It would seem we needed a lesson of the sort in times when man and man's work are given such large consideration, and God We can learn something of value as to our own stature in the universe, They have always known there was a possibility of just what has happened. Men have always known that the ground upon which San Francisco was built We can learn that it is not well to tempt Nature. Something that will in a measure make up for the loss and destruction? What is all our planning and striving for temporal gain? What is all our rushing and rising, our seeking and obtaining, ourīoasting and pride in the accomplishments of our own hands?ĭo we not allow these insignificant things to blind us to greater truths? Can we not learn from these ruins something of value, It can be seen at other times, but such timesĪs these seem to make it shine out more clearly. Through this ghastly veil of loss and suffering we should be able to see a sign. There will be a resurrection of Charity.Īnd there should be a resurrection of something else. San Francisco shall not have died in vain. The world will be brighter and better because of its having shone. Out of these ruins rises the sun of human brotherhood, and, though it be soon clouded in the renewed rage for place and gain, The world is a Good Samaritan, stooping to bind his wounds, and with willing hands lifting

No purse remainsĪ traveler has fallen by the sea. The call of the hungry and homeless is answered almost before it is heard. The first gasp of horror is not spent before a helping hand is stretched out to the city of desolation. It is a picture of the human heart, often called cold and cheerless in these days-the human heart of the whole world meltedīy these same flames into one vast mass of charity. So awful is the task that Earth itself still trembles at the thought of all that is. She has cut the arteries of protection againstįire, and the blazing demon leaps and dances through walls and high-built battlements of stone as though they were paper. The very ground, upon which all has been based, is rising and falling like the waves of the oceanīeyond, and the shrieks of the pierced and pinned mingle with the weeping of the homeless and childless and fatherless. The dawn to the sternest reality of Night-Night aflame with huge torches of consuming greed, eating their way unimpeded through It is a picture of men and women being roused from dreams of One is a scene of horror beyond the power of words to depict. Out of the curling smoke that rises like incense for the dead and destroyed two pictures are formed. Three terrible minutes have vanquished the work of years.Ī shiver of fevered pain has swept along the spine of Earth, and San Francisco is ashes. From out the black playground of Death rise huge phantom shapes of Hunger and Thirst.Ī mass of smouldering embers tell grimly of Nature's dread orgies. A great wail of distress is borne across the waters To-day he sees a shroud of smoke, outspread above a charred skeleton. Great ships cradled at this door of commerce. Of the Pacific and bore him on to the matchless harbor he marked the towers and columns, the serried ranks of homes and the Waving a giant torch of quenchless flame, swept from her proud seat at the edge of the sunset sea the splendid city of theīut yesterday the inbound mariner saw from his lookout her jeweled hills, aglow with life. SHIVERING, but sure in its rock-ribbed grasp, the hand of Destruction has reached up through the thin crust of the world and, Graphic Accounts of the Eruptions of Vesuvius and Many Other Volcanoes, Explaining the Causes of Volcanic Eruptions and Earthquakes Compiled from Stories Told by Eye Witnesses of These Frightful Scenesīy James Russel Wilson, the Well-known Author Embellished with a Great Number of Superb Photographic Views Taken Before and After the Terrible Calamity Issue by Thousands Driven From Their Homes This Unparallelled Catastrophe Leaves San Francisco a Heap of Smouldering Ruins-īeautiful Buildings in Ashes To Which is Added Terrible Devastation and Heart-Rending Scenes Immense Loss of Life and Hundreds of Millions of Property Destroyed The Most Appalling Disaster of Modern Times ContainingĪ Vivid Description of the Overwhelming Calamity- Suddenness of the Blow- Great Number of Victims- Fall of Great Buildings. University of California, Berkeley F869.S3 W8

Theorem 1906 new york skyscraper