, 1891-01-24

that, when / was q OOH'1N bafote'S
the terrible Antigua earthq"a1a Was
slightly felt there, aud ] remember tAt 1871
about it in my faith RS house.
The dav was n Rne, h light day--noC q
hint in sky, nrs~ea, or land, OF " hat was
coming, l had taken my wife with me to pay
some visits to friends; and w" were tn me
house o. The Moravian Minister, hev. j. L.
Harvey. af ab3at 2-50p.m when tue whoie
house suddenly, after q e. rl1c suO'erra-
man rnmhrHo rocked &, IN very foun;O-
tiouS. The estimates Of the actual dIrN-
tion of the fiT%sl SfSck wary from 40 10 %
seconds. OF aourse people naturally eA
yerated tl6E4tnnA ssaHd. r&Onld talk ~ you
rhout two or even three mlOneeS :Oi earth
uuAke. Had It beens+o long, very few people
indeed wonl.i have boon left to tell their re-
miniscenes of it,. We Immediately Quilted
the house we we've in, anu drove down the
main street, called King. Street. having TO
go about the whole I~agth of the town.. be.
fore we reaclied- our house. When We
Oassed our Church, "a very large building, !
noticed that some Oft piHnacles had TAI.
len to the ground, aud some were Cwlstt0
as by the hand efaaagiant. This was "ctu-
PLY the only damage done to the building.
While driving down the street, which
runs East and West; we were met by 1n ex-
cited crowd, surging up from the end w1th
cries "The sea / the sea ana Oe-eechlng
ne not to go across the wharf. But my
children were on the other side, ana 80 !
dove across what used 10 be dry land,
ouite two feet above the sea level, but what
was now inundated 10y the sea, viz :, the
lauding pirate, containing the Custom
House, POST OAacA, and other buildings.
He,e nv horse refused 10 pass, but on my
jumping ont, in rwateI" mp to my knees, ana
taking the head, the animal went quietly
over. This was. the first tidal wave, Tor
there were at least three III connection with
this earthquake. Ny wife immediately
thought of the story of Lisbon in the last
century, when n whole quay Su1k suddenly,
fathoms decp;with thousands OF people Oh ",
IN Il great eAI tIquake. When We Teacneu
our own house, which w ~ close to the Saa.
we found that my brother DE .braneh' Wuo
waS on u visit TO IA, aIrl j lady friend, bad
got our children out Of our W house, iup
Into the barracks, which are on an eley%-i
ton. Very eOOn the second. and quite the,
largest tidal wave, came in u, on the 1SElIId.
In the town in which lived the height OF the
wave WAS about IA feet. In the other town
ut the West EnL of the Island, it must have
been at least Is feet high. for it brought In.
the United States man Of war MonoBgGkeLG,
st that. time at anchor in the rOadSCead, q
steamer which drew 20 feet Of water, anu
was brought over a wall 5 feet high. THIS
vessel was lodged in the street, and lett
theft, \ won .ertul sight to see-nntil she
wsse g6f Al0at az sin by the U.s.. Govern
meit at an etOrmens expense. My brother
Rectcts; Rev, Or. Dubois, who weMtsout of
his house anu looked seaward, described
20 me the kOane of the water rushing oGt,
leaving the .haSbOus dry for some distanc"
past the anchorage, then rising up sudden
" in a great wall behind the big vessel,
lifting her up, and bringing her IN on the
crest Of: the wave. One Of the OGaceTs told
me that itssemed tQshim they were going
right aver where. 9t. CrDfxc had beeD.
In the iowa where. ! lived. which is billy
evrry one left the shore. and fed to the
bills, and the hOu$es'o on tham. TOR safety.
Whils taking Rg " family swsg: TO .
place OF refuge, | passed .thrOAghkexcited
crowds, wringiAg their. .baDds, shTieking
out cries for mercy, or impforipg me to tell
them what was tO.be done. Some !imes there
wWuld be. KNOBS 0t:peOplA gathered around
some man, who was reading this Bible
aloud rs fast as he could go, almost as Q
SOGC OF IettsD. l%sa7 ~ - :
sent round tOthe Moravian and Luther
- pastors. ] asked them TO join me In an
Opeu ~aiG4serylce with the people. The news
OF our intention soon spread, anu at 5 o'clOck
We bad about 5000 people present. We
bad some yellssknOWn hymns sung. and the
two pastors aud myself prayed With a4d
spoke to the people. AS she last act Of