The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1890-10-18


the sky. Mr. Donley came over to call
on us one night, at this time.
"Evenin', Neighbor Williston," he
said, and sitting down on log near the
door looked about the clearing for some
time in silence.
"Waal, neighbor," he remarked at
lcngth "pears like the sight o. this
ere yallcr sky don't disturb ye much. {"
"Why, what do you mean by that9'
my father asked him.
"Waal, nothin', of course, of ye think
ez haow there's no danger; but me an
my ole ooman's kinder 'spicionin' thet
thar may be roastin' hot time accom-
in, an thet the hull woods may burn
up"
"What can we do?" said my father.
"If they burn, why, they burn. We can
not help it."
"Waal, p'raps not; but p'raps we kin
help bein' roasted. Me an my ole
oomans been a-riggin' up fire hole ,
We low that we may hev ter take ter
the groun'"
"Do you think the fire would come
across our clearing to the house, Mr..
Donley?" my mother asked.
"Waal, eff It's like fire sor ten year
ago, 'twould, an lick up every thing
smack an smooth" was the unencour-
aging reply.
NY mother was much alarmed. Father
asked Mr.. Donley what he meant by a
fire-hole, and was told that it was kind
of cellar, out-of-doors, covered over with
logs and earth-a place in which it
would be possible to take refuge from
such conflagration as threatened us.
Father told our neighbor that he
would come to his house next day and
examine the fire-hole with a view to
making one. But while we were at
breakfast next morning, Mr.. and Mrs
Donley came in; he had shovel on his
shoulder, and she shovel and an axe
--she was q large, muscular woman
and, after some conversation, they said
that they had come over to help us dig
| q fire-hole, which they seemed to think
| we needed.
So after breakfast, father, assisted by
Mr.. and Mrs. Donley, set at work. They
chose low spot where water had stood
| in wet seasons, and began throwing out
the earth on all Sides Mother could
not help laughing to see Mrs Donley
| shovel, though she would not allow us
children to laugh.
By noon they had dug a great hole
twenty feet in length by ten in width,
and with the heaped up earth around it,
it was fully six feet deep.
| During the afternoon, small, straight,
green logs were prepared and laid over
the hole close together, and then fresh
earth was shoveled upon these to a
depth of more than foot. The only
entrance to this singular cellar was a
narrow doorway, dug aslant down to it,
at one end.
A week passed, and then there came
| a high wind which blew for two or three
DAYS. The smoke at times was very
dense, and the odor of burning pine
wood was very perceptible. The third
night father did not go to bed at all,
but remained up and out-of-doors,
watching. During the afternoon he
had set barrel in the fire-hole and
filed it with water. We retired, and
at length fell asleep, although we knew
| that both father and mother were in a
state of great anxiety.
| Late in the night mother walked us.
| "Get up" she said, 'dress yourselves,
and each take all your orher clothes in
bundle"
AS soon as we had opened our eyes
we saw that it was strangely light out
side the house. We heard the wind
blowing, and heard also a low, roaring
sound. When we had dressed and taken
our clothes, mother bade us come with
her to the fire-hole.
Father was there already, engaged in
putting his plow and some other tools
| into the hole. We found that he had
driven in the oxen and the COW. They
were tied up by their heads at the
farther end. Nearly every thing in the
house had been carried in, and the
place was nearly filled.
The doorway, except one little hole
| just big enough for us to slip through,
had been covered with boards with
fresh turf over them. Father had a
board and some turf ready to stop up
this last little hole. They had dropped
the straw-beds and some other articles
into the we'll, and covered that over in
similar manner
| On getting out -of-doors we were near
ly dazed by the glare of the fire, which
we could see streaming up over the
dark tree-tops. All around to the west
and north the heavens were ablaze with
| fiery light A deep, solemn roar was
borne from afar and filled our hearts
with o strange awe. Occasionally, too,
loud crashes resounded as great trees
fell, or rocks exploded from the terrific
heat
Father and mother were very calm
although they had been awake all
night.
Soon great sheets of fire could be seer
to float up into the sky The air was
growing hot and smoke, in heavy vol
umes. drove across the clearing.
"It's coming nearer" heard mother
say, in an awed tone -
"Yes," father replied, sit will soon bt
here now"
Several deer went bounding across
the clearing. One of them passed clos'
to us. Many other smaller animals
were scurrying by. Two creatures
which looked like large, shaggy dog
came near and stood, painting, with thei
long, red tongues out, and looking at us
1 suppose they were wolves. One of thu
last things that mother did was to ruI
to the house for Molly, the cat, which
she fetched out in pillow,tick to pu
in the fre-hole.
Meantime, the terrible roaring wa
| n 1.