THE TERRIBLE FIRE.
Fire rages with fury wherever it comes,
If only one spark should be dropped;
Whole houses, or cities, sometimes it consumes,
Where its violence cannot be stopped.
One night, about eight o'clock, Harry and Laura were playing in the
nursery, building houses with bricks, and trying who could raise the
highest tower without letting it fall, when suddenly they were startled
to hear every bell in the house ringing violently, while the servants
seemed running up and down stairs, as if they were distracted.
"What can be the matter!" cried Laura, turning round and listening,
while Harry quietly took this opportunity to shake the walls of her
castle till it fell.
"The very house is coming down about your ears, Laura!" said Harry,
enjoying his little bit of mischief. "I should like to be Andrew, now,
for five minutes, that I might answer those fifty bells, and see what
has happened. Uncle David must be wanting coals, candles, tea, toast,
and soda water, all at once! What a bustle everybody is in! There! the
bells are ringing again, worse than ever! Something wonderful is going
on! what can it be!"
Presently Betty ran breathlessly into the room, saying that Mrs.
Crabtree ought to come down stairs immediately, as Lady Harriet had been
suddenly taken very ill, and, till the Doctor arrived, nobody knew what
to do, so she must give her advice and assistance.
Harry and Laura felt excessively shocked to hear this alarming news, and
listened with grave attention, while Mrs. Crabtree told them how
amazingly well they ought to behave in her absence, when they were
trusted alone in the nursery, with nobody to keep them in order, or to
see what they were doing, especially now, as their grandmama had been
taken ill, and would require to be kept quiet.
Harry sat in his chair, and might have been painted as the very picture
of a good boy during nearly twenty minutes after Mrs. Crabtree departed;
and Laura placed herself opposite to him, trying to follow so excellent
an example, while they scarcely spoke above a whisper, wondering what
could be the matter with their grandmama, and wishing for once, to see
Mrs. Crabtree again, that they might hear how she was. Any one who had
observed Harry and Laura at that time, would have wondered to see two
such quiet, excellent, respectable children, and wished that all little
boys and girls were made upon the same pattern; but presently they began
to think that probably Lady Harriet was not so very ill, as no more
bells had rung during several minutes, and Harry ventured to look about
for some better amusement than sitting still.
At this moment Laura unluckily perceived on the table near where they
sat, a pair of Mrs. Crabtree's best scissors, which she had been
positively forbid to touch. The long troublesome ringlets were as usual
hanging over her eyes in a most teazing manner, so she thought what a
good opportunity this might be to shorten them a very little, not above
an inch or two; and without considering a moment longer, she slipped
upon tiptoe, with a frightened look, round the table, and picked up the
scissors in her hand, then hastening towards a looking-glass, she began
snipping off the ends of her hair. Laura was much diverted to see it
showering down upon the floor, so she cut and cut on, while the curls
fell thicker and faster, till at last the whole floor was covered with
them, and scarcely a hair left upon her head. Harry went into fits of
laughing when he perceived what a ridiculous figure Laura had made of
herself, and he turned her round and round to see the havoc she had
made, saying,
"You should give all this hair to Mr. Mills the upholsterer, to stuff
grandmama's arm-chair with! At any rate, Laura, if Mrs. Crabtree is ever
so angry, she can hardly pull you by the hair of the head again! What a
sound sleep you will have to-night, with no hard curl-papers to torment
you!"
Harry had been told five hundred times, never to touch the candles, and
threatened with twenty different punishments, if he ever ventured to do
so; but now, he amused himself with trying to snuff one till he snuffed
it out. Then he lighted it again, and tried the experiment once more,
but again the teazing candle went out, as if on purpose to plague him,
so he felt quite provoked. Having lighted it once more, Harry prepared
to carry the candlestick with him towards the inner nursery, though
afraid to make the smallest noise, in case it might be taken from him.
Before he had gone five steps, down dropped the extinguisher, then
followed the snuffers with a great crash, but Laura seemed too busy
cropping her ringlets, to notice what was going on. All the way along
upon the floor, Harry let fall a perfect shower of hot wax, which
spotted the nursery carpet from the table where he had found the candle
into the next room, where he disappeared, and shut the door, that no one
might interfere with what he liked to do.
After he had been absent some time, the door was hastily opened again,
and Laura felt surprised to see Harry come back with his face as red as
a stick of sealing-wax, and his large eyes staring wider than they had
ever stared before, with a look of rueful consternation.
"What is the matter!" exclaimed Laura in a terrified voice. "Has
anything dreadful happened? Why do you look so frightened and so
surprised?"
