Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1906-05-18

aiuue 10 your nome, put 10 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 at the children. and he growls
ut everything. Let a man lose a few
thousand dollars In a business deal
and he Is on the verge OF nervous col
lapse and feels that he Is heading to-
ward the pcorhouse. Let 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 man be caught In a San
Francisco earthquake and tossed about
like shuttlecock; then let the FIRE
start and make him run like hunted
rabbit; let him be compelled to sleep
out OF doors. without a blanket or a
covering. for two nights; then let his
home and store and all his investments
burn up: then. instead OF going around
with lugubrious countenance, he will
meet you with smile upon his lips
and say: Thank God, i am allvei
Thank God. my wife and children are
alive! Thank God, we are MI nell and
are togetherr' The simple fact IS
some OF us are complaining today not
because we have too many troubles,
bs1t because we have too few troubles.
In all the great city OF San Francisco.
amid its ruins and is tents, Its parks
and IT. tSinfs ,stf1ls stan ding ksaw not
one sad fxce nor heard enc SompMint.
The. Thank Gods qrendered every
where, had the most marvellous intona-
ton I seEkr heard. May God help as to
be grateful for his mercy and Kindness
In our little troubles, as San Francisco
is grateful to him amid the ruins OF
her best streets and her finest proper
ties.
~ n Clean City, f
The second great fact which heard
amid those smoldering ruins was that
when the better element of city want
1t to be morally clean that city in
stantly becomes clean and the bad eles
ment runs to cover as quickly as the
tigers and the jackals fee to the jun
giles and rs the prairie dogs tails dis
appear into their holes at the hunters
approach. When the buildings of San
Francisco fell rs 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
conflagration.
No sooner did those huge Office build
ings and apartment houses and man.
moth hotels tremble and totter In the
grip OF that horrible. earthquake like
an aspen leaf shaken In the winds than
at once the thieves and the robbers and
the llbertines and the ghouls OF the
night clapped their hands and began
to cry: aha! Now for our harvest!
All the wealth OF San Francisco Is
lying where our hands can clutch L."
But these thieves and robbers con-
graduated themselves too soon. No
sooner did these moral lepers start to
loot than at 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 were
halted at the point OF the bayonet. 1t
was only necessary to kill half dozen
| OF the miscreants. Then these coward
ly marauders-for they are always
cowardly at heart--crouched in fear
and begged for mercy and ran away
from San Francisco by scores and hun
dreds to find safer quarters In other
towns where justice was not so quick
ly dealt out.
A Safe City.
Thus as / 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 VIII other cities any
longer trifie with evil doors? Why will
a city like Chicago allow the holdup
men TO prowl about its back alleys t?
Why will they allow the lecherous
hands or It's ruflians to stretch forth
and destroy Its fairest and purest wo-
men? Why will we not do as Diaz did
In the capital OF Mexico and as San
francisco is doing today? Why will
we not make II capital punishment
Tor any mna TO put the pistol OF n
highwayman to our foreheads and de-
mand our money? Why will we also
not make It capital punishment for
eny man to try to destroy the purity
and sacredness Of the homer" II the
hcldnp Ncsimes were dealt with rs
quickly and as severely in our eastern
ssdatstas they Are today Ia he nacinc
metropolis our streets would not only
b safe. but the women4 oes Ms and
n.others land sisters and daughters
|Syenid be eble to walk out ut any time
|ands b p@ld - sacfed as fhey are by
ous own -ArsG,des.
80 But the quick cessation Of robbery
ana thefs In San Francisco was not the
only iess0n Of good government to be
learned amid those smokipg ruins. The
new laws or the martial laws not only
declared, Thou shalt not steal" but
shee also affirmed, Thou shalt not be
IN extortioner." and Thou shalt not
take an unfair advantage of the weak.
nesses Of thy neighbors," for lust as
the murderers and the thieves were
ready to loot their victims mt the point
OF the pistol the extortIoners were
ready to squeeze the lifeblood out Of
their victims IL they could do 80 I'm n
legal way.
HowT' you ask. Well, let us for a
moment picture ourselves In this burn
ed city. The flames In the business
portion seem to be everywhere. The
water pipes and the gas pipes and the
electric wires are broken. The escap-
Ing gas has been lgnited by the live
wires. The fire engines are helpless
FOR the water supply is gone The
flames are creeping nearer and nearer
to yonr house. You rush forth fran
ticaliy to hunt up an expressman.
How much r. you ask. .sWil you
carry my trunks out OF the reach of
danger r "Give me fifty or ltndred