The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1878-05-03
CHATTER XIV.

The tbrarian Of Congress at Washington City.1
CHAPTER XIV.
Iue reading world has not yet forgot
ten the fearful holocaust that licked
with its burning tongue the canvas
built city, where tens Of thousands Of
human beings had temporarily stored
their all. The city burned like tinder
was at first benumbed with fright;
but as l saw the clear, thin flames creep
up the sides of the cotton wall where
my children lay, forgot the fear of my
legal protector in the greater passion of
mother love that nerved me to save the
little ones. 1 remembered, loo, that
my bOarders were all locked asleep, in
the restful slumber that generally pre-
cedes the approaching dawn. Selling
both my little ones in my slender
arms, ran shrieking here and there in
the night wind, scOrching my face
sometimes, and sometimes getting so
near the flaming tents that baby Gerald
would scream with fright and pain, and
> finally so far succeeding in raising
general alarm that Of the two hundred
sleepers in the Azara House, not one
found fiery grave.
do not think it was half an hour
from the time 1 had first heard that
noise, like the friction Of striking
matches, before my hotel walls were
reduced TO a film OF white ashes, with
which the cruel wind sported in a
frenzy of demoniacal glee. Then there
was hurrying to aud fro in the lurid
light Of the greedy flames, and shrieks
and yells and loud-voiced orders filled
the air.
repaired alone to a sand-hill, under
the lee side of which I crept with my
shlvering little ones, and watched the
war OF the devouring elements with a
feeling Of awe.
In Melbourne I had sometimes heard
the ominous tones Of the fire alarm, and
] was interested, even then, in the mad
havoc made 10y flames unclaimed, but
now that the realization Of what the
fire-fend may DO when man gives over
the reins that usually control him to
the custody Of the wild winds Of heaven
was upon me, and felt more than ever
in'my life before the impotence Of hu-
manity in its might, as contrasted with
the powers Of the universe when in their
fury.
] have told you before that ] was
nothing if not religious. felt peeu-
crouched beside my children, while IN,
din as Of fierce Inferno rent the heat, d
waves OF air as they rushed past ml
precarious place of refuge; and sal,
aloud, in the words Of the PsaImist
"'When I consider heavens, the wurl
Of thy fingers, and the moon and star
which thou hast created, Lord, what i
man, that thou art mindful of him, o
TIE son of man, that thou visites
him?'"
After a while the red sun rose in hi
stately majesty and gazed upon tn
scene through a cloud Of smoke so dens
as to almost obscure his rays.
All, what a spectacle that morning
sun beheldl Men, like demons, wer
hurrying to aud fro, bent upon plunde
and gain. Men, like messengers @
mercy, were hurrying here and there
trying with the aid Of militia to pre-
serve from rapacious robbers the prop
erty the fire-fiend bad failed TO devoul
Women, with disheveled hair and scan
clothing, were searching among th
ruins of their homes for jewels, goiS
and silver, and whatever else the fir,
fiend might fail to destroy. And all Oh
time great heavy clouds Of newly mad
smoke rose here and there in the di
tance, and hung gloomily over IL
freshly-doomed portions Of the strieke
city; and then great tongues Of fl
would dart upward from beneath Il
OvershadowiDg mass, creating anew
terrible holocaust, majestieally graz
and awfully beautiful.
"Pm hungry" said baby Gerald,
be nestled close TO me, while his pinch
lips quivered in the chill breeze fro
which the waves Of heat had fed.
This was the first word that broug
hiC " --J oNA7Sos LAutyFMs cuAt
enough be was, and yet what had
wherewith to feed him2
"Wait till papa comes, darling.~
answered, while great lump rose
my throat, and a weight Of more tht
mortal agony tugged at my heart.
81 don't ike papa. He's c'oss. .7' &
claimed the child.
Don't say that, pet; it's naught!
said I, feeling, even as l spoke, tha
was guilty of falsehood.
"But he makes you c'y, and when
coined our house was burnd-ed," y
his response.
"Well, never mind, darling. J
seem
And I pointed to a spot in the d
iance, over which a dense mass
newly-risen smoke hung like mons
pail Of blackness.
Look ~ I said, to avert my chill
attention. "Pretty soon you'll SEE
bright blaze there"