Memories of Charlton County - by Gibson and Mays Back to Table of Contents 8. THE DANGER OF FIRE (Pp 7-8) When I was growing up, houses were made of logs
or wood with cypress shingles. Many of the homes burned because of faulty fireplaces or sometimes because of the carelessness of those who lived there. My brothers and I nearly burned our house down when we were children and it scared us half to death. Papa had bought us a violin but none of us could learn to play it. Not a one of us could make a tune. Harry was pretending to play a song and the rest of us were trying to sing the words when he said he needed the rosin to
rub on the bow. This was kept in the trunk in the loft of the house so Elvie and I ran up the stairs to get it. Elvie had the lamp and he and I were scrapping to be the first one to get to the rosin and one of us knocked the lamp over. The loft was full of cotton we had picked that year and since we had filled the cotton house and had given out of room there, we had piled the rest of it in the loft of the house. The lamp turned over on the cotton pile and it began to burn.
We ran down for buckets of water but didn't need much as the fire just singed over the top of the cotton and it quit burning. Papa was in Valdosta serving on the federal jury at that time and was dreaded for him to come home and find out what we did. But he was so proud the house hadn't burned down that he didn't spank us. Another time fire did get out of control and it burned Uncle Owen's house down, It was just after daylight when it burned and Uncle
Owen was still in his sleeping clothes. Jim Gowen was going to the Paxton Place that morning and went by Uncle Owen's house and saw the family and others gathered up in the yard. The roof was just falling in as Mr. Gowen got there. He took two twenty-dollar bills from his pocket and gave them to Uncle Owen and said, "Take that and buy yourself some clothes." No one got hurt and none of the other farm buildings burned, just the dwelling house. I did a very
destructive thing one time and I felt real bad about it. I was working for Emory Dean at Bertha Mineral Camp between Silco and Kingsland. A family of Cottles lived out there on their farm, Emory had the flu and wasn't able to go to work and he told me to go saddle up the horse and ride all around the Cottles farm and strike matches and throw them out about every twenty-five to thirty feet. He wanted me to burn those woods clean. I said, "Emory, I can't do that! I
can't set those woods on fire! It would burn those people's house up, along with their rail fences." Emory said "When they see the smoke they'll get out there and keep it off their farm." But they didn't! The woods fire burned the rail fence all around that field. When Emory got better he went to see Mrs. Cottles and apologized. He told her to go to the store and buy enough of wire to fence that whole place and have it charged to him. She was tickled to
death for she had much rather have wire than a rail fence. I still think we should have notified her before I set that woods on fire. | 
