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Praise for Natural Disasters in a Global Environment

“Natural Disasters in a Global Environment serves as a much-needed respite

from the glossy hyper-produced texts on environmental geology and
natural disasters so prevalent today. Instead, Penna and Rivers couple
delightful exposition, insightful comparative images, and historical anec-
dotes that together produce some of the finest science writing I’ve seen.
This book not only could be an outstanding text for a course on the subject,
but it also would be a fine read for anyone interested in how Earth ‘works.’â•›”
Donald Siegel, Syracuse University
“This is an impressive collection, wide ranging in time, place and discipline.
The result stimulates new thinking both about history and about the
ongoing role of catastrophe in the course of human society – altogether,
an imaginative venture.”
Peter Stearns, George Mason University
“Eco-anxiety sometimes makes us exaggerate our power over nature for
good and ill. In an important, welcome and riveting collaboration between
history and science, Penna and Rivers unfold a minatory drama of disasters
– seismic, climatic, pandemic, atmospheric, meteoric – that humans can
barely influence, let alone control.”
Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, University of Notre Dame
“This skillful record of natural disaster – in climate, epidemics, and earth
tremors – shows how society risks further disaster even in planning for
safety.”
Patrick Manning, University of Pittsburgh
“Appealing to both students of history and science, this study of natural
hazards and vulnerable populations provides an enthralling guide to how
disasters have altered the course of human history.”
Greg Bankoff, University of Hull
“Interdisciplinary in methods and reach, Natural Disasters in a Global
Environment surveys big ideas in concise and accessible form. This book is
an indispensable introduction for everyone who wants to understand
human response to disaster – scientists, disaster planners, historians, and
policy-makers, students and senior researchers.”
Conevery Bolton Valencius, University of Massachusetts, Boston
NATURAL DISASTERS IN
A GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT
Anthony N. Penna and Jennifer S. Rivers

A John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., Publication

This edition first published 2013
© 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Wiley-Blackwell is an imprint of John Wiley & Sons, formed by the merger of Wiley’s global
Scientific, Technical and Medical business with Blackwell Publishing.
Registered Office
John Wiley & Sons Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, UK
Editorial Offices
350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148-5020, USA
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The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, UK
For details of our global editorial offices, for customer services, and for information about how
to apply for permission to reuse the copyright material in this book please see our website at
www.wiley.com/wiley-blackwell.
The right of Anthony N. Penna and Jennifer S. Rivers to be identified as the authors of this
work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or
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All brand names and product names used in this book are trade names, service marks,
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understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services. If
professional advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent
professional should be sought.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Penna, Anthony N.
â•… Natural disasters in a global environment / Anthony N. Penna and Jennifer S. Rivers.
â•…â•…â•… pages cm
â•… Includes bibliographical references and index.
â•… ISBN 978-1-118-25234-5 (hardback) – ISBN 978-1-118-25233-8 (paperback) – ISBN 978-1-
118-32752-4 (emobi)â•… 1.╇ Natural disasters–History.â•… 2.╇ Environmental disasters–
History.â•… 3.╇ Natural disasters–Environmental aspects.â•… I.╇ Rivers, Jennifer S.â•… II.╇ Title.
â•… GB5014.P46 2013
â•… 363.3409–dc23
2012043158
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Cover images: Main image: Hurricane on Earth © BSH_Stock/Image Source/Corbis. Above from
left to right: Smoke and burnt wilderness emergency © Pgiam, Flooding in the Midwest © Curt
Pickens, Tungurahua volcano eruption © Elena Kalistratova, Global warming © Tarek El
Sombati
Cover design by Simon Levy
Set in Minion 10.5/13 pt by Toppan Best-set Premedia Limited

1â•… 2013
Anthony dedicates this book to the children in his blended family:
Christina, Matthew, Olan, Trevor, Laura, Greg, and Brandon.

Jennifer dedicates this book to her father, Michael D. Rivers,

who wanted to name her Aberfan as a memorial to the children
who died in the Welsh landslide.
Contents

List of figures x
Preface xii
Acknowledgments xiv

Introduction 1

PART 1â•… INTERNAL PROCESSES 11

╇ 1╅ Supervolcanoes 13
Introduction 13
The Mt. Toba Eruption (73,000 BP) 15
The Thera (Santorini) Eruption in the Aegean Sea (1600 BCE) 20
Mt. Tambora (1815) and Krakatau (1883) 25
The Mt. Pinatubo Eruption (1991) 28
A Threatening Future Scenario 32
Summary 33
Notes 35
Further Reading 37

╇ 2╅ Earthquakes 38

Introduction 38
The San Francisco Earthquake (1906) 39
The Great Kanto Earthquake (1923) 48
The Haitian Earthquake (2010) 56
Summary 66
Notes 68

╇ 3╅ Tsunamis 71

Introduction 71
Lisbon, Portugal: The Quadruple Disaster (1755) 72
The Lituya Bay Mega-Tsunami (1958) 79
The Sumatra–Andaman Earthquake (2004) 83
viii CONTENTS

The Tōhoku (Japan) Tsunami (2011) 89

Summary 97
Notes 98
Further Reading 104

PART 2â•… SURFICIAL PROCESSES 105

╇ 4╅ Fire 107
Introduction 107
The Burning of Rome (68 CE) 108
The Great Fire of London (1666) 112
The Chicago and Peshtigo Fires (1871) 120
Summary 132
Notes 133
Further Reading 135

╇ 5╅ Floods 136

Introduction 136
Central China Floods (1931) 137
The Dutch Flood Disaster (1953) 144
The Bangladesh Floods (1997–98) 149
Summary 154
Notes 156
Further Reading 160

╇ 6╅ Landslides 162

Introduction 162
The Turtle Mountain Landslide, Canada (1903) 163
The Aberfan Landslide, Wales (1966) 167
The Ancash Earthquake and Landslide, Peru (1970) 171
The Southern Leyte Landslide, the Philippines (2006) 177
Summary 183
Notes 184
Further Reading 187

