The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1896-08-12
over new leaf, and be quick about

| caran crieu Ill eager Triumph l5nt
that just what I've been telling you over
and over, stupid? want to get out of
this dismal little rut / want to get
free from this dreafy tread-mill of
house-work and-and all that sort of
thing. | want TO live a. other girls
live that are no better than | am. I'm
sick and tired of being poor, that's il |.
Why, / can't have one single thing /
/ want, not one Ii isn't worth while
to live at all if / have to-oh what's
that? Look, Walter, look p'
Walter had not waited for her to
finish her startled outcry; at the first
word of it he had dashed away tow
ards the house, leaving her standing
in the garden path, weak and tremb-
ling with excitement and fear.
The house was on fire. The glare of
flames shining through the kitchen
window was the terrible thing they
had both seen, and now Sarah waited
an instant in dreadful fascination to
hear the cracking of the blaze and the
breaking of the window-glass and to
see the black smoke pour out.
The house was on fire and they would
be homeless that was the desolate
thought that overwhelmed her in those
first few seconds, depriving her of all
power to move or even to cry out.
Homeless And they had such pref
ty home, and they were all so happy
there together
The sound of the kitchen door slam
med To reused her from that momen ia
ry trance of helplessness and gave her
something else To think about. Walter
had rushed in where the fire was he
had put his life in peril. With loud
cry she darted up the garden path to
the kitchen door. She caught a
glimpse through the window is she
ran past it, and what she saw made
her giddy with terror. The whole place
was filled with flame and smoke, and
in the midst of it Walter was dimly
visible, dashing madly about as he
battled fiercely with the enemy.
"Walter Walter Come out Open
the door ~
She was tearing frantically at tn e
latch, but could not get the door open.
Oh, it was terrible to be so helpless
when he was perishing before her very
eyes. And what would she do with
out him? There never was brother
like Walter
"Don't come in here he cried, still
stamping and tearing about. 81 can
manage this. You go in the side door
and call the Others. They've all gone
up to bed. There isn't much danger,
but they ought to get out. Hurry,
Sarah, and then give an alarm
With dry sob in her throat. Sarah
ran away To the side door. She could
help Walter more by calling their faith
er TO pull him out of that furnace than
by going into il herself. 1t seemed
early for going to bed, but they kept
early hours in that house. Father,
mother and Miss Brinton must all be
sleeping very soundly, or they would
surely have been aroused by all the
noise that Walter was making. The
side-dcor was unfastened and she went
in and shut it after her; she vaguely
remembering hearing that no doors
or windows must be opened in case of
fire because of the draught.
She gasped and staggered against
the wall "a she entered, the smoke was
so dense and sitting. The inner door of
the kitchen had been open at first and
the smoke had poured all through the
house; and every window down stairs
had been tightly closed when the three
older people went TO bed, so there was
no escape for it.
Father, father, fatherr'
Sarah screamed the word again and
again when she could get breath
enough to scream, but there was no
answer, and no sound of movement in
the rooms above. Terrified, strangling,
and with tears streaming from her
smarting eyes, she groped her way TO
the stairs and ran swiftly to the upper
landing, calling as she ran. She stopped
calling before she had reached the
head of the stairs because she had no
more voice to call with; she was fairly
stifled by the smoke. She had not ex-
pected that; they all slept with bed
room windows wide open, and she had
not thought of the smokes collecting
in the upper story. She remembered
now that every upstairs window had
been closed just before supper because
of threatened thunderstorm, and evil
IDENTIFY they had not been opened since.
That was strange, and it brought a
new terror to the distracted girl.
They'll all be smothered in their
beds before can get in and open the
windowsr' she whispered to herself.
"And Walter said there wasn't much
danger, Fatherr'
was only choking gasp. She tried tc
find the door of her fathers bed room,
but she was suffocating and could no
longer stand.
81 must crawl with my face close to
the floor" she thought; "there's fresh
air there"
But she was so bewildered now that !
she could not tell what direction &c
take; she seemed to be in the middle
of some horrible space, and when she
found the wall at last it was only tie
wall, and no door at all. And all this
time the precious minutes were slip
ping away.
AZ can't do one thing to help any,
bo1yw she whispered hopelessly. "pe
hurry down stairs again and csy
some of the neighbors. Oh, why ca'he
they see that they are needed ~;
Gomez
But now despair as well as fear i OF
hold of her. She was hopelesslx.hi!a- |
in the overpowering smoke, and rs re-
not find the head of the stairs; o At AL
was so weak and faint that shLed and
grope no farther in any d In Chi
With stified moan she fell ~ Nine-
helpless. She could still thin 'eo"
although she could no lone
She wished she could not hing with |