THE FIRE

From the Memoirs of Vera Mae Williams Harward

Heatrola

The following event took place when Elmer and Vera Williams had five children:  Marsden, Vera Mae, Boyd, Dean and Donna.

When the twins, Dean and Donna, were about two years old, Dad bought an 80-acre farm in Moreland. I was in the fourth grade and had to make all new friends. We now lived three miles from the school and the church. Often in the winter the wind would drift the snow across the roads, making them impassable by car. Sometimes Marsden and I would take a horse to school, one riding and the other being pulled behind on skis.  Early one January morning when I was in the 5th grade [1929], Dad got up before dawn, as usual, to build a fire in the stove in the kitchen, as well as in the Heatrola in the front room so the house could warm up before the family needed to get out of bed. Then he went back to sleep. Later, he heard loud crackling sounds and awoke to discover that it was lighter in the front room than it should be. He jumped up, put his bathrobe on, and rushed in to find the ceiling on fire.  He quickly woke the family and told us to get out of the house as fast as we could.  The twins slept in the room with me. I gathered one under each arm and carried them out into the snow and up the hill, where we got into the car for shelter. I sat there with the babies, cold and frightened, and prayed as we watched the flames devour our house, and everything we owned.
           Marsden had broken his leg on New Year's Day, and was using crutches. In spite of the stiff, heavy cast on Marsden’s leg, Dad lifted him up into the attic through a hole in the ceiling in hopes he could douse the flames from there. Then Dad ran outside to the pump (we didn't have running water in the house) to get buckets of water to hand up to Marsden. We considered ourselves extremely lucky because Dad had recently purchased a motor to work the pump so we didn’t have to draw water by hand-pumping. But on this morning it was so cold, and there was so much ice on the belt of the motor, that it kept slipping off the pulley, and he couldn't get even one drop of water to fight the fire. Flames were spreading rapidly, so Marsden jumped down from the ceiling. Having learned in Scouts that smoke rises, and there is more oxygen near the floor, he grabbed a couple of blankets from his bed and crawled to safety, dragging his heavy leg cast painfully behind him.
       Dad tried to save the piano that was mother's gift from her father. He struggled and pushed to get it to the front door, but could not lift the heavy instrument over the door frame by himself. Heat from the flames was intense, and the ceiling was falling all around him. The varnish on the piano melted and stuck to his robe and hands. Finally he had to give up. It was a frame house, and burned fast. But the family all made it out safely. It was a hard time for me. I had been taught that if I prayed in faith my prayers would be heard and answered.  There was no doubt in my mind that the Lord could have stopped that fire if He wanted to, and I couldn't understand why He didn't. But I learned from that experience that prayers are not always answered the way you want them to be. For days after the ashes cooled, I would sift through the charred wood and soot looking for the new wristwatch I had earned as a prize selling boxes of chocolates for a school fundraiser. We had all gotten new ice skates for Christmas, but they were nowhere to be found. As hard as I searched, all I got from the ashes was dirty.  
        Dad didn't complain.  He put his arms around mother, wiped her tears, and said, "We’re lucky that we're all safe--and I still have my taw."  A “taw” was the big marble used to shoot at, and win, other smaller marbles.  Playing marbles was a popular game in those days, and you played for keeps. As long as you had a taw you could win other marbles for your collection. One of Dad's favorite sayings was, "Don't lose your taw." All the smaller marbles could be lost to other players, but as long as you had a shooter, or taw, you could always win more. Boys used to collect marbles in big jars and bury them. They would brag about how many jars of marbles they had buried around.  When Dad said he still had his taw, he meant that he was still strong, able, and willing to work hard and build us another home.

Typical Sheep Camp

We put our sheep camp facing close to Uncle Leslie's so we could step from one to the other, and that's where we lived the rest of the winter.  In the spring, Uncle Les fixed up a little two-room house that was on his property.  Dad built beds in one of the rooms that served as the kids' bedroom and kitchen. We stayed there until another home could be built on our land. The new house was built with lava rocks brought from the bottom of our field. I took great comfort in the fact that lava rocks could not burn. It took several years to get the lava rock house completed, but it was nicer than anything we had ever lived in.

The new home in Moreland made from lava rock

The Williams children after the lava rock house was built.
Back: Vera Mae, unidentified girl, Marsden with an unidentified baby, and Boyd.
Front: two unidentified girls, Dean and Donna, and an unidentified boy.