The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1914-09-19
SLOW DKzAZzAEH EEAK

soon became to feel, as she expresses it. that the
lookout is IAN ounce of prevention" Then there
are three daily reports to be to the district
headquarters In town. to prove that everything
is serene, and extra reports if they are not and
lastly little very little homework to DO.
Not very busy day, judged by our modern
standards of rush, but lookout's motto might
VoH he They also serve who only stand and
wait" And there is always the great map spread
out at ones feet to study by new lights and
shadows while waiting, and the ever-busy phone
with its numerous calls, which must be kept
within hearing, that one cannot wander far.
That phone Miss Daggett says. with its grad
Ually extending feeIers made her feel exactly like
big spider in the center of web. with the fires
for flies; and those fires certainly treated
to exactly the speedy fate OF the other unworthy
pests. Through all the days up to the close of
the term November 6, when a light snow put
end to all danger of fires, she felt
growing sense of responsibility, which finally
came to be almost feeling of proprietorship.
sulting in the desire to punish anyone careless
enough to set fires in her @door-yard."
The utter dependence on the telephone
brought wildly to Miss Daggett's mind one aft
ernoon soon after her arrival, when an extra
heavy electrical storm. which broke close by,
caused one Of the electrical arresteFs the out
side of the cabin to burn out, quite contrary to
precedent, and she cut of from the world
until the next day. when someone from the Office
came up in haste to find out the cause of the
silence and set things Alright. They often joke
now, she says, about expecting to find her hidden
ny at the time
There seems, however, to be very little actual
danger from these storms In spite OF the fact
that they very heavy and numerous at that
elevation One soon becomes accustomed to the
racket, or at least, Miss Daggett did. But in the
damage these storms by starting fires lies
their chief interest the lookout for it requires
a quick eye to detect, in among the rage Of fogs
which arise in their wake the small puff of smoke
which tells of tree struck In burnable spot
Generally it shows at once, but In one instance
there was lapse of almost two weeks before the
fall of the smoldertng top famed up enough smoke
to be seen
At night the new fires show up like tiny candle
flames. and are easily spotted against the dark
background of the ridges, but are not so easy to
exactly locate for an immediate report. Upon the
speed and accuracy of this report, however, de-
pends the efficiency OF the service, proved
by the summers record Of extra small acreage
burned in spite Of forty fires reported
To the electrical storms, Miss Daggett adds
attributed most Of our present-day fires, as tray-
eIer and citizen alike daily feeling more
sponsfble for the preservation of the riches be
slowed by nature, and although some sti1 hold
to the same views old-timer, who made
the comment, when lightning fires we're being dis
cussed, that he GUESSED that was the Alnighty's
way Of clearing the forests" the general trend Of
forest service, is doing an excellent work in
keeping watehful eye the limits Of that hith-
erto wholesale clearing.