The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1876-03-30
The Prairie Fire.

There had been one or two hard
Irosts, and the top of the grass was
getting brown and shrunken. The
leaves were growing dry and rustling,
SO that the clear, deep blue of the sky
showed through their yellow and brown
foliage. And day by day the grass grew
dryer and the trees thinner. The bright
blue lakes and sloughs, with their fringe
OF tall reeds and grasses, were occupied
by the ducks that were 1ocking togeth-
er before their migration. And in vari-
GUS direction the glow by night and
smoke by day told that the prairies were
burning. So one morning John yoked
up Buck and Dick to pillow some fur
rows for fire-break round the home
stead. His house was within a few
rods of little lake; so he commenced
his burrows at the lake on one side
OF the house and run them TO n slough
that was near, and then to some break
ing that he had, and then down 10 the
lake again on the other side, so max
ing line all round the house and stable
and stacks of hay that he had. First
two burrows, then skipping about rod,
and then couple more; and he meant
to burn the grass between them him
self, and so make an impossible fire
break around his house, and, indeed.
pretty much all he possessed was within
that circle of burrows. 1t was too late
to burn the day of the blowing; and the
next day there was no wind and the
grass wouldn't burn; and the next day
John had an errand to the nearest neigh
boris, three miles off, and, though there
was some wind and some smoke in the
air, yet there did not seem to be any fire
near; and he thought at any rate
tho burrows would probably turn the
flames, if they should come. And he
would not be gone very long, so he
went. His errand to his neighbours
took him longer than he expected, as is
apt to be the case; and when he started
back the wind was harder and the smoke
thicker than when he started. So he
looked somewhat anXiously toward
home, and kept his horse going at a
good pace, for he thought that Mary
might be frightened, though he didn't
feel as though such a thing could hap
pen as the burning of their snug little
home. But when he got within about a
mile of it, and came round little hill,
where he could see the roof of the house,
he started with almost a cry, for there
was the dense rolling smoke-cloud, that
half concealed the leaping flames be-
low it, rushing straight on toward his
home, and nearer to it than he was,
too.
He struck the horse once; but there
was no need of a second blow, for he
knew the prairie fire, too, and home had
always meant shelter and safety to him.
He would do his best to reach it now
So the horse ran, and John steadied
himselfwith one hand on the dashboard
and watched. The fire ran in lines
points of fire running ahead for some
distance, with unburned spaces between.
John watched it. In the long grass be-
tween the little hills it cracked and
roared and leaped ahead with fearful
fury, while where the grass was thin or
more sheltered from the wind it came
much slower. Now it would run quick
ly up the side of some little knoll
while going down the slope it would
almost stop, and sometimes 90 out,
and leave unburned places. Half a
mile from home, and q line of fire
reached the trail. He drove around it
and kept on. A little further and the trail
crossed a cooley, where the grass was
high. The fire got there just ahead of
him; but the trail checked it an instant,
so he turned short for a couple of rods
and ran across ahead of it. A quarter
of a mile more and the fire was up to
the trail all along, and he had to aban-
don it. The fire, however, had only
crossed the trail in q few places yet,
and he was getting nearly home. Then
he ran through one line of fire, where
the grass was light, hoping that beyond
it he should find an open track home.
But moment showed him that the
slough between him and the house had
caught, and that he was
cut off from going on in that
way-the straight way. How should
he turn? To the right, and he must ran
a line of FIRE, which perhaps he could
do, to the ground that had been burned
over. But then he could not get to the
house till the fire had passed it, and
Mary there alone. He could not do
that. To the left. Could the horse beat
the flames and run across ahead Of them
before they reached the lake, and so cut
him off in that direction? He would try
it. He turned short again. The horse
was excited, but manageable. The
smoke and heat were terrible, but he
| kept as near the line of leaping flames
as possible. When he got oppo-
site the end of the line he could
Just see through the smoke
the trees on the lake-shore, three or four
rods off. If the fire was running ahead
here in narrow line, he could cross
before it; if it was coming with a broad
sweep, he couldn't. He could not see
or tell. Another instant and he turned
again. Right before the fire now, right
into the smoke. And then Mary saw
them come springing out on the other
side. A half minute more would have
been too late, for the fire had reached
the lake. The house was standing yet,
for the fire had been checked a little
by the burrows and had burn
ed round os each side, while it
stopped in front. But the flames
were crossing the break, had crossed it
in several places, and were coming on.
/ L HdJ WIS SNlu6ul. w us JH6T6 any
chance of making a successful fight
against them? On three sides was the
fire, coming on in front, eating in slow
ly at the sides and strong wind to carry
sparks and smoke and heat. But then
the house was of logs with a sod roof,
and would not easily catch; the grass
around it was thin or worn entirely
away; the stable was behind the house /;
and there was the lake, as a last resort
for their lives. Each took a gunny-bag
and pail of water, and then waited a
little. Some stacks a few rods away
had just caught; but it was no use to
meet the fire till it came up nearly to
the house. Then they fought it-first
here, then there. While. they worked
at one point it crept up to the very sill
at another, and where it seemed to be
put out it would start up afresh. But in
five minutes they stopped to take breath,
and, looking around, saw that the fire
had all swept past, leaving the black
burned prairie and poor scorched trees
behind, and to them their house and
stable and one small stack of hay.