Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1874-12-03
NO.. $50.
SOMETHING LIKE A FIRE.

Whole Duty of Man. according to John
Murray remarks ST. Petersburg friend
to whom have been retailing my expert
ences of the interior of Russia. us there
anything left to add to the list ?"
Nothing that can think of, unless it
be a big fire.
"A big fire, Ell? Why, you're worse
than the rat that starved in the grainery.
I'm sure there have been fires enough this
summer to give every tourist in Russia.
one fol himself"
This statement, though rather "tall,"
can hardly be set down as a positive exag-
geration. During the past summer Rus
sia has been outdoing herself in fires, in u
way astonishing even to those who re-
member the great confagrations of 1862.
All the journals have been teeming with
fire after fire, to an extent which might
lead casual observer 10 conclude either
that the Russians are in the habit of re-
calling themselves annually with patri-
otic rehearsal of the burning of Moscow.
or that the entire nation has attained the
condition of the Chinese in Charles Lambs
Incompatible Essay on Roast Pig"
among whom the only known method OF
cookery was by burning the entire prem
ises. North, south. east, and west, the
public at large appears to have been
amusing itself by makinga bonfire of every
thing that comes to hand, while the incur
ance companies of every degree are res
pelting in dust and ashes. One could
hardly open a newspaper without seeing
announced, in careless, off-hand sum-
mary of half dozen lines, as matter of
no moment, the destruction by fire of"fif.
ty houses,' lone hundred and thirteen
Ans.
eral public buildings" Hitherto, howev.
amid abundance, not single fire out of
all this multitude having been obliging
enough to come in my way but it is de.
creed that this delay shall be atoned for
by the spectacle of confiagration worth
all the rest put together.
One dreary September night, l had been
sitting up late over the fifth volume of
Count Tols,o's "War and Peace" per-
haps the best Russian historical novel ever
written. | was Just midway thr ough the
Borodino chapter. and had so thoroughly
enjoyed the life-likc description of the
great battle, that it was little wonder il it
| haunted me even in sleep. But l could
hardly have slept more than an hour,
| when ] was reused by clamor that might
have awakened rural policeman, and,
rushing to the window, found myself in
| the midst of a scene that almost realized
the visions of battle upon which it had
broken. Alarm-ights were hoisted upon
the tower of the fire brigade station, which
was next door to me lamps were fitting
about the courtyard; the trampling OF
wheels, mingled with the hoarse shouting
of many voices, came echoing from below;
and overhead, the whole sky was purple
with the reflection of fierce red glare
that broke the darkness far away to the
eastward. There could be no doubt of it,
| had got my wish at last. l dressed my
self as if running it close for morning
chapel at Oxford, and was downstairs and
out of the house in a twinkling.
where is it?" ask l of ono of the
helmeted figures in gray irieze who are
rushing about in front of the station.
.''Tootchkoff Bridge answers the man.
and the next moment am running at full
speed towards the scene of action. There
is no need to inquire further; at the men,
ton of the Tootchkoff Bridge, l compre-
hend at once the whole extent OF the ca
tastrophe. The bridge in question crosses
the Lesser Neva about halfway along the
eastern shore of the island on which the
Nasili-Ostroff suburb is built; and close to
ii, on the farther side of the river, lies an
enormous hemp.wharf, containing four or
five warehouses, and usually covered with
piles of loose bales, in addition to the
quantity stored within. Such magazine
of fuel, once fired, would make blaze to
startle all Petersburg; and. indeed, the
whole neighborhood is already in commo-
ton. Heads are thrusting themselves out
OF windows; voices calling to each other;
hall-dressed figures running about the
streets; and more than once, as l fly
along, tire-engine comes laundering past
at full gallop. the brazen helmets OF its
men glancing redly in the fitful light. At
length, as | turn the corner of the street
leading to the Tootchkoff Bridge, the
whole scene bursts upon me at once.
The entire front OF the hemp-wharf is
one sheet of dancing flame, which, tossed
by the rising wind, swoops forward ever
and anon as if TO overleap the very river
itself, casting out a heat which, even across
the whole breadth of the stream, is we'll
nigh uncomfortable. Beneath the deepen
ing glare, The river seems to run blood;
the faces Of the crowd, looking wan and
ghastly beneath that Internal lustre, APP
pear and vanish like phautoms; while, in
the distant background the tall, lance-like
tower OF the great church OF the citadel
looms out through the rolling smoke like
a threatening giant. OF the store-house
in which the fire began nothing is left but
great heap OF glowing embers, around
which the danes rising from the loose
hemp lap and surge like a whirlpool. A
second warehouse is just bursting into a
blaze, and the engines are working with
might and main TO save it. the long black
line of the water,jet standing out against
the flaming background like bar sinister
drawn athwart some gorgeous escutcheon.
But all is in vain. The hemp within is al
ready alight. The smoke deepens---thick.
ens-reddens suddenly-and up through
the roof leaps great spout of fire, with
long, rejoicing roar, accompanied by
sharp Swapping like the report of fire.
work. The raiters crack and hiss in the
blaze the "chirra OF broken glass is heard
from the upper windows; and right and
left the fiery claws clutch at the adjoining
timbers, till all is one broad flame, above
and below. ea
Wilder and wilder grows the tumult.
Engine after puoinp pomas ratttinev ~