ng each other, and strike the one nearest
you smartly in the line of the row. All the balls stand still, except
the last one, and that flies off. The shock, like the earthquake shock,
has run through them all; but only the end one, which had nothing beyond
it but soft air, has been moved; and when you grow old, and learn
mathematics, you will know the law of motion according to which that
happens, and learn to apply what the billiard-balls have taught you, to
explain the wonders of an earthquake. For in this case, as in so many
more, you must watch Madam How at work on little and common things, to
find out how she works in great and rare ones. That is why Solomon says
that "a fool's eyes are in the ends of the earth," because he is always
looking out for strange things which he has not seen, and which he could
not understand if he saw; instead of looking at the petty commonplace
matters which are about his feet all day long, and getting from them
sound knowledge, and the art of getting more sound knowledge still.

Another terrible destruction which the earthquake brings, when it is
close to the seaside, is the wash of a great sea wave, such as swept in
last year upon the island of St. Thomas, in the West Indies; such as
swept in upon the coast of Peru this year. The sea moans, and sinks
back, leaving the shore dry; and then comes in from the offing a mighty
wall of water, as high as, or higher than, many a tall house; sweeps far
inland, washing away quays and houses, and carrying great ships in with
it; and then sweeps back again, leaving the ships high and dry, as ships
were left in Peru this year.

Now, how is that wave made? Let us think. Perhaps in many ways. But
two of them I will tell you as simply as I can, because they seem the
most likely, and probably the most common.

Suppose, as the earthquake shock ran on, making the earth under the sea
heave and fall in long earth-waves, the sea-bottom sank down. Then the
water on it would sink down too, and leave the shore dry; till the sea-
bottom rose again, and hurled the water up again against the land. This
is one way of explaining it, and it may be true. For certain it is, that
earthquakes do move the bottom of the sea; and certain, too, that they
move the water of the sea also, and with tremendous force. For ships at
sea during an earthquake feel such a blow from it (though it does them no
harm) that the sailors often rush upon deck fancying that they