FIRE AND FLOOD.
The sum which had been pledged by the settlers was not sufficient for
the support of the missionary's family; and although the treasurer
exerted himself to the utmost, he could only collect a portion of what
was due from those whose names were on the subscription paper. No one
felt the inconvenience of this more than the clergyman's wife. She was
a good manager, and had a wonderful faculty for making "one dollar go
as far as three, and getting up meals out of nothing," as her husband
often remarked. But it must be confessed, that with the keen appetites
brought to them on the wings of the prairie winds, the little
household sometimes rose from the scantily-furnished table hungry for
more.
Mr. Payson, under these circumstances, would comfort her with
anticipations of future abundance. They knew, indeed, that most of the
settlers had newly arrived, and had everything to buy, as they had not
been long enough settled to raise anything from the ground. But a
year had now elapsed, and many acres of the rich soil had been turned
over and planted, and there was prospect of abundant returns. The
missionary, being unaccustomed to farming, and wishing to devote his
energies, as far as practicable, to the spiritual interests of his
growing charge, had let out his tillable ten-acre lot to a neighbor,
to be cultivated on shares, reserving a little spot for himself, which
he had planted to early potatoes, and a good variety of garden
vegetables. As the one who carried on the rest of the piece was an
intelligent and experienced farmer, and had facilities for the work in
the way of teams and men, the clergyman felt that he might reasonably
calculate on a supply of corn and wheat, to which crops the ground had
been devoted. And nowhere was there promise of a larger yield than on
that quick and productive river bottom. The corn grew to a prodigious
height, crowded with mammoth ears, and the wheat emulated the corn;
while the squash and pumpkin vines conducted as if on a race to see
which would beat in the number and size of their fruit; and Mr.
Payson's pet sorghum--a species of sugar-cane--shot up to a marvellous
perfection. It is true that a neighbor's unruly cattle had broken into
the enclosure a number of times; and a contrary sow, with her lively
family of eleven, had also made sundry plundering raids, causing the
minister considerable trouble in driving and keeping out the
intruders; but he had already a fine supply of seasoned oak rails
under way for perfecting the fences; and he cheerily said to his
wife,--
"Another year, and I'll defy the unruliest animals in the settlement
to steal an ear of corn or a potato from my lot."
Summer had now faded into late autumn, and one day the farmer, who had
charge of the field, called at Mr. Payson's, looking very dejected.
"Elder," said he, "our farming this year is going to be losing
business."
"Why, what's the matter?" asked the clergyman.
"You see," he replied, "most of the settlers, like myself, came from a
warmer climate than this. We were told also that the growing season
was as long here as there, and brought our choicest seed with us. But
there is not time for it to ripen; and our corn will not do to grind,
nor will it keep, it is so green. It is a great disappointment to me;
but most of the neighbors are in the same situation."
Words cannot describe what sad tidings these were to the missionary.
"The wheat is good--is it not?" he inquired.
"Yes; but you know there was little sown, as the ground was best
adapted to corn."
So it turned out that more was realized from the half acre cultivated
by the missionary, notwithstanding the old farmer laughed at his city
style of doing things, than from the nine and a half acres besides.
And the year of plenty had to be deferred for another twelvemonth.
That eighty acres!--how much comfort the missionary and his wife took
in the thought that it was, or rather soon would be, theirs! How many
times they admired its pleasant, rolling aspect, and weighed its
prospective value! And the pretty grove near the cabin, with its
straight-growing trees--what cosy walks they had with the children in
its leafy shade! What enjoyment in noting the progress made in
clearing out the underbrush and trimming the trees of superfluous
branches!
"If the place was only paid for," said the husband one day, "I should
be glad. Let me see. Eighty acres, at one dollar and twenty-five cents
an acre,--the government price,--would be one hundred dollars. I think
I'll act upon Mr. Jones's suggestion, and sell some of the timber
across the river, and pre-empt immediately. I have been offered thirty
dollars an acre for the privilege of cutting off the wood, and, at
that rate, three and a half acres would be more than enough."