"Oh dear! oh dear! what shall I do?" cried Harry, who seemed scarcely to
know how he spoke, or where he was. "I don't know what to do, Laura!"
"What can be the matter! do tell me at once, Harry," said Laura, shaking
with apprehension. "Speak as fast as you can!"
"Will you not tell Mrs. Crabtree, nor grandmama, nor anybody else?"
cried Harry, bursting into tears. "I am so very, very sorry, and so
frightened! Laura! do you know, I took a candle into the next room,
merely to play with it."
"Well! go on, Harry! go on! what did you do with the candle?"
"I only put it on the bed for a single minute, to see how the flame
would look there,--well! do you know it blazed away famously, and then
all the bed clothes began burning too! Oh! there is such a terrible fire
in the next room! you never saw anything like it! what shall we do? If
old Andrew were to come up, do you think he could put it out? I have
shut the door that Mrs. Crabtree may not see the flames. Be sure, Laura,
to tell nobody but Andrew."
Laura became terrified at the way she saw poor Harry in, but when she
opened the door to find out the real state of affairs, oh! what a
dreadful sight was there! all the beds were on fire, while bright red
flames were blazing up to the roof of the room, with a fierce roaring
noise, which it was perfectly frightful to hear. She screamed aloud with
terror at this alarming scene, while Harry did all he could to quiet
her, and even put his hand over her mouth, that her cries might not be
heard. Laura now struggled to get loose, and called louder and louder,
till at last every maid in the house came racing up stairs, three steps
at a time, to know what was the matter. Immediately upon seeing the
flames, they all began screaming too, in such a loud discordant way,
that it sounded as if a whole flight of crows had come into the
passages. Never was there such an uproar heard in the house before, for
the walls echoed with a general cry of "Fire! fire! fire!"
Up flew Mrs. Crabtree towards the nursery like a sky-rocket, scolding
furiously, talking louder than all the others put together, and asking
who had set the house on fire, while Harry and Laura scarcely knew
whether to be most frightened for the raging flames, or the raging Mrs.
Crabtree; but, in the meantime, they both shrunk into the smallest
possible size, and hid themselves behind a door.
During all this confusion, Old Andrew luckily remembered, that, in the
morning, there had been a great washing in the laundry, where large tubs
full of water were standing, so he called to the few maids who had any
of their senses remaining, desiring them to assist in carrying up some
buckets, that they might be emptied on the burning beds, to extinguish
the flames if possible. Every body was now in a hurry, and all elbowing
each other out of the way, while it was most extraordinary to see how
old Andrew exerted himself, as if he had been a fireman all his life,
while Mrs. Marmalade, the fat cook, who could hardly carry herself up
stairs in general, actively assisted to bring up the great heavy tubs,
and to pour them out like a cascade upon the burning curtains, till the
nursery-floor looked like a duck pond.
Meantime Harry and Laura added to the confusion as much as they could,
and were busier than anybody, stealing down the back-stairs whenever
Mrs. Crabtree was not in sight, and filling their little jugs with
water, which they brought up, as fast as possible, and dashed upon the
flames, till at last, it is to be feared, they began to feel quite
amused with the bustle, and to be almost sorry when the conflagration
diminished. At one time, Laura very nearly set her own frock on fire, as
she ventured too near, but Harry pulled her back, and then courageously
advanced to discharge a shower from his own little jug, remaining
stationary to watch the effect, till his face was almost scorched.
At last the fire became less and less, till it went totally out, but not
before the nursery furniture had been reduced to perfect ruins, besides
which, Betty had her arm sadly burned in the confusion. Mrs. Marmalade's
cap was completely destroyed, and Mrs. Crabtree's best gown had so large
a hole burned in the skirt, that she never could wear it again!
After all was quiet, and the fire completely extinguished, Major Graham
took Laura down stairs to Lady Harriet's dressing-room, that she might
tell the whole particulars of how this alarming accident happened in the
nursery, for nobody could guess what had caused so sudden and dreadful a
fire, which seemed to have been as unexpected as a flash of lightning.
Lady Harriet had felt so terrified by the noise and confusion, that she
was out of bed, sitting up in an arm-chair, supported by pillows, when
Laura entered, at the sight of whom, with her well-cropped head, she
made an exclamation of perfect amazement.
"Why! who on earth is that! Laura! my dear child! what has become of all
your hair? Were your curls burned off in the fire? or did the fright
make you grow bald? What is the meaning of all this?"
