The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1878-09-21
Memphis Avalanche.

are nearly two hundred.
Memphis Avalanche.
We are doomed. 1t is hard, as we
write in this dark, dismal midnight of
death, not to realize the full meaning of
that brief sentence. 1t is hard for any
man of the few left IA this city of sor-
with painfully personal application as
the sentence of death. Scarcely any
are left but those who are crowding
down personal care in the noble pur-
pose of others good. To them death, if
it comes, will have the sweetening con-
ISOLATION that it is brought by as noble a
service as the God of Heaven, as the
man on earth, ever looked upon. To
die for man is to initiate the grandest
event in the history of our globe, it is
to initiate the death of the Savior of
the world. The rain falls slowly, the
storm of the afternoon having sunk into
a dismal, solemnly sad drizzle, as though
the heavens themselves were touched to
tears at the sight of 50 much human
misery. The rattle of an occasional
vehicle along the silent street tells that
the member of some benevolent society
is fastening to minister to the sick or
dying. That is all. Else is silence,
deathly and awful, with naught but the
rattle of the water from the roof into
the tin gutter, and that has the ominous
gurgle of a death-rattle in the human
throat.
Seventy dead, and at least 125 new
cases. God help US!
If hope were not worn to a skeleton
if she had not taken herself to prayer,
we might find spark to kindle weak
glow of light in this impenetrable dark
ness, and expect that the heavy shower
of to-day would wash from air, from
gutter, and from bayou a part of the
foul, pestilential air which is breeding
death.
The horrors of the hour cannot be told,
even if the heart did not weaken at the
task. They are horrors such as make a
hell on earth such as make life almost a
burden. Elsewhere it will be seen that a
noble band Of physicians have come tC
our aid. We need them all, and more
and when we think into what tornado
we cannot but be amazed that strangers
should dare 50 much for strangers. Their
reward is found in higher sphere than
that in which our full hearts beat in
gratitude.
The Towards need men to supply the
places of their sick. Their ability tc
visit all the stricken yesterday caused
much distress, if not deaths. The ranks
of the clergy, as brave company OF
Christian soldiers as ever faced martyr
dom without fear, have been invaded
But why waste more? Why try tc
add words when the dark list below
speaks so plainly of our unprecedented
calamity? Where it all will end Goo
only knows.
There are women of pluck and unsur.
passable devotion in Memphis who are
daring everything for those they love
The faithless are of the other sex, OF
those whom the world in one of its great.
est misnomers has dubbed "the stronger
sex" While John Donovan forsakes
his wife and leaves his children to die in
strangers hands, while son flies tC
Arkansas Springs and leaves his mother
and two brothers to be borne by other
hands to the grave, in contrast shines
out the faithfulness of woman as a de.
voted mother, as a patient, attentive
wife, as a life-risking daughter, sister,
friend. By the bedside of the burning
body, lnhaling the poison of the sick
room, foul with that Odor which tells the
nature of the dreadful disease, perform
ing service which none other will do,
wearing a smile while the heart is break
ing, and lifting up the head when in the
last agony her person is befouled by that
most repulsive and horrible of all sub
stance,-black vomit,-she sits and
watches, and nurses and cares for her
loved one till he lives again or passes
beyond her aid. The penalty of her
service of love is generally death.
Instances come to the writer's mind
faster than he can record them, in
stances which are but few of the many
which have become like part of heaven
in so much of earth's hell.
A Citizens Relief Committee man
walked into an humble cottage in the
southern part of the city. There he
found two children i'll, one weak and
listless, but evidently convalescing, the
other tossing in burning fever. A little
woman in black sat between the two, and
was in the act of kissing the brow of the
little fevered one.
Cant send you nurse, madam"
asked the visitor.
"No, sir" (the pale little woman
smiled). 81 have brought one child
through, and / shall bring the other"
"But you are worn out.
ooh, no, sir. A kind Italian woman
near by comes in and helps me some
times"
She would not yield; no other hand
but hers could administer to her little
ones.
An old grandmother told the Rev. Mr..
Parsons not only of having nursed her
grandson to his death, but, in want of
someone else to do it, had with her own
hands prepared him for the grave.
A child was stricken with fever on
Alabama street. eco" said the mother
to the father, AZ shall never leave the
boy, but you must not be endangered.
The coward complied, and saw from
over tho WOW short coffin horpa ont of