So the sale was effected, and, with the hundred dollars in his pocket,
the clergyman started one morning on horseback for the Land Office,
thirty-seven miles distant. A horseback ride across a Minnesota
prairie is highly exhilarating, and both horse and rider were in good
spirits. Seemingly half borne on by a sweeping prairie wind, Mr.
Payson reached his destination in some five hours, in season for an
early tea; and the next morning he was conducted to the Land Office by
a lawyer acquaintance, and, with a witness at hand to prove what he
affirmed, stated, under oath, that he had, on the land he wished to
pre-empt, a cabin and other improvements to the amount that the law
required; and then, having paid his hundred dollars, he started
towards home with a light heart.
The day became dark and cloudy; and, as there was only a faint cart
track across the prairies, the minister found, in the course of the
afternoon, that he had lost his way. There were no cabins at which he
could retrieve his error, and, after many vain endeavors to find the
track, he let his horse take his own course; and, carrying his master
under low-branched trees and through thorny thickets, across a swamp,
he brought him out at last by a much shorter route than he had taken
in going, on the farther bank of the river, near the town.
As the clergyman neared the village, he noticed heavy volumes of smoke
ascending. Then he saw Mr. Palmer with a force of men busily engaged
in checking a fire that was careering through the bushes. There was a
wall of flame between him and them. Striking the road, he dashed
through the glowing boundary; and Mr. Palmer, beckoning to him,
said,--
"We have rather bad news to tell you, though not so bad as it might
have been. A fire commenced near your place yesterday afternoon, and
came near burning the town."
"A fire there!" ejaculated the minister. "How did it start?"
"I cannot stop to tell you," said his bachelor friend; "but your wife,
when you get home, will tell you all about it. Had it not been for
her, we should have been swept away."
What a sight met the clergyman's eye as he came into the town! The
entire area, before so like a lawn, looked as if the contents of a
large ink-pot had been spread over it. He was relieved, however, to
see that his cabin and the other houses were still standing; but his
wife met him with a depressed bearing quite in contrast to her usual
sprightly manner. It so struck to his heart to see how badly she felt,
that--although his glance from the saddle showed that the flames had
not spared his beloved grove, and had consumed the rails, of which he
had been so proud, and spoiled many a promising tree--with a desperate
endeavor, he set about comforting her.
"O, this is nothing," said he--"nothing at all! Consider what it would
have been had the cabin taken fire, and you and the children been in
danger."
"Which would have been the case," she added, "had not our quick-moving
town owner, Mr. Caswell, come to the rescue with his usual energy, at
the head of a force of men and teams, bringing with them hogsheads of
water, and pails, with which to throw it upon the fire. You have
reason to thank them; for they worked as I never saw men work
before."
"But how did the fire commence?" he asked.
"Why, you see," said she, "after you left, I said to the children,
'Father's gone to the Land Office to buy the land; and now we'll stir
around, and see how nice we can make everything look by the time he
gets back.' Well, you know how unsightly the chips looked around the
house, and which you had not had time to remove. So we went to work
raking them up into little heaps. While we were thus employed, we
heard the report of a gun in the bushes near by. The morning, you
recollect, was quite calm; but just as the gun was fired, a gust of
wind swept over the place, carrying with it some burning wadding that
alighted in a dry log some rods away. Before I could get there, the
inflammable wood was afire, and from that other sparks had been borne
on, and at once had kindled flames in a number of different places.
Seeing that it was impossible to arrest the progress of the
conflagration, I sent Helen to the nearest neighbor's to give the
alarm, and, as I have already said, by the help of those that came,
our cabin was barely saved, and the neighbors had to fight hard to
preserve their own dwellings."
