Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1900-12-08

4
the Wilder Taylor's smokehouse got
afire at midnight, and Peleg Scott
rung the alarm bell in way to turn
the hull town bottom side up in five
minits. That fire company went at
that conf1agration TO conker or die, and
in II minits the red tongued flames of
destruction had bin doused out, and
Jericho was safe. In a leetle speech
which follered the fire Squar' Danvers
said that Rome in her palmiest days
never equaled the occasion, and Phile-
tus Johnson declared that the thanks
of congress would be poor reward fur
such heroism.
| The day the firemen got their uni
forms Jericho got up on her hind legs
1 and howled. There was SIGH excite
| ment in the town that soft soap was
allowed to boil over. bread was burned
up in the ovens, and most folks forgot
to feed their hogs. Some idea of what
| sort of a royal jubilation it was kin be
1 gathered from the fact that one gro
Gerry alone sold &c lemons and cocoa
nuts durin the day. 1t was Reube
| Holdfast's idea that fireman should
always be on duty, and he advised ev-
| cry member of the company to wear
Il uIS uHiIOtHl udy anu hight. w Den the
| first thunderstorm came along, the fire
bell rang. and the company turned out
/ and stood ready to rush to the spot if
| lightnin hit anythin. If there was a
| dosfight in front of the town hail. the
company come rushin up, and if any
| body's team ran away or kitchen
| stove got red hot there was a dash of
| red shirted heroes. Jericho was boom
in, but Reube wasn't satisfied with her
progress. He got his company out
and marched them to Sunday church
and to Thursday evenin prayer meet
| in There was lawsuit over q COW
between Jim White and Aaron Temp
kins. and the fire company was present
| in full uniform. Old Mrs. Hopkins was
taken sick, and the doctor said she
must go, and Reube felt Ii his duty to
| march the company up to her house
and bid her n last farewell. Her sick
| ness took turn fur the better. and she
| begun to git well. and Reube marched
| the company up ag'in to give her three
cheers fur not dyin.
After about a month there was only
one thing lackin. The fire company
| mad turned out fur everythin but fu-
neral, but death had obstinately refus-
ed to gin it n show. There was lot
of old folks with asthma and liver COM
plant and lot of babies with whoop-
i'll cough and measles, but none of 'em
would die. Reube used to go around
achin fur it, and he'd drop into the
pOstottice occasionally to say to me:
Pap, if some one would only die, I'd
turn out the boys in Il way to jump
Jericho 100 years ahead. Them red
pals and axes and ladders would jest
be an offset to the mOurnin, and the
way the boys would stand around on
one leg and look solemn would be pic
ture to beat an old master. Hows
your heart disease, Pap"
Better, thank you"
Il was in hopes it was wuSs. Thar's
wusS men nor you, Pap Perkins, but if
you'll only die our, fire company will
gin We a sendOf to make yer wilder
proud fur the rest of her days"
Reube was on the watch day and
night fur n funeral, and he'd almost
made up his mind to turn out the COM
pany fur the next COW that died of hol-
Ter horn when a crisis come like a
fash. OWN to his lame leg Lish Bill
lings hadn't j'ined the fire company,
but he was an old and respected citi-
zen who could beat anybody in town
at game of checkers. Tharfore when
the news come that his well had caved
in on him and buried him under ten
feet of airth the fire bells rung and red
shirts went whoopin down the road.
Mrs. Billings didn't seem to care very
much whether they got Lish's body or
not, bein it was already buried. but
they was determined to hev it fur a
funeral. They worked all the arter-
noon and all night, and at intervals
Reube had the bells toled fur the dead
Nobody in Jericho slept. The we'll
kept Gavin in, and the firemen kept
wOrkin like heroes to clear it out 1t
was o'clock next mornin when they
found Lish's old hat. AS it was passed
up to ReubP he shed tears and turned
jest remarkin that Lishs loss was our
gain or something of that sort. and the
diggers down in the well were lookin
fur arms and legs, when Lish himself
appeared in the crowd. He seemed to
be in good health and speerits, and he
carelessly remarked to the fire compa-
ny that he was much obleeGed fur saw
in him a weeks work. Nuthin was
said fur about mint, but presently |
Reube Holdfast wiped the tears from |
his eyes and asked:
"Lish, whar you bin since yesterday |
noon?"
up stairs in the house." says Lish.
What was your objeck?"
ITO boom Jericho by gettin up fu- |
neral. Thar's my old hat, and you kin
take it along and bury it in good |
shape"
Reube called off his company. and |
they marched back to town with sol
emn tread They hadn't put away their
red water pals before folks was laugh
in at 'em, and before shutdown the
doom of the fire company was sealed.
Lish Billings had thrown 'em down,
and the public was guyin and ridicuIin.
When the z n,cIncI- rnni had hi-, die |