The Great Galveston Disaster / Containing a Full and Thrilling Account of the Most Appalling Calamity of Modern Times Including Vivid Descriptions of the Hurricane and Terrible Rush of Waters; Immense Destruction of Dwellings, Business Houses, Churches, and Loss of Thousands of Human Lives; Thrilling Tales of Heroic Deeds; Panic-Stricken Multitudes and Heart-Rending Scenes of Agony; Frantic Efforts to Escape a Horrible Fate; Separation of Loved Ones, etc., etc.; Narrow Escapes from the Jaws of Death; Terrible Sufferings of the Survivors; Vandals Plundering Bodies of the Dead; Wonderful Exhibitions of Popular Sympathy; Millions of Dollars Sent for the Relief of the Stricken Sufferers

by Paul Lester

BLESSINGS IN DISGUISE.

“The people who now live in Galveston will be better all their lives. This experience has deepened their natures, enriched their sympathies, enlarged the boundaries of their feelings, and the people of that city will be blessed by that awful experience. They are going to be better inspired, more loving toward others, more affectionate toward each other, and they are going to be different men even without their riches, for riches do not make good men. The people of Galveston have been taught that there is something more than dollars in this world. The rich will now feel what it is to be poor. It does man good to feel the depths of life. Many of the survivors will thank God they have to begin life over again.

“This great calamity is good also in that it arouses the sympathies of the whole country. When it arouses the sympathies of many tens of thousands it must be a gigantic force to work out an ultimate good. Just think when they begin to build the city again! How many will be benefited? They will order lumber from the North, where the suffering people are waiting for the order. They will order millions of dollars worth of goods from Philadelphia, and there are poor people here waiting for that work. When you consider how that disaster locally is going to bless so many people outwardly, then the measure of its good may be far greater than the measure of its evil.”

Rev. Dr. Colfelt, pastor of Oxford Presbyterian Church, touching on the Galveston disaster in his sermon on “Repentance,” said:—

“The changes are so quick and excessive in our mortal life that none of us know what to-morrow will bring forth. Not one of us knows whether our money will be a blessing or a curse, separating us from our good work. Christ declares that disasters are not to be interpreted as judgments, but they are simply personal. The object in every instance of disaster and calamities is to bring us fast to repentance.”

The ministers in nearly all of the churches referred to the Galveston calamity in their sermons. At the close special collections were taken.