Catharines Peril, or The Little Russian Girl Lost in a Forest | Page 9

a fire broke out in one of the narrow alleys which abound in the poorer parts of the town in which I live. It originated, as fires so often do, in the carelessness, or rather helplessness, of a tipsy woman, who had thrown herself across her bed, and lain there in a drunken stupor, while a candle, which she had left burning on a table in the room, had fallen over and set fire to some shavings, by which the flame had gradually been communicated to the furniture and to the house. The author of the mischief was rescued; she lived on the ground floor, and the firemen had gained access to her room through the window from which the smoke was first seen bursting, thus giving the alarm of fire to the neighbourhood. She was quite insensible, partly from the effects of drink, and partly from being half-suffocated with smoke; but she soon recovered, while the effects of the mischief she had wrought lighted upon other and more innocent heads. It was an old rickety house, and the landlord had determined on putting it into thorough order, as otherwise it ran the risk of tumbling to pieces altogether. He had therefore given notice to all his tenants to quit; and they had done so, with the exception of the woman I have mentioned, who caused the fire, and a very respectable widow, who, with five children, occupied the attics. These women had been allowed to stay two or three weeks after the tenants of the first floor had left, because they had not succeeded in getting houses to suit them; and the work of patching up the old house not having yet been begun, they had remained in it on sufferance. The opening of the window gave the fire the draught which was all it wanted to gain fresh strength for its fatal work; and in two or three minutes after the unfortunate woman who had caused it had been carried out, the flame might be seen leaping upwards with fearful force and rapidity, as if furious at having been disappointed of its prey. I had been spending the evening with a friend, and had to pass the alley where the fire was; and as the house was very near the end of it, I could see and hear what was going on without being in the very thick of the crowd.
It was a fearful but a glorious sight. The night was frosty and clear; and as the flames darted out of the windows, and threw out showers of sparks, the bright red glare of the fire made the sky in relief seem of the most intense dark blue. Some one told me that the house was empty, so I was rather enjoying the grand beauty of the scene, when, hearing a fearful shriek, my eye was attracted to the attic windows of the house, and I perceived, to my horror, a woman and several children standing at it. Clear and distinct they stood against a black background, with the ruddy glow of the flames robing them in a crimson light, and at the same time revealing the agony of terror which was expressed in their countenances. 'Go to the back of the house,' shouted the firemen, 'we can do nothing for you there.' But the little group stood paralyzed with fear, unable to attend to the directions which were given them, or perhaps unable to hear them, for the fire was roaring and crackling enough to deafen any one. Three brave men of the fire-brigade went with a ladder round to the back of the house, while the engines kept the fire somewhat down by constantly playing on the front, as far as the confined space would allow of their doing so. In reality, I suppose, not many minutes elapsed from the time that the firemen had carried round the ladder till one of them appeared at the window where the women and children stood: to me it seemed an age; and what must it not have appeared to the poor sufferers themselves? As the man came forward and joined the group, and the flame lighted up his tall, strong figure, a deafening shout from the crowd hailed his appearance, and encouraged him to his perilous task. It seemed at first as if the woman were too stupified to understand what he said to her, for we saw him put a child into her arms, and then push her from the window. He himself managed to carry two little ones, and to send a boy and girl of some ten and twelve years of age after their mother. Then we lost sight of them all, and there was another interval of terrible suspense, when a shout from the