Stadium High School - Tahoma Yearbook (Tacoma, WA)

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24 THE TAI-IOIVIA tellg and I hope you'll always remem- ber, whenever you start to hate some- one. Dad shifted his pipe and paused a moment, looking into the grate. I listened intently for the footsteps I ex- pected, but no sound ca.me save a thud as a coal burst in the fire. Dad went on: UYou know the Big Fire. No- body knows how it started, of course, but we always can see what it's done. lVlebbe it started from some little heap of coals that a meddlin' wind made into a Hre. And then the Fire grew and spread out its claws and grabbed everything in its reach-'cause the woods was dry and seemed to be waitin' for it. An, then, mebbe, it sneaked along on the ground, a' eatin' up leaves, twigs, 'n' then limbs, and purty soon creepin' to logs. An' then, growin' bolder, it crept to a tree, p'r- haps, and purty quick to another. And then a south wind come up, slow but rneanin' ill, an' kept eggin' the Fire to go fu'ther. And the Fire, it went on, gettin' madder an' bigger, an' growlin' an' cracklin' the more. It stuck out its thousand an, one tongues everywhere, an' licked up the dry stuffs aroun'gan' purty soon it grew strong on the feed, and tackled more trees an' bigger. Then more wind come behind and it gathered more force, and turned into a long wall of lire. And it rushed along like a mad bull that's loose, and dares all the hull earth to stop him. It went up the hills and down into the gulches, an' spread out for miles to left and right. It was then that the smoke got so thick and so bitter that tears ran down our faces all the time, and the deer and bear came out of the woods and walked right into the clear- in's. Scared plumb to death they was, and so was We almost, and the days was so dark that you hardly could see, and at night the hull sky was a shim- merin, red. But to the south it was reddest, an' the Wind was from there, a hot, ashy wind that withered the flowers, an' we knew it was coming to us. That's when we sent all the wo- men-folks off, an' the kids, and the men stayed to fight the Fire-Devil. And a Devil he was. You know, your Dad has told you, how Taney and Edgeton was burned, an, a lot was killed over at Summit. We was over near Summit, and made a back- fire from a slashin' up there, but the Fire jumped across and we had to come back. We tried it again, two miles ahead of the Demon, up on the ridge by Yorks We slashed a wide line, 'bout twenty of us, but the wind was blowinl it up on us hard. ul was close by your Dad when we set the back-fire, but I lost track of him before long. I kept tenclin' over towards the right somehow, an' purty soon 1 saw him-Fred Lane! l le was workinl, too, like the husky he was, an, grimy an' burnt like the rest of us. There was holes in his shirt where the cinders Went through, and the smoke made tears in his eyes like the rest. l-le was swingin' an ax, I noticed p'tic,lar, and l noticed another thing, too. Right in front of him, an' swingin, a brush-hook, but lookin' puf- ty fagged an' weak-like was-Joel You don't remember Joe Saul? Well, it was Em'ly More, anyhow, an' both Joe an' Fred was hangin' 'round her. You prob'ly don't savvy this yet, but Joe seemed to be drawin' ahead. Leastwise, Fred thought so, and so hated Joe, an, that's where he made his mistake. If on'y held fought, or ,done something else, but all held do was to hate-an' Fred could give pointers to Old Nick on hatin'. As l was sayin', Joe was in front of Fred on the line, an' I see when I passed, that Fred was watchin' Joe close, an, I was afraid 0' some mis- chief. But the Fire was near, an' the

