Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1901-02-13
MALCOLM KIRK
A Tale Of Moral Heroism
in Overcoming the World.
CONTINUED. I
BY CHARES M. SHELDON.
Copyright, 1900, by the Advance Pub. Co.

irlers, but it was undoubtedly her anx-
iety for AIalcom'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 hes, but she had hardly known it..
She worked with all the others in a 81
lent frenzy. Suddenly she was con-
scious of q tall, awkward figure near
her, looming up through the smoke,
thrashlng ut the fire with powerful en-
ergy, a very incarnation Of resistance
and stubborn refusal to surrender
'Malcom" she cried. and, faint as
she was, she felt new life at the sight
Of him.
"Dorothy. Thank Cod, We got back
with him just in time.''
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.. Kirk" \
group Of men at the postohice, 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
Yes, 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
member of any church and rarely
Went to hear even Malcolm preach. But
it was 4 tribute to the hold Malcolm
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 eventual day that the PEG,
pie Of Conrad, exhausted, burned
blackened, saw the great danger pass
around them and the gallopinS wAirl-
wind Numbered Off beyond the town,
leaving mighty and desolate eXpanse
of black and snoluering 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 plriShoners, 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 at
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 Malcolm, as he
and Dorothy ran through the street.
When they reached the parsonage,
the roof had already caught from q
flying timber blown off the church
tower. The water Of the town was ex-
hausted. The we'll 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 a 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 a place of safety, felt
something blow against her face, and,
putting up her hand, she caught q
piece of paper.
Even in the excitement she saw
what it was It 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!
It was over soon, and in a little
while the church and parsonage, the
work of many a weary struggle for
their little company of disciples, were
dreary heaps of ruin. \ hard fight on
the part Of the WORKOUT 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 a trunk while a little group of
neighbors stood by discussing the incl
dents of the fire, latter all, dear, we
have good deal to be thankful for"
Yes said Dorothy, with a smile.
1t was 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 eIe-
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 a
mighty conflict going on. He had lost
his books, nearly all that were of value,
and the other losses were great. BE
was blackened and burned, his clothes
hung in ragged rents about him, his
great fists were bleeding, and here be-
side him was the woman who had left
all for-what? To share such priva-
tons, dangers, losses?
For moment he hardly heard what
some Of his parishioners were saying.
They had been talking excitedly to-
gether.
''Mr. Kirk, we are of the opinion that
this fire was incendiary."
How is that?' asked Malcolm, rous-
ing up little.