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

NEVER WEARY OF GIVING.

“Outside aid is absolutely necessary in order to prevent suffering even greater than that which accompanied the outburst of the elements. The large-hearted public is never weary of giving in cases where the necessity of giving is absolute. With the American public sympathy and pity provoke unbounded generosity.

“All geographical lines, all differences are completely broken down by any emergency which stirs the tender heart of the people. But it frequently happens that this native generosity is not as prompt to act as necessity demands, especially in cases where the least delay adds to the suffering of those who have been left helpless. No tongue can tell, and no pen can describe the awful results of a storm such as that which has visited the Texas coast.

“The sea island of the South Atlantic coast had a similar visitation several years ago, and the present writer was commissioned to visit the scene and depict the results. He arrived upon the ground more than a fortnight after the hurricane had passed through the islands, and though Miss Clara Barton and her assistants of the Red Cross Society had been able to get in touch with the sufferers more promptly than usual, there were many still on the point of starvation. No doubt many perished within sight and hearing of the succor which the public and the Red Cross Society were so anxious to give.

“Fortunately, the islands are but sparsely populated, as compared with the region which has recently been devastated, and in consequence, there was far less suffering than is to-day to be found in the track of the hurricane which has just wiped out whole communities and caused such an extraordinary loss of life. If the fact to be emphasized and insisted on is that it was necessary for generosity to act promptly after the sea island catastrophe, there is a far greater necessity for promptness in the present emergency, owing to the larger number of people involved.