By the time the doctor arrived with Luellen and two neighbors he had
picked up, we were marching the last dormitory down to the kitchen, the
most remote corner from the fire. The poor chicks were mainly barefooted
and wrapped in blankets. We told them to bring their clothes when we
wakened them, but in their fright they thought only of getting out.
By this time the halls were so full of smoke we could scarcely breathe.
It looked as though the whole building would go, though the wind was
blowing away from my west wing.
Another automobile full of retainers from Knowltop came up almost
immediately, and they all fell to fighting the fire. The regular fire
department didn't come for ten minutes after that. You see, they have
only horses, and we are three miles out, and the roads pretty bad. It
was a dreadful night, cold and sleety, and such a wind blowing that you
could scarcely stand up. The men climbed out on the roof, and worked in
their stocking feet to keep from slipping off. They beat out the sparks
with wet blankets, and chopped, and squirted that tankful of water, and
behaved like heroes.
The doctor meanwhile took charge of the children. Our first thought was
to get them away to a place of safety, for if the whole building should
go, we couldn't march them out of doors into that awful wind, with only
their night clothes and blankets for protection. By this time several
more automobiles full of men had come, and we requisitioned the cars.
Knowltop had providentially been opened for the week end in order to
entertain a house party in honor of the old gentleman's sixty-seventh
birthday. He was one of the first to arrive, and he put his entire
place at our disposal. It was the nearest refuge, and we accepted it
instantaneously. We bundled our twenty littlest tots into cars, and ran
them down to the house. The guests, who were excitedly dressing in order
to come to the fire, received the chicks and tucked them away into their
own beds. This pretty well filled up all the available house room, but
Mr. Reimer (Mr. Knowltop's family name) has just built a big new stucco
barn, with a garage hitched to it, all nicely heated, and ready for us.
After the babies were disposed of in the house, those helpful guests
got to work and fixed the barn to receive the next older kiddies. They
covered the floor with hay, and spread blankets and carriage robes over
it, and bedded down thirty of the children in rows like little calves.
Miss Matthews and a nurse went with them, administered hot milk all
around, and within half an hour the tots were sleeping as peacefully as
in their little cribs.