n for another, who still remained, (Marianne, aged five;) just
then, Francisca Ulrich, their servant, was crossing the room with this
Marianne, whom she held by the hand, and saw her mistress; at that
instant, as Francisca afterward said, "the house appeared to be torn
from its foundation, (it was of wood,) and spun round and round like a
teetotum; I was sometimes on my head, and sometimes on my feet, in total
darkness, and violently separated from the child." When the motion
stopped, she found herself jammed in on all sides, with her head
downward, much bruised; and in extreme pain. She supposed she was buried
alive, at a great depth; with much difficulty, she disengaged her right
hand, and wiped the blood from her eyes. Presently, she heard the faint
moans of Marianne, and called her by her name; the child answered that
she was on her back, among stones and bushes, which held her fast, but
that her hands were free, and that she saw the light, and then something
green; she asked whether people would not come soon to take them out.

Francisca answered that it was the day of judgment, and that no one was
left to help them, but that they would be released by death, and be
happy in Heaven. They prayed together; at last Francisca's ear was
struck by the sound of a bell, which she knew to be that of Stenenberg;
then seven o'clock struck in another village, and she began to hope
there were still living beings, and endeavored to comfort the child; the
poor little girl was at first clamorous for her supper; but her cries
soon became fainter, and at last quite died away. Francisca, still with
her head downward, and surrounded with damp earth, experienced a sense
of cold in her feet almost insupportable; after prodigious efforts, she
succeeded in disengaging her legs, and thinks this saved her life. Many
hours had passed in this situation, when she again heard the voice of
Marianne, who had been asleep, and now renewed her lamentations. In the
meantime, the unfortunate father, who, with much difficulty, had saved
himself and two children, wandered about till daylight, when he came
among the ruins to look for the rest of his family; he soon discovered
his wife, by a foot which appeared above the ground; she was dead, with
a child in her arms. His cries, and the noise he made in digging, were
heard by Marianne, who called out. She was extricated, with a broken
thigh, and saying that Francisca was not far off, a farther search led
to