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Chapter 12: An Unexpected Calamity
The last week in Feb was warm & springlike though the snow was still on the ground, the air was milder & the sun powerful enough to melt the snow off the thatch on the houses, but the frost continued, still it seemed as if the winter was nearly gone & it had passed quickly & pleasantly.
Sunday 29th was a beautiful day, in the afternoon 2 of our nearest neighbours came to tea & remained that night the wind rose & Monday morning was cold & rough, we breakfasted about ½ past 7 & my husband started with the oxen to fetch some hay. I was preparing for washing & as we had to melt snow it was necessary to have a tub filled with water before hand this most fortunately was done, for before the breakfast table was cleared the little girls who were upstairs, startled us with a cry that the roof was on fire. I rushed up to see the flames creeping steadily but surely down the rafters, to send the eldest boy after his father was my first action tho' I was almost afraid the deep untrodden snow would prevent his overtaking him, then my sister bringing some water I dashed it over the burning place as well as I could but much of it returned like a shower bath & when the third bucket of water was being brought up the stairs gave way, this was a dreadful catastrophe & seeing that no amount of water inside could stay the flames, & that my husband could not possibly return for nearly an hour. I at once began giving some of the things down to my sister who with the help of my eldest girl carried them out side & also many of the smaller things there were downstairs, they worked quickly & well taking out the pictures & many breakable things without accident, while I was imprisoned up above where I contrived to get down all the boxes slipping them down with a cord & throwing a number of bags of flour & barely besides the numerous other things which were stored there, how I moved so many heavy things I can hardly tell for my hands were painfully cold & all my clothes frozen as stiff as if starched. The wind continued to rise & the fire to spread with wonderful rapidity before my husband's return, the roof was falling in, so after he had taken down the only 2 remaining boxes which contained some china I valued & a barrel of Pork which I could not move alone. I jumped down (the stairs being gone) to see what could be taken out from below. I had taken it so quietly & been working so systematically that I was horrified a few minutes later to see the burning floor dropping on the things below, & so much still to be saved we dragged out the beds & a few other things but as we were beginning to empty 3 very large boxes the sparks fell so quickly & the lower floor was beginning to burn so we were reluctantly obliged to leave them to burn. The dry lumber burnt like matches & soon the beams were falling too & as we were afraid of the upper logs dropping on to the things outside, we all get to work to move them further from the building, the cold was intense & the poor children had been terrified at the flames, they had only their indoor clothes on, so we now wrapped the little ones up in some rugs & a buffalo robe, putting them in as sheltered a spot as possible, the elder ones were really of great assistance as all that was saved was strewed in all directions & the sparks had to be continually stamped out, when we had put all we could in safety I remembered my large tin trunk, which had been left until the last as the least likely to take fire, now my husband dragged it out & then with his axe as quickly as possible got out 4 windows, while we could only stand & watch the many things still left inside burning, oh! It was terrible! the heat of the flames was scorching while the wind was so cold that I felt paralyzed & as if I could not move another thing however precious. My sister had found me a jacket & cloud, but gloves there was no time to think of. Just then we noticed my tin trunk smoking so pulling it away from the rest we opened it & found everything down one side smoldering, which the wind immediately fanned into a flame. We tossed all that was actually burning on to the snow & put some into the box on the remaining clothes. The wind was south East & we were afraid the sparks would blow to the stable which was built to the North West of the house, so until 1 o'clock we kept guard the smoke on that side being suffocating, once a bag did ignite but fortunately my husband saw it before further mischief was done. For 3 hours we stood outside that burning building, not a drop of water! it seemed as if no human beings were left in the world but ourselves, the misery & desolation of those hours is beyond words. Everything saved was scattered by the wind over the snow which the heat of the flames had melted round the house & books & many other things saved from the flames were spoiled by the mud. The roof & upper logs being entirely burnt. My husband left us to watch the stable, while he went for the oxen & sleigh, which he had left at a stable belonging to the man whose shanty we lived in the previous summer & this again had to be our place of refuge, when he returned we collected all we thought most requisite & as soon as the load was ready we took one more look at the charred remains of our little home & feeling satisfied that there was no more danger of the fire spreading we put the children into the sleigh & wrapped them up for they looked pitiably cold & forlorn. I feel sure no gipsy family ever looked more truly wretched than we did, as with something in each hand we climbed into the wagon box on the sleigh. When we reached the shanty we found the owner who had been absent a week still away, & it seemed like going into an ice-house even when the stove was lit it was unbearably cold & we each put on an extra blanket or shawl whichever we could find, we had some tea & butter but no bread, so my husband went to a neighbours & borrowed a loaf which we were most thankful to get feeling exhausted with hunger & cold, my sister had felt so painfully cold at first that I began to fear the consequences, while my hands & feet were altogether painless, but before our simple meal was finished my fingers began to tingle & for the next few hours were worse than I imagined frost bites could be. There were still 2 loads that must be brought from the house that night, as it was all lying about in the utmost confusion & it was now snowing so my sister bravely went with my husband. She put on the invaluable buffalo coat, fur hat & gloves & being well protected, she did not again suffer as in the morning, which I feared when she started & was most thankful when she came back looking brighter for the exertion. Her unselfishness in giving up a comfortable home to help us in our new life was bringing her into troubles I had never contemplated before leaving England though what we should have done without her assistance in this emergency I cannot say it was a great comfort to think that her trunks were all saved, she already suffered so much discomfort on our account. While they were away the elder children & myself tried to make the room a little neater, its appearance just then being worse that I ever pictured an Irish Cabin, everything saved being thrown "en masse" in one part, while flour, barley, tins of all descriptions & many other things useful in their proper places, here lying all over the floor, such a heterogeneous collection I never saw & there was nothing to pack everything in nor any shelves or cupboards where we might arrange what we required for daily use, those there were being already well filled. The breakfast things were frozen together & we had to melt some snow & boil the kettle before we could separate the plates, the first we put to melt in a tin in the oven, as we had no proper vessel, but the tin had contained coal oil so our first efforts were useless, we had scarcely any wood & it really seemed too cold to move, but as there was nothing for tea it was absolutely necessary to make some bannock, this I did, but the flour had some barley amongst it & there was no silk, or anything but water to mix it with, so that when baked it was scarcely eatable. Afterwards we found a bag of oatmeal which was quite a treasure all our grocery being destroyed & we had long ago learnt to like the North Country porridge, which we despised when in England, that night it was especially acceptable, for sitting as close as we could to the stove we were shivering with the cold. The oven of this stove was close to the ground instead of on the top as in our's & those are always used as footwarmers, when ever you go into a house during the winter you are invariably asked to put your feet into the oven & most comfortable it is, tho'I did not find it so that evening for as my feet began to warm, it was evident they were frozen worse than my fingers, the toes were perfectly black & we forgot to rub them with snow but tried several other things, amongst them the well known "Pain Killer" that panacea for all ills in the North West, but for days they were extremely painful & for many weeks I was obliged to wear moccasins. The cause of this terrible disaster we could only surmise, the stove pipe was not as high above the roof as it should have been & probably the pipes required cleaning, as it was we imagined the soot in them took fire & ignited the thatch & there being no mud in the rafters caused the fire to spread rapidly, had my husband been at home when it was first discovered & used the water outside instead of in, it might possibly have been extinguished, but the strong wind made the flames so beyond control. In spite of our troubles we felt we had still much to be thankful for, had it occurred at night the consequences might have been far more serious & it was a great blessing we had all escaped without injury & we could but lift our hearts in gratitude Him who had so mercifully spared our lives. Still it was impossible to help feeling depressed at the thought of the little home in which we had passed such a happy winter being entirely destroyed & all my husbands labour for the past 7 months wasted. It seemed that night overwhelming & the smell of the fire & the crackling of the flames haunted us for many days. This disaster coming at the end of a very expensive year caused us additional anxiety & it seemed especially vexing to lose nearly the whole of the contents of the large cases which had cost so much in bringing & from whose contents we had yet derived but small benefit. The son of the neighbour who gave us the bread came during the evening to offer us sympathy & what consolation was in his power, it seemed a relief to talk it over with anyone & we felt glad to see him & thanks to him & his mother I suffered less from frost bites than I should otherwise have done.
