The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1877-03-15
AFTER THE FIRE.


The IRE, from which we date in the
fAmily-it being the great event therein
for years seemed at the time It occurred
the climax of series Of misfortunes that
had been falling for i've years upon our
First, We lost 4 dear father, Who left
the family already mentioned-namely,
mamma, Meta, Freddie and myself.
Meta was but fourteen when father died,
Twelve, and Freddie but three years OF
age. There. was no money for us after
the business was closed, and mamma
thankfully accepted an offer of her Uncle
Gordon's, t0ssbe his housekeepef and SO
secure home for all of us.
Such homel Uncle Gordon Crofts
1 was . man nearly seventy, strong and
vigorous, with most ung0vernable tenn
per-, misery and suspicious, who had
lived alone for about forty years What
sudden spasm Of generosity made him
open the doors Of his wretched, tumble
down old house to US we never knew, but
certainly he repented the arrangement rs
soon as his proposal was accepted.
Not one meal passed our lips that we
were not reminded of its cost; not an
article Of our poor clothing was renewed
without deep groaiis over our extrava-
gance, and we were put out at once
Meta and myself-to learn trades-I being
apprenticed toa milliner, Meta to book
binder.
/ know now that, scanty as our wages
were, they really covered the expenses of
our poor food and worse lodging. AS for
poor mamma. with all the housework,
sewing, washing and cooking upon her
hands, surely she earned the little she
spent.
When Brent Ellis discovered Meta's at.
fractions she was eighteen, still working
Is book binder in place of business
which Brent's father owned. Old John
Ellis, after storming and raging like a
maniac at the presumption of one of the
hands'' daring to be sufficiently attract
i've to win the love Of the son and heir of
his magnifcence, dismissed Meta at an
hours notice.
As he owned the only book binding es-
adjustment in the town, and Meta knew
no other trade, affairs looked black for us.
Brent himself was true as steel, and
wanted Meta to marry him at once. But,
in spite of her gentleness, Meta had some
pride, and refused to enter family where
she was not welcome. Mother, to3, at
this crisis, informed Brent that his visits
had better cease, and Meta did not speak
! one word of dissent.
-,sl stormed, of course. always do
storm when am angry. But nobody ever
came round to my opinion, no matter how
rayed-and John Ellis certainly did not.
To be sure, he did not hear me, or that
might have made some difference.
Midwinter found us in this strait. Meta
out OF employment, helping mother about
the house, and patiently bearing Uncle
Gordon's protests against her idleness and
fine lady airs; l trimming hats, and
laeekly. handing over my wages to our
uncle; Freddie still at the town school,
but with an apprenticeship booming in the
spring.
In January Uncle Gordon was taken ill
1.-The first serious sickness of his life. He
would have no doctor until absolutely
forced to call one in by increasing pain
and weakness, and when the long de-
layed examination was over it proved to
have been made too late.
In just enc month from his first pain
our uncle died, leaving a brief will, con-
ferring all his property, the house in
cluded, upon our mother, his we'll be-
.zloved niece, Sarah Morton. y
But where was the property? Not a
shilling was deposited in The bank, not an
inch of real estate was held in his name.
save the miserable piece Of land upon
which the house stood, and which barely
yielded vegetables for the table.
We turned the house. upside down and
inside out, but not q coin rewarded our
search.
Finally we sadly concluded that the
:, misery we had seen, the lamentations we
had heard were the result of real, down.
right poverty, and not the mere pretenses
of miser.
And we struggled along somehow,
mother sewing q little, Meta doing hovse-
work, and | still at the milliner's. We
did not starve. That is the record of the
next four months-a struggle for mere
bread, and the saving of actual existence,
nothing more. And, to cap the climax,
came the fire.
1t was night in June-a clear, star
light night-and i, though weary enough,
was sleepless., Meta lay by my side,
wakeful as myself, and told me, in soft
whispers, that she had met her lover that
day, when on some household errand, and
he had urged her sorcly to marry him,
though his father had not relented.
" don't know but ] would" / said.
After all, he is man, and must be able
70 care for you somehow. This life is
killing ypu." f 81
And as I spoke, Meta cried, ~ smell
smoker
Smell islp I cried, starting up. II
There it was, coming in at the cracks
of the worn-out doof, little threads at
first, but filling the room rapidly.
We caught up some clothing and rushed
to the door. AS we opened it, the flames
burst out on the landing and staircase,
forcing US to retreat.
Mother and Freddie slept in rooms be-
yond ours: on the other side, and we
rushed across to them. 1t took but q mo-
ment to rouse them, and we all four
ceclambled, half -dressed, from Freddie's
window to y shed, and so to the yard.
By this time the neighbors were
Weakened, and the houses about us were
glowing in the flames shooting up from
our old house to the sky.
FAey5 e you can, the group we formed
: - -stood huddled together in the yard.
sn4d Wafched everything we owned upon
earth being licked up by the greedy
tongues OF flame, swallowed in clouds Of
smoke Meta and could see our bed
room closet and the scanty stock of CLOTH
Ing there, and count the dearly purchased
articles as they were consumed.
" Ny poor black alpacas,,s Meta aid,
Na4chIn4 Re luEtd 6fn1lfk crpepine up.
fheEkf6s 1--WE might lave Shatt ia sfhat.
It hangs on the door. s
Sec my band box topping over" I
.a4idS s Iae boanet win kap Asme.col-
'ote4 featier5in two minuies: