Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1875-11-04


it, and perhaps catch glimpse of her.
AS we neared it there seemed to be a
great hustle and confusion-people run
ling hither and thlther, women scream
ing, and the Clouds Of steam and smoke
that usually foated around the building
seemed increased hundredfold A curve
in the road brought us full in front of the
mills, and in moment I saw that the
| largest of them, the one where my little
Pearlie spent her weary days, was on fire.
Dense clouds of smoke mingled with tiny
tongues of flame were issuing from the
windows, frightened operatives were rush
ing from the burning building, trampling
each other under foot in their mad haste,
and the whole scene was one of unutter-
able horror and dIsmay.
The train was stopped. In moment
we were all on our way to the burning
mill, among the first All! Jack, think
what | felt when | heard a terror stricken
| group of men crying out: Where is
Miss Smith? She is nowhere to be foundr
| She was known to have been in the office
when the alarm of fire was given, and had
not been seen since. One prayer for safety
from lips all too unaccustomed to such
exercise, and | was in the midst of the
| burning building. Up the stairs I rushed
| like mailman, burst through the door of
| the Office, and there, with her hands clasped
and her head lying on the open page of
her ledger, lay the girl | loved. In mo-
m | off -
her head, and, claspirg her as closely as |
could lest those demOniac dartIng tongues
| of flame and falling cinders should touch
her, carried her down the burning,
cracking staircase safe into the fresh air.
What a cheer they gave US, Jack! Then
there was a dull, rumbling sound, a
crash, and myriads Of sparks went shoot
ing up like stars into the smoke clOuded
air. One of the walls had fallen.
But [ do not remember anything fur
Their until woke up and found myself in
bed, with a little blue-eyed nurse bending
over me with tender hands, one of which
l kissed and captured and never lost sight
OF until had decorated it with a wedding
ring. One day, Jack, when we were first
engaged, [ asked her why she made no at
tempt to get out of the mill when she
heard the cry Of Firen What do you
suppose she told me? That l had gone
away, and she thought it would be easier
to die there in the fire than to live her life
without me. Think Of it, Jack. Just
fancy the fair Judith allowing herself to
no hIlr tn ho,. hoJ
left her! All, my little wife, my country
daisy! wish you could have seen her
when [ brought her home, so frightened
at my magniticence, so overawed by the
grim-visaged Dutchmen looking down
from their perches on the drawing room
walls. [ was obliged to reassure her by
telling her that if she persisted in being
so frightened | should have to dispose Of
my ancestors as Charles Surface did,
Fancy the first settlers knocked down at
auction, so much per headn
=" But the imperial Judith ~
1.-The fire had burned all recollection of
her out of my head. The pride of the
Knickerbockers had also disappeared in
the flames, and when I learned my little
Pearlie's sad and simple history think I
loved her all the better for her humble,
nameless birth. Her mother was a
farmers daughter, who married stroll
ing vagabond by the name OF Smith She
afterward had reason to think the name
was assumed, but she chung to him faith
fully until he was found drowned under
the mill one day and then she died her
self, just after Pearlie, or Margaret, as
they called her, was born. Judith, friend
Jack, still retains her maiden estate,
though she replaced me in two weeks by
a French Count. Now if you are looking
out for a wife"
Don't, my boy. Are there no more
burning mills in New England? Those
blue eyes haunt me. Hark! isn't that a
baby's cry?"
Ofcourse it is; a bouncing youn gster
belonging to wife and l."
Lets go and take look at him.
Arm in arm they go upstairs, where
little woman who is not a Knickerbocker
kneels in maternal alteration before the
cradle of young tyrant who is.-Hmper's
Weekly.