╇ 7╅ Pandemic Diseases 189

Introduction 189
The Bubonic Plague (1347–51 and After) 190
 CONTENTS ix

The Great Influenza Pandemic (1918–20) 200

HIV/AIDS (1985–) 210
Summary 216
Notes 219
Further Reading 221

PART 3â•… ATMOSPHERIC PROCESSES 223

╇ 8╅ Hurricanes, Cyclones, and Typhoons 225
Introduction 225
The Labor Day Hurricane in the Florida Keys (1935) 227
The Bhola Cyclone (1970) 236
Super-Typhoon Nina (1975) 244
Summary 250
Notes 250
Further Reading 252

╇ 9╅ Famines and Droughts 253

Introduction 253
The Irish Potato Famine (1845–51) 254
The “Dust Bowl” Drought in the American West (1930–40) 262
The Great Leap Forward Chinese Famine (1958–61) 271
Summary 281
Notes 282
Further Reading 285

10â•… Meteorite Impacts 287

Introduction 287
The Creation of Earth’s Moon and the Origins of Meteorites 289
The Yucatán Chicxulub Crater, Mexico (65 MYA) 290
The Clovis Extinction (12,500–12,900 BP) 295
The Tunguska (Siberia) Event (1908) 298
Investigating Future Impacts 301
Summary 307
Notes 308
Further Reading 311

Epilogue 313
Index 319
List of figures

Map xvii
Timeline xviii
Figure 0.1 Trends in natural disasters. 5
Figure 1.1 The Toba supervolcano compared to other
supervolcanic events. 18
Figure 1.2 Caldera created by the supervolcanic eruption
of Santorini. 22
Figure 1.3 The ash and pumice cloud caused by the eruption
of Mt. Pinatubo. 31
Figure 2.1 Horses killed during the San Francisco earthquake by
falling bricks. 42
Figure 2.2 Death and destruction caused by the Great Kanto
earthquake. 53
Figure 2.3 Haiti’s vulnerability on the Caribbean tectonic
plates. 58
Figure 3.1 The Lisbon tsunami, earthquake, and fire. 75
Figure 3.2 Street in downtown Banda Aceh after the 2004
tsunami. 87
Figure 3.3 Aerial view of the flooding and fire caused by
the Japanese tsunami. 92
Figure 4.1 Map of Rome during the time of Emperor Nero. 109
Figure 4.2 The Great Fire of London (1666). 117
Figure 4.3 Map outlining the Peshtigo and Chicago fires
of 1871. 127
Figure 5.1 The Central China floods of 1931. 141
Figure 5.2 Flood conditions in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in 2007. 152
Figure 6.1 The Aberfan disaster rescue effort. 169
Figure 6.2 The landslide memorial in Yungay, Peru. 176
Figure 6.3 US Marines and sailors digging for survivors after
the Leyte Island landslide in the Philippines. 179
 LIST OF FIGURES xi

Figure 7.1 Map highlighting the spread of the Black Death

in Eurasia, 1347–51. 198
Figure 7.2 Emergency hospital in Funston, Kansas, USA, during
the Great Influenza Pandemic in 1918. 203
Figure 7.3 World map showing people living with AIDS. 217
Figure 8.1 Relief train derailed at Islamorada by the 1935
hurricane. 233
Figure 8.2 Map showing the direction of the Bhola cyclone,
1970. 240
Figure 8.3 Outline of China’s provinces affected by
Typhoon Nina. 247
Figure 9.1 Famine memorial, Dublin, Ireland. 259
Figure 9.2 Dust Bowl, Dallas, South Dakota, in 1936. 268
Figure 9.3 The Great Leap Forward famine: backyard furnaces. 274
Figure 10.1 The Yucatán Chicxulub crater. 293
Figure 10.2 Fallen trees caused by the Tunguska event. 300
Figure 10.3â•… Apophis passing Earth. 304

The authors and publisher gratefully acknowledge the permission granted

to reproduce the copyright material in this book. Every effort has been
made to trace copyright holders and to obtain their permission for the use
of copyright material. The publisher apologizes for any errors or omissions
and would be grateful if notified of any corrections that should be incor-
porated in future reprints or editions of this book.
Preface

This book came about as a logical merging of our two disciplines, history
and environmental science. Professor Penna taught environmental history
both for history majors and as a requirement for environmental studies
majors for many years. His interest in the subject of natural disasters came
from two sources. First, he was invited to write three short essays for a
volume titled American Disasters edited by his colleague in history, Ballard
Campbell. The three essays were titled: “The 1935 Hurricane in the Florida
Keys,” “The Great Hurricane of 1938,” and “The Mississippi Flood of 1927.”
These essays piqued his interest in the larger subject of natural disasters
and his awareness that the subject of natural disasters and their environ-
mental impact was becoming a topic of renewed interest by historians,
social scientists, and the larger scientific community. Second, Hurricane
Katrina exposed the vulnerability of citizens caught in this storm, and
highlighted the failure of the immediate response by local, state, and
national agencies. This event, more than any other, suggested to him that
it would be worthwhile examining the subject from a historical point of
view, yet with a solid scientific underpinning
Professor Rivers serves as Director of the Environmental Studies program
at Northeastern University in Boston, USA. She teaches a variety of under-
graduate courses including Natural Disasters and Catastrophes and Envi-
ronmental Science in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences,
both for science majors and for the larger university community. Chief
among her interests as an environmental scientist is the role global climate
change may have on disasters, including increasing both the severity and
the frequency of atmospheric disasters as well as potentially increasing the
severity and frequency of submarine earthquakes and tsunamis. In her very
popular Disasters course she uses many case studies detailed in this book,
such as the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and the 1755 Lisbon tsunami
as a frame of reference by which to enable students to discuss engineering,
city infrastructure, early warning, and emergency response mechanisms.
 PREFACE xiii

