The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1902-01-16

the fierce light of public notice, while
a constituencies gentleman with whis-
kers listened affectionately on the
other side of the hedge. 1T was this
way" said Benjamin. THE man who
bought the old schoolhouse fixed it up
into tenements instead of tearin' it
down ard chopin it up for kindlin', as
he should have done. One night the old
thing got afre, and come pretty near
burnin' up a lot Of people. The fire
caught in the second story, and it was
burning regularly hot before anyone
discovered it. guess l was one of the
first tc see it. The schoolhouse was
only little way from our place, you
know, and my windows on that side.
wasn't sleepin' very sound for some
reason or other, and the light woke me
up. l saw what was the matter in a
minute, and l hustled into my trousers
and skipped out.
''All of a sudden l heard one of the
women give screech, and thought to
myself: There! she's come away and
forget to bring the baby That's the
way it happens in stories, you know;
and | felt kind of Gravity feelin' in my
hair, and there was lump in my
throat, and my heart thumped like a
bass drum. But it wasn't the baby
this time. 1t was Tommy Tirrel. Tom
my's an orphan, you know; that is, his
mothers dead and his fathers drunk
ard, nobody KNOWN where he is; and
these people had took him to board
the town payin' for it. 1t was sort of
new thing. He'd only been boardin
with 'em a day or two, and it wasn't
very strange that they didn't think of
him when they got out. He was sleep
in in the closet where the janitor used
to keep the brooms and things-re-
member? The only outside window
in it was little hole for ventilation. 1t
looked good deal as if Tommy was
gamer. The room into which the door
OF the closet opened was roarin' with
fire. 1t wouldn't be many minutes be-
fore the partition would be gone.
"The golden rule kept runnin'
through my head like II race horses.
remembered the time when we
climbed to the roof and took the clap
per out of the bell. | remembered
that it wasn't a very hard thing to do.
Any fellow in our grade could do it.
I'VE just put "a plank up on the step
and climbed to the little shelf that runs
round the buildin' above the windows,
and then used some holes that had been
cut through the sidin'. The boys had
cut those holes on purpose and nobody
but the boys knew they were there.
They didn't show. 1t was just as easy
to climb up that way as it was with
ladder. The ventilator was only about
three feet to one side of the line of
holes, and | figured l could work over
on the eave-spout, and let Tommy hang
on to my legs while he was gettin'
through the hole. Then he could walk
along on the shelf that runs above the
upper windows same as it runs above
the lower ones, holdin' to me till we got
to the place where we could go down.
at struck me I'd try it, anyway. A
Teller ought to be willin' to do as much
to save another Teller from bein' roast
ed to death as he'd do to steal the clap
per of bell for fun. I'd have felt real
guilty if 1 hadn't tried it. So I chased
round to the lumber yard, just as we
did when we hooked the clapper, and
dragged out a long plank, and Billy
Stivers and Dick Kerne, who happened
to come along just then, helped to carry
1t over and stand it up on the steps.
The fire bell rang just as began to
climb, and heard breaking of glass
over me. 1t was Tommy. He'd woke