St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1889-08-22
II have been told that | had

II have been told that had great
presence of mind, Mr. Bowser.'
Yes, and you may have been told
that you were the Empress of Rus
sia Presence of mind There isn't
a woman on earth who'd have pres
ence of mind enough in case of fire
to save her own shoes All l want
of you is to follow my directions
1t was singular that the test should
come SO soon. In lighting the gas in
the hall up stairs Mr. Bowser must
have dropped the match upon a rug
living near We were hardly in bed
before. l smelled smoke, but when l
mentioned the fact Mr.. Bowser
growled:
NONSENSE The cook probably
threw some eggshells into the range
when she was clearing up her supper
dishes. Your nose is always smelling
fire or burglars or sewer gas, and it
is always wrong.
He went to sleep and | continued
to sniff that odor. Ten minutes after
Mr. Bowser had uttered his first
snore a thick cloud of smoke poured
into our bedroom all of sudden,
and at the same moment the dark
ness was lighted up by a Pickering
flame. The house was certainly on
fire, and 1 shook Mr.. Bowser and
informed him of the fact.
"W-what is it ?" he gasped, as he
sat up in bed.
1.-The house is on fire! Can't you
see the smoke and the blaze ?"
was out on the floor and dressing
me when he rolled out of bed, sprang
to the door and shouted at the top
of his voice:
"Murderl Police! FIRE. We are
all on fire up here!"
well, slip on your clothes and see
if you can't put it out. 1t must be
in the back hall"
Fire! Fire! Fire" he yelled, as
he sought to pull on his pants. "Our
house is on fire. We shall be burned
alive
In spite of the peril of the situati
l had to laugh at Mr.. Bowser's an
tics. He first got the left leg in the
right leg of the pants. Then he fell
over in getting out of them; got up
and drew them on hind side before,
and he was sprawled out on the bed
and kicking them off when l was all
dressed and ready to leave the room.
l was determined to see where the
fire was before l took the baby and
went down stairs. The smoke was
very thick, but the tongue of flame
guided me down the hall, and found
the rug and Dashboard and door
casing ablaze.
Fire! Fire! Fire - yelled Mr..
Bowser at this moment as he dashed
into the hall.
Come and help me put it outn' l
called to him, but he was already on
his way down stairs to the telephone.
Covering my mouth and nose as
we'll as l could l felt my way to the
lavatory. There was nothing but a
tumbler at hand, but after had filled
it several times and dashed its con-
tents along the base | saw that |
had the best of the blaze After open
ing a window to let the smoke drive
out | brought some more water and
extinguished the last of the fire
Meanwhile l could not help but hear
Mr.. BOwSer He rushed to the tele-
phone and rang it continuously for
twenty seconds, and then yelled:
'Hello, central! Hello, central
Fire! Fire! Fire! My house is on
fire! Send up the police and three
engines right away!"
He couldn't wait for an answer,
but took three or four circuits around
the sitting-room, made a dash into
the parlor and out by the front hall,
all the time yelling 'fire!" at the top
of his voice, and then it occurred to
him to go to the fire-alarm box down
on the corner. Out he rushed, bare
footed and bareheaded, and after
trying for half a minute to pull the
box off the post he ran to the resi-
dence where the key was kept. His
shouts and yells had aroused every
body within half mile, and the pos
SCISSOR of the key threw up his Win
dow and called:
Is that you, Bowser?"
Eyes, it's me! My house is on fire ?"
'Sure? l didn't see any light over
there"
ITS on fire from cellar to garnet,
and | expect my wife and child have
persisted in the flames!"
"That's awful Here's the key"
Mr.. Bowser not only turned in one
alarm, but he kept on sending them
in until the first steamer arrived, and
the driver of it ordered him away
from the box and called him blank
fool. Five engines came rushing up,
and l had got the smoke out of the
hall and was down stairs when a
dozen fremen dashed up the steps to
fight the confagration. | showed
them up stairs to investigate. Mr..
Bowser went with them After they
got through laughing they turned on
Mr. Bowser.
They called him by $50 different
titles. besides advising him to go and
sandpaper and soak his head. They
at his explanations and as they re-
tired one of them remarked:
Its a good thing for you, old
bowlegs, that you have got a guar
DIAM"
When they had gone and we were
left to ourselves, Mr.. Bowser looked
very important and observed:
''Well, l made mighty short work
of that blaze
YOU What did you do?"
asked.
What did do? Mrs. Bowser do
you intend to claim any credit for ex-
tinguishing that blaze?"
Il do. But for me the house would
have gone. Mr.. Bowser, you were
so ratified that you acted like crazy
man."
What! You put out the fire! l
ratified! Mrs. Bowser, this is too
much 1 see through the conspiracy.
On several occasions you have driven