Thus, we were a logical pairing. Professors Penna and Rivers met for the
first time in the spring of 2009 to discuss the possibility of writing this
book. A series of meetings ensued, in which we developed a broad outline
for the book based on the major categories of disasters which would become
chapter titles, with three or more case studies that had societal implications
beyond the immediate events. Based on the available historical and scien-
tific material, we attempted to cut a wide path across geological and histori-
cal time frames. We sought uniformity for each chapter, but discovered that
the scientific material specific to the older case studies we wished to use
simply did not exist. As a result, we selected many cases from more recent
nineteenth- and twentieth-century history.
Acknowledgments

At each step during the research and writing of this book, a number of
students from the environmental studies program compiled preliminary
bibliographies and articles from science and history journals. They included
Mollie Stone, Alyssa Pandolfi, Ali Tarbous, Caroline Malcolm, and Jessica
Feldish. Liam Madden made the imperial and metric systems consistent
throughout the manuscript, and compiled a list of further readings for each
chapter. Haley Oller and Lana Penn concentrated on photographic research,
with Lana designing and revising a number of maps. Haley created an index
for the manuscript that made the task of completing one for the page
proofs much less onerous. A number of our students focused on a single
task over the course of a semester, while others worked during the entire
academic year.
Special thanks go to Karl Geiger, a retired engineer and Professor Penna’s
partner for almost twenty years at Habitat for Humanity, Boston, building
low-income housing. They spent days discussing the structure and content
of the manuscript. Karl scrutinized each chapter for scientific and techno-
logical accuracy and provided us with extensive commentary. Without his
involvement, many errors would have made their way into the text. The
few that may remain are ours only. Tom Detreth and Paul Goffer, two
physicians who traveled with Professor Penna through Botswana and
Zambia in August 2010, provided much-needed commentary on Chapter
7, Pandemic Diseases. Professor Penna’s wife, Channing Penna, read the
chapters with great interest and provided a loving home life that made this
seemingly unending project worthwhile.
In order to identify reviewers of the pre-publication manuscript, the
editorial staff asked us to provide names of scholars whose interests and
research activity coincided with ours. Special thanks go to Joel A. Tarr, John
R. McNeill, Pat Manning, Heather Streets-Salter, John Brooke, Ted Stein-
berg, Ken Hewitt, Ben Wisner, Mary Jane Maxwell, Paulette Peckol, Donald
Siegel, and Robert Schmidt for identifying possible reviewers. To those
anonymous readers, we owe special thanks for pointing out omissions,
 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xv