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,THE TAHOMA finished. Fred deadlu then, slowly, It's best, I guess-await! I had turned toward the door. They,ll find it out soon-you stay here with me-there's something that I want to tell you. Youill remember it now, and you mightn't again. It's a story I want you to know. I stepped to the window and shaded my eyes. Poncho above was cropping the grass, and the moon had climbed over the trees. The shadows were long, and I decided to stay. I crossed the room and sat down on the bunk. Dad lighted his pipe from a splint Hred at the grate, threw it back, and watched it until it was consumed. Iwaited, and soon Dad began. Poor Lane! I always was sorry for him. It don't never do no good to hate, boy, and that's what I want you to remember. The Big Fire was fierce and killed and burned lots, but it was nothing to the fire that gets in a man when he hates. Get mad and fight if you will, but don't keep a'hat- in' at all. Folks mostly don't know why Lane pulled that long face, and never would laugh at a joke. You rec'llect-but, 'course, you don't know, you was too young to remember-but oncet he was- n't that way. They say, since his brother was killed in the Fire--but you don't 'member that, either. You was here, but they sent you off with your Ma, and left the men here to fight it. You know: 'r anyhow, you've heard of, George Lane. He and Fred was always together. They was chums, friends, brothers, and every- thing to each other, and it was seldom they got fur apart. If ever two boys thought a lot of each other, them boys was the ones that did. But then the Fire came-you know 'bout the Fire -and George was killed out a'fight- Q 1-bg f y ' fdlvx V 5 wt e.swf Sfev'-'ZX 0 Zu f Z 4 JQ XWQQ,-ff. .A W I , Ev NX 9.-ff-I Fm X gyms e'l4lwf1J'?5, ii in y t f f l E l ,lil I ZW A ff' 9 JJ' s fl bmtrlll, in' it. That's why, they say, that Fred got so glum, but that ain't all of the story. Some of us knew, but we allers kept stillg 'cause,-well, we couldn't go tell it. But now Fred is gone, and so it's all right, I guess, to . I, S' 1 'ltr ' 3: V it gf., V 'I .. N ' . .41 X a f ' 1 fix in fi l N IA1J X i I - . A 1' fl lf 1 fl ll If 'fi',:.'l K - S ' f sr. fewer f-2 NW, Z .V fa, .-Q-.wear-' 1- X . X Q , lit., 'di f' -.. f xx A l :N :xx '1' 1,: -!,..A,f -ca! Sxml 1 A .xtnj flgiff LI -V ,,. s 1,45 . A-xc 'li 14 3 J , 9 fi .fa if 'i if ri. ,f5::-fair .L 1 S lx- ,i X ','S,?- xx W ' ' pl rf 9 ' 'Z' fl' -' 4 W I , sf fm -gf S3 'ff NVQ Ll if 'P lf., K . 1 J 461111 Li 474. -'fr I f sf K., fi ' , ' ..',3.f. . iq 23

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TI-IE TAI-IOMA 25 back-fire couldn't seem to get started against the wind, an' I forgot it in jest about no-time. If on'y I'cl stop- ped, or-but it ain't no use to talk now. mlqhe Fire came on, an' our sickly back-fire was simply et up in a jiffy. The slashin' held the Fire for a while, but it couldn't last long. The wind sent big streamers of flame 'cross the line, an' millions of burnin' pieces Hew over, an' long strings of fire swept the ground and sneaked along on the logs. We saw 'twas no use, an' crossed over the slashin' and into the woods beyond. We was all chokin' an' gaspin' an' burned an' tired, but we didn't dare stop fur a minute. We made fur the woods, meanin' to go on fur a ways an' try ag'in somewheres else. I got off from the rest, somehow, just about dusk-though it never got real dark, on account of the Fire-an' got muddled up ,mongst the trees. I kept stumblin' on, a-hittin' 'gainst trees an' trippin' my feet on all manner of things, till it got purty dark in the brush. And, all on a suddent, I looked over a log, an' there was Fred Lane a standin', an' a lookin' an' peerin' ata thing on the ground by a stump! I-Ie was talkin' somethin', but I coulcln't tell what, cause the Fire was a'roarin' so loud. I got closer, till he was jest behind a manzanita from me. An' then I heard what he said, though I hardly could see him in the smoke and the darkness. N 'Joe,' he said, 'You hear it?- It's comin'! Goodbye, Joe! I'm goin', Joe-' No, I'm not gonna tell you all that he said-I donlt like even to think about it. It showed how much like a beast a man can get when he hates. There was no answer after he spoke, an' right quick I jumped up an' says, ilrred, Oh, Fredl' And he jest whirls around an, grabs up a rock an' slung it straight at the sound. It hit me square, I guess, an' I must 'a' crumpled right up where I was. The next thing I knowed the bunch was around, an' we was fu'ther off from the Fire. But it had jumped over the line we made, an, was comin, onto us fast. An' the fust thing I said was, 'Fredl' And I looked around quick, an, there was Fred, sure enough, holdin' a light close by me. The boys had thought I was hit by a branch, an' Fred never knew it was me that yelled at him, though he knew after, o'course, that somebody heard. H 'I'm herel' he says, an' his voice sounded funny-my blood turned cold in a minute. H 'An' Joey I said, gettin' up, sort 0' weakly. An' there was bustle off to one side, and here come a fellow a-leadin' of Joe! An' that minute I looked around quick at Fred, a'wond- erin' if I'd been a'dreamin'. I-le'd dropped the light, an-' stood there like a man made of wood, starin' at Joe like he was mad. Then he stepped up close to him, shakin' an' tremblin', an' he says, husky-like, 'Joe-Joe-is it you?' Then Joe looks at him an' nods his head-it was Joe, jest tired like the rest, but nothin, else Wrong! But Fred-he jest turned 'round an' screamed out one word, an' I pray I may never again hear such a voice as his was. I-Ie turned towards the Fire, a-blazin' an' roarin', nearer an' nearer, an' he stretched out his hands, an' all he said was 'GEORGEJ' uYou see, it was George all the time that he'd left in the darkness to die in the Fire. The boys found me, after Fred ran away, but they didn't get George, an' he wa'n't more-:'n a rod off. And they carried Fred home