nd awe-struck faces at the
tottering walls around us. We felt the floor beneath our feet heaving
like the deck of a storm-tossed vessel, and heard the crashing of the
falling masonry and ruins on every side. With almost stilled hearts we
realized that we were in the power of an earthquake. The motion of the
house, never ceasing, became now vertical. Up and down it went as though
some monstrous giant had taken it in his hands as a plaything and were
tossing it like a ball for his amusement. Recalling our dazed senses,
and staggering to our feet as best we could, with one accord we rushed
down the steps leading to the front door, and, grasping the handle,
turned it. In vain--the door was jammed, and we were compelled to wait
like rats in a trap until the shock had passed!

Concentrating its energies into one final, convulsive effort, the huge
earth-wave passed and left the earth palpitating and heaving like a
tired animal. There came crashing down into our garden-plot the chimneys
from the house in front of ours. Fortunately the falling bricks injured
none of us. Making another trial, we succeeded in opening the door and
rushed into the street.

Now there came upon us an overpowering, suffocating odor of sulphur and
brimstone, which filled the whole atmosphere. We were surrounded by a
crowd of neighbors--men, women, and children--who had rushed out of
their houses, as we had done, and who stood with us in the middle of the
street, awaiting they knew not what.

Suddenly there came again to our ears the now dreaded rumbling sound.
Like some fierce animal, growling and seeking its victim, it approached,
and we all prepared ourselves for the worst. The shock came, and for a
moment the crowd was awed into silence. Fortunately this shock was not
nearly so severe as the first. The earth became still once more, and the
roaring died away in the distance.

[Illustration: STREET SCENE DURING THE CHARLESTON EARTHQUAKE.]

How the people shunned their houses and spent that and succeeding nights
in the streets, private gardens, and on public squares, is well known
from the many accounts given in the daily and illustrated papers at the
time.

So perfectly still and calm was the air during the night, that a lamp,
which was taken out in the open air burnt as steadily as though
protected in a room, and no flickering revealed the presence of a breath
of wind.

Again, some strong and powerful buildings in certain portions of the
city