The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1877-08-09
The Season = Calamities.

The Season 3 Calamities.
THE storm record of this season has
been an extraordina ~ one, and with the
fatalities at Mount Carmel, Pensaukee
and dozen other pla ces In mind, people
dwell on the thought that all such catas-
trophies are beyond th reach of human
power-that nothing m an can do will pre-
vent the coming of the storm, and NO IRE.
cautions that he may take will cause
towns or forests to sta nd against the re-
sietless fury. Men dwell on this thought
and magnify the disasters without learn.
ing the lesson such caiam tiles teach-thev
persistently face the list of fatalities they
cannot prevent, and almost forget the ca
lamities that result largely from human
carelessness and thouglatlessness.
The record of fataliti es other than those
caused by t0rnadOes, stt ,rms and floods for
the last few months is more remarkable
and more appalling than that caused by
hurricanes and cyclones. The season in
this particular has been, in, ieed, an ex-
traordinary one, the record e. ;hibiting an
unprecedented loss Of life thu ough agcn-
cies that seem harmless in our every day
experience: Mere people peris he'd in the
Brooklyn Theater fire than In all the tor
nadoes in this country for ten ye airs; more
PEOPLE were crushed and mangle d at Ash
tabula bridge than in all the ste rms that
have swept the country since the disaster
at Hazel Green; and in both TN csc cases
man was responsible. Men try N expert
ment with coal in mine and half dozen
lives are lost; there is a fire in "a hotel,
and terrible tragedies are enacted boiler
explOdes in q Pennsylvania iron mine,
and more men are killed and wo 'unded
than at Pensaukee; boys at plaAv are
drowned, girls at play are burne to
death, women meet death in their q 'oor-
yards or in their kitchens, and men are
crushed while at work. 1t is safe to say
that more people have been drow. ned
through carelessness within the last thu zee
months than were killed in all the storl rs
of the season. The record each day as
telegraphed to the morning papers TAX es
in three, four, six or ten names, and Il he
aggregate for q month is something a,p-
palling. Deaths from lamp explos ions
make up sickening record, and the Jsor
rible list of cases in which children b ave
persisted by fire, or kettles of boil ing
water, or by falling furniture makes on e's
flesh creep.
There is something terrible in t he
thought of tempest sweeping down on
score of devoted homes and carrying all TO
destruction. People call up the picture.
Of the family groups-women about their
household employments, children hest
tating in their play, men standing in the
door giving assurances that the storm IS
going round, and then the awful, bewil-
during crash, and their hearts stand still
as they see again and again in their i'm.
agination the terrific spectacle.
But is it more awful than the picture of
hnn6rodc 0f o1ooninr man on1
crashing over bridge to cruel suffering
and death, or of hundreds Of people turn
ing from the bright scenes of a drama to
the dark struggle mid fire and smoke, and
all to end in death? Is the picture of a
little child, caught up by fierce wind
and carried, with flying timbers, across
fields and streams, more terrible than that
of little three year old, bright with baby
expectation, pulling over on itself boiler
of scalding waters Is the picture of
woman crushed by falling house more
terrible than that Of bright young girl
falling over the side of boat in the
midst OF gay frolic? Is it worse to
think of boy struggling for life in a
tornado than to think Of him being drawn
down to death with the grain in an ele
vator? Is it more horrible to see girl
helpless mid the terrors of a tornado than
W cCV ACA WAAtuAuS Ia oSOuy UCN1nuSC u
an attempt to kindle fire with kerosene?
Is it worse to see man 60 down to death
in storm, struggling manfully to the
last, than it to see him suff0cated in
a mine or blown to pieces by boiler
explosion?
One class of fatalities we can do moth
ing to prevent. These we must accept,
and if we cannot learn the lesson of HUI
man weakness and dependency that they
teach, we can remember, with Emerson,
that the cOmpensatiOns of calamities
are apparent after long intervals of time"
But the other class of calamities we can
do much to prevent, and here is chance
for all the philosophizing that we throw
away on the first class. We cannot guard
our homes against the tornado except as
we make them with sure foundations and
stronger walls; but we may guard them
against lamp explosions, gunpowder acct
dents, burnings and scaldings. We may
not save our children when q tempest
rOars above us, but we can SO watch over
them that they may not be drowned or
mangled while at play. We cannot stay
the hurricane, but we can construct bet
ter bridges, build public houses on better
plans, and take more precautions against
fires anu boiler explosions.
We may study the Pensaukee tornado,
and learn how helpless man is, and how
dependent he is on the Creator of All; but
we should study the mine disasters, the
hotel fires, the careless dTownings, the
lamp explosions, and try to prevent them.
Chicago Inter-Occan.