The Bellefontaine Republican. [volume] (Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio) 1855-1905, 1900-07-13
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Dorothy could not remember how
she came to be with the fighters on the
prairie instead Of with the water car
riers, but it was undoubtedly her anx-
iety for Malcom's safety that urged
her out toward the fire. Her dress had
caught on fire and been put out several
times. Some one had thrown water
over her. but she had hardly known it.
She worked with all the others in ST.
lent frenzy. Suddenly she was con-
scious of a tall, awkward figure near
her, looming up through the smoke,
thrashing at the fire with powerful en-
ergy, a very Incarnation of resistance
and stubborn refusal to surrender.
"Malcomw she cried, and, faint as
she was, she felt new life at the sight
of him.
Dorothy! Thank God, we got back
with him just in timer
There was no time to say more. The
danger was still great. Near together
now, husband and wife fought on. The
citizens Of Conrad afterward bore wit
ness to the way in which they fought.
"Say, did you see Mr.. KirkT A
group of men at the postofflce, several
days after the great fire, were talking
it over.
''These New England folks beat ev-
cry other kind when it comes to never
giving up"
eyes, or fighting the devil. Our min
lister beats all the rest at that" said
Carver, who spoke of Kirk as "our
minister" although he had never been
a member of any church and rarely
went to hear even Malcom preach. But
it was a tribute to the hold Malcom
had secured on such men that they
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 thundered of beyond the town,
leaving a mighty and desolate expanse
3f black and smoldering prairie be-
, hind it.
Then it was that the severest trial
If all came to Malcom and Dorothy.
They had gone into the house of one
!; IF 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
we're 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 fire!'
The church and parsonage stood al
) the opposite end of the town from the
, prairie fire, and the danger had beer
the least in that quarter. That par
Of the town had been entirely deserted
while the fight had been going on a
the other end.
'If the church goes, the parsonage
will 60, too," thought MalcOm, as ht
and Dorothy ran through the street.
: When they reached the parsonage
a the roof had already caught from {
q flying timber blown OF the church
tower. The water Of the town was ex
hausted. The well in the parsonage
lyard was already nearly empty. Nal
g com rushed into the house and by des
perate work, helped by several othe
men, succeeded in carrying out som,
furniture and a few of his books.
One of the boxes In Dorothy's room
was blazing as he carried it out ant
threw it over, and pile Of papers in I
/ n1f nv oh.
d worked helping to carry some piece
}: of furniture to place Of safety, fel
!. something blow against her face, and
putting up her hand. she caught
piece Of paper.
Even in the excitement she saw
what it was. 1t was the sketch tha
Francis Raleigh had drawn on boar
the Cephalonia three years before, tn
sketch of Malcom holding the baby
Dorothy sobbed as she saw what
was. Her own baby! And now thei
counted dear!
1t was over soon, and In q littl
while the church and parsonage, tn
work of many q weary struggle 70
their little company Of disciples, wer
dreary heaps of ruin. A hard fight O
the part of the wornout citizens ha
kept the other houses from being burr
ed. The church and parsonage ha
stood in a large lot by themselves.
"After ALL" said Malcom when 1t wa
all over, as he sat down by Doroth
on a trunk while a little group Q
neighbors stood by discussing the inc
dents Of the fire, 'after all, dear, W
have a good deal to be thankful for"
"Yes," said Dorothy, with a smil'
1t was little hard for her as she SO
there to imagine that Dorothy Gilbel
l. who once back In the old New Enf
land home had been noted for the ell,
u gance and refinement Of all her way
and surroundings. Nothing but th
great love she bore the man who ha
asked her to share his life now mad
her insensible to that former life b.
IS fore she was married.
Malcom Kirk sat there gazing at th
ruins of his home and his church, an
= deep down in his heart there was
= mighty conflict going on. He had los
] his books, nearly all that were Of valu
and the other losses were great. b
was blackened and burned, his clothe
In hung in ragged rents about him, b
IL great fists were bleeding, and here b