The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-09-16

ing Pictures Full of Movement.
The Galveston storm, with its deplorable
and unprecedented loss of life and wide
! spread devastation, recalls summer
passed in that city twenty-five years ago.
rhe wind and waves that September
wrecked shipping houses, gardens, and
/ fences. The streets were canals and peo-
pie gathered about the piers in the rain,
ready to board the iron steamships should
I the necessity at any moment arrive.
There were many lives lost, but that
storm, dreadful as it was, was soon for
gotten. The need of city at that point
is SO great that fears, expressed during
the storm, that the city would have to be
abandoned, were not long remembered.
The recuperative power of the town is
marvellous. In short months time ev
erything had been patched up and all
! went on as If nothing dreadful and fore
1 boding mad taken place. Pessimists were
.rowned down, but each citizen in his
secret heart was dreading just what oc-
Cured there last week.
After the first shock and distress have
passed away one may look for return OF
normal Conditions, with all the stir OF
| business and social life as of old, although
| there may remain some deep scars on that
| beautiful sand bar city on the Gulf
/ arrived in the city from Ohio in the
/ July previous TO the event / refer 10 and
! remained there during two years. Ny
! father had gone there to superintend the
construction of the Cotton Exchange. of
which he was the architect, and a de-
| sire to be with the family took me there
| also. / get up studio and was az tnce
in love with the tropical luxuriance OF
! the foliage, the quaint semi Spanish
| character of some of the houses and that
wonderful beach of unbroken sand.
| saw heavily laden orange trees higher
| than two-story buildings and pink blcs-
somed oleander trees forming perfect tun-
| nels over the pavements Of some blocks.
Cisterns were everywhere. There was no
/ other water supply at that time. These
cisterns rested on open framework, high
in the air, where they supplied water 20
| the more important houses. but IN
humber yards eisterns were little above
the level of the ground The business
blocks were of brick and imposing. Along
| the Strand they looked like commercial
buildings at the North. but the residences
WERE with very few exceptions, built OF
wood, as was also the curbing on NEST OF
! the streets. Galveston is built on level
/ sand bar, where innings III anu sOiiu IohuS
were made only along the wharves with
! oyster shells. There are no sand dunes
as one finds them in New Jersey. re-
member being captivated with the PAINT
| ableness, II / may SO describe IL, OF
! everything.
Ii was a new kind of picturesquent SIS.
! and the treeless stretch of sand melting
! into the horizon to the southwark Lad
peculiar fascination tor me IL suggest
| ed Robinson crusoe and swarthy pirates.
Some live oaks and magnolias thrived.
but salt cedars-a willowy sort OF CEDAR
that bore a pink blossom, seemed the
most at home there, and added greatly
/ to the charm of the place. Cacti OF low
| growth and palmetto grew sparsely in
| ragged places en- the edge of tie tSwn.
| Bananas and the high palmetto doomed
up where they were cultivated ab5u the
| houses. Those homes where vegetation
was encouraged were surrounded with
| rank growth CT plants of every deserip-
| tion-fowers and vines in wonderful
| tangles, including everything CT the Kind
| cultivated in Ohio, but no trees such a
/ grow North were to be seen. as | remem-
| ber One can easily imagine what havoc
| tornado would make with all Is lux
| uriant growth. Ii was enc of the most
| melancholy sights J. remember ever to
| have seen,
| The wreck these beautiful gardens
| presented after that memorable Septem-
| Der storm-torn and bedraggled with
| broken treilises, fallen fences, shutters,
eayespouts, and bits OF roofing, But the
| sea, II was the sublimest and most
weirdly fascinating sight I ever beheld.
| Words cannot picture ii; nothing but
| large canvas and vigorous brush could
hope to do it justice. / had been warned
| TO keep away from the seashore, fol, my
fondness for ii in stormy weather was
| known at home, but it was useless. The
| streets were all rivers, Though the water
| was not over TWO feet deep in them, and
| from the accounts that have reached us
il is clear that the storm of rs was only
hint of that of 1900
UnmindfuI of the rain. l went seward
! along the east end wading where / had
TO until reaching point where there
| was an open board fence leading out to
the shore. As the water grew deeper AMI
the wind more fierce, climbed TO the
top of the fence and erawled out eau
! tiously toward the foothills Of the sea as
far as / dared. The foam and swash
broke about my knees as | chung TO a
post, straining my eyes TO study the
mighty fringe of that angry sea. Look
ing out into the rainy depths of that inky
blue sky, out of which came madly tear
ing in one green wave after another like
mimic sharp-peaked mountains of liquid
plate glass with the quality Of color
one observes looking down the green
depths of the edge OF thick window plate:
] was overmastered by its tragic and be-
wIldering beauty. All thought of fear
left me- My enjoyment was intense.
The color was in every shade of marine
green, falling away into steely tones,
where the rain and sky enveloped the
great waves like dissolving view on a
screen Now and then a wave higher
than the rest would loom up out of the
mist and with its uneanny white edge OF
foam seem sure TO sweep high over me.
But, humping and iostiing against coun-
ter waves its great bulk would wear
away until it was lost and mingled with
the savage current which flowed like a
torrent past my fence.
Nothing moves in such graceful lines
as water. The greater the bulk the more
splendid and inspiring is the grace of
line and angle.
In those days there were no fine bath
houses along the beach-each family that
cared TO sent carpenter. but most OF
them carted the boards TO the beach them
selves and built simple shed at any
point they pleased along the shore just
large enough to disrobe in and don a
bathing suit, which city ordinance de-
manded These lighthouses were kept
locked and made barely black dots in the
white sand of that broad beach. From my
most / could see one bathhouse after an
other topple over as the waves dashed
against 1t. This | did not mind but after
two hours of rapturous watching the