The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-08-18
The Old Man Demonstrates His Great Presence
of Mind

of Mind.
Mrs. Bowser, it is possible that thi
house may take Gre some time observes
Mr. Bowser as he laid aside his paper tn
other evening.
YES"
"If it takes fire while am at home all
expect of you is to take the child and ge
out doors. shall peril my life to subdu
the confagration, and if I find it cannot b.
done 1 shall save all the valuables."
perhaps could help you.'
Aud perhaps you couldn't. You'd d.
more damage than good if you tried to.
want you to remember and get right Gu
and stay out"
Il have been told that had great pers
ence of mind, Mr.. Bowser"
Yes, and you may have been told tina
! you were the Empress of Russia. Presence
of mind! There isn't woman on earth
who'd have presence of mind enough in
case of fire to save her own shoes All
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 drop
ped the match upon a rug lying 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 egg shells into the range when she
was clearing up her supper dishes. Your
nose is always smelling fire or burglars OF
| sewer gas, and il is always wrong
He went to sleep and | continued to sniff
that odor. Ten minutes after Mr.. Bowser
had uttered his first snore thick cloud OF
smoke poured into our bedroom all of q
sudden, at the same moment the darkness
was lighted up by Pickering fame The
house was certainly on fire, and l shook
Mr.. Bowser and informed him of the
fact.
"W-what is it!'' he gasped, as he set UP
in bed.
1.-The house is on fire! Can't you see the
smoke and the blaze."
l 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
Murder 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 bein 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 ~
He rushed to the telephone and rang ii
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 dash into the parlor and out
by the front hall, all the time yelling,
Fire ~ at the top of his voice, and then ii
occurred to him to to the fire alarm box
lOrrr tIea, 1sa.,
footed and bareheaded, and after trying
for half a minute to pull the box of the
post he ran to the residence where the key
was kent His shouts and yells had
aroused everybody within half mile, and
the professor Of the key threw up his win
dow and called:
"ls that you, Bowser gu
Eyes it's me My house is on fire
Sure? l didn'tsee any light over there"
cts on fire from cellar to garnet, and |
expect my wife and child have persisted in
the flames III
That's awful Here's the key
Mr.. Bowser not only turned in one alarm,
but kept on sending them in until the first
steamer arrived, and the driver of it or
dered him away from the box and called
him blank fool. Five engines came rush
ing up, and / had got the smoke out of the
hall and was down stairs when a dozen
fremen dashed up the steps to fight the con-
flagration. | 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 saRdpaper and soak his head.
They sneered at his excuses and laughed
at his explanations, and as they retired one
of them remarked
'It's good thing for you, old bowlegs,
that you have got guardian ~
OWhen they had gone and we were left to
ourselves Mr.. Bowser looked very impor-
tant and observed:
"Well, made mighty short work Of that
blaze"
you What did you dog" asked
"What did 1 do? Mrs. Bowser, do you
intend to claim any credit for extinguishing
that blaze?'
81 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. l see
through the conspiracy. On several occa-
sions you have driven me 10 the limit.
This is beyond. detroit Free Press.