty persons thus in
possession of our house were doing or in.
tended to do as no explanations were given,
wasa matter. for development. The com.
pany had disappearance Of ga party" which
rich, prosperous or ambitious people have at
their houses, but such parties are inpited
guests. and were sure we had invited no
s,ich company. 1t also seemed like ga fes.
tivar' to serve soma public charity. but al
Though there were pleasant sights and doors,
there was no selling and buying. The con,
clusion arrived at to which we still adhere
was, that the grand "chriitianY and "Sani
tary Commissions" had united and were
thus upon US. Favoring this idea restora-
tives were applied to r,move some effects Of
the fright experienced. There were Doc.
tors and Deacous in the company, and there
were supplies, drought and at hand SINH
lar to those distributed by those far famed
organizations; encouraging words were spo
ken and there was many s-hearty shaking
Of the hand, Among the articles there was
one called coffee said to have been 30 com
mon years ago that almost every body then
knew what it was. s. ,f.,,-. ......,
Z We were shown By example, how to apply
the Sanitary articles and we found them
working like charm upon alb participating
We find ourselves feeling better under the
use of them, and trust the Improvement will
be permanent. The supplies left for future
use'foot mp some fifty dollars in value.
Sincerely rendering our grateful acknnwl
Judgements to the kind visitors f,rrwhat they
have thus done to promote our comfort, and,
a6wetrust, to increase orr eff cheney to serve
the good cause and praying for manifold
.tempora! and spiritual blessings be bestowed
upon them. We trust they will IN Ike free to.
pass in and out of the lines as they may be
inclined. ~ t...s. .. = f CLARK. Il.
3 April 81, 1864. 80. a,...,... 81.
y The above was handed in too late for in,
se'l'"'a'' "eeN-a.ji of hs7s. w 31gw aa 81