THEY sat around a small table, half a dozen bright boys and girls.
Questions and answers flew back and forth, literally, for were they not
printed upon slips of pasteboard which were handed about with exceeding
rapidity? Upon listening carefully, it was discoverable that they were
playing a game of English history.
Mr. Dalton, the father of the boy who was the host of the evening,
stood behind his son's chair looking on and smiling at their eagerness.
Presently he said, during a pause in the game;
"Well, boys, you do well; you certainly have a number of interesting
facts and dates fastened in your memories, but it occurs to me to
wonder if you know anything more than the mere fact. For instance,
take this question which is the first that comes to mind, 'What two
remarkable events in the reign of Charles the Second?' and the answer,
'The Great Plague and Fire in London.' Now what more do you know of
those events?"
Fred Dalton looked up quickly. "I know a little about the Fire, but
I do not know about the Plague. I suppose that there was a sort of
epidemic raged in London at that time."
"And it must have raged extensively or it would not have been called
the Great Plague, and have got into history," said Will Ely.
"You are both very good at supposing," said Mr. Dalton, laughing, "but
it is sometimes better to _know_ about a thing than to guess at it."
"I have read an account of the Plague," said Fred Smith. "It raged
several months, all one summer, and one third of the people of the city
died. Great numbers fled from the city, and so many died that they
could not have any burial service, but just buried them in a great pit
in the night. They built great bonfires in the streets hoping that the
fire and smoke would prevent the spread of the disease, but heavy rains
put out the fires. It was a dreadful time!"
"Indeed it was," said Mr. Dalton; "the accounts of it are harrowing.
And now what do you know of the Great Fire, Fred?"
"I know that it started in a baker's shop near London Bridge, and that
it burned over about five sixths of the city. It burned three days
and nights. It was in September, after a very hot and dry summer, so
that the houses built of wood were in a well-seasoned state, and made
first-rate kindling wood. And then there was a wind that fanned the
fire and carried sparks and cinders a long distance, so that new fires
kept breaking out in different parts of the city. It is said that there
were two hundred thousand people who lost their homes, and that the
streets leading out of the city were barricaded with broken-down wagons
which the people flying from the fire had overloaded with their goods."
[Illustration: BABY HARRY.]
"It was a terrible calamity," said Mr. Dalton; "but like many another
it proved a blessing, for the new London was much better built."
"Was the fire set by bad men, or was it an accident?" asked one of the
boys.
"Without doubt it was set accidentally, though many people thought
otherwise. A monument was erected near the place where the fire started
in memory of those who lost their lives in that terrible time, and
there was an inscription upon the monument charging the Papists with
the crime, but this unjust accusation was afterwards removed by the
order of the public authorities. But I will not hinder your game any
longer."
"We like this sort of hindering," said one of the boys. "It makes it
more interesting."
Mr. Dalton soon returned to say, "Boys, there is a 'Great Fire' in the
kitchen, and a pan of corn waiting to be popped, and a Bridget there
who does not think boys a 'Great Plague.'"
In less than half a minute there were no boys sitting around that table!