Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1900-07-17

appropriated him somehow to them
selves or to the best that was strug-
Cling in them.
1t was nearly the middle of the after
noon Of that eventful day that the peo-
pie of Conrad, exhausted, burned,
blackened, saw the great danger pass
around them and the galloping whirl-
wind Numbered off beyond the town,
| leaving q mighty and desolate expanse
| of black and smoldering prairie be-
hind it.
Then it was that the severest trial
of all came to Malcolm and Dorothy.
They had gone into the house Of one
of their parishioners, where the body
of Philip Barton had been carried. He
was living, but had received some in
juries from falling out of the wagon
probably when the team ran away.
They had come out Of the house and
were on their way home when some
one in the street suddenly clutched
Malcom's arm and, pointing through
the smoke, cried out:
Look there! The church is on frew
4
the opposite end of the town from the
prairie fire, and the danger had been
the least in that quarter. That part
of the town had been entirely deserted
while the fight had been going on at
| the other end.
'If the church goes, the parsonage
will go, too," thought Malcom, as he
and Dorothy ran through the street.
| When they reached the parsonage,
the roof had already caught from a
| flying timber blown off the church
tower. The water Of the town was ex-
hausted. The well in the parsonage
| yard was already nearly empty. Nal
com rushed into the house and by des-
perate work, helped by several other
men, succeeded in carrying out some
furniture and few of his books.
One of the boxes in Dorothy's room
was blazing as he carried it out and
threw it over, and pile of papers in a
portfolio was scattered. Dorothy, as she
worked helping to carry some pieces
Of furniture to place of safety, felt
something blow against her face, and,
putting up her hand, she caught a
piece Of paper.
Even In the excitement she saw
what it was 1t was the sketch that
Francis Raleigh had drawn on board
the Cephalonia three years before, the
sketch. Of Malcolm holding the baby.
Dorothy sobbed as she saw what it
was. Her own baby! And now their
home and nearly all the things they
counted dear!
1t was over soon, and in little
while the church and parsonage, the
4 work of many weary struggle for
their little company of disciples, were
dreary heaps Of ruin. A hard fight on
the part Of the wornout citizens had
kept the other houses from being burn,
ed. The church and parsonage had
stood in large lot by themselves.
after ALL" said Malcolm when it was
all over, as he sat down by Dorothy
on trunk while q little group of
neighbors stood by discussing the Incl
dents Of the fire, "after all, dear, we
have good deal to be thankful for"
"Yes," said Dorothy, with smile.
1t was a little hard for her as she sat
there to imagine that Dorothy Gilbert
who once back in the old New Eng
land home had been noted for the ele-
gance and refinement of all her ways
and surroundings. Nothing but the
great love she bore the man who had
asked her to share his life now made
her insensible to that former life be.
fore she was married.
Malcolm Kirk sat there gazing at the
ruins Of his home and his church, and
deep down in his heart there was q
mighty conflict going on. He had lost
his books, nearly all that were of value
and the other losses were great He
|. was blackened and burned, his clothes
. hung in ragged rents about him, his
great fists were bleeding, and here be
. all for-what? To share such priva
tions, dangers, losses?
For a moment he hardly heard what
some of his parishioners were saying
They had been talking excitedly to-
gether.
"Air. Kirk. we are Of the opinion that
this fire was incendiary."<
"How is that?' asked Malcolm, rous.
. ing up little.
1.-THE first seen of 1t was In the tow.
er, Now, the fire from the prairie
could not possibly have caught uI
there. Some one must have set it."
Then different ones began to whisper
their suspicious.
The next day. while Malcolm and
Dorothy were staying with one of the
church members who took them into
his home, the rumor grew that the fire
was the work of the whisky men.
Down on the street excited groups OF
men gathered that evening. discussing
the matter. Every one knew that Nal
. com Kirk had fought the saloons from
/ the first day Of his entrance into Con
rad. He was feared and hated BY
them more than any one else. He hat
succeeded to large degree in getting
o the other churches to act together il
r the agitation now going on all over thu
q state. He was already noted for hi
: leadership throughout the county ant