Millheim Journal. [volume] (Millheim, Pa.) 1876-1984, 1885-07-02

action. Jones' dog, seeing him go by,
took him for some sort of malefactor
that should be bitten on general prin :
ciples, and he took out quarter sec
tion in the rear of Vulcan's unmen-
tionables, but little he rocked and he
sailed around the corner with the piece
tapping like the tailboard of an express
wagon.
In less time than it takes ito tell III
the whole village was there, all except
one old woman who was paralyzed and
an old man laid up with inflamatory
rheumatism.
And the fire itself How fire can
eat into an old dried out house, In
dry season, when it gets start once.
1t was cracking and waltzing around
the roof like mad, while the crowd yell
ed and raced around itbelow. Brother
Johnson, when he got the door open,
ran in and brought out the coal Scuttle
and poker, depositing them on the 9TH
er side of the street, and returned for
an old time rocking chair. Bill Jones
pulled a what-not up by the roots and
brought it out and dashed 1t to smithe-
reens i'm the middle of the road. The
blacksmith had rushed up stairs and
seized cradle, brought 1t to the head of
the steps, bearing it before him like
shield, and just then two men grabbed
the loosely fastened stair carpet and
brought carpet, man and cradle i'm
heap to the bottom, all at once. The
half grown boys had removed the front
steps, making it good four feet from
the ground to the floor, and when the
bureau went out the drawers went in
their several directions, and HanDah's
things went their way. Just then
Amasa Gray himself showed up. He
had been running mile to get there,
with his arms failing in the air. and
when he burst into the crowd he inquir-
ed, What's the matter p L wonder
whether he.thought it was a clam bake
or donation party I?
He didn't wait for an answer. al
though the storekeeper volunteered the
gratuitous information. that the
house is aGre,' but he dived into the
cellar and grabbed what came first and
brought it up. 1t proved to be keg,
half full of last years sour kraut, un-
dergoing the third and final necessary
putrefaction. Dashing it on the board
walk he went in again and brought up
crock of soap grease. Others follow
ed and pegan pitching out canned fruit
and milk crooks and the belongings of
the underground part of the Domestic
economy of every household. Squire
Calhoun, essaying to 60 down, was hit
on the head with an empty flour barrel
and knocked over. He was promptly
hauled out from under the shower, AMI
he remarked that, old and all as he was
he could lick the man that done it. In
the rear, the old cat was removing her
family from under the wood shed to
the currant bushes. and she was trying
her level best to take the last two i'm
one mouthful. The boys had upset
several necessary outbuildings.a and had
knocked off all the palings, and pulled
the young plants up by the roots. 1t
was a noble effort to save property.
When the roof fell in there was dis
NAL howl from the crowd and the last
act was oyer. The fire that last hap
pened in the village occurred, by the
town records, in 1870, when the Blue
Hen tavern burned and will just ven-,
| ture to assert that it will be 1890 years
to come before another house burns
down If the traditional ounce of preYen-
tion can put 1T off. AS result of the
high pressure of the day thel were sum
dry direhappenings. johnson took cold.
Aunt Betsy Sawyer's ''doingsn turned
to crisp on the stove. While Mrs.
Williams was at the fire with, as she
expressed it, "every door in the house
open, "a aflock of chickens took possess on
aud not only ate the heart out of lot
| of custard pies on the kitchen table but
went 70 roost on the piano. Miss Me-
hitabe was so ashamed of herself that
when she went out the week following
she put on an extra dab of powder and
more things. She said when she heard
of distress she was going il she wasn't
dressed up. The preacher gave them
a good round dose Of the fire at the
next prayer meeting, and warned the
youthful sinners that, if they went to
any more evening parties. they should
remember Amasa Gray's fifty years
to come, when there is an open ques.
tion to be settled, as to the age of the
deceased, some old man will say he
knows the Governor was only sixty be-
cause he was but ten years old when
Amasa Gray's house burned up. And
now, if you have never seen New
England fire, you have at least read a.
bout one. M.
Go+oI, a WooSAl clnara