Chariton courier. (Keytesville, Chariton County, Mo.) 1878-current, 1885-01-23
The old Houses at Home.

Reader, if you ever left home and
went to great city to seek fortune and
fame, or lodging at police headquar-
ters, then came home on visit after
year or two, did you notice how low
the houses once SO tail in your eyes ap-
peared?
When fifteen l went forth in the
world and found myself at the end of
the second day, four hundred miles
from home in a larger city than / had
ever seen. / was soon familiar with
its principal points of interest, and only
lack of funds with which to purchase
postage stamps, KEEP. me from deluging
my old school-mates in Illinois with
glowing accounts of my wonderful adj
ventures and hair-breadth escapes.
/ remember the first time the fire de-
partment was called out after my adj
vent in the city. 1t was before fire ex-
tinguishing had become profession as
it is to-day, and the Tiffin department
was volunteer affair, which hauled
the old s'Seneca Chief steamer by
hand. and ran hook-and-ladder truck
and hand engine by the same motive
power.
was struck with the apparent in
efficiency of the outfit, and yearned to
right the numerous errors | thought I
detected in reducing Penner's barn to
ashes. If there is anything boy with
the accumulated wisdom of fifteen long
and weary years ranking in his bosom,
can detect better than another it is an
error in some great enterprise like
slow in righting the great wrong to the
1E L. II T kf,o 81
low that held the helm of the hook
and-ladder truck did not understand
his business, so i walked up to him and
seized one horn of the dilemma.
never exactly knew whether l tainted,
suffered stroke of paralysis or was
kicked by mule but when recovered
from my temporary indisposition,
was lying on my back in the mud, and
one of my eyes had lost its cunning. 1t
was in mourning nearly two weeks af.
ter that.
Ever since that occurrence, have
known more about the line of policy
pursued by accomplished fremen than
] ever knew before. / believe learned
about as much concerning fires on that
occasion as ever care TO know, for i
wandered around after rising from the
scene of my downfall, until l collided
with somewhat persistent stream of
water that the hoseman evidently
thought useless for any purpose except
to extinguish the ardor of over-smart
boys. have since observed that all
well regulated fire departments have an
engine for that express purpose. A
fire has no charms for first-class fire.
man, if there is a boy with ideas far in
advance of his years in the crowd of
by-standers. / have seen a whole de-
partment of firemen let thousands of
dollars turn to ashes right in front of
them, while engaged in dampening the
irrepressible ardor of youth. In my
opinion, ID is the duty of every city to
pass ordinances prohibiting boys from
running to fires, in order that the fire.
men NAV have time to throw a little
water on the fires.
With all my inexperience and adj
vanced ideas, / survived the shocks and
rebuffs of an unappreciative world and
was spared 20 return to my home, re-
storing light, life and comfort to the
languishing household. When the train
pulled into my fathers post-office adj
dress-that is about all there was of my
native yillage-I was surprised at the
lowness of the two-story brick house
that constituted its business district. /
had thought it the very impersonation
of architectural altitude in the good,
old days, but on my return, it seemed
very small affair.
So it was with the hopes of high po-
sition among my old school-mates,
which l had builded seven or eight
stories and basement high before /
came home. / found that all that re-
mained of them was the basement, and
instead of looking up to me as l had
fondly anticipated, they slapped me on
the back in the old, familiar way, and
when resented such familiarity, they
said was stuck up-and they were
right. = Through Nal.