Foreign theaters, mazes, labyrinths, panopticons, spectatoriums and
their ilk had no more charms for the girls, but with Uncle and Aunt they
spent the next day in the museums, casinos and panoramas of the city.
But wax figures and brain-muddling deceptions were still the value they
received for their money.
"I will be contented," said Aunt, "never to leave the farm again. I can
be happy there the rest of my born days in knowing that when I look at a
cow it is not a stuffed cow, that the calf by her side can move; that
the man on the barn floor with his pitchfork in the hay can really lift
it over into the manger for the cattle. This mornin' I see a lady
standin' on one of the stairs tryin' to tie her shoes. She was having a
time of it, I knew, so I says, says I, 'leddy, let me help you.' She
didn't say nothing, so I jest stooped down to help her. I pulled the
tongue of the shoe up and tapped the sides together over it, when a
perfect chill came over me, for I pressed the lady's ankle, and it felt
just like sawdust. Poor woman! I thought some terrible accident had cut
off her leg and she had a false one. I looked up into her face, and she
looked so pale like and deathly that I was awful scared, then I looked
more and more and I see she was dead, died maybe of heart disease while
she was a stooping over. O what a shock! I can not get over it to my
dying day. I nearly screamed but I knew I must not, so I just called to
the feller sitting at the table writing visiting cards to come there
quick; but he just set there stock still and never moved. I didn't want
to attract attention from the folks around so I just picked up a nail a
lying there and hit him square on the cheek but he never flinched. I
spoke then to the woman leaning over the railing laughing at the little
girl down below but she never changed her smile at all. I couldn't tell
what to make of it when a feller came up to me an' says, 'Do you want
anything, old lady?' I stared at him and says 'Hist, sir, don't you see
this poor woman is dead. Died a stooping over too sudden.'"
[Illustration: "SO I SAYS, SAYS I, 'LEDDY, LET ME HELP YOU.'"]
"Then he just laughed at me a little, and pulled her dress to one side
and showed me that she was only a wax head and a stuffed body. That
made me mad, for it is a sin and a shame for to deceive people that way,
and defraud 'em of their hard earned money. I told him to show me the
way out, and I would report how he was defrauding the public to the
humane society or somebody. He just laughed at me again and invited me
to take a chair in the office if I wanted to wait for my folks. I went
in there and an awful nice woman talked to me and explained things till
I wasn't so mad as I was; but I still think it is a shame that a
Christian city should allow such awful frauds on peoples' eyes and
nerves. Anyhow, when I get home I want to go around and touch everything
and make sure that there is no more foolin', so I can live in peace and
facts."
Aunt was very indignant. She could stand the deceptions that Uncle had
been so opposed to at the Fair, but when she was deceived in her acts of
kindness, it was carrying things entirely too far.
The places of interest, as the guide books said, had now all been
visited, and they were walking down the street fully satisfied that they
had seen all the sights of the city from the skyscrapers to the organ
grinders. The police courts and the stock yards were not considered as
places of interest by them.
John and Fanny were in the lead, with the five girls just behind them,
and Uncle and Aunt bringing up the rear. As they reached the corner
there was a clamor and a scattering of people crossing the street, and a
rumbling that jarred the earth as two great fire engines dashed by
rolling smoke upward and clanging a bell in a way that was frightful.
"Fire, fire!" shouted Johnny.
"Oh that's what we want to see, a fire, a big fire," echoed the girls.
In a moment they were all running pell mell after the engines, jostling
against the people and exciting the merriment and wonder of every body.
The engines were running in the direction of their hotel and very likely
it was on fire and they would lose all their clothing.
"Come on girls," shouted John as he led the way like a foxhound. "Come
on, I know it's only just around the corner. I see the smoke rolling up
from the house."
The engines had turned another corner and Johnny felt a great pride in
being the guide and encyclopedia of ready information for six girls. Out
of breath they reached the corner where they supposed they would see a
terrible fire with people jumping out of the windows twelve or fourteen
stories high, perhaps safely into blankets, possibly to their death. Or,
brave firemen scaling ladders and bearing lovely girls out of the
horrible flames. But they discovered that the smoke they had seen was
coming out of a tall chimney, and that far down the street almost a mile
away they could get glimpses of the fire engines still forging straight
ahead. But they were not to be daunted thus. There must be a great fire
somewhere down there that it would take many hours for the engines to
get under control. On and on they ran, out of breath, to be sure, but
determined to see the great Chicago fire that required two such great
engines to bring under control. They had run several blocks, when they
became so tired they could only walk. Another block or two was
traversed, when they met the engines coming leisurely back. It was a
bitter deception, there was no fire. They turned back; and, when they
met Uncle and Aunt, also entirely out of breath with the chase, Aunt
declared that this was only another case of Chicago's base deceptions.
