The Cabin on the Prairie

by C. H. Pearson

“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, 165 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 166 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, 167 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.