OUR BIG BONFIRE

In autumn, we think about carving pumpkins, raking leaves, and building bonfires. Charlie Bullis obviously appreciated a good bonfire, judging from this account of one he and his dad built one springtime.

OUR BIG BONFIRE

Last spring on a beautiful afternoon my father and I went out into one of the back meadows to burn a long row of brush that had been cut down two years before from a hedge that extended the whole length of a large field. There were six or eight large heaps of brush connected by weeds and small brush. We ignited the brushrow on the north end and as the wind blew from the north it burned along very well shooting up tongues of flame and clouds of curling smoke as the flames leaped from twig to twig consuming the works of nature of several summers and roaring as it gave off its rays of stored up heat.

We wonder what father and son may have talked about that day as they watched the fire "consuming the works of nature" to make way for new life. Perhaps they didn't talk...but simply stood side by side and marveled at the efficiency and beauty of the process.

Charlie Bullis's teacher wrote "Good" on the back of the paper. We agree with her. Good description. Good experience. Good memory.