Each day after that the missionary would walk about his blackened
domain, pondering the uncertainty of all sublunary things, about which
he had so often preached, his wife scrutinizing his disconsolate face
the while, and he repeating, with an emphasis that showed he was
saying it for his own benefit as much as hers,--
"O, it's nothing at all--nothing at all; and as for those few
rails,"--as he kicked over the burnt fragments with a melancholy
look,--"they're not of much account, for the piece over the river is
pretty well fenced, after all; luckily, the fires didn't touch them,
and we have them safe for another year."
One afternoon, a few days later, as Mr. Payson was in his attic study
absorbed, an unwonted darkness fell upon the page before him; then a
heavy peal of thunder succeeded. It was one long, continuous roll, for
an hour or more, without pause, and the rain poured down as he never
saw it in any shower east; it seemed as if the heavy clouds were
literally emptying their contents upon prairie and forest, while flash
followed flash of vivid lightning. Throughout the whole night it
rained, and the next day, and the next; and, were it not for the
ancient promise, one might have thought that a second flood was to
sweep the inhabitants of the world away. About midnight of the third
day of the terrible storm, the family at the missionary's cabin were
awakened by wild shoutings in the village below.
"What do you suppose is the matter?" asked Mrs. Payson.
"Nothing serious, I think," said her husband. "As the town site is
rolling and descends towards the river, it is probable that the high
water has come up into some of the yards and gardens, and perhaps has
invaded some of the settlers' pig-pens and hen-coops, and the
neighbors are working in the rain and darkness to save their live
stock."
The sun came out next morning like "a bride-groom from out his
chamber, rejoicing as a strong man to run his race," flooding the
fields with light, as the clouds had flooded them with water,
revealing the destruction which the tempest had caused. It appeared
that the river, a short distance up stream from the town, had become
obstructed by dead trees, and brush, and loosened soil, until a heavy
body of water had accumulated, when, the impediment suddenly giving
way, the water rushed with tremendous power, inundating a wide extent
of ground, and sweeping away everything movable in its path. Many
cabins were flooded, sleepers being awakened by the water dashing
against their beds, while articles of furniture were floating about in
the room. It was this that caused the outcries that Mr. Payson had
heard.
The Jones's cabin had been well chosen for safety on ordinary
occasions; but, on the night in question, Tom was awakened by
something cold touching his hand; for, in throwing it out of bed in
his sleep, it had been immersed in the water, which had entered the
room, and was rapidly rising. Shouting to his mother and the children,
he struck a light, and leaped into the water; and, taking Bub in his
arms, and directing the movements of the rest, he hurried them out of
the door, away from the river bank, as fast as they could go. How
providential it was that he should have, in his restlessness, dropped
his hand over the bedside! for scarcely had they ascended a swell of
ground beyond the field when the cabin went down with a crash, and
the fragments, whirling about and jarring together, disappeared from
view.
They were now poorer than ever; but, cold and wet, with the lightning
flashing about them, in the pouring rain, they clung together for
mutual protection, while they took their toilsome and difficult way
from the scene of danger.
There was an unoccupied shanty in the edge of the town farthest from
the river, and to that Tom led the terrified and shivering group. It
was three full hours before they reached it; and then they had nothing
but the bare walls and the bare floor, with the shelter over their
heads, for a resting-place, where, the next day, the missionary found
them as he went about assisting to succor the sufferers; and, at his
suggestion, from the scanty stores of the settlers about, their cabin
was fitted out with eatables and housekeeping articles.
During all this time Mr. Payson had been so occupied in benevolent
labor among those whose cabins had been flooded, that it had not
occurred to him that he had sustained any damage; but, after the
subsiding of the waters, as he took his way down his favorite path
through the grove, he saw that the waters had borne away every vestige
of fencing around his cherished ten-acre lot. The highest part of the
fence had been under water many feet on that calamitous night, and
with the loss of the rails had gone down another of the earthly props
on which he had leaned for his daily bread in the wilderness.