rors of Ashtabula
and Chatsworth evoked tears of pity from every fireside in Christendom,
but the true story of Johnstown, when all is known, will stand solitary
and alone as the acme of man's affliction by the potent forces to which
humanity is ever subject.

The menacing clouds still hover darkly over the valley of death, and the
muttering thunder that ever and anon reverberates faintly in the
distance seems the sardonic chuckle of the demon of destruction as he
pursues his way to other lands and other homes.

The Waters Receding.

But the modern deluge has done its worst for Johnstown. The waters are
rapidly subsiding, but the angry torrents still eddy around Ararat, and
the winged messenger of peace has not yet appeared to tell the pathetic
tale of those who escaped the devastation.

It is not a hackneyed utterance to say that no pen can adequately depict
the horrors of this twin disaster--holocaust and deluge. The deep
emotions that well from the heart of every spectator find most eloquent
expression in silence--the silence that bespeaks recognition of man's
subserviency to the elements and impotence to avert catastrophe. The
insignificance of human life is only fully realized by those who witness
such scenes as Johnstown, Chatsworth and Ashtabula, and to those whose
memory retains the picture of horror the dread experience cannot fail to
be a fitting lesson.

A Dreary Morning.

This morning opened dark and dreary. Great drops of rain fell
occasionally and another storm seems imminent. Every one feels thankful
though that the weather still remains cold, and that the gradual
putrefaction of the hundreds of bodies that still line the streams and
lie hidden under the miles of driftwood and debris is not unduly
hastened.

The peculiar stench of decaying human flesh is plainly perceptible to
the senses as one ascends the bank of Stony Creek for a half mile along
the smouldering ruins of the wreck, and the most skeptical now conceive
the worst and realize that hundreds--aye, perhaps thousands--of bodies
lie charred and blackened beneath this great funeral pyre. Searchers
wander wearily over this smoking mass, and as occasionally a sudden
shout comes over the waters, the patient watchers on the hill realize
that another ghastly discovery has been added to that long list of
revelations that chill every heart and draw tears to the eyes of
pessimists.

From the banks many charred remains of victims of flames a