Charleston Earthquake, S.C., 1886 -- Fiction; South Carolina -- History -- 1865- -- Fiction
That day Mr. Ainsley and his daughter left the city. She gave vivid
descriptions of the catastrophe at the North, but her friends remarked
upon her fine reserve and modesty in speaking of her personal experiences.
Her faultless veneer was soon restored, and we suppose she is pursuing her
career of getting the most and best out of life after a fashion which has
too many imitators.
Poor Mara's name was significant of her experience of that day and others
which followed. In the morning she learned of Clancy's illness, and it was
eventually found that her voice and touch had a soothing effect possessed
by no other.
We have followed our characters through the climax of their experiences,
and need only to suggest what further happened. They, with others,
realized more fully the conditions of their lot and the extent of the
disaster.
With an ever-increasing courage and fortitude the people faced the
situation, and resolved to build anew the fortunes of their city.
Communication with the outside world permitted messages of sympathy and
far more. In the Sunday morning issue of the "News and Courier" the
following significant editorial appeared: "There is no break in the broad
line of brotherly love throughout the United States. All hearts in this
mighty country throb in unison. In the North as in the South, in the West
as in the East, there is a sincere sorrow at the calamity which has
befallen Charleston, and there is shining evidence of a beneficent desire
to give the suffering people the assistance of both act and word."
Boston, the former headquarters of the abolitionists, and the veterans of
the Grand Army vied with Southern cities and ex-Confederates in a
spontaneous outpouring of sympathy and help. The hearts of a proud people
were at last subdued, but it was by hands stretched out in fraternal love
and not to strike.
In the city squares and other places of refuge there still continued sad
and awful experiences, one of which was graphically described by the city
editor of the journal already quoted.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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