A BRAVE GIRL | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Dec 9, 1897

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 23, No. 48.

A BRAVE GIRL.

THERE is perhaps no sweeter picture of pure heroism on all the pages of history than the story of a brave little California girl, which should be preserved and enshrined among the heroic deeds of earth’s bravest and best. Here is the story complete as told by a San Francisco paper:—

“She lived in Placer County, not far from where the pretty town of Auburn now stands, for it happened many years ago, in the early ‘60’s, and I suspect that but few now residing there have any recollection of the affair. The family, consisting of her father, a miner, her mother, and little brother, dwelt in a small shanty erected under a convenient ledge. The shanty was a miserable structure of two rooms, but it held what many a grander dwelling fails to contain—a loving household. The mother lay sick with the fever, and Carmen, then a girl of twelve, performed the drudgery of the house. Her little brother, a curly-headed romp of five, was Carmen’s great responsibility. The father was away from early morning until late at night at his work, and so the little hands of twelve found plenty to do.

“In common with the custom of miners, the father kept a store of giant powder in the house, which in the present case was contained in a sack placed in an old box that stood by the foot of the bed where lay the sick mother. The upper part of the shanty, under the sloping board roof, was utilized as a storage place for old dunnage and rubbish. One night the father was absent in the mine on night work. By some means the shanty took fire, probably from the cracked and defective adobe chimney. Carmen awoke to find that the roof was afire and sparks dropping down.

“Springing up, she loudly cried to awaken her mother and Tommy, but the little boy became frightened and hid his head beneath the covers of the bed. Carmen sprang to lift him from the bed, when she saw the shower of sparks falling upon the powder box. Recognizing the awful danger, she attempted to leave the child for a moment and carry out the powder, but in her excitement she caught her foot in the overhanging bedclothes and fell to the floor, breaking her thigh-bone. Unable to rise, the brave girl crawled to the box of powder, and, drawing herself up, covered the box with her body. The mother had by this time succeeded in getting out of bed and getting outside the now furiously burning shanty, and managed to take with her the little boy.

“The cries of Carmen, ‘O, take Tommy out, won’t you?’ turned for a time the mother’s

thought from her daughter’s danger. The fire had aroused some of the neighbors, who speedily ran to the burning shanty, and lent what aid they could. Carmen was discovered and removed. Her rescuers found her almost hidden beneath a mass of burning cinders, her back frightfully burned. Tender hands bore her to a neighboring shanty, where all that could be done to alleviate her suffering was eagerly bestowed. But human aid came too late. The brave little spirit lingered until the following day, and then departed. It was not known until after she died that she had broken her leg. Her last words were, ‘Kiss me, Tommy, dear; I’ve saved you, and I’m so happy.’”—Good Housekeeping.