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
John Stuart Mill · en
The ministers in nearly all of the churches referred to the Galveston
calamity in their sermons. At the close special collections were taken.
MAKES THE WHOLE WORLD KIN.
Galveston’s great calamity was the central thought in many sermons
preached in Chicago, and in a majority of the churches a collection was
taken for the benefit of the sufferers. Some of the expressions were as
follows:
The Rev. William A. Burch (South Park Avenue Methodist Church)—“Such
catastrophes reveal the worst and the best. There was mutilation of the
sacred dead. But so on every battlefield a glittering diamond on the
finger or in the ear excites the passions of men. But look at the better
side. A cry for help went up and the nation was moved. Responses started
with tens of thousands of dollars, and will run into hundreds of
thousands. Human sympathy has mightily grown.”
The Rev. Charles Reynolds (North Congregational Church, Fifty-ninth and
La Salle streets)—“We have heard the news of the terrible calamity, also
heard of the depravity of the human ghouls who pounced upon the dead for
robbery, and how they were shot down like dogs. The whole has been like
a terrible nightmare. Then we must look for a bright side. We rejoice at
the noble gifts made by the people of the United States, especially
Chicago. The lesson of the terrible catastrophe is that we at all times
must be prepared to meet our God. We are facing death, which may come at
any moment, like it did upon those poor souls in Galveston.”
The Rev. Samuel Fallows (St. Paul’s Reformed Episcopal Church, Adams
street and Winchester avenue)—“From breaking hearts we must say, ‘Father
in heaven, all is well, though faith and form are sundered in the night
of fear.’ The lesson of selfhelp which this calamity teaches will not be
lost. God intended man to conquer nature, to bind its forces, to ride
triumphantly on its seemingly resistless energies. Galveston must not be
blotted out. It must rise to newness of life. Like our own Chicago, it
must be rebuilt on a higher level. It must rear its structures so that
the angriest waves shall not dash them to pieces. Another lesson of
American pluck and energy will thus be learned by mankind.”
MISFORTUNES MAKE US ONE.
The Rev. Frank DeWitt Talmage (Jefferson Park Presbyterian Church)—“We
know not why this misfortune happened. Only eternity can solve for us
the mystery, but we can learn two or three lessons that may be of help
to us. God has made of one blood all nations. The misfortunes of mankind
make us one, and when we hear the call we can hear Christ say, ‘Inasmuch
as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, ye have done it unto
Me.’”