Dear Enemy

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.