Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1906-05-17

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where the homes are still standing,
saw not one wet eye nor one face de-
noting sorrow. Yes, misspoke my.
self. l did find one woman seemingly
In tesrs. turned to physician In
charge of this district and said. THAT
is the only person | have seen crying
in all this city" He replied: Yes: but
she Ia not crying for the loss Of proper.
ty. She Ia recovering from an attack
OF epilepsy. and she would have had
this attack whether San Francisco
burned or did not burn"
Cheerfulness Amid Ruins.
Now. what is the great practical Cos.
pei deduction Of this universal cheer
fulness and thankfulness which I saw
amid the smolderlng ruins Of San Fran
cisco? 1t Is this: Most Of the things
you and I complain about are not In
the least essential to true happiness
Let a man come home from business
and And his dinner late and there Ia no
end Of grumbling. OF course, / do not
allude to your home, but to your neigh
boris. On account OF the late dinner
the business man growls at the cook,
and he growls at his wife. and he
growls Mt the children. and lie growls
at everything Let a man lose a few
thousand dollars in business deal
and he Ia on the verge Of nervous col
lapse and feels that he IL heading to-
ward the poorhouse. Let n man have
an attack OF indigestion and pessimism
will find one of Its best disciples to
preach the doctrine Of total deprav-
ity" and TO tell how the whole human
race Is going TO complete destruction.
But let a man be caught in San
Francisco earthquake and tossed about
! like shuttecoCk then let the fire
start and make him run like n hunted
rabbit. let him he compelled to sleep
out of doors. without a blanket or n
covering. for two nights: then let his
home and store and all his investments
burn up: then, instead Of going around
with lueubrious countcnance, he will
meet you with Il smile upon his lips
and say: Thank God, am alive.
Thank God. my wife and children are
alive. Thank God, We are all we'll and
are together" The simple fact Is
some of us are complaining today not
because we have too many troubles.
but because we have too few troubles
In all the great city OF San Francisco,
amid It's ruins and It's tents, It's parks
and its homes still standing. I saw not
one sad face nor heard one complaint.
The Thank Gods" rendered every
where had the most marvellous intopa
ton ever heard May God help us to
he grateful for his mercy and kindness
| in our little troubles, ne San Francisco
/ Is grateful to him amid the ruins of
her best streets and he- finest proper
/ ties.
A Clean city.
The second great fact which heard
amid those smoldcring ruins was that
when the better element Of city want
1t to be morally clean that city in
stantly becomes clean and the bad ele-
ment runs to cover as quickly as the
| tigers and the jackals foe to the. jun
giles and as the prairie dogs tails dis
appear into their holes at the hunters
approach. When the Buildings Of San
| Francisco fell as fat as the walls Of
| Jericho at the blast Of the rams horn
/ then San Francisco arose in her moral
and spiritual strength San Francisco
was never as free from sin as on the
first few nights following the awful
confagratlon.
No sooner did those huge office build
/ ings and apartment houses and NAM
moth hotels tremble and totter in the
| grip of that horrible earthquake like
nm aspen leaf shaken in the winds than
Mt once the thieves and the robbers and
| the libcrtlnes and the ghouls Of the
night clappcd their hands and began
TO cry: Aha Now for our harvest.
All the wealth Of San Francisco is
lying where our hands can clutch It."
But these thieves and robbers con-
graduated themselves too soon. No
sooner did these moral leperS start to
loot than Mt once the soldiers rifles
shot them down like mad dogs No
sooner did they try to enter the tum-
bled down stores and pick UP the gold
from amid those ruins than they We're
halted at the point of the bayonet 1t
was only necessary to kill half dozen
of the mscreants. Then these coward
~ marauders for they are always
cOwardly at heart-crouched in fear
and begged for mercy and ran away
from San Francis Is scores and hun
dreds to find safer quarters in other
towns where justice was not so quick
ly dealt out.
A Safe City.
Thus "a I kept walking up and down
those streets, where felt as safe as a
little child would feel In his mothers
arms, kept saying to myself: with
the fallen walls of San Francisco as an
object lesson why will other cities any
longer tribe with evil doors? Why will
city like Chicago allow the holdup
mon to prOwl about It's back alleys?
Why will they allow the lecherous
hands Of its ruttians to stretch forth
and destroy it's fairest and purest wo-
mem Why will we not do as Diaz did
In the capital OF Mexico and ms San
Francisco Is doing today? Why will
we not make 1t n capital punishment
for any man 10 put the pistol of
hghwaymnn to our foreheads and de-
mand our money? Why will we also
not make It capital punishment for
any man to try to destroy the purity
and sacredness of the home?" If the
holdup crimes were dealt with as