The Allis Family | Page 3

my dear?"

"Annie means that you were sick, and didn't want us to make a noise;
and, really, we did try to play just as still as we possibly could."
"Why did you take so much pains to be quiet?"
"You told us to be still, didn't you, mother?"
"I did; but were you afraid I would punish you if you made a noise,
Susie?"
"Oh, no, indeed; but we did not want to make you sick," said Susie,
clinging to her mother, and looking into her face with her loving eyes.
"Then you love your mother, do you, girls?"
"Indeed we do," said the children, in one breath.
"Well, supposing your mother had been well, and some poor sick
woman, whom you had never seen before, lay here sick in my bed:
would it have been more pleasant then for you to be very still, so as not
to disturb her?"
The girls hesitated a moment, and then Annie said,--
"I think it would, mother; for it would be very cruel to make anybody
suffer, I have heard you say."
"Then you could love a poor stranger enough to deny yourself some of
your own pleasures for her sake; and you think it would make you
happier to do so, do you?"
"Oh, yes, I am sure we should be happier," said little Susie.
"Well, my dear children, I cannot talk any longer now, but I want you
to repeat this little verse after me until you can remember it:--
"Love is the golden chain that binds The happy souls above; And he's
an heir of heaven that finds His bosom glow with love."
* * * * *

THE PRAIRIE FIRE.
It was a trying summer for the Allis family. The weather was hot and
dry, and Mr. Allis, unaccustomed to labour in the fields, often almost
fainted in the sun. His work seemed to him to progress very slowly. He
had no one to assist him in sowing and planting and gathering in his
crops; for, in the first place, there were few people to be hired, and,
more than that, he had no money to pay his workmen if he had been
able to obtain them. Every morning he had to go more than a mile with
his oxen for water, which he brought in a barrel for family use; and it
was often nine o'clock before he got to his work in the fields.

At length November came and found his summer's work completed. He
had no barn in which to store his grain, and could only secure it by
"stacking" it until it could be threshed.
The potatoes, squashes, pumpkins, beets, turnips and other vegetables
which the garden had produced for winter use were as securely housed
as possible and protected from the frost; and Mr. Allis began to hope
that now he might take that rest which he so much required.
For a number of weeks the children had been excited by wonderful
lights in the sky, just above the horizon. Sometimes eight or ten of
these could be seen in different directions at once, and occasionally
some one of them would seem to shoot up suddenly, not unlike the
flame of a distant volcano. To the eager inquiries of the little ones, they
were answered that these singular lights were called prairie-fires.
"What is a prairie-fire, father?" asked both the children at once.
"It is the burning of the long coarse grass which covers the prairie in
summer. This becomes very dry, and then, if a spark of fire chances to
fall upon it, it is at once all in blaze."
"Does it make a very big fire, father?" asked Susie.
"That depends upon circumstances, my child. If the grass is very high
and thick, as it sometimes is in the sloughs and moist places, it makes a
big fire, as you call it."
"Oh, how I wish I could see a prairie-fire close by us! Don't you,
mother?"
"I cannot say that I do, my child; they are sometimes rather
mischievous visitors, and I would much prefer that they should keep at
a respectful distance."
"Mr. Jenkins told me that a man some ten miles from here had his
stacks and house and every thing he had, destroyed, a few days since,
losing his whole year's labour and all his clothing and furniture. The
family barely escaped with their lives.
"Is there any danger that the fire will come here, husband?" said Mrs.
Allis.
"There is danger, I suppose; but I hope we shall have no trouble of that
kind."
"Is there nothing that can be done to protect your property?"
"I shall try to burn up what grows around the house and stack-yard in a
day or two, I think; but