Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1886-09-30

and that with one or two more favora'
BILE seasons they would be able to see
the results of their toll in hard cash.
The prairie fire was a danger which
they had not taken into consideration
When Fannie heard that fires were re-
ported at a distance she ran burrows
around her buildings and wheat stacks
and in other ways prepared for the visi
tation. Her neighbors did the same
and when the fires appeared near al
hand nearly everybody went out to fight
them. Fannie's mother remained al
home when the girl was gone on these
errands. On returning to her place one
evening the young woman found fires
in her way, and being forced to make a
long detour, 1t was dark before she came
to point where she could see her farm
The fires we're raging fercely, and she
made up her mind that her farm was
threatened if not already burned over.
Somebody had set back fires with the in
tention of stopping the coDfagration,
and this was the result. As fast as her
weary and trembling limbs could carry
her the girl dashed on, and few steps
more sufficed TO convince her that her
home and everything that it contained
was lost. When she arrived at the place
the house was in ruins, the barn was
ready to fall, and the great wheat stacks
were glowing heaps of embers. The
earth was hot under her feet, and the
air almost sitting. She called for her
mother, and called again. No one an
swered. She became sick with fear and
foreboding. and thought of fight, but
there was no place to which she could go
for help. The fires were all around her,
making the heavens lurid and the air
heavy, and so, in the presence of her
crushing disaster. the girl sat down and
wept. All night long she sat by the
ruins of her home, and when the morn>
ing light appeared she made a careful
search for her mother. She was not in
the ruins of the house, and the girl
breathed easier, but in the ashes of the
barn the old lady's charred remains
were found. She had evidently gone
there, after doing all in her power to
save the place, for the purpose of taking
the horse and making her escape, but
overcome with the heat, or possibly un-
able to manage the beast, both had per-
ished together.
Fannie's mother was buried on Sum-
day by the neighbors, most of whom,
like the girl, had lost nearly everything.
What was to be done, nobody knew.
Where all we're penniless and w-etched
there was no advice that could be fol-
lowed, and all seemed stunned by the
calamity which had come upon them
On Tuesday Fannie visited her farm for
the last time, intending to leave that
day for the railroad and seek assistance,
she knew not what or of whom. Her
poverty was absolute. Her debts were
greater than her equity in the land.
Everything that she had on earth was
destroyed except the clothing that she
wore. She stood by the ruined home
and looked out for miles on the blacken-
ed prairie. The sky was overcast with
leaden clouds, and the wind blew crisp
and cold from the North. Above. and
below everything was dark, but the
somber view was not blacker than her
future. She buried her face in her
hands and turned from the desolate
scene just in time to hear the clatter of
hoofs on the roadway, and looking upl
the girl saw the fellow from Illinois
whom she had left in despair eighteen
months ago. He rode up to her, jump
ed from his horse, and addressed her
quietly. She had little to say, and there
was not much that he could say, as his
appearance caused fresh flood of tears
to flow. He told her that he had read
of her mothers death and of their losses |
by fire, and had come by the first train
in the hope that he could be of service
to her. He would do anything that she
said. He had money and time. If she
wanted to rebuild he would stay and
boss the job. If she wanted to go back
to Illinois he would go with her, and
they could settle the matter up here at
their leisure. If she disliked him and
wanted him to clear out he would do
that, too, but, to tell the truth, he said
be wanted her, and he believed and
hoped she wanted him now. He looked
around on the waste, and the girl raised |
her eyes, swept the blackened earth with
them to the point where the lead of the
clouds touched the fiame-swept earth. 1t
was pride against helplessness and love,
and the latter won. She left with the
young man that afternoon, and to
friend of hers here she said she would
never return as farmer
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