Forest Fires

Ask a native of the North-Western United States and Canada to tell you something about forest fires. You will expect him, perhaps, immediately to elaborate upon the beauties of the fires, the volume of the clouds, the reflection of the sun on the passing smoke, and a hundred other things on the picturesque side of these frequent conflagrations; but ten to one the aesthetic part will be ast into the shade by his answer, and its tale of woe. He will tell you, mayhap, of the riches lost, the people killed, the heroic and sometimes vain attempts to cope with the dreadful monster fire; and will recite to you the painful story of the death-dealing forest fires with which the history of that region is punctuated. You will, in short, look for pleasure, but you will be told of pain.