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Show Tbe Lisbon Earthquake. The whole world deplores he calamity that has come upon San Francisco, words of sympathy go out to her people and this is beautiful, for before be-fore it selfishness skulks away ashamed, and the thoughts of the sorrows of the people by the Golden Gol-den Gate have the effect to draw all hearts nearer together. But fearful as was and is this calamity, it does not compare in hororr with the Lisbon earthquake. The best description of that is the one by Rev. Charles Davy, who was living In Lisbon at the time. He estimated that more than 60,000 people were killed outright, or perished when the fire swept over the ruins, or perished in the tidal wave that followed the earthquake. Of the tidal wave he said: "In an instant there appeared, at some small distance a large body of water, rising as It were like a mountain. It came on foaming and roaring. Turning my eyes towards the river which in that place is nearly four miles broad, I could see it heaving and dwelling in the most unaccountable manner as no wind was stirring. I stood some time and observed the ships tumbling and tossing about as in a violent storm; some had broken their cables and were carried to the other side of the Tagus; others were whirled round with incredible swiftness; several large boats were turned keel upward, and all this without any wind. It was at this time that the fine new city quay, built entirely of rough marble, was entirely swallowed up with all the people on it; at the same time a great number of boats and small-vessels, anchored near it (all likewise full of people), were all swallowed up, as in a whirlpool, and never more appeared. One shipmaster told him that "when the second shock came he could perceive the whole city waving backward and forward like the sea when. the wind first begtfna to rise1; that the agitation of the earth was so great even under the river, that it threw up his large anchor to the surface of tho water." Forty leagues at sea shipmasters thought their vessels had struck upon rocks. Of the destruction on land one incident in-cident may be mentioned: "There was a high arched passage like one of our old city gates, fronting the west door of the ancient cathedral; on the left hand was the famous fa-mous church of St. Antonia and on the right some private houses several stories high. The whole area surrounding these building did not have as much ground as one of our small courts in London. Lon-don. At the first shock, numbers of people who were then passing under the arch fled into the middle of this area for shelter; those In the churches, as many as could possibly get out did the same; at- this instant tho arched gateway with the fronts of the two churches and contiguous H buildings, all inclining one toward the other, with H the sudden violence of tho shock fell down and H burled every soul as they were standing together." H It was All Saints' day, every church was ablaze H with hundreds of candles and all the churches H were filled with people. A great rush to escape fol- H lowed the first shock. Bishops, monks, lords, la- H dies and all degrees of people, frantic with fear, H were screaming and running. But one venerable H old priest in a stole and scaplers, who had es- H caped from St. Paul, moved constantly among the H people, comforting them and urging them to re- H pent. H The earthquake came between nine and ten In H the morning and the writer said: "There never H was a finer morning sun than that 1st of Novem- H ber; the sun shone out in full lustre. The whole H face of the sky was perfectly serene and clear; H and not the least signal or warning of that ap- H proaching event." H There were no telegraphs, no locomotives then. fl The people whose lives were saved were driven fl out into the fields, but there were none to help fl them. All the fine turnouts In jtheclty were in fl front of the churches, and the horses that were fl not killed by falling buildings, were held there fl prisoners until they starved to death. fl Many streets were Impassable for" weeks be- fl cause of the odor from the bodies of tho dead fl crushed under tho walls. fl But since then there have been no tremblors In fl Lisbon, slowly the city rose again from the ruins, fl the earthquake Is now but a legend to the people; fl the horror has passed away and it is as though it fl had never been. It will be tho same in San Fran- fl Cisco only it will not take so long, More will bo I done in five years than was done in Lisbon in ton fl times five years. |