Every Day Heroes |
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ahead answer arms Arthur Bad River Benjamin boat brave breath building buoy burning canoe captain caught chemist chil chimney courage crash crevasse crew cried crowbar danger dark Deck Stratford door exclaimed eyes face faint farmer father fear feet fell felt firemen flame gave girl hand head heard heart HEROES hour hurried instant John Pryor jumped knew laboratory ladder Lake Michigan Lane levee life-savers light lives looked Matthew miles minutes Missouri Morse code mountain Neil never night oilskins peril Pete Pete Henderson Pryor pulled quickly reached red fire rescue river road roar ROBERT SMALLS roof rope Sammy seemed shore side signal skiff smoke sound South Carolina started steamer stood stopped story street strontium nitrate suddenly Tamarack thing thought trying turned Twiddle Ulric Uncle Jack voice wagon wall Wampan watched Who-o-oh window
Popular passages
Page 77 - But see ! he has stepped on the railing; he climbs with his feet and his hands; And firm on a narrow projection, with the belfry beneath him he stands; Now once, and once only, they cheer him, — a single tempestuous breath ; — • And there falls on the multitude gazing, a hush like the stillness of death. Slow, steadily mounting, unheeding aught save the goal of the fire, Still higher and higher, an atom, he moves on the. face of the spire. He stops! Will he fall? Lo! for answer a gleam like...
Page 78 - And the face of the hero, my children, was the sable face of a slave ! With folded arms he was speaking, in tones that were clear, not loud, And his eyes, ablaze in their sockets, burnt into the eyes of the crowd : — "You may keep your gold: I scorn it!
Page 15 - ... upon it; and up there, against the background of black smoke that poured from roof and attic, the boy clinging to the narrow ledge, so far up that it seemed humanly impossible that help could ever come. But even then it was coming. Up from the street, while the crew of the...
Page 17 - ... gallop, and drove away yelling like a Comanche, to relieve his feelings. The boy and his rescuer were carried across the street without any one knowing how. Policemen forgot their dignity, and shouted with the rest. Fire, peril, terror, and loss were alike forgotten in the one touch of nature that makes the whole world kin. Fireman John Binns was made captain of his crew, and the Bennett medal was pinned on his coat on the next parade-day.
Page 15 - ... the hoarse shouts of the firemen, the wild rush and terror of the streets ; then the great hush that fell upon the crowd ; the sea of upturned faces with the fire glow upon it ; and up there, against the background of black smoke that poured from roof and attic, the boy clinging to the narrow ledge, so far up that it seemed humanly impossible that help could ever come.
Page 47 - ... and wider, farther and farther, until now, with a mighty effort, it swung within their reach. They caught the skirt of the coat, held on, pulled in, and in a moment lifted him over the edge. They lay upon the roof all six, breathless, sightless, their faces turned to the winter sky. The tumult of the street came up as a faint echo, the spray of a score of engines pumping below fell upon them, froze, and covered them with ice. The very roar of the fire seemed far off. The sergeant was the first...
Page 44 - Club, — he took a half-hitch with the other in some electric-light wires that ran up the wall, trusting to his rubber boots to protect him from the current, and made of his body a living bridge for the safe passage from the last window of the burning hotel of three men and a woman whom death stared in the face, steadying them as they went with his free hand. As the last passed over, ladders were being thrown up against the wall, and what could be done there was done. Sergeant Vaughan went up on...
Page 46 - It is a pretty hard yard down there. I will get you or go dead myself." The four sat on the sergeant's legs as he swung free down to the waist so he was almost able to reach the man on the window with outstretched hands. "Now jump — quick!" he commanded: and the man jumped. He caught him by both wrists as directed, and the sergeant got a grip on the collar of his coat. "Hoist!
Page 77 - Uncounted gold shall be given to the man whose brave right hand, For the love of the periled city, plucks down yon burning brand." So cried the mayor of Charleston, that all the people heard ; But they looked each one at his fellow, and no man spoke a word. Who is it leans from the belfry, with face upturned to the sky, Clings to a column, and measures the dizzy spire with his eye ? Will hedare it, the hero undaunted, that terrible sickening height?
Page 77 - Clings to a column and measures the dizzy spire with his eye? Will he dare it, the hero undaunted, that terrible, sickening height, Or will the hot blood of his courage freeze in his veins at the sight? But see ! he has stepped on the railing, he climbs with his feet and his hands, And firm on a narrow projection, with the belfry beneath him, he stands! Now once, and once only, they cheer him — a single tempestuous breath, And there falls on the multitude gazing a hush like the ¿tillness of death.