errors, and dubious interpretations. Peter Coveney, executive editor, guided

this project with great skill and enthusiasm from the proposal writing stage
to the manuscript’s completion and publication. In the UK, Joanna Pyke,
Caroline Hensman, and Jane Hammett provided much needed manage-
ment, photographic research, and editing support, respectively.
Thanks to Deborah White for reading, reviewing, and editing the chap-
ters on meteorites and tsunamis. Ryan Hill, senior technician in the Depart-
ment of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Northeastern University, gave
much appreciated technical support as we edited the manuscript and pro-
duced the images you see in this book.
Dr. Rivers would like to thank Anthony N. Penna for the honor of
working together and for becoming a dear friend. Dr. Rivers gives special
thanks to her sister, Julie A. Rivers, and her mother, Sally Rivers, for their
boundless love and support. Thank you to Peter Rosen, Robert E. Schmidt,
Paulette M. Peckol, and Donald I. Siegel for being mentors and friends.
 Tunguska
Irish Famine
Iduya Bay Turtle Mt.
Aberfan Netherlands
Wisconsin/Illinois London
Thera
Dust Bowl Rome
San Francisco Lisbon China Great Leap Honshu
Clovis Pacific Coast,
Florida Keys China Japan
Haiti Bangladesh China/Taiwan
West India Pinatubo
Chicxulub
East Pakistan Leyte
Philippine
Toba Sea
Key Sumatra
Volcanoes Yungay
Tambora
Krakatoa
Earthquake
Meteorites
Tsunami
Droughts
Hurricanes and Cyclones
Fires
Floods
Landslides
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Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
words which have sounded out from my lips in so many crysisses of
joy or pain. I sez:
“Good land! good land!”
The letter wuz from John Richard Allen, writ for him by a friend. It
seems that he had seen in the village paper that we wuz in the
South and where we wuz; and he lay sick and a dyin’, as they said,
in a little hamlet not a dozen miles away.
I read the letter, and then went imegiatly—for to think and to act is
but a second or third nater to me—and waked up my pardner, who
was stretched out on a bamboo couch on the other end of the
piazza fast asleep, with the World a layin’ outstretched and abject at
his feet. And I then told him the startlin’ truth that his own relation
on his own side lay sick unto death less than a dozen miles from us.
Wall, that noble man riz right up as I would have had him rozen to
meet the exigencies of the occasion.
He sez, “The minute our children get back we will take the pony and
drive over and see him.”
As I said, they had gone to the depot to meet visitors from Delaware
—a very distinguished cousin of Maggie’s on her own side, who had
writ that he wuz a goin’ to pass through here on his way further
South, and he would stop off a day or two with ’em—he and his little
boy, if it wuz agreeable to them.
I had hearn a sight about this rich Senator Coleman—Maggie’s
father, old Squire Snow, wuz dretful proud of him.
He had made himself mostly—or, that is, had finished himself off.
He went to Delaware as a teacher, and married a Miss Fairfax, a very
rich young woman down there, settled down in her home, went into
business, got independent rich, wuz sent to Congress and Senate,
and had a hand in makin’ all the laws of his State, so I hearn.
He wuz now takin’ a tower through the Southern States with his
motherless boy, little Raymond Fairfax Coleman, so he writ (he
thought his eyes on him, and jest worshipped the memory of his
wife).
Maggie and Thomas J. had met him in Washington the winter
before, and they sort o’ took to each other. And so he wuz a goin’ to
stop off a few days with ’em.
Wall, that program of Josiah Allen’s wuz carried out to the very
letter. When Thomas J. and Maggie come back (the Senator didn’t
come, he wuz delayed, and sent a telegram he should be there in a
week or two), we sot off, a preparin’ to come back the next day if
John Richard wuz better, but a layin’ out to stay several days if
necessary.
We took clothes and things, and I a not forgettin’, you may be sure,
a bottle full of my far-famed spignut syrup.
Maggie see that we had a early dinner but a good one, and we sot
sail about one o’clock—Snow a ridin’ with us as fur as we dasted to
take her, and a walkin’ back agin, watched by her Ma from the gate.
Thomas J. and Maggie told us to bring John Richard right back with
us if he wuz well enough to come, and they would help take care of
him.
Wall, we got to the picturesque little place called Howletts Bridge
about four o’clock, and imegiatly made inquiries for the relation on
his side, and found out where he wuz stayin’.
He wuz boardin’ with a likely Methodist Episcopal couple, elderly, and
poor but well-principled.
And indeed we found him sick enough.
Miss Elderkin—that wuz the folkses name he wuz a boardin’ with,
good creeters as I ever see, if they wuz Southerners, and aristocratic
too, brung down by loss of property and etc.—she told me that
Cousin John Richard had been comin’ down with this lung difficulty
for years—overwork, and hard fare, and neglect of his own comfort
makin’ his sickness harder and more difficult to manage.
Sez she, “He is one of the saints on earth, if there ever was one.”
And her husband said the same thing, which I felt that I could
indeed depend upon, for as a general thing men don’t get so diffuse
a praisin’ up each other, and callin’ each other angels and saints,
etc., and men hain’t drawed away by their pities and their
sympathies so easy as wimmen be, nor drawed so fur.
Wall, Mr. Elderkin put our pony in the barn, and she made us
comfortable with a cup of tea and some toast with a poached egg on
top of it. And then we went in to see the patient.
He wuz layin’ in a front room, ruther bare-lookin’, for the Elderkins
wuz poor enough so fur as this world’s goods go, but rich in the
spirit.
And the bare floor, and whitewashed walls, and green paper curtains
looked anything but luxurious, but everything wuz clean.
And on a clean, poor bed lay the relation on his side.
He looked wan—wanner fur than I expected to see him look, though
I wuz prepared for wanness. His cheeks wuz fell in, and his eyes wuz
holler, but bright still with that glowin’ fire that always seemed to be
built up in ’em. But the light of that fire seemed to be a burnin’
down pretty low now. And he looked up and see us and smiled.
It wuz the smile of a homesick child fur away to school, when he
sees his own folks a comin’ towards him in the school-room.
Poor John Richard! His school wuz hard, his lessons had been
severe, but he had tried to learn ’em all jest as perfect as he could,
and the Master wuz pleased with his work.
But now he wuz sick. He wuz a sick man.
As I said, he smiled as he see Josiah and me advancin’ onto him,
and he held out his weak hands, and took holt of ourn, and kep’ ’em
in hisen for some time, and sez he:
“I am glad—glad to see you.”
He wuz interrupted anon, and even oftener, by his awful cough and
short, painful breathin’. But he gin us to understand that he wuz
dretful glad to see us once more before he passed away.
He wuzn’t afraid to die—no, indeed! There wuz a deep, sweet smile
in his eyes, and his lips seemed to hold some happy and divine
secret as he sez:
“I am glad to go home; I am glad to rest.”
But I sez in a cheerful axent, “Cousin John Richard, you hain’t a
goin’ to die;” sez I, “By the help of God and my good spignut syrup I
believe you will be brung up agin.”
But he shet up his eyes. And I see plain, by the look of his face, that
though he wuz willin’ to live and work if it wuz God’s will, he wuz still
more ready to depart and be with Christ, which he felt would be fur
better.
But it wuzn’t my way to stand and argue with a sick man back and
forth as to whether he wuz a goin’ to die or not.
 “BOY LAUGHED.”

No, I laid to, helped by my trusty Josiah. And in an hour’s time we

see a difference in his breathin’, and anon he fell into a sweet sleep.
And when he waked up that man looked and acted better. And three
days and nights did we stay by him, a doctorin’ him up and a gettin’
him nourishin’ things to eat, and a talkin’ encouragin’ and pleasant
things to him (good land! the soul and mind has got to be fed as
well as the body if you don’t want to starve to death inwardly). And
lo and behold! when we left Howletts Bridge and returned to Belle
Fanchon, who should accompany us thither but Cousin John Richard
Allen!
He had consented, after a deep parley, to go there and rest off for a
few weeks.
Maggie and Thomas J. took to him from the very first, and give him
a hearty welcome and the best bedroom. They appreciated the
noble, martyrous life he had led, and honored him for it.
And the children acted dretful tickled to see him. You needn’t tell me
but what Boy knew all about it when I introduced Cousin John
Richard to him. To be sure, he wuzn’t only six months old.
But if he didn’t know him, and if he wuzn’t glad to see the relation
on his grandmother’s side, what made him laugh all over his face,
eyes and all?
I presume the Doctor would have called it “wind.” But I called it
perfect courtesy and good manners towards a honored and
onexpected guest. That is what I called it. He acted like a perfect
little gentleman, and I wuz proud of him.
Snow, the sweet darlin’, went right up to him, with her little
snowflake of a hand held out in a warm welcome, and kissed him
jest as she did her Grandpa. Oh, what a child—what a child for
behavior! I never see her equal, and don’t expect to—nor Josiah
don’t either.
Wall, Cousin John Richard jest settled down in that sweet, lovin’
home into a perfect, happy rest—to all appearances—and gained
every day.
Victor and Genieve thought everything of him from the first time
they laid eyes on him. And they couldn’t do enough for him
seemingly. They had heard about his life and labor amongst their
own people, and they tried in every way to show their gratitude and
affection.
Victor and he talked together for hours, and so did he and Genieve
about the plans for the colony. And first I knew, Cousin John Richard
told Josiah and me that he had made up his mind to go with them to
Africa.
The Doctor had told him that a long sea voyage would be the best of
anything for his lungs. And so, as he wuz bound to spend his life for
this people, I couldn’t see, and Josiah couldn’t, why it shouldn’t be
in Africa as well as America, specially as he had a better chance to
live by goin’ there.
And so we gin our consents in our own minds, and showed our two
willingnesses to him, and the matter wuz settled.
He had only two children left now, and they wuz married and settled
down in homes of their own, and in a good business. So he had no
hamperin’ ties to bind him to this land. And he felt that the Lord wuz
a pintin’ out to him the path of Duty over the sea.
And I wuzn’t the one to dispute him—no, indeed! And I felt that his
calm good sense and undaunted Christian spirit and Gospel
teachings would be a perfect boon to the colony.
So it wuz settled. And I imegiatly went to work, Maggie and I, to
make him a full dozen of shirts, twelve day ones and six nights.
And we prepared him a better assortment of socks and
handkerchiefs, and collars, and cuffs, and such than he had ever
dremp of, I’ll venture to say, sence he lost his companion, anyway.
Wall, it wuzn’t more’n several days after this that the relation of
Maggie’s—Senator Coleman—bein’ sot free from hampers, writ agin,
and also telegrafted, that he would be at the station that day at five
o’clock.
 RAYMOND FAIRFAX COLEMAN.

