The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1884-01-12

of the floor. and the instant the dreai
alarm had been given from the outs de.
every one knew that the school house
was on fire beneath him.
Then came such scene rs has been
too often described in the da w papers;
the studious pupils became terrified be-
vond control. with but the single
thought of seeking safety by hight, and
without giving heed to the injuries
caused by their mad rush. The larger
pupils, frantic with fear, ran madly in
the direction of the door, trampling on
the smaller and weaker ones. while, in
creasing each moment. could b. heard
the roaring of the flames below that had
gained such Roadway before they were
discovered.
Already could the heat be felt through
the thin floor. and, as the fire burst
through the wall at the back of the
room, the rush became more furious,
until the teachers were powerless to do
anything to stay it.
1t seemed to Fred as if he was lifted
directly from his feetaby the press of
those around him, and dlmly conscious
that little Alice was somewhere in that
maddened throng, he was carried to-
wards the door, unable to do anything
towards saving her. even had be been
calm enough to think of rescue.
Half an hour passed--thirty terrible
minutes, during which it would have
been impossible for Fred to have told
what he did or said, and then the flames
were under control. All this time the
work of rescuing the tiny ones who had
been trampled down, half suffocated or
bruised by their stronger school-mates,
had been carried on. No one but men
were allowed to enter the burning
building, and Fred stood as close to the
door as possible. waiting until he should
see Alice, but hoping almost against
hope, that she had escaped before the
more terrible rush had been made. His
throat was dry, his tongue parched so
that it was impossible for him TO speak,
while his eyes burned and smarted with
unshed tears.
Then in the arms of the two men he
saw two. figures, one of whom he knew
was his sister, because of the dress she
wore, and he ran wildly forward, know
ing, even as he did so, that he could not
aid her if she had been in the burning
building uncared for all that time.
In the stretchers, hastily prepared
for the little sufferers, Alice was placed,
and then Fred saw that she was closely
locked in the embrace of another. whose
bleeding form told that he had shielded
her at the expense of his own life.
her head had been covered by boys
jacket, and in moment after it was re-
moved she revived from the swoon,
showing that she at least had escaped
uninjured.
And this other, this boy who had
cared for her without thought of him
self, was none other than little Amos
Patten, sneak and coward, as Fred had
called him. Needless of himself, the
poor cripple had protected the child
with his own body, receiving the blows
from the feet of his terrified school
mates, until the life had been crushed
from his deformed frame, and he had
proven that he did not deserve the cpl
thets Fred had so cruelty applied to
him. Brave among the bravest, he had
given his life for hers; but his reward,
as his soul went out from the poor little
mangled body to his Father in Heaven,
was sufficient.
Is 1t necessary to speak of Fred's re-
morsep Is it necessary to say that the
mound in the village churcb-yard was
often watered by the tears of the boy
who, when it was too late, would have
suffered anything if, by SO doing, he
could have unsaid the cruel words!
The remembrance of that mound, and
of him whose body sleeps beneath the
sod, has ever been sufficient to teach
Fred that he who ruleth his spirit is
better than he who taketh a city," and
! when his anger rises within him, he
thinks of brave little Amos, and then
gives the "soft answer" that " turneth
away wrath. "--JanseS OTIS, IN COngrc-
GatiohaiiSt.