The Great Galveston Disaster: Containing a Full and Thrilling Account of the Most Appalling Calamity of Modern Times Including Vivid Descriptions of the Hurricane and Terrible Rush of Waters; Immense Destruction of Dwellings, Business Houses, Churches, and Loss of Thousands of Human Lives; Thrilling Tales of Heroic Deeds; Panic-Stricken Multitudes and Heart-Rending Scenes of Agony; Frantic Efforts to Escape a Horrible Fate; Separation of Loved Ones, etc., etc.; Narrow Escapes from the Jaws of DeLester, Paul
Philosophy
The Great Galveston Disaster: Containing a Full and Thrilling Account of the Most Appalling Calamity of Modern Times Including Vivid Descriptions of the Hurricane and Terrible Rush of Waters; Immense Destruction of Dwellings, Business Houses, Churches, and Loss of Thousands of Human Lives; Thrilling Tales of Heroic Deeds; Panic-Stricken Multitudes and Heart-Rending Scenes of Agony; Frantic Efforts to Escape a Horrible Fate; Separation of Loved Ones, etc., etc.; Narrow Escapes from the Jaws of De
Lester, Paul
Floods -- Texas -- Galveston -- History -- 20th century; Galveston (Tex.) -- History -- 20th century; Hurricanes -- Texas -- Galveston -- History -- 20th century
At the low mass no sermon was preached, no word spoken, all prayer was
in silence, nothing but the words of the mass was heard, as each heart
poured forth in feeling deep and still their thanksgiving. The
environments there each told the sad, sad story. On the lower floor of
this chapel were the destitute waiting for the food supply to be given
them, this in itself the saddest picture the miseries of life can
sketch. On the same floor with the chapel are the priests’ rooms, now
the hospital wards, everywhere the sick being tended by skillful hands,
looked wistfully at the passer-by. Thus in this one corner of the
university, the whole effect of the tragedy is enacted; the hungry, the
homeless, the ill, and above all these earthly miseries, the kneeling
before the throne of God in submission and prayer.
A GLORIOUS RECORD.
There has yet to come to light any tale of brutality; those who spent
the night of the storm battling the waves never witnessed a selfish act;
this in itself is a glorious record to hallow the event. Man after man
secure in his own house, hearing the cry for help plunged out in the
fury to rescue the helpless ones; oftentimes this was attended with loss
of life to the rescuer. There was no question of kin or color that awful
night, the ties of a common sorrow united all, and not only was man with
his intellect and strength the courageous one; children who could have
been rescued would not be taken from their loving ones, and as for the
mothers who sought death with their little ones such tales as these are
as manifold as the waves of the sea.
Nor were the humbler animals forgotten, many instances are known where
men wading waist deep in water holding their wives and children above
the water, found hands somewhere for the household dog. One young lady,
a society girl, when forced to abandon her home gave no thought to
silken finery and jewels, but waded in water nearly to her shoulders
holding fast in her arms a large sized sky-terrier. Nor was this
devotion only from man to animal, it was equal if only all were known.
One dog, we call him “Hero,” as there is none to tell us otherwise, is
truly a hero worthy the Legion of Honor. This four-footed hero is a
small-sized Newfoundland, and in the storm he was cast adrift on Seventh
and Broadway, with his master, an old gentleman about seventy years of
age. Around Hero’s neck is a stout black collar; to this the old
gentleman clung. Hero did the rest, he swam pulling along his old master
from Seventh to Fourteenth streets, where they found a house standing
with veranda piled with debris but intact, and into a sheltered corner
of this the dog dragged the man for safety. Both were alive, the old
gentleman was much bruised, but his mind was active, and his only grief
was for the loss of his wife and daughter, for save the dog he had no
one.
A DOG’S DEVOTION.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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