The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1900-12-06
BILL ARP GETS IN CYCLONE.
STORM GAME With DREADFUL,
FURX.
just as lilo was About to Speak a
Cyclone Struck tho Town and the
Audience was Terror Stricken

| ucfc GO DUO MOUNTAIN, MISS, and
came: My wife said had bettcr 20,
for the winter was at hand and the
family needed cloth and she was
obliged to play old Santa Claus, as
usual, and provide somc Christmas
gifts for the children and grand. child .
rem. That Ia u good part Of her lifo
and happlness-pleasing the children.
She never asks for anything for her-
self. She don't have TO- Tho girls
| toll me what she needs and | surprise
her with IT II l have the money, aud If
haven't | strain my credit and got it
anyhow. Professor Lnwrey called me
here to talk to his college girls, for he
is & noted educator ana has 2G0 girls out
here In the woods and is building up
an institution that Is tho pride OF North
Mississippi. He got four other towns
to join him in the call, and 50 lectur-
ed in Tupelo last Monday night to q
large audience in u largo house and
| found q warm welcome. 1t is wonder
| full how these old towns arc looming up
aDd taking on new life. Twelve years
ago L was In Tupelo and thought it
was pretty dead. | had only about one
| hundred people out to hear me then,
and this time there were near four hun
dred. Prosperity has done It. Ten
cent cotton and u cotton mill has done
u
Last night WAS billed for Ripley
! nice old court house town not far
away. The evening betokened q storm
and by night the lightning was fash
ing necessarily all around the horizon
and the thunder poaled heavily. Coun-
try people became alarmed and hurried
home, Tor everything seemed ominous
Of coming trouble. There seemed to
| be something in the clements that was
breeding over us, and sure enough
| there was. The courtroom was about
| hall full Of people who had dared to
venture out to hear me. Suddenly the
| storm came with fearful fury. There
was an awful roaring sound from the
Southeast that was like the sound OF
many waters. 1t hushed the audience
| into solemn silence. | did not take
the platform, but waited. In few
minutes some wild, excited messengers
came rushing up the stairs and called
Tor the doctors aud other help, for tho
| cyclone had come and torn uD every
thing in the suburbs aud killed men
and women and children. The night
was intensely dark, but the men rush
ed to the rescue in haste, and tho lee
turo programme was broken up in q
nkling. Everybody hurried to their
BONES or TO the scene Of the disaster.
| What an awful thing Is q cyclone
What q merciless thing it is How
quickly It comes and rs quickly goes,
| leaving swift destruction in it's track.
Happily it gives no warning, for the
terror and apprehension would be
worse than death. This morning we
rejOlced to learn that nobody was
killed, though many were badly wound
| ed. Some houses wore wrecked and
| blown away and many wore unroofcd
and some wore set on fire. One man
was lifted up and carried away and
thrown to the ground in the woods,
with only u few bruises. How strange
that so few people are killed by o
cyclone. 1t seems providential, and
this morning tho question discussed at
| the breakfast table was whether God
or tho devil was the author of these
terrible visitations. Ono said that the
spirit OF evil was still on the earth and
was ever contending against the spirit
Of good, and this spirit brought fam
inc, pestilence, fires, storms and all
! disasters.
Another said that all these things
came from natural causes, and that
Deither God nor the devil had any
| agency In them. Another quoted from
JOB where the Lord delivered nim over
TO Satan, who was going to and fro
| upon the earth and walking up and
down In it. He atliicted Job awfully,
but vas not allowed to take his life
Another quoted from the SaviOr's
words when He said 4: "Think you
that those upon whom the tower OF
Sloan fell were wicked above all peo-
pie I tell you nay but unless ye re.
pent ye shall perish"
Professor John Fiske, a very great
,,if Al
book called The Mystery OF Evil" |
| have read 1t twice and found but little
comfort or philosophy in it. His argu-
ment Is that evil is OF divine creation
and designed to illustrate and cxalt
| the good. That but for sickness we
| would not appreciate or enj)y good
health. But for an occasional famine
we would rot enjoy the blessing OF abun-
dant foo and but for sin we would not
enjoy Heaven. His book leaves you
| just where 1T found you, and the
mystery is still unexplained. We know
that God loves Ilis creatures, and that
Is enough. Not a sparrow falls to tho
ground without His notice, and He did
not wish to destroy Nineveb, where
there were 900 people and much
cattle. "And much cattle" That was
always very significant expression to
| me.
| Wcll, had to come hore from Rip.
ley by private conveyance. We had @
good team but the road was fearful, for
| it had rained Dearly all night. Mr..
Pltncr, an old Georgian, had the lines
and did not al icipate trouble, but
when we got TO the river we found the
lowlands Hooded on both sides for
quarter OF % mile, and after we crossed
the bridge the horses plunged sudden
ly into q washout and submerged us
into deep water. 1t flowed into the
buggy and over 1t and up to the cush.
ions, and for time we were both
alarmed for fear OF a collapse. But we
got out OF 1t safely, and here am with
q valiso full Of wet clothes and no
change for tonight. Hero am at tho
college and viii have to stand up be.
fore Two or three hundred pretty girls
tonight. Fortunately Mr.. Lowrey Is
about my sizo and says he will lend me
some garments whilo mine are being
removed at the laundry. Hard, hard,
indeed, is tho contest for freedom and
| the struggle for Christmas money.