So, Maggie and Thomas J. rid over agin, and bein’ luckier this time,
they come a ridin’ back in due time with her relation a settin’ up by
her side, big as life, and the boy, Raymond Fairfax Coleman, a settin’
on the front seat by Thomas Jefferson.
The boy’s name seemed bigger than he wuz, bein’ a little, pale runt
of a child with long, silky hair and a black velvet suit—dretful small
for his age, about seven years old. But I spoze his long curls of light
hair and his lace collar made him seem younger, and his childish way
of talkin’—he had been babied a good deal I could see. And when he
would fix his big blue eyes on you with that sort of a confidin’,
perplexed, childish look in ’em, I declare for’t he didn’t look so old as
Boy.
But he wuz seven years old, so his Pa told me.
His Pa wuz as big and important-lookin’ as Raymond wuz
insignificant. And I sez to Josiah the first chance I got, out to one
side, sez I:
“I’ve hearn a sight from old Judge Snow about this relation of hisen
bein’ a self-made man;” and sez I, “If he did make himself, he did up
the job in quite a good shape, didn’t he?”
Josiah can’t bear to have me praise up any man, married or single,
bond or free, only jest himself, and he sez:
“If I had made him I would have put in some improvements on him.
I wouldn’t have had him so cussed big feelin’ for one thing.”
I wuz deeply mortified to hear him use that wicked word, and told
him so.
But I couldn’t help seein’ that Josiah wuz right in thinkin’ Senator
Coleman wuz proud and high-headed, for truly he wuz. His head
wuz right up in the air, and he sort o’ leaned back when he walked,
and over his portly stomach hung a glitterin’ watch-chain that he
sort o’ fingered and played with as he walked about, and he had
some diamonds a flashin’ on his little finger, and his shirt-front, and
cuffs.
His eyes wuz a bright blue and as bold and piercin’ looking as
Raymond’s wuz gentle and helpless, and his mustache and short hair
wuz a sort of a iron gray; and his face bein’ florid and his features
good, he made a handsome appearance; and Maggie, I could see,
wuz quite proud of the relation on her side.
 “WITH A JUMPIN’ TOOTHACHE.”