Laura turned perfectly crimson with shame and distress, for she now felt
convinced of her own great misconduct about the scissors and curls, but
she had been taught on all occasions to speak the truth, and would
rather have died than told a lie, or even allowed any person to believe
what was not true, therefore she answered in a low, frightened voice,
while the tears came into her eyes, "My hair has not been burned off,
grandmama! but--but--"
"Well, child! speak out!" said Lady Harriet, impatiently, "did some
hair-dresser come to the house and rob you?"
"Or are you like the ladies of Carthage who gave their long hair for
bows and arrows?" asked Major Graham. "I never saw such a little fright
in my life as you look now; but tell us all about it?"
"I have been quite as naughty as Harry!" answered Laura, bursting into
tears and sobbing with grief; "I was cutting off my hair with Mrs.
Crabtree's scissors all the time that he was setting the nursery on
fire!"
"Did any mortal ever hear of two such little torments!" exclaimed Major
Graham, hardly able to help laughing. "I wonder if anybody else in the
world has such mischievous children!"
"It is certainly very strange, that you and Harry never can contrive to
be three hours out of a scrape!" said Lady Harriet gravely; "now Frank,
on the contrary, never forgets what I bid him do. You might suppose he
carried Mrs. Crabtree in his pocket, to remind him constantly of his
duty; but there are not two such boys in the world as Frank!"
"No," added Major Graham; "Harry set the house on fire, and Frank will
set the Thames on fire!"
When Laura saw uncle David put on one of his funny looks, while he spoke
in this way to Lady Harriet, she almost forgot her former fright, and
became surprised to observe her grandmama busy preparing what she called
a coach-wheel, which had been often given as a treat to Harry and
herself when they were particularly good. This delightful wheel was
manufactured by taking a whole round slice of the loaf, in the centre of
which was placed a large tea-spoonful of jelly, after which long spokes
of marmalade, jam, and honey, were made to diverge most tastefully in
every direction towards the crust, and Laura watched the progress of
this business with great interest and anxiety, wondering if it could be
hoped that her grandmama really meant to forgive all her misconduct
during the day.
"That coach-wheel is, of course, meant for me!" said Major Graham,
pretending to be very hungry, and looking slyly at Laura; "It cannot
possibly be intended for our little hair-dresser here!"
"Yes, it is!" answered Lady Harriet, smiling. "I have some thoughts of
excusing Laura this time, because she always tells me the truth, without
attempting to conceal any foolish thing she does. It will be very long
before she has any hair to cut off again, so I hope she may be older and
wiser by that time, especially considering that every looking-glass she
sees for six months will make her feel ashamed of herself. She certainly
deserves some reward for having prevented the house to-night from being
burned to the ground."
"I am glad you think so, because here is a shilling that has been
burning in my pocket for the last few minutes, as I wished to bestow it
on Laura for having saved all our lives, and if she had behaved still
better, I might perhaps have given her a gold watch!"
Laura was busily employed in eating her coach-wheel, and trying to fancy
what the gold watch would have looked like which she might probably have
got from uncle David, when suddenly the door burst open, and Mrs.
Crabtree hurried into the room, with a look of surprise and alarm, her
face as red as a poppy, and her eye fixed on the hole in her best gown,
while she spoke so loud and angrily, that Laura almost trembled.
"If you please, my lady! where can Master Harry be? I cannot find him in
any corner!--we have been searching all over the house, up stairs and
down stairs, in vain. Not a garret or a closet but has been ransacked,
and nobody can guess what has become of him!"
"Did you look up the chimney, Mrs. Crabtree?" asked Major Graham,
laughing to see how excited she looked.
"Indeed, Sir! it is no joke," answered Mrs. Crabtree, sulkily; "I am
almost afraid Master Harry has been burned in the fire! The last time
Betty saw him, he was throwing a jug of water into the flames, and no
one has ever seen or heard of him since! There is a great many ashes and
cinders lying about the room, and----"
"Do you think, in sober seriousness, Mrs. Crabtree, that Harry would
melt away like a wax doll, without asking any body to extinguish him?"
said Major Graham, smiling. "No! no! little boys are not quite so easily
disposed of. I shall find Harry in less than five minutes, if he is
above ground."
But uncle David was quite mistaken in expecting to discover Harry so
easily, for he searched and searched in vain. He looked into every
possible or impossible place--the library, the kitchen, the garrets, the
laundry, the drawing-room, all without success,--he peeped under the
tables, behind the curtains, over the beds, beneath the pillows, and
into Mrs. Crabtree's bonnet-box,--he even opened the tea-chest, and
looked out at the window, in case Harry had tumbled over, but nowhere
could he be found.
"Not a mouse is stirring!" exclaimed Major Graham, beginning now to look
exceedingly grave and anxious. "This is very strange! The house-door is
locked, therefore, unless Harry made his escape through the key-hole, he
must be here! It is most unaccountable what the little pickle can have
done with himself!"
