Evening star., 1918-08-18
By Ellis Parker Butler.

thought they would have to stop for Il
while and that then they could go
ahead again, so they hunted Tor some
place to hide the whisky they owned,
where il would be safe for "A while. and
Mr.. Swnr,z's cellar was one OF the
places they hid it in, What Swatty's
father was trying to shout was tnat II
his shop caught fire all the whisky IN
the cellar might eNplcde ana tme heople
standing around might be Killed and
tho whole town burn mp. l doh,t won
der he was sort Of crazy about It,. |
guess Swatty felt sort of ashamed that
his father was acting so crazy
SO then the house next TO S"attys
fathers shop caught fire, and the next
minute the side OF Swuttys fathers
shop began to smoke,
So lust then Swattys father ran out
and grabbed the ire marshal by the
arm and talked to him IN GERMAN, pc
cause they were both German, ana the
fire marshal ran toward his tiremen
and shouted through his trumpet, ana
all the tiremen up the street came
running back. dragging all their nose
and all shouting.
and suddenly the fire marshal ran
back to where the tiremen We're tug
pinS at the heavy hose and shouting,
and four tiremen who We're hold'hE on
to a nozzle pointed the stream into
the air. 1t was worse thah any rM'm !;
and we were all soaked. So all the
crowd hollered and screamed, ana we
all turned and ran, and all ! knew was
that had hold of Mamie Litties hahu
and was helping her run ! was awtul
sorry she was crying ana her ia'her
was going to burn
So Swatty said: whats the cry
Ing for? why don't she shut up!'
He meant Mamie Little SO said:
..She can cry If she wants to! ia
like to see you try to stop her. shes
crying because your father gave her
his fashion plate and it's going to be
burned up, and IL you say much III
lick you!"
crying for. come on. Wen get her oio
fashion plate for her
and me and Bony followed after him.
He went up the side street. and we
climbed over the fence into the yaru
OF the corner house and cut across
that yard and over another. renee:
Swatty's fathers shop without any
one stopping us. Bony KIND OF kept
1t was mighty hot because the
house next door was all af1re, but the
fremen were keeping all their hose on
the side of Swattys fathers shop,
trying to keep it from burning, we
crouched down and kept our backs to
the Nre so the heat wouldn't shriVel
us, and we got to the back door ana IL
wasn't locked. We went in. 1t was
rot-like an oven-inside, ana the
noise Of all the water on the side or
the house was like thunder, only
louder. The Inside of the shop was
like under a waterfall. You wouldn't
think anything so wet could burn, but
1t did. Before we were half way 10 the
front window the fire began to eat
~. 1.N hn a..
ter on that side just turned to steam
and dried as fast as 1t ran down.
Bony began to cry. but we hadn't
any time to stop. Swatty took MIN
by the hand and jerked him along. and
we got to the window and l grabbed
the fashion plate. Then we couldn't
go back because the shop was mostly
aflre and w9> would have been burned
up. SO theh Bony got real scared
and ran to the front door and threw
1t open, and IL stream from nose
caught him and sent him headsoVer
heels back into the shop where 1t was
burning; he was knocked unconscious
because his head hit table leg.
So | didn't know what to do, 1
guess I began to cry crouched down
In the window because l couldn't get
but at the door on account OF the
stream of water that was coming m
there hundred miles a minute. and l
couldn't go back because the back or
the shop was all af.re now. But Swat
ty cra~led on his hands and knees
under the table where Bony was.
where the fire was beginning to burn
harder and he grabbed Bony and
yanked him along the floor back to
the window. l guess I helped him jerk
. Bony onto the window shelf, but then
another stream Of water, busted the
window in. The glass felk all around
us and one piece cut Swalty on the
hand. but he only said: Jump! Jump!
. Maybe we would have jumped, but
we didn't. The f1remen had got to the
back Of the building and had turned
the hose in at the back window and
just when Swatty said 'Iump." the
stream of water nit us like board.
1t took us as If we were pieces OF
paper and slammed us out of the
broken window and half way across.
the street, and threw us head over
heels in the mud, and the fashion
plate. with Mamie Little's father,
came flying with us.
So l crawled over to where the
fashion plate was and took hold of 1t
and began to drag 1t where Mamie
Little was waiting for it. police
man came and took me by the shoul-
der and lifted me up. but l couldn't
stand. Gand that was the first | knew
my leg was broken. But Swatty got
up himself and saSsed the policeman
that came to get HIM. He told him he
had right to go into his fathers
own shop If he wanted to, and that If
the policeman said much he would go
back again.