Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1893-06-21
The Night Of the Fire.
BY DOROTHY HoLCoMB.

night she woke me up out Of a sound
sleep, and begged me to get up and
light lamp, and search the room, and
drive him out. l mean, the mouse she
said was there.
80, Dorothyl do, DO, Dol just
this once more. You are not afraid,
and you know / can't help it. l
kfo,1 there is one this time. And
fasten him out, won't you, Dorothy?
Put a chair against the door. Oil L
wish there was lock on it.
was out of patience, 1 own, for L
was sleepy, and there never as mouse.
We have no mice IN our house. 1t is
all Susan's Imagination. And it GER
tainly was ridiculous, II she Is my
sister, to have her implore me to put a
chair against the door.
But then, things would have beeI
very different that night If she had not
got scared about a mouse. There
would have been fire any way, but
they could not have stopped it before
half the village had burned up. There
were two men there when it began,
but they were stupid, and they would
not have given the alarm till it WAS too
late.
Susan begged and entrested, but 1
suppose l have searched for mouse
fifty times Just to satisfy her that there
was not one, so at first l did not start.
used to pity girls who we're fright
ened at every little thing, who were
afraid of mouse, afraid of a spider,
afraid Of the dark, afraid of staying
alone, but l don't now. Probably they
suffer, but think they are foolish.
/ don't mean Susan, for she is a sepsi-
tive, delicate little thing, and she does
try. But oh! mousel
OF course 1 would not let her lie
there and quiver with terror, my own
sister, so l sprang up; but instead of
searching for a mouse, L drew aside
the curtain AMI looked out of the win
dow. 1t was open, ana the night was
so lovely sat down on the floor, leaned
my chm on the sill, and listened to the
autumn crickets. 1t was in Septem-
Der. Just then L saw fire blazing
out at the door of shop down below
our house. Two men were talking
about it, and one was saving, "Ohi L
guess we can put it out"
had had an awful experience about
a house afire once, and L knew better.
So told Susan to be calm, for there
was something worse than a mouse. l
will say for Susan that she is equal to
the occasion when the subject is really
a serious one. She would never, never
do as thst Newburyport girl did. 1t
was a long time ago, in my grand
mothers day, and she knew the girl.
There was fire broke out, and this
girl discovered it, but she was so scared
she did not rouse any body. She said
afterwards that she just curled down
and buried her head in the bed clothes.
And so the fire got under headwsy and
ragged and famed up. and nobody else
saw it till houses and stores were burn
ing. 1t was an awful fire, and that
foolish girl might have prevented its
spreading. But she said, 81 was SO
scaredr"
1 told Susan where it was, and L
said to her, "Now you go down to
Uncle Barnabas's bed room and wake
him gently" L cautioned her in this
way because he had been sick, and |
wished to be careful about startling
him.
"TeIl him there is no cause for
alarm. but he might as well
get up. Then go and wake Aunt
Malyina. am going to ring the
Episc al bell and rouse the town
"Good for you, DorothyP
Aunt Malvina has had to be ready
for Emergencies all her lifetime. she
sometimes says she has been minute
man." or 'minute-wOman." She
can always start up and dress herself
while some people would be waiting 10
think about doing it. So Susan and
fell into the way of doing Just as she
does. We never leave our things scat.
tered about when we go to bed, but
we have our clothes where We can put
our hands on them IN a minute, JusL as
she does. we always have a shawl at
hand and our wrappers and our slip
pers. L know 1t seems prim and no.
tional for two girls, but l don't care if
it does. Aunt Mslvins encourages it,
for she says IN case of sickness IN the
house we shall be ready. She means
in the future, in our own fathers fam
lily, where We can be very useful in
emergencies if we know how"
l was out of doors quicker than l
ever We Lit before, and ran down to the
church, right by those men and by the
fire that was blazing fearfully by that
time They did not see nee. 1 heard
them say, 'TheTe is not much water,
and If we can't put it out, I guess the
whole OF this side of the street has got
to CO."
How cold the wet grass was on my
bare anklesl l had put my slippers
on, but not my stockings. And how
out of breath | wssl
knew how to get into the church.
The sections daughter and | were close
friends, and she had shown me. |
don't suppose anybody else could have
got in without bursting the door in. /
mean anybody but the sexton, and he
lived away up town. She and 1 used
to go In and sit in the church some
times. l never even told Susan how
we did 1t. The sexton knew about it,
so there was no harm in II, for he did
not object. 1t was his own daughter,
and he said he did not care if we would
keep it to ourselves. He always liked
me, and he knew he could trust me,
even not to tell my own sister.
The way to get in was easy enough
il anybody knew. The two doors rad
a fastening Mt the bottom where BOLT
was shot into a socket In the floor. /
am not explaining this very well, and
do not suppose nybody could under
stand 1t without seeing how it was. At
any rate, the socket was worn, and if
you gave the door a little push and
then little shake, and then a sudden
yank, it would open. 1t made rs
think of a combination lock. You
must have the push and the shake and
the yank in their order, or you might
work away at the door all day and you
could not get in. 1t seems very queer
The reason why we did not get the
key and go in at the side entrance was
because the sections house was great
ways off, ard we might take fancy to
go into the church when she could not
stop to go and get it-I mean his
daughter. We always bolted the door
and crawled out at a tiny window back
of the organ recess. That seems queer,
too, but girls like to do adventurous
h Soma L. L.