RAFT-B UILBING. 69 
It was half an hour or more before she came back. 
She kept her shawl about her till she had sent the chil- 
dren out of the room on an errand, then deposited upon 
the floor a few sticks of wood she had brought in. When 
they returned, she was replenishing the fire. 
" Tears colder 'n ever," she said. " You chillun 'd 
better go ter bed now." 
And they went, curling up in a heap of straw and 
under a patched quilt in one corner of the hut. 
"Are ye slio de crows will come, mammy?" yawned 
Lex, as she tucked the ragged edges of an old blanket 
around him. 
" Sho', honey," she replied, heartily. 
" An' could — dey — brung — wood ? " — but Lex was 
too sleepy to wait for an answer. 
It will be long before the Atlanta people forget the 
night of January 26, 18 — . The bitter wind wliich 
only a few weeks before had urged a conflagration to 
do its fearful Avork, until a whole city seemed mounting 
to heaven in a chariot of fire, now with icy coldness crept 
in noiselessly, to counteract the efforts of the very element 
it had so lately helped. 
In the night Lex had a curious dream. He thought 
he saw his mother creep softly into the kitchen, and bear 
the old pine table out of the house. Then there seemed 
to come a cracking noise, and presently the firelight shone 
out merrily through the little bars, and Lex felt warm 
and comfortable. Mammy stayed by the stove, occasion- 
