The Weiser signal. [volume] (Weiser, Idaho) 1890-1904, 1902-05-17

roofs, bore down along the streets masses
of confused ruin. which yet more and
more, with every hour, INSTRUCTED the
way; and, as the day advanced, the mo-
tion of the earth was more sensibly felt
the footing seemed to slide and creep
nor could chariot or litter be kept steady.
even on the most level ground
Sometimes the huger stones striking
against each other as they fell broke in
to countless fragments. emitting sparks
of fire, which caught whatever was com
bustible within their reach; and along the
plains beyond the city the darkness was
terribly relieved for several houses, and
even vineyards, had been set on flames
and at various intervals, the fires rose
sullenly and fiercely against the solid
gloom. To add TO this partial relief of
the darkness, the citizens had here and
there, in the more public places, such as
the porticoes of the temples and the en-
frances to the forum, endeavored to place
rows of torches; but these rarely contin-
ued long: the showers and the winds ex-
iinguished Them, and the sudden dark
ness into which their sudden birth was
converted had something in it doubly ter
rible and doubly impresslng on the i'm
potence of human hopes, the lesson of
despair.
Frequently. by the momentary light
of these torches, parties of fugtives en-
counlered each other, some hurrying to-
wards the sea, others flying from the sea
back to the land; for the ocean had re-
treated rapidly from the shore-an utter
darkness lay over it, and, upon its groan-
ing and tossing waves, the storm of Gin
ders and rock fell without the protection
which the streets and roofs afforded to
the land. Wild-haggar gastly with
supernatural fears, these groups encount-
cred each other, but without the leisure
to speak, to consult, to adviser for the
showers fell now frequently, though not
continuously, extinguishing the lights,
which showed to each band the deathlike
faces of the other, and hurrying all to
seek refuge beneath the nearest shelter.
The whole elements of civilization were
broken up.
st. Pierre accounts are almost
the same. What mind can conceive
those last seconds of whole city
Men, women lovers and children, who
saw the day close in peace, suddenly
aroused in the night with the curd-
ling sense of some surrounding, i'm
penetrable horror they can feel
grasping for their lives; noxious
gases greeting their nQstrls, houses
on fire, and they rush into the streets
only to find fire rained upon their
shoulders, their feet burned by the
hot cinders upon which they tread,
their helpless bodies stung with steam
and pelted with blistering hot stones
"a very inferno on earth-and in
their but halfaroused senses the
thousands madly writhe and shrek
in physical agony, and shrivel and
die before even clear sense of the
nature of the calamity can photo
graph itself upon the brain.
Why should human beings again
live in the shadow Of such a gloom,
with its future possibility? St. Pierre
should not again be rebuilt. The
whole vicinity should be deserted.
The earth is wide and furnishes
beautiful places for human habita-
ton, and the place where Pelee
shoulders should be left forever
blackened, blasted desolaton to
warn, when the demon of the noun
tain once more slumbers, and mark
with sombre stamp the place and the
time where forty thousand souls,
with all their wealth and works, were
extiDguished in fash