When Major Graham chose to exert his voice, it was as loud as a trumpet,
and could be heard half a mile off; so he now called out, like thunder,
from the top of the stairs to the bottom, saying, "Hollo, Harry! hollo!
Come here, my boy! Nobody shall hurt you! Harry! where are you!"
Uncle David waited to listen, but all was still,--no answer could be
heard, and there was not a sound in the house, except poor Laura at the
bottom of the stairs, sobbing with grief and terror about Harry having
been lost, and Mrs. Crabtree grumbling angrily to herself, on account of
the large hole in her best gown.
By this time Lady Harriet nearly fainted with fatigue, for she was so
very old, and had been ill all day; so she grew worse and worse, till
everybody said she must go to bed, and try if it would be possible to
fall asleep, assuring her that Harry must soon be found, as nothing
particular could have happened to him, or some person would have seen
it.
"Indeed, my lady! Master Harry is just like a bad shilling that is sure
to come back," said Mrs. Crabtree, helping her to undress, while she
continued to talk the whole time about the fire, showing her own
unfortunate gown, describing the trouble she had taken to save the house
from being burned, and always ending every sentence with a wish that she
could lay her hands on Harry to punish him as he deserved.
"The truth is, I just spoil and indulge the children too much, my lady!"
added Mrs. Crabtree, in a self-satisfied tone of voice. "I really blame
myself often for being over easy and kind."
"You have nothing to accuse yourself of in that respect," answered Lady
Harriet, unable to help smiling.
"Your ladyship is very good to say so. Major Graham is so fond of our
young people, that it is lucky they have some one to keep them in order.
I shall make a duty, my lady, of being more strict than ever. Master
Harry must be made an example of this time!" added Mrs. Crabtree,
angrily glancing at the hole in her gown. "I shall teach him to
remember this day the longest hour he has to live!"
"Harry will not forget it any how," answered Lady Harriet languidly.
"Perhaps, Mrs. Crabtree, we might as well not be severe with the poor
boy on this occasion. As the old proverb says, 'there is no use in
pouring water on a drowned mouse.' Harry has got a sad fright for his
pains, and at all events you must find him first, before he can be
punished. Where can the poor child be hid?"
"I would give sixpence to find out that, my lady!" answered Mrs.
Crabtree, helping Lady Harriet into bed, after which she closed the
shutters, put out the candles, and left the room, angrily muttering,
"Master Harry cares no more for me than the poker cares for the tongs,
but I shall teach him another story soon."
Lady Harriet now feebly closed her eyes, being quite exhausted, and was
beginning to feel the pleasant, confused sensation that people have
before going to sleep, when some noise made her suddenly start quite
awake. She sat up in bed to listen, but could not be sure whether it had
been a great noise at a distance, or a little noise in the room; so
after waiting two or three minutes, she sunk back upon the pillows, and
tried to forget it. Again, however, she distinctly heard something
rustling in the bed curtains, and opened her eyes to see what could be
the matter, but all was dark. Something seemed to be breathing very near
her, however, and the curtains shook worse than before, till Lady
Harriet became really alarmed.
"It must surely be a cat in the room!" thought she, hastily pulling the
bell rope, till it nearly came down. "That tiresome little animal will
make such a noise, I shall not be able to sleep all night!"
The next minute Lady Harriet was startled to hear a loud sob close
beside her; and when everybody rushed up stairs to ask what was the
matter, they brought candles to search the room, and there was Harry!
He lay doubled up in a corner, and crying as if his heart would break,
yet still endeavouring not to be seen; for Harry always thought it a
terrible disgrace to cry, and would have concealed himself anywhere,
rather than be observed weeping. Laura burst into tears also, when she
saw what red eyes and pale cheeks Harry had; but Mrs. Crabtree lost no
time in pulling him out of his place, being quite impatient to begin her
scold, and to produce her tawse, though she received a sad
disappointment on this occasion, as uncle David unexpectedly interfered
to get him off.
"Come now, Mrs. Crabtree," said he good-naturedly; "put up the tawse for
this time; you are rather too fond of the leather. Harry seems really
sorry and frightened, so we must be merciful. That cataract of tears he
is shedding now, would have extinguished the fire if it had come in
time! Harry is like a culprit with the rope about his neck; but he shall
not be executed. Let me be judge and jury in this case; and my sentence
is a very dreadful one. Harry must sleep all to-night in the burned
nursery, having no other covering than the burned blankets, with large
holes in them, that he may never forget
"THE TERRIBLE FIRE!"