Wall, we had a good warm supper all ready for ’em, Maggie’s cook
bein’ sort o’ helpless that day with a jumpin’ toothache (it jumped
worse after Maggie went away and she see in me a willingness to
help her get supper).
I laid holt and got the most of the supper myself, and it wuz a good
one, if I hadn’t ort to say it.
Two plump spring fowls roasted to a delicate brown, some sliced
potatoes warmed up in cream, some hot cream biscuit; and I had
splendid luck with ’em—they wuz jest as light and flaky and tender
as they could be. And some perfectly delicious coffee. I thought the
fragrance of that coffee would steam up invitingly into Senator
Coleman’s nostrils, after a hard day’s journey.
And if the relation had been on Thomas Jefferson’s side I couldn’t
have set out to do better by him; I am good to my daughter-in-law—
anybody will tell you so that has seen me behave to her.
Aunt Mela, the cook, by bendin’ all her energies onto ’em, had made
a tomato salad and some veal croquettes. I hain’t partial to ’em, but
want everybody to be suited in the line of vittles, and Maggie loves
’em.
And then on the sideboard wuz cake, and jellies, and fresh berries
heaped up in crimson beauty on some china plates, and the table
had posys on it and looked well.
The cook’s teeth stopped achin’ about the time the supper wuz all
ready—it seemed to give its last hard jump about the time I made
the biscuit. I had proposed to have her make ’em, but I see it
wouldn’t do.
Wall, Maggie wuz delighted with the supper, and her relation eat
more than wuz good for him, I wuz afraid—five wuz the number of
the biscuit he consumed (they wuzn’t so very large), and three cups
of coffee kep’ ’em company.
Maggie told him who made ’em, and he complimented me so warmly
(though still high-headed) that Josiah looked cross as a bear.
Wall, the Senator seemed to like it at Belle Fanchon first rate; and as
for Raymond Fairfax Coleman, he jest revelled in the warm home
atmosphere and the lovin’ attentions that wuz showered down onto
him.
Poor little motherless creeter! He played with Snow, lugged her dolls
round for her, and dragged Boy in his little covered carriage, and
seemed to be jest about as much of a baby as our Boy.
If you think our boy didn’t have any other name than Boy, there is
where you are mistaken. His name wuz Robert Josiah from his birth
—after his two grandpas; but Thomas Jefferson wuz so pleased to
think he wuz a boy that he got in the habit of callin’ him Boy, and we
all joined in and followed on after him, as is the habit of human
bein’s or sheep. You know how the him reads:
“First a daughter and then a son,
Then the world is well begun.”
I spoze Thomas J. had this in mind when he wuz so tickled at the
birth of Boy.
But howsomever and tenny rate, we all called him Boy. And he knew
the name, and would laugh and dimple all over in his pretty glee
when we would call him.
Wall, I would take little Raymond up on my lap, and tell him stories,
and pet him, and Maggie would mother him jest as she would Snow,
and we wuz both on us sorry for him as sorry could be to think of his
forlorn little state.
Riches, and fame, and even his big name couldn’t make up for the
loss of the tender counsels and broodin’ love of a mother.
His father jest thought his eyes on him. But he couldn’t seem to stop
fumblin’ that watch-chain of hisen, and stop a talkin’ them big
words, and descend from his ambitious plans of self-advancement to
come down to his little boy’s level and talk to him in a lovin’ way.
Little Raymond looked up to his Pa with a sort of a admirin’ awe, jest
about as the Jonesville children would to the President.
I believe Senator Coleman had ambitions to be one. I believe my
soul he did. Anyway, his ambitions wuz all personal. Havin’ made
himself so fur, he wuz bound to put all the adornin’s and
embellishin’s onto his work that he could.
I see that he wanted to be made President to once, and the thought
that the nation wouldn’t do it rankled in him.
And the fear that somebody else wuz a goin’ to get higher than he
wuz in political life wore on him.
His sharp, piercin’ eyes wuz a watchin’ the ever-shiftin’ horizon of
our national affairs, the ever-changin’ winds of public favor, hopin’
they would blow him up into greater prominence, fearin’ they would
dash him down into a lower place.
The feverishness of perpetual onrest seemed to be a burnin’ him all
the time, and the fear that he should do or say sunthin’ to incur the
displeasure of the multitude.
What a time, what a time he wuz a havin’!
You could see it all in his linement; yes, ambition and selfishness had
ploughed lots of lines in his handsome face, and ploughed ’em deep.
I used to look at him and then at Cousin John Richard Allen, and
contrast the two men in my own mind, and the contrast wuz a big
and hefty one.
Now, Cousin John Richard’s face wuz peaceful and serene, though
considerable worn-lookin’. He had gin his hull life for the True and
Right, had gone right on, no matter how much he wuz
misunderstood and despised of men, and labored in season and out
of season for the poor and down-trodden of earth, without any hope
of earthly reward—nay, with the certainty of the world’s contempt
and criticism.
But the blame or praise of the multitude seemed so fur off to him
that he could scarcely hear it; the confusin’ babble seemed to him
only like a distant murmurous background for the close voice of the
Master, who walked with him, and told him what to do from day to
day and from hour to hour.
“Blessed are ye if ye hear my voice.”
“Ye that are strong, bear the burdens of the weak.”
“If ye love me feed my lambs.”
“And lo, I am with you to the end of the world.”
These wuz some of the words Cousin John Richard heard, and his
face shone as he listened to ’em.
He had not sent out his ships on earthly waters; and so, let the
winds blow high or the winds blow low, he did not fear any
tempestuous waves and storms reachin’ their sails.
 “THE RELATION ON MAGGIE’S SIDE.”

