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Show t ? : TeoydADVENTURERS Teoyd $ d < ADVENTURERS ' CLUBHEADLINES CLUB CLUBHEADLINES EOF HEADLINES FROM THE LIVESm LIVESOF LIVES E m OF PEOPLE LIKE YOURSELFl YOURSELFI YOURSELF YOURSELFl3 ( -3 3 - L/ L L"The / "The The " Babe in the Blazing Blaztng House " HELLO HEILO TLJEI.LO TLJEILO . rVERYBODYThese EVERYBODYThese : EVERYBODY rVERYBODY 1 11 -1- 1 1These - - These adventures provide a cross section of life Me , , and andif andif if theywouldn theywoulrJn they didn't didnt ' ' show its grimmer side occasionally , , they woulrJn wouldn thistime t show a faithful picture That's Thats ' ' why I chose for thIS time a story I found unusually gripping grIppmg because it demon demon- demonstrates demonstrates demonstrates - strates so clearly how close we may be at any tune tIme to tragedy totragedy Mary Ann Grobof Grob of New York City who tells tms this thisadventure thisadventure adventure andthis andthJs , was only a child of nine nme when it happened , and thJs this , for me , added particular poignancy to the taleImagine tale taleImagine Imagine Imagme running runmng back into mto a blazing blazmg house to rescue your youreIght youreight youreight eIght months ' old baby brother only to find the smoke so dense sodense you couldn't couldnt ' see what you were doing domg domgThat's doingThat's doingThat's of1921 That's Thats ' what happened to Mary The time was the fall of 1921 , around September , and at that time Mary's Marys ' father and andmother andmother andmother mother and Mary s three brothers lived I1ved in m Thayer a small mining minlng town townm townin townin m in the lower part of West Vlrgll11aThayer VirginiaThayer Virginia Vlrgll11a VirginiaThayer ofthe Thayer is a valley situated between two large hills hl11s To get out of the valley Mary tells us you had to ride on a sort of incline mchne mclme It was a box shaped affair the car let up and down the side ot of the hill bill by bymeans bymeans bymeans means ot of a cableOn cableOn cable cableOn On this fateful morn ng Mary s mother and dad had to go to town townwhere townwhere townwhere where mother was going to have her teeth fixed Before she left she shecalled shecalled shecalled called Mary who was the eldest child aside and warned her to watch watchthe the three younger children her brothers while her parents were away Mary awayMary had occasion later as you will see to recall that warnmgOf warningof warning warnmg warningOf Of the three John was w s the oldest brother then came eame SL six " ; year yearold yearold yearold old Pete and ) list hst )1st 1st of all little Eddie who could show only a scant scanteIght scanteight scanteight eIght montbIary months montb $ ! \ BIary \Iary Iary Mary had her hands full kccpine keepmg keeping them all out outof outof outot of mischief and when mght night ni ht beean began to fall she began to glance glancenervously glancenervously glancenervously nervously out the window wmdow wondering wondefmg why mother and dad didn dzdn t tcome tcome tcome come The younger children grew frightened fnghtened with the appfoach approach approachof appfoachot ot of darkness and at their urginf urging not to mention her own uneasi uneasicess uneasILess uneasicess cess Less Mary I1Iary finally bolted all the doors and windowsChildren windows wmdows windowsChildren Children Were Locked Inside House HouseTo HouseTo To set the ( he scene for fOf this ( his story ft It Is necessary to ( o cxplam explam explain that thatlIe"t thatvest ( hatnext lIe"t lIet vest " to the house they had a little wash bouse house where \ Mary l\Iary l Iary s sdad sdad sdad dad used to wash when he came home from work This Tlus wash- wash washhouse washhouse wash-house wash house - - house had a little coal stove in It On this particular afternoon afternoonthe afternoonthe afternoonthe the stove was lighted but ' ! with nth the children chl1dren locked Inside the thehouse thehouse thehouse house there was no one to tend ft It or check the dampers dampersAnd dampersAnd dampersAnd And so it came to pass that as the children sat huddled in the dark darkness darkness darkness ness queer red shadows ghostly and lengthening lengtheIl1I1g began to dance on oa onthe oathe onthe the walls ol of the children s room Alarmed the children began to whim whimper whimper whimper per and at length unable to stand the strain stram any longer Mary went to , = , ' - " " " " ' " " , . , . In the black pall pan she stumbled against agalDSt somethmg-the somethmg the something-the something something - the cnb-she cnb she crib--she crib cnbshethought cribshethought crib - - - shethought thought . ' the window wrndow and looked out to see what was causing the strange play of ofl1ghts oflights ollights l1ghts lights on the wall Then she understood-the understood the understood - the wash house was on fire firel firelRemember ! Remember this was no grown up This Tlus was a nine year old child