No one could sleep through that big fire

To the editor:

For so much of my life I have lived with pleasant memories of the beautiful, historic Normal School where my brother chose to enroll. Often were the stories he had to tell, at times remarking that everywhere one looked there were women. The boys liked that, and there were so few of them.

The night of the fire that not even a sound sleeper could ignore, my parents were suddenly awakened by church bells, factory whistles and people shouting. How different fires were in the early 1900s when people shuddered in fear largely because so little help was available.

My father and brother walked up to the Normal School at 5 a.m. Many hearts hurt in watching the burning building become a memory. The few hoses people used in trying to extinguish the blaze only served to cool the air, which became very hot from the heat of the blaze.

No structure today is built along the historic lines of the Normal School.

Time changes things, though. Good in many instances will follow something bad. Our current university shines with beauty, dignity and an assurance of a growing knowledge and graces the grounds where the Normal School once stood. How thankful we are.

PAULA E. KEMPE

Cape Girardeau