Front: "In February 1907, Maxwell was the 31-year-old principal of a modest, working-class school on Prefontaine Street, just north of Ste-Catherine Street E. Known simply as Hochelaga School, the Protestant facility served the neighbourhood’s English-speaking children, most of whom had fathers working at the nearby port or railyards. On Feb. 26 of that year, a fire broke out in the 1890 structure, which one Montreal journal had previously labelled “a death trap.” While some pupils and teachers managed to escape the blaze, others remained trapped in a second-storey classroom. It was there that Sarah Maxwell handed one pupil after another to firemen atop ladders. Ignoring their calls to save herself, Maxwell, enveloped in a thick, black, toxic smoke, could be seen to the last desperately shuffling children out the window to waiting firefighters. Suddenly, there were no more to be seen. When the conflagration was finally quelled, Maxwell and 16 youngsters between the ages of three and eight were found dead on the floor of the classroom in question." Source: https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/opinion-honour-for-heroic-montreal-principal-sarah-maxwell-long-overdue Poem text: Back into rolling smoke, heroic heart, "There are some more still to be saved," she said ; Not with one thought of self, but all for them, The little children whom she loved so well, The little ones, more dear to her than life ; Back, into rolling smoke, to snatch them forth, Back into jaws of Hell, unselfish, brave ; Not Death himself, with flame-licked countenance Can e'er hold back or fetter, hearts like thine, Where trust has to be kept, or lives preserved ; Deep fires of the Almighty in thee glowed, Life cast behind thee, with one single aim, Love called upon thee for that last grand quest, And Duty for that splendid sacrifice ; One thought, "Let children live, tho' I may die," And Life was yielded up in vain—yet not in vain. So rest thee, dauntless heart, thine ordeal past, In these dread fires thou hast been sanctified, God hath but said to thee that "All is well" And called thee to an honoured place on high, There shalt thou dwell, by pastures always green And waters still, beside the Son of God, With those dear ones, for whom thou gavest life In token of that Love which conquers Death. Earth, poorer for thy loss, with folded hands, Stands at they bier, and meditates with pride On the sad glory that hangs round thy death : Here, Memory will set thee in her crown, The story shall be told by child to child, Example will give rise to splendid deeds, And these will show thou hast not died in vain ; Sleep, with the little ones thou could'st not save, Rest, noble heart—not soon shall we forget. Clarence Hope Hochelaga School Fire, February 26, 1907. (Entered according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year 1907, by Clarence Hope, at the Department of Agriculture.) Back: