A CAMP-FIRE RUN WILD 



dash with a constant insatiate roar, toss- 

 ing ever onward a red foam of sparks and 

 casting a jetsam of lurid brands upon 

 the ever - retreating strand that is but 

 touched with the wash of enkindling, 

 when it is overrun by the sea of fire. 



The ice-cold springs grow hot in its 

 fierce overwhelming wave, the purling 

 rills hiss and boil and shrink before it, 

 then vanish from their seared beds. All 

 the living greenness of the forest is ut- 

 terly consumed great trees that have 

 stood like towers, defying the centu- 

 ries, with the ephemeral verdure of the 

 woodland undergrowth; and to mark 

 the place of all this recent majesty and 

 beauty, there is but smouldering ruin 

 and black and ashen waste. Little 

 farms but lately uncovered to the sun 

 out of the wilderness, cosy homesteads 

 but newly builded, are swept away, and 

 with them cherished hopes and perhaps 

 precious lives. What irreparable devas- 

 tation has been wrought by the camp- 

 fire run wild ! 



Meanwhile the careless begetters of 

 this havoc are making their leisurely 

 way toward the outer world of civiliza- 

 161 



