Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1875-04-21

L
tell you, if You like to listen. what once
saw; and look back with a deal of pleas
ure to that day, and thank God l took :,
part in it,
Philip and Ethel had already scraped a
hole amongst the rough stones upon the
beach, wherein the old man could sit COM
fortably; and mindful of their attention,
he sat himself down between the children,
and touched the front of his cap before he
began his story.
1T was matter of seven or eight Years
ago-1 don't quite mind-eight. l think
early one Sunday morning we was all
woke out of our beds by Il cry Of Fire"
| said early. Had it been working day,
we should Il been up and about long be-
fore, but we was taking our rest as was
rightful. BY the time | was in the street,
everybody else seemed to be there too, Il
tearing down the hill like mad-men, o.
men and children.
There was no doubt where the fire was.
the smoke and the smell told us plain
enough. That row of houses there, right
in the middle of the village used to be all
thatchcd. in those days. They have slated
them since.
For 4 time, the crowd stood looking on
at the burning houses-for Il crowd, mind
you, sir, never does work till some one
sets 'em going-looking on. and some of
EN- wringing their hands and saving Dear
dear! here's Il destruction of property :.
they'll all be burnt to the ground, every
one of EN-: and the opposite houses, too, >
for they was thatchcd likewise: when sud-
IDENTIFY down amongst us came the doctor,
and he calls out
Now then, its no kinder use looking
on. fetch all the buckets YOU can and bring
water. and We'll put out the tll,tch in no
time
mo sooner had he spoke than every
body seemed to have buckets in their
hands; and there was we, handling them
up SO fast as ever we could, and the doctor
and two or three others standing or sitting
outside the roofs of the houses. a empty
ing them on to the flames rs fast as they
could.
Il don't know how it may be. but some
people seem to think in Il minute: and 9TH
crs, their heads seem hllcd with pirwasl
There was the rcctor's daughter getting all
the women and children in 4 double row.
on this side the road, one t'othcr; and in
few minutes. instead of having here a
bucket of water, and there a bucket of wa
ter. there was one continual handing of
buckets full one side, and of empty buck
cts tother
That went Oh for hours: from five
O'Clock in the morning till half-past five
clock that afternoon, 1t WAS the same
work. There was no tlre-cnginc within
some miles Of us, and no Telegraph posts
IN those days; and it WAS hours before the
engine could be brought over and bv that
time the fire was wel.nigh spent:
The whole day we worked, everybody
gentlemen and ladies all the same rs the
res | knew manya lady in the vi lge wi
spent All that day pumping water till the
pump WAS dry. and never stopping to think
if her arms ached or not.
And those Us couldn't pump. was occll-
pied in making tea and cutting bread and
cheese. and h.,ndlng it about amongst the
weary. dry. and exhausted men who had
been almost in the fumes, and always in
the choking smoke all dav.
Il know rs there wasn't I loaf of bread
to be had hardly in the Village thit sumo
evening, bu, they had given away their all,
and had never thought upon themselves
and the bakers hrd TO sit up the whole OF
that following night baking bread. that
there might be something t. eat 10y the
morning.
And was the fire put out, after all?
asked Ethel.
No. until the half the street hal been
burnt down, little miss. and then only by
pulling down some of the houses between.
1t was dry summer day. dye see. and
with a light breeze, and the sparks and
burning pieces of thatch WAS blown on to
the roofs higher up. There never was such
Il confusion in the street of furniture, and
what not, and women a-wrlnTinr their
hands over their lost things, and children
a-crying, poor little un-. they hardly knew
why, except that their mothers was 4 cry
in., too
"What became of them all. HAT night"
asked Ethel.
You may we'll ask. missy. 1t was the
question kept asking of myself. What
will become of them? But it WAS soon
answered. They was all taken in. and
lodged and fed, some bv one. some by an
other. There seemed To- be no property
that day.
The old man paused. and looked over
the sea, and Philip and Ethel thought that
he had said all but he spoke again
presently
AT six clock that evening the church
bell rang for prayers. In course there had
been no service before that: why. the rec
tor himself was helping also with the fire
1 IT,
very smartlv dressed. | think they WAS
too tired to think much about that; too
tired. many of EN-, to wash their faces from
the smoke.
II am Il chapel man myself in ordinary.
but that evening there seemed to he no
difference. The Dissenting minister was
there at churcha> he had been in the midst
of the fire; and we was all one.
..IhpV WAC very short DrnVpTS | t1ncV
the rector couldn't trust himself hardly to
read much and he preached no sermon.
There was no need.
you see, missy. and little master, |
have lived Il long life. and seen. As you
say, risky things done. and lives lost 1T 4
venture, and blood,leL. and all that; but
in all the fourscorc years that have lived.
never see such Il sight rs on that day of
the fire.
IL don't know how you my take it,
Captain" concluded old Wilson, turning
to Captain Clare, who had been listening
attentively to his story, 'but it seems to
me, when whole village full of people
forgets themselves, and risks their lives.
and gives up their comfort for the sake of
their neighbors in distress. that's grand
and noble, and beats any amount of snug
Cling ventures"
The old man left Oft speaking, and IN
his odd way again g;,zed across the water.
Then little Ethel said, in n low voice, AS ii
speaking to herself,
Il think SO, too
"You see, Missy sad old Wilson, turn
ing to her, ''you see that everything rs we
do, be it great or small, leaves Its mark,
AS it were, for us; for there's Il real pleas
ure in looking back to that day of the fire
But there is no pleasure in looking back
upon my smuggling days, because they
was so mixed up with sin; and it is in
looking back that we have the true value
of things, mostly" concluded the old man.
"reminiscences Of Walter Scott.
Many Of the more energetic descriptions
in " Marmion,' and particularly that of