No, he had sent his ships into a safer harbor; they wuz anchored in
that divine sea where no storms can ever come.
And his face wuz calm with the heavenly calmness and peace of that
sure harbor, that waveless sea.
Wall, the relation on Maggie’s side seemed to take a good deal of
comfort a walkin’ round with his head up and his hand a playin’ with
that heavy gold chain.
Good land! I should have thought he would have wore it out—he
would if it hadn’t been made of good stuff.
And he would converse with Thomas Jefferson about political
matters, and talk some with my Josiah and Cousin John—not much
with the latter, because they wuzn’t congenial, as I have hinted at;
and Cousin John Richard seemed to take as much agin comfort a
bein’ off with the children, or a layin’ in the green grass a watchin’
the butterflies, or a talkin’ with Genieve and Victor.
And the Senator would compliment Maggie up to the skies. He wuz
more’n polite to females, as is the way with such men; and he would
write letters by the bushel, and get as many of ’em or more, and
telegrams, and such. And little Raymond, poor little creeter, I believe
took more comfort than he had before for some time.
He wuzn’t very deep, as I could see, he didn’t act over and above
smart; but then, I sez to myself real ironikle, mebby this dulness is
caused by lookin’ at the sun so much (his Pa used as a metafor).
And then what could you expect of a child of seven? he wuzn’t much
more’n a baby. Good land! I used to hold Thomas Jefferson in my
lap and baby him till he wuz nine or ten years old, and his legs
dragged on the floor, he wuz so tall.
I thought like as not Raymond Fairfax Coleman would take a turn
after a while and live up to the privileges of his name and be quite
smart.
He took a great fancy to Rosy’s baby, and it was as cunnin’ a little
black image as I ever see, jest a beginnin’ to be playful and full of
laugh.
Raymond would carry it down candy and oranges, and give him
nickels and little silver pieces to put into his savings-bank.
I gin that bank myself to little Thomas Jefferson Washington, for
that wuz the name his Pa and Ma had gin him—we called him
Tommy. They gin him the name of Thomas Jefferson, I spoze, to
honor the name of my son, and then put on the Washington to
kinder prop up the memory of the Father of our Country, or so I
spoze.
I gin him that bank to try to give his Pa and Ma some idee of savin’
for a rainy day, and days when it didn’t rain.
It wuz very nice, in the form of a meetin’ house—you put the money
down through the steeple.
I thought mebby, bein’ it wuz in this shape, it would sort o’ turn their
minds onto meetin’ houses and such moral idees.
Well, finally, one mornin’ early we heard, clear up in our room,
Senator Coleman makin’ a great hue and cry.
We hearn his voice lifted up high in agitation and exhortation, and I
sez to my pardner:
“What under the sun is the matter with the relation on Maggie’s
side?”
And Josiah said, and it pains me to record it:
“He didn’t know, and he didn’t care a dumb.”
He never liked Senator Coleman for a minute.
But as we descended down to breakfast we soon found out and
discovered what wuz the matter. Little Raymond (poor little babyish
creeter!), a not mistrustin’ its real value, had took a valuable
diamond locket and gin it to little Tommy.
It wuz a very valuable locket, with seven great diamonds in it. It wuz
one that the Senator’s dead wife had gin him when they wuz first
married, and had their two names writ on it, and inside a lock of
their two hairs.
It wuz one of the most precious things in the Senator’s hull
possessions; and thinkin’ so much of it, he couldn’t make up his
mind to leave it to his banker’s with the rest of his jewelry and plate,
but he kept it with him, with a little ivory miniature of sweet Kate
Fairfax when she first become his girlish bride.
The relation on Maggie’s side did have one or two soft spots in his
nater, and one of ’em wuz his adoration of his dead wife, and his
clingin’ love for anything that had belonged to her, and the other
wuz his love for his child—more because it wuz her child, I do
believe, than because it wuz his own.
Them two soft places wuz oasis’es, as you may say, in his nater. All
the desert round ’em wuz full of the rocky, sandy soil of ambition,
feverish expectations, and aims and plans for political advancement.
Wall, Raymond had took this locket and gin it to Rosy’s baby. His Pa
had told him it would be hisen some time, and he thought it wuz
hisen now.
Poor little creeter! he didn’t have no more idee of the value on’t than
a Hottentot has of snow ploughs, or than we have as to what the
folks up in Jupiter are a havin’ for dinner.
And he sot by the winder a cryin’ as if his poor little childish heart
would break, and the Senator wuz hoppin’ mad.
But neither the tears nor the anger could bring back the jewel—it
wuz lost. Thomas J. of course had gone down to the coachman’s
cottage to make inquiries about it, accompanied by the distracted
statesman. But of course Rosy had lied about it; she said little Tom,
three days before, jest after Raymond had gin it to him, had
dropped it into the river.
But nobody believed it. How could that infant have dropped it into
the river more’n a mile off?
No; we all spozed that Rosy, a naterel thief and liar, had passed it on
to some other thief, and it wuz all broke to pieces and the diamonds
hid away and passed on out of reach.
The strictest search hadn’t amounted to nuthin’. Wall, I didn’t say
much about it till after breakfast—my manners wuz too perfect for
that, and then I wuz hungry myself. And I felt that I had some
things I wanted to say, and I didn’t want to say ’em on a empty
stomach, and didn’t want ’em hearn on one.
After breakfast the Senator begun agin on the subject, and kep’ it
up. And I did feel sorry for him from the bottom of my heart, for, if
you’ll believe it, as we sot there alone in the settin’ room after
breakfast, that man cried—or, that is, the tears come fast into his
eyes when he talked about it.
And I gin the man credit where credit wuz due; it wuzn’t the money
worth of the gem that he cared for, though it wuz very valuable.
No; it wuz the memory of lovely Kate Fairfax, and the blendin’ of
their two names on it, and a part of their two selves, as you may say
—the curl of her golden hair twisted in with his dark locks. And all
the tender memories of the happy time when she gin him this jewel
with her first true love, and he gin her his hull heart. Memories
bitter-sweet now as he mourned his losses.
Wall, I see the Senator wuz all melted down and broke up; and as is
my way, havin’ the good of the human race on my mind and heart,
and havin’ to do for ’em all the while, I see that now wuz the very
time for me to tackle the relation from Delaware about a matter that
I had long wanted to tackle him on, concernin’ a law of his own
State—
A statute so full of burnin’ injustice, and shame, and disgrace that it
wuz a wonder to me, and had been for some time, that the very
stuns along the banks of the Delaware didn’t cry out to its Senators
as they passed along to and from their law-makin’ expeditions.
And when he wuz a goin’ on the very worst about Raymond’s doin’
such a dretful thing, and what a irreparable loss it wuz, I spoke up,
and sez I, “Why, Raymond had a right to it, didn’t he?”
“A right?” he thundered out in his agitation, “a right to throw away
this priceless jewel? What do you mean, madam?”
“Why,” sez I calmly (for I wuz a workin’ for Duty and Right; and they
always brace me up and keep me calm), “Raymond has passed the
age of consent, hasn’t he?” He wuz a few days over seven years old.
“What!!!” cries the Senator, “what do you mean?”
“Why, children in your State can consent to their own ruin if they are
over seven.”
“It is girls that can do this,” hollered the Senator from Delaware, “it
hain’t boys.”
But I went on calm as I could:
“What are a few diamonds, that can be bought and sold, to be
compared to the downfall of all hope and happiness, the contempt
and derision of the world, the ruin of a life, and the loss of a
immortal soul? And your laws grant this privilege to children if they
are a day or two over seven.”
“That law was made for girls,” cried the Senator agin in stentorian
axents.
“Yes,” sez I, “men made that law, and girls and wimmen have to
stand it. But,” sez I, lookin’ and actin’ considerable fierce, as the
mighty shame and disgrace of that law come over me, “it is a law so
infamus that I should think the old Atlantic herself (bein’ a female,
as is spozed) would jest rare herself up and wash over the hull land,
to try to wipe out or bury the horrible disgrace that has been put
upon her sect—would swash up and cover your little State
completely up—it ort to, and hide it forever from the heavens and
the eye of females.”
 BABE.

