The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1864-12-15

giddy swrls, while every now and then some |
sbapolcss and black mass, some nprooted tree or |
fragment from the railway works, would dash |
against the stalwart piers with tnreasShths s ths
river and then sway round and heaye onWards
amid the leapng Of the waves. |
In several places the river made clean hreach |
over the parapet, and In an instant had filled the |
stonne reaches Of street nc hand but by o'clock
IN he morning The rain began to lessen and the |
thunder to die away, and by day dawn the Arno
had begun to diminish few inches, thereby giving
good hope that the worst Of the danger was past
The bitter north wind, which had seemed 10 com
pcate the terrors Ofthe night, had, n truth. been
one great means of ayerting much wider spread
Of evil for il had turned to snow all the rain that
would have fallen on the hills in the later hours
Of the night. Another great cause Of com pAratiye
safety 20 the city was new conduit O great size,
only lately constructed under the New Lung
Arno, and opened but a few days ago, by which
a great body OF water was separa'ed from the
main stream Of the river. Many adjacent towns
and villages have been far less fortunate for We
hear q dismal account from the country OF bridges
broken down, portions of railroads washed away,
vineyards and olive grounds devastated and lives
with difficulty saved, by their owners Climbering
into trees, or remaining imprisoned In the garrets
OF their dwellings I'LL help could come.
The outlook from the tower Of tho PalazzO
Veccho early on Monday morning, showed the
girdle Of near Apeunines standing out hard and
phssty against the ragged clouds, in its cloth
ing Of fresh snow, the beautiful Cascne drives
u
over the Val d'ADo everywhere geaming
with stretches OF yellow water, dotted with .iyid.
looking trees and dwellings During that AVID
the following day Florence was kept fasting from
all fro sh food for political speculation, rife at
this time; for not foreign nor even a Turin
journal arrived, owing TO the injuries sustained
by every line Of railroad; while the damage done
to the telegraph wires by the furious tempest
wind prevented the passage of dispatches The
municipal authorities, however, were at least
fully employed in giving assistance and distri-
butiug bread among the imprisoned inhabitants
ofthe narrow streets of the quarters of Sau Fre-
diano and San NiCcOlO, which were still many
feet deep in mud and water.
It is but Justice 20 say that the cXertiOns of the
National Guard and the POmpieri, in tue case Of
the former voluntarily and gratutously rendered,
In behalf OF the sufferers both in Florence and in
the surrounding country, have been beyond all
praise, to the saving of many lives at the immi-
| nent risk of their own, and the maintenance Of
| degree of order wonderful in the midst of such
| scenes of terror aud dismay.
To-day tho sun is shining glOriously out Of a
! soft blue sky Of May.day warmth and brightness
| and gay equipages are once more rolling along
/ the CasCine avenues, where the stone benches
are deeply imbedded in sand, and the roads still
strewn with debris, and di6hgured 10y tokens OF
| Messer Amos late fit Of passion, who now,
shrunk to nearly his normal volume, looks duly
penitent and ashamed Of his last Sundays ram
! pant dOings.
Numerous subscription lists have been opened
| for the relief of the poor, and the rapidity and
| munifcence with which they filed up do
| honor to both the FlOTentineS and their foreign
| visitors. Several conventual buildings also have,
| by the authority of the municipalities been assign
| ed as temporary homes 10 those who have been
| washed out of their own, The extent of the peril
from under the shadow of which the city has just
| emerged may be estimated from the fact that at
! Settimo, village on the bank of the river, about
seven miles above Florence, the mass Of water
raging downward was, for many hours, on sun
! day, two bracCia higher than even in the greal
! inundatOn of 1874.