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DONT CRY, MAMMA. :j7

" On the evening before the hurricane came, it was remarkably sultry
and calm, and so oppressive, that even to breathe seemed difficult ; there
was also a white, shining light all over the heavens, and the sun, when
he set, instead of displaying his usual glory of crimson, violet, and gold,
appeared to be covered with dazzling, liquid silver. Several persons who
noticed these circumstances were so uneasy, that they did not go to bed,
but took all the precautions they could think of. Tliese, however, were
of very little use, for the violence of the storm was such as to defy all
human endeavours to evade its effects. It began about midnight, and many
left their sleeping rooms, and assembled together in the lower apartments ;
but the wind soon roared so furiously, that they could hear no noise but
that — not even hear each other speak when they were close together ; no
light would burn, and the only sign the inhabitants could give to those
next to them was by the touch, or when the fierce liglitning gave a
momentary illumination to the room. Four hours passed without any
abatement, and then the storm began to subside ; the first care was to
seek those who had been up stairs; but, alas! in almost rvery instance
there was no up stairs, for the upper parts of the houses were gone, and
hundreds killed who had been forced into the street, or crushed by the
ruins : dear little children were found far off in the country, stripped of
all clothing and bruised to death ; leaden roofs were taken off entire,
and sent hundreds of yards, and for miles round, the ground was strewn
with fragments of every description. The cause of this destruction to the
upper stories of the houses lay in their l>eing built of wood, while that
next the ground consisted of stone. The effect of the lightning in the
principal street of the town was very curious, for it had shattered every
other house, on each side, thereby marking its zigz^ig course. An earth-
quake evidently accompanied the hurricane, for several wrecks, which had



38 DONT CRY, MAMMA.
