The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1902-04-08

tBli Arp n Atlanta constitution.
Fire and water and air. Tho three
things that cost the least and avr the
most necessary TO our existence and ale
the most dangerous when anrestrainsl.
Last sabbath evening my wife and !
walked down TO Jessie.s house TO com
fort her in her sick bed ana play with
the little girls and help nurse the little
baby boy. suddenly the fire bell gave
an alarm and my wife walked out on the
yerandd to find out where the fire was
In a moment she came hurrying back and
almost screamed: It's our houSc-it,s
our house; run quick. Oh mercy.
threw the baby down on the hoor-no,
/ didn't either-and departed those coats
with alacrIly. Firemcn and people were
hurrying that way. | struck a fox trot
for awhile but soon relaxed into a fast
walk, and then a slow pull UP the hill.
for l felt my paplpitation coming on.
Before | reached the mansion | met some
CT the guard returning. who said the fire
was out. So l sat down on the front steps
to blow for q minute. When / went
through the hall to the kitchen where
the commotiOn was, | found our daugh-
ters and some good friends still drench-
ing the smoking walls and pouring
ter down the fue up in the garret The
accumulated SCOT Of twenty years had
caught on fire and somehow got to the
lathng and then to the ceiling and
dropped down to the floor. Nobody was
at home. The cook was in her cabin
/ asleep. Her little boy was sitting on the
back sters and when our girls arrived he
very quietly pointed to the kitchen and
/ said: "Dars q fire in dar' Then they
! heard the cracking flames and saw
! smoke pouring through broken pane.
! On opening the door they were astounded,
/ for the whole room seemed ablaze. One
! ran to the front door and screamed
Fire fire fire" and the other Went to
the telephone and then they flew to the
water faucet and good ncighbOrs gather
ed in and filled the buckets and went TO
work They were just in time, for de-
lay of ten minutes would have caused
the loss of the house and all of our time
honored furniture and pictures and books
and my wifes fine clothes and golden
lwedding presents. When l left Jessie 5
! house my wife hailed me the run and
said save something, but l am not Ger
tain whether it was her fine dresses in
the wardrobe or her silyerWare III the
dark closet or her Bible. | reckon it
vas the Bible that she has read chap
ter in every night for all these Ions
years. I had good old aunt in Rome
and When her house caught on fire away
in the night and the fremcn came run
ming she ran out in her night clothes and
begged them to save her Christian Index.
She had a stock of them and treasured
them more than anything else.
Our good old professor Charles f. Nc
Coy, OF Franklin College, used to lee
ture to us students, and his favOritc sub
ject was ''The Regularity of Irregular
u +f,l tI.,t 4 hH
longer my house escaped q fire the more
, l was liable to have one. The chances
against me increased as the years rolled
/ on, and so l have been expecting fire.
The insurance companies understand this
and base all their calculations and rates
upon it. They Will tell you what IS the
average life of a dwelling, a store, a gin
f a planning mill or a church The pro
fessor illustrated with a dice box and
said if you cast the dice q dozen times
the six-spot might come up three or four
times in succession and the ace several
times but if you cast the dice thou
sand times, each number from one to six
: would show up about an equal number OF
times That is according to the calcu-
= lation OF chances and proves the regu-
lality of irregular things. SO 1t is with
the rainfall, which, however uncertain
ir its coming, amounts 10 about the same
every year Since 1888 the losses by fire
in the United States have averaged
S1O5. GOO 600 a year, the lowest being ST.
coo 600. and the highest $4,000, 600, and
yet in 1871 the loss in Chicago alone was
; $500 600 600.
, But where did fire come from and who
gave it and when? There is no mention
OF fire IN the Mosaic account of the ere
alton nor for two thousand years after
it, Until after the food there was not
much need of fire, for the people were
not permitted to eat meat. Their food
was the fruits of the earth. But
reckon they did have fire and blacksmith
: shops and made hammers and hoes anC
: nails, etc Noah could not have built
the ark without tools and nails. The
presumption is that the Creator supplied
Adam with tools to dress the garden anc
Abel with knives to sacrifice the first
lings Of his flock but there are lndiar
tribes in our day and negroes in Africa
and EsGuimaux in the Arctic regions who
5 have no knowledge Of iron or its uses
/ A thousand years before Christ Honel
1 wrote that Jupiter only possessed the
element that we call fire and when mar
was created he refused to give hin
D fire. But Prometheus stole some from
+, heaven and gave it 10 man and il made
2 Jupiter so mad that he chained him tt
a rock and sent eagles to eat his llvel
, out and as they eat il by day the liver
5 grew AGAIN by night, but finally he Wa:
| unclaimed and the eagles driven away
1t seems that PrOmetheus was Il frIene
to mankind and by the command OF Jupi-
ter actually created man out OF the mu6
that was left after the flood-not Noah
food. but the flood Of Deucalion, away
D back in the ages. He was a god nearly
! as powerful q Jupiter and was always
6 in a quarrel with him. He taught man
h kind architecture. astronomy, figures
: medicine navigation and all the art!
{ that adorn life. At Athens and other
! ancient cities temples We're built to hi
1 honor They believed that the very fire
e | that he brought down from heaven was
eti1 rrocnrrnd and va aImarr hum N