Show AN AWFUL CALAMITY It staggers the mind when one OilS t tries Ies to o think of the awful scene of qt death and and destruction that that exists exists' on the Island of Martinique It It I Is l i incon inconceivable t con con- ble One day the early morning morn morn- morning ing ng sun sun shone clear and bright dg t prom from rom the rich blue skies of the tropics There had been a terrific storm the night before but now all W alii was peaceful and the palms were ge gently waving Inthe in inthe inthe the early sea breeze and arid t the be birds were vere singing responses to to the chimes in the cathedral belfry as th they sounded the hour Fifteen minutes later later the city of St St. Pierre and all it its Inhabitants bu a bare thirty were buried burled and wiped wired out of existence under a mass of s seething burning lava Such another sudden hopeless heartrending thing has never been known in all history Even in the case cas case of Pompeii PompeU there was was some some little time given the citizens of the doomed town to escape Pliny the Younger has left us an ar account account account ac ac- ac- ac count of the catastrophe catastrophe- and and of his own and his mothers mother's fortunate flight A majority of the managed to find their way to safe tY safety In St. St Pierre Piene there was was not an Instants Instant's wain- wain ing and a whole community perished miserably and in awful ag agony within the span of a f few w minutes minute of time Only one other such catac cataclysm m even is hinted at in human traditions Those who have closely investigated d the mattel matter mat mat- tel ter are inclined to believe that when the island of Atlantis di disappeared int in inthe t tie the e depths of the ocean It was as approximately approXimately Ima telY a thousand mile mUes' mUes long and nearly as that that-i was as densely densely dense dense- I I ly populated No one has the least idea as to whether any oft Its people were yvere able to get away buit Is probable proba probable probable ble that the volcanic eruptions which destroyed it l lasted sted for several days and aad that considerable numbers who could ouid command ship pas pas passage ge saved th their lr lives and found their waY way either to the African or the Irish coast Bu But there is little question that the vast bulk of the population went down with the he island Over an are area of hundreds of miles the sea is said to have been covered with mud and debris for many months months so 50 that vessels could not nav nay navIgate navigate ih m in that part of the Atlantic Perhaps Perhaps Per Per- haps the earthquake that destroyed an Island in Polynesia POlynesia a a few years ago involved a greater loss of life but the event did not l leave ve the frightful rightful frightful impression impression im im- im- im that this one has in the in instant instant instant in- in stant annihilation of a modern city with practically all th the people in it Very mysterious indeed are the ways ways of Providence |