Show 1 T fryd ADVENTURERS' ADVENTURERS CLUB a. a HEADLINES FROM THE LIVES OF PEOPLE LIKE YOURSELF Tile T Babe in the Blazing House EVERYBODY HElLO HEIJO These adventures provide a section cross of life and if f they didn't show its grimmer side occasionally they wouldn't show a faithful picture That's why I chose for this time ime a story I found lound unusually gripping because it demonstrates demon demon- strates so clearly how close we may be at any time to tragedy Mary Ann Grob of New York City who tells this adventure was only a child of nine when it happened and this his for me added particular poignancy to the tale Imagine running back into a blazing house to rescue your old months baby brother only to find the smoke so dense lense you couldn't see what you were doing That's what happened to Mary The time was the fall faU of 1921 around September and at that time Marys Mary's father lather and mother and Mary Maryi three brothers brothen lived In Thayer a small mining town In the lower part of West Virginia Thayer is a valley situated between two large hills bills To get Iret out of the he valley Mary tells us us you had to ride on a sort of Incline It was a box shaped box shaped a affair Ir the car let up and down the thc side aide of the thc hill bill by means mea s of a cable On this fateful morning Marys Mary's mother and dad had to go to town where mother was going to have her teeth fixed Before Defore she left she he called Mary who was the eldest child aside and warned her to watch the he three younger children her brothers while her parents were away Mary ilary had occasion later as you will see aee to recall that warning Of the three John was the oldest brother then came year six year old Pete and last of alt all little Eddie who could show only a scant eight months month Mary Iary had her bands hands full keeping them all aU out of mischief and when night la began becan to fall fail she began beean to glance elAnce nervously out the window wondering why mother and dad didn't come The younger children grew frightened with the approach of darkness and at their urging not to 10 mention her ber own mess Mary Alary finally bolted all the doors and windows window Children Were Locked Inside House To set the scene for this story dory It 1 la Is necessary to explain that next to the house bouse the they had a little wash house where Marys Mary's dad used to wash when be he came home from work This washhouse wash wash- house bouse had a little coal stove In It U. On this particular afternoon the stove was lighted but with the children locked Inside the house bouse there was no one to tend It or check cheek the dampen And so It came to pass that as the children sat huddled In the darkness dark dark- ness queer red shadows ghostly and lengthening began to dance on the walls walts of the childrens children's room Alarmed the children began to whimper whimper whim whim- per and at length unable to stand the strain any longer lonier Mary went tc to In the black pall she abe stumbled against something the something the crib she crib she thought the window and looked out to see lee what was war causing the strange play of ol lights on the wall Then she understood understood the the wash-house wash was on fir tire tirel el Remember this was no grownup grown This was a year old child with the care and responsibility of three younger brothers on her ders And now as 81 the fire spread to the main house igniting the old dry wood like tinder the children fled lIed from the blazing wall Into the open air Mary as scared as 81 any This will explain perhaps how It happened that on looking around they discovered that old months Eddie was missing Mary Iary who was frantic by this time lime berated John for leaving the baby behind as she had understood he had taken Eddie from his crib while she was looking after getting Pete Fete out But John protested that he had bad thought Mary alary was wa taking Eddie and so hadn't bothered to go co after him Meanwhile Inside the burning house bouse little Eddie lay asleep In his crib The thought of her beloved little brother In that blazing Inferno was too much for Mary 1 With no sager heads to dissuade her she rushed back Inside the burning house groped her way through dark smoke filled halls to the room where the baby lay asleep Smoke Was So Thick She Could Hardly See Dy By this time Mary says the smoke was war getting so thick that she could hardly see Reaching the bedroom she found herself in the center of a dense rolling fog choking her blinding her so that she ahe could not see her hand before her face face Heat Beat seared her eyeballs tore at her herair air famished air famished lungs But the year old girl had made a promise a a promise to a mother who trusted her to care for the younger ones Mary could hear her mothers mother's last words echoing In her ears as 81 she groped her way to where she thought the crib should be Look after them while Im I'm gone Mary Im I'm trusting you The flames were searing hot now but Mary had but one thought She must get Eddie out In the black pall she ahe stumbled against something some some- thing thing the the crib she crib she thought Hurriedly she reached down grabbed what she thought to be Eddie and almost delirious now with the desire to escape from those hungry flames she ed out of the house Into tho the open air Outside sate safe under the open sky again she thought of the bundle In her arms In the suffused smoke house Mary says saya herself I did not know for sure aure whether I had him or not Now obsessed by a horrible premonition of possible disaster she ahe dared not put Into words she forced herself to look down When you contemplate how easy it would be for a nearly hysterical child of Marys Mary's age to mistake her precious burden in a fog of rolling smoke you will understand how close is the line between happiness and tragedy For had Marys Mary's eyes met not what they did see aee but bu something else this story would not have the happy ending It now has Yes it was Eddie crying for all alt he was worth And was Mary glad You answer that one Ill I'll Just go on to add that when Marys Mary's mother mothe and dad d got home all that was left of the house was the standing chimney da Released by bF Western New Newspaper Union |