The Portland daily press., 1894-04-18
EXPERIENCED AN EARTHQUAKE
The Agony of Terror yividly De-
scribed.

Miss Mary A. Danforth Tells the Woman's
Mission Quarterly Meeting of Her Life
in Japan
At the West Portland M. E. church,
yesterday afternoon, occurred the reg
ular quarterly meeting of the Woman's
Foreign Mission Auxiliary of this dis
trict. Those who were fortunate enough
to be present will probably never forget
it, fo- they listened to an impassioned
eloquence that only the terrible ordeal
through which the speaker had passed
could inspire.
Miss Mary A. Danforth of Colebrook,
NH, is a typical warm-hearted. quick
Drained Yankee girl. She has been
missionary in Japan for five years. She
returned home last fall, broken down IN
health as the result of her terrible ex-
periences. She was sent out from Toxic
with three others, DR.. and Mrs. Long
and Miss Wilson, to tablish a school
for girls in the city of Nagoya. They
did not know the language and had no
money to speak of for the first three
months. But the school increased from
43 to SO mem bers, despite the plotting
and open hostility of the Buddhlsts.
In 1890 the Buddhists rioted and at
tackled the home of Miss Danforth and
the rest with rocks and various missiles
For days and days Miss Danforth new
er ventured forth in the street without
fear of dagger or some other means
of violent death. They kept tubs OF
water all through the house to put out
incendiary fires, and often were warned
in the middle of the night by friendly
natives of plots to accomplish their
destruction, for the priests had given
orders to kill them if they could not be
frightened away.
But the school prospered never
theless, in spite of the BUD
dhists, and in spite of the awful earth
quake of October 28. 1891, Miss Dan
forth said that she had known the ter
ror of danger at sea when the ship was
almost overwhelmed by the waves;
she had seen the people dying by hun
dreds in the throes of Asiatic epldemlcs;
she had walked among superstitious
and hostile heather fanatics, eager for
her destruction; but the fear OF all OF
these was as nothing to the agony OF
terror that controlled her when she saw
solid mountains trem Die land the earth
rent asunder-when she crouched on the
ground during those five awful days,
with the earth swaying like the
waves of the sea, the skies black and
frowning, the flames leaping every
where the crashing of buildings and
the people shrieking and groaning. She
was consumed with fear. when nature
gives way beneath ones feet there is
terrible giving away of all physical and
mental powers"
To add to the terrors of the situation,
all the jails were shaken apart and 800
of the worst criminals in the country
plundered the shattered houses and
stricken people like fiends.
She felt as if her reason was giving
way; she cried out to God to come
and take this agony of terror from her,
and her prayer was answered. Her rea-
son remained but her health was shat
tered.
Miss Danforth is ON her way to the
Methodist Conference at Skowhegan,
where she will speak tomorrow. There
were tears in her eyes and voice, and
in those of many of the audience as she
recalled SO wildly the awful terror thai
will never cease to haunt her.
Other speakers were Mrs. Langmaid,
of West Portland, and Mrs. A. A.
Chapman of Cum berland.