It could joke with dead people and jest with fires and make a playhouse
exhibition costing many millions of dollars, and fool old people and the
young alike and with equal conscience.
Uncle observed that it proved to him that Barnum was right when he said
that a fool was born every minute, and that the Americans were a people
who delighted in being deceived.
The girls decided to remain that night with Fanny, and to visit the Fair
together the next day. A pleasant evening was spent, but the subject of
fire and fire escapes were the chief topic of conversation. Each of the
windows of their room had a fire-escape fastened to the facing, and the
instructions printed underneath were carefully studied and mastered by
all before retiring.
The next morning they were gathered in the main room awaiting the time
for breakfast. Johnny raised a window to get a look outside, when the
well known clang! clang! clang! of the Chicago fire engine was heard.
Instantly all was excitement. Clang! clang! clang! and another came by.
Then there were two or three more, and they seemed to stop right under
the window. People across the street, even up to the top stories, were
complacently sitting in the windows and looking into the street as if
such a thing as great flames lapping upward and smothering them to
death, were unknown. Johnny, who was looking out of the window, yelled:
"O Lord! it's our house on fire, and we are five stories high!"
The streets began to fill with people. Uncle, panic-stricken, looked out
and saw the engines puffing below. The cool audacity of the people at
the windows across the street was appalling. They did not care for
death. All at once Uncle recovered himself and yelled: "Everybody to the
life preservers! Git into the fire escapes and save yourselves!"
But the room was empty. "Oh Lord," Uncle groaned, "they have gone insane
and run down into the flames below."
Wringing his hands he ran to the door and cried, "Oh Sarah, Sarah, come
back and let us die together." But neither Sarah nor the rest were
anywhere to be seen. He was alone.
Remembering the instructions regarding the fire escape, he ran to the
window, fastened the straps about his waist and climbed out of the
window. He pulled the string that was to unreel the rope and let him
down. Down, down, he went expecting every moment to feel the fierce heat
about him. He seemed to be half way down when the reel ceased to work
and he hung there suspended in mid air awaiting an awful death. He gave
a despairing jerk when down he went within three feet of the pavement
with a sudden stop that took his breath away. A crowd of people began to
gather about him.
[Illustration: "HE HUNG SUSPENDED IN MID AIR, AWAITING AN AWFUL DEATH."]
"What's the matter old man," said a man who had seen all the
performance.
"Where's the fire," said Uncle wildly.
"It is two blocks further up," he answered.
"And ain't my folks all burnt up?" he said pathetically.
The answer was at once before him for he had let himself down directly
over the entrance of the hotel and his family just then arriving at the
bottom of the stairway came out to him. There never was a more happy
meeting for Uncle than that one. His ridiculous adventure was not clear
to him till he had time to study it over. But there really was a fire
further on and they were not to lose such a sight.
[Illustration: "THE FIRE WAS TWO BLOCKS AWAY."]
A large dry goods house was on fire, and eighteen or twenty monster
engines were puffing and roaring, each one like a threshing machine on
Uncle's wheat field. They pressed themselves forward to the very front
of the spectators, and so close that the heat of the flames could be
distinctly felt. A heavy wind was blowing, and all the force of the
fire department was out to stop the flames. It was truly the grandest
and most fearful spectacle the family had ever seen. There came a puff
of wind toward them and the flames came down, almost scorching their
clothing. Then the policemen commenced to drive the crowd back.
[Illustration: "SOMETHING HAPPENED."]
There was almost a panic, and the girls nearly had their lives crushed
out of them. It was an adventure they cared never to repeat. Johnny did
not fare so badly, for he was more intent on the workings of the
engines. He was free from mishaps till he chanced to take a position
over the great hose-pipe through which the water was sent with such
tremendous force on its mission. Something happened. He is not able to
relate just how it was. But the hose burst directly under him, and he
was tossed over into the streaming gutter with a precision he can
forgive but never forget. After this happened it was time to go home to
be more agreeably clothed. Johnny was a sadder though a wiser boy.
_CHAPTER XVI_