childWIth childwith childwith WIth the care and responsibility responslbll1ty ot of three younger brothers on her shoul shoulders shoulders shoulders ders And now as the fire spread to the main mam house igniting Igmtmg the old olddry olddry olddry dry wood like l1ke tinder tmder the children fled fied Sed from the blazing blazmg wall into mto the theopen theopen theopen open air Mary as scared as anyThIS anyThis any anyThis This will explam explain perhaps how it happened that on loolung looking loolungaround lookingaround lookingaround around they discovered that eight-months-old eight months old elght-months-old elght - - - - - Eddie was mlssmg missing mlssmglIary missingMary missmgAlary l\Iary l Iary Mary \ who was frantic by this tune time berated John for leavmg leaving leavmgthe leavingthe leavm ; the baby behind behmd as she had understood he had taken Eddie from fromhis fromhis fromhis his crib cnb while she was looking lookl.ng looklng . after getting gettmg Pete out But John Johnprotested Johnprotested Johnprotested protested that he had thought Alary 1\Iary 1 Iary Mary \ was talcing taking Eddie Iddle ; and so sohadn sohadn sohadn hadn t bothered to go after himlleanwhlle himMeanwhile him himMeanwhile Meanwhile l\leanwhlle l leanwhlle \ inside the burning burnmg house little IIUle Eddie lay asleep asleepin asleepin asleepin in his crib The thought of ot her beloved little bttle brother brotber in 1D that thatblazing thatblazing thatblazing blazing inferno was too much for \ Alary l\Iary l Iary Mary WltJ With no sager heads headsto headsto headsto to dls dis&uade disuade dissuade & uade her she rushed back inside the burning burnmg house groped gropedher gropedher eropedher her way through dark smoke-filled smoke filled - - halls to the room where the thebaby thebaby thebaby baby lay asleepSmoke asleep asleepSmoke Smoke Was So Thick Tluck She Could Hardly SeeBy See SeeBy By this time Mary says the smoke was getting gettmg so thick that she shecould shecould shecould could hardly see Reaching Reachmg the bedroom she found herself in 1D the center centerof centerof centerof of a dense rolling rollmg tog feg fog choking her blinding blmdlng her so that she could couldnot couldnot couldnot not see her hand before her face Heat seared her eyeballs tore at her herair herair herair air famished lungs But the rune Il1I1e nine year old girl had made a promlse-a promlse a promise-a promise promlseapromIse promiseapromise promise - - apromise promIse to a mother who trusted her to care for the younger ones Mary Marycould Marycould Marycould could hear her mother s last words echoing echomg m in her ears as she groped gropedher gropedher gropedher her way to where she thought the crib cnb should be Look after them themwhIle themwhile themwhile whIle I 1 m gone Mary I 1 m trusting trustmg youThe youThe you youThe The flames were searing seanng hot now but Mary had but one thought thoughtShe thoughtShe thoughtShe She must get Eddie Eddte out . . In the black pall she s'le sle ' ' stumbled against agamst some somethmg something something thmg- thmg thing- thing thmgthe thingthe - the crIbshe crib -she she - she thought Hurriedly Hurnedly she reached down grabbed grabbedwhat grabbedwhat grabbedwhat what she thought to be Eddie and almost delirious now with the desire desireto desireto desireto to escape from those hungry flames fiames she rushed out of the house into mto the theopen theopen theopen open air airOutside Outside safe under the open sky again she thought of ot the thebundle thebundle thebundle bundle in her arms In the smoke-suffused smoke suffused smoke-sulIused sulIused - - - house \ Alary l\Iary l Iary Mary says sayshersell saysherself saysherself hersell herself I did not know for sure whether I had him bins or Of not 'Now Now ' Now obsessed by a horrible premonition premomtlon of possible disaster she shedared shedared shedared dared not put into words Yoords she forced herself hefsell to look down downWhen downWhen downWhen When you contemplate how easy it would be tor for a nearly hysterical hystericalchild hystericalchild hystericalchild child ot o of . ! Mary s age to mistake her precious burden in m a fog of rolling rollingsmoke rollingsmoke rollingsmoke smoke you will understand how close Is the line lme between happmcss happiness happmcssand happinessand happinessand and tragedy For had Mary Marys s eyes met not what they did see but butsomethmg butsomething butsomething somethmg something else this story would not have the happy ending endmg it now has has-Yes has Yes . . - Yes it was : Eddie Iddle crying crymg for all he was worth And was Mary glade gladeYou glad gladYou ' You answer that one I U II ll just go on to add that when Mary smother smotherand s mother motherand motherand and dad got home all that was left of the house was the standing standrng chimney chimneyReleased chimneyReleased chimneyReleased ( ( Released by Western Newspaper Newspnper Union ) ) |