You could hear the shrieks of women, the crying of children and the shouts of men. Some were seeking their children; others their parents, others their wives and husbands ... one lamenting his own fate, another that of his family. Some praying to die from the very fear of dying, many lifting their hands to the gods, but the greater part imagining that there were no gods left anywhere, and that the last and eternal night was come upon the world.[31] It has been said that "Moscow was no more deserted before Napoleon than were the shattered streets of Halifax when this flight had been carried out."[32] And when the hegira was over, and when there had ensued a partial recovery from the blow and gloom, a still lower depth of agony had yet to be undergone--a succession of winter storms. Blizzards, rain, floods and zero weather were even then upon the way. They came in close procession and as if to crown and complete the terrors of the great catastrophe thunder rumbled, lightning broke sharply and lit up weirdly the snow-clad streets. Such was the catastrophe of Halifax--"a calamity the appalling nature of which stirred the imagination of the world."[33] [31] Pliny, _Letters_ (London, 1915), vol. i, bk. vi, p. 495. [32] Smith, Stanley K., _The Halifax Horror_ (Halifax, 1918), ch. ii, p. 24. [33] Bell, McKelvie, _A Romance of the Halifax Disaster_ (Halifax, 1918), p. 57. The description here concluded, brief and inadequate as it is, will sufficiently indicate the terrific nature of the catastrophic shock, and explain how utter and complete was the social disintegration which followed. There was the disintegration of the home and the family,--the reproductive system of society--its members sundered and helpless to avert it. There was the disintegration of the regulative system--government was in perplexity, and streets were without patrol. There was the disintegration of the sustaining system--a dislocation of transportation, a disorganization of business while the wheels of industry ceased in their turning. There was a derangement of the distributive system[34]--of all the usual services, of illumination, water-connections, telephones, deliveries. It was impossible to communicate with the outside world. There were no cars, no mails, no wires. There was a time when the city ceased to be a city, its citizens a mass of unorganized units--struggling for safety, shelter, covering and bread. As Lytton wrote of Pompeii; "The whole elements of civilization were broken up .... nothing in all the varied and complicated machinery of social life was left save the primal law of self preservation."[35] [34] Spencer, Herbert, _The Principles of Sociology_ (N. Y., 1908), pt. ii, p. 499 _et seq._ [35] Lytton, Lord, _The Last Days of Pompeii_ (London, 1896), p. 405. A writer has given a vivid word picture of the social contrasts of the disaster night and the beautiful evening before.