That man begun to quail, I see he did. But the thought of Snow, the
darlin’, and our dear Babe at Jonesville nerved me up agin—the
thought of them, our own treasures, and the hosts of pretty children
all over our land, beloved by some hearts jest as dearly as our
children wuz.
And I went on more fiery than I had went, as I thought, why Babe is
old enough now, and Snow will be in a little while, to lay their sweet
little lives down under this Jugernut built up by the vile passions of
men, and goin’ ahead of Isaac, lay themselves on the altar, take
their own lives, and build up the fire to consume ’em.
“The idee of law-makers who call themselves wise makin’ such laws
as these!”
He stopped a handlin’ that watch-chain of hisen, his head drooped,
his hands dropped demutely into his lap. He murmured sunthin’
almost mechanically about “the law being on the statute-book.”
“I know it is,” sez I. “I know the law is there. But let wimmen have a
chance to vote; let a few mothers and grandmothers get holt of that
statute-book, and see where that law would be.”
Sez I eloquently, “No spring cleanin’ and scourin’ wuz ever done by
females so thorough as they would cleanse out them old law books
and let a little of God’s purity and justice shine into their musty old
pages.”
Sez I, “You made a great ado about Raymond losin’ that locket
because it wuz precious with the memories of your lost wife—you
treasured it as your most dear possession because it held a lock of
her hair, because she gin it to you, and her love and tenderness
seemed shinin’ out of every jewel in it.
“But how would it be with a child that a mother left as a souvenir of
her deathless love, a part of her own life left to a broken-hearted
husband? Would a man who held such a child, such a little daughter
to his achin’ heart, do and make a law by which the child could be
lost and ruined forever?
“No; the men that make these laws make ’em for other folks’es
children, not their own. It is other fathers’ girls that they doom to
ruin. When they license shameful houses it hain’t their own pretty
daughters that they picture under the infamus ruffs, despised
playthings for brutality and lust. No; it is some other parents’
daughters.”
 “MY TONE RIZ UP.”

My tone had been awful eloquent and riz up, for nobody but the
Lord knew how deeply I felt all I had said, and more than I ever
could say on the subject.
And I spoze I looked lofty and noble in my mean—I spoze so.
Anyway, Senator Coleman quailed to a extent that I hardly ever see
quailed in my hull life, and I have seen lots of quailin’ in my day. And
I pressed home the charge.
Sez I, “You say this law wuz made for girls; but what if this boy that
your sweet Kate Fairfax left you had happened to be a girl, and had
gin away all that makes life worth living, how would you have felt
then, Senator Coleman?
“How would you feel a thinkin’ that you had got to meet her lovin’,
questionin’ eyes up in heaven, and when she asked you what you
had done with her child you would have to say that you had spent
all your life a tryin’ to pass laws that wuz the ruination of her darlin’;
that you had done your best to frame laws so that them that prey
upon innocence and childish ignorance could go unpunished, and
that the blood of these souls, the agony of breakin’ hearts wuz a
layin’ at your door?
“How could you meet them sweet, lovin’ eyes and have to tell her
this?”
He jest crumpled right down, and almost buried his face in his white
linen handkerchief, and give vent to some low groans that wuz damp
with tears.
That man had never had the truth brung right home to him before,
and he trembled and he shrunk before it.
And he promised me then and there that he would turn right round
and do his very best to make laws to protect innocence and
ignorance and to purify the hull statute-book all he could; and I felt
that he had tackled a hard job, but I believed he would try his best.
I guess he means to tell the truth.
And I wuz almost overpolite to him after this, not wantin’ to do or
say a thing to break up his good intentions; and when he went away
he gin me a dretful meanin’, earnest look, and sez he:
“You can depend upon me to keep my word.”
And I believed he would.
Poor little Raymond cried when he went away, cried and wept.
But the Senator promised to let him come back before a great while
for a good long visit—that comforted him a little. And we all kissed
him and made much of him; and Snow, with the tears a standin’ in
her sweet eyes, offered to gin him the doll she loves best—
Samantha Maggie Tirzah Ann—if it would be any help to him. But he
said he had ruther have her keep it. And I believe he told the truth.
He is a good child.
“I HAD BEEN OUT A WALKIN’.”
 CHAPTER XI.

I
HAD been out a walkin’ one day, and when I got back and went
into the settin’ room, I see there wuz a visitor there, and, lo and
behold, when I wuz introduced to him it wuz Col. Seybert!
He wuz dretful polite—and I know well what belongs to good
manners—and so I didn’t turn my back to him and walk off with my
cap-strings a wavin’ back in a indignant, scornful way.
No; he wuz a neighbor, and my son and daughter wuz a neighborin’
with him, so I treated him polite but cool, and shook his hand back
and forth mebby once or twice, and sez:
“I am well, and I hope I find you the same.”
Oh, I know how to appear.
I then went and sot down some distance from him.
Genieve wuz a settin’ in the next room holdin’ Boy in her arms—he
wuzn’t over and above well that day (cuttin’ teeth). And I looked out
and smiled at ’em both; I then went to knittin’.
If I should be obleeged to kiss the Bible and tell jest what I thought
about Col. Seybert, I should say that I didn’t like his looks a mite,
not a mite.
He looked bold, and brassy, and self-assertive, and dissipated—he
looked right down mean. And I should have said so if I hadn’t never
hearn a word about his treatment of Victor, or his deviltry about
Hester, or anything.
You know in some foreign countries the officers have to give you a
passport to pass through the country. And when you are a travellin’
you have to show your papers, and show up who you be and what
you be.
Wall, I spoze that custom is follered from one of Nater’s. She always
fills out her papers and signs ’em with her own hand, so that folks
that watch can tell travellers a passin’ through this world.
Nater had signed Col. Seybert’s passport, had writ it down in the
gross, sensual, yet sneerin’ lips, in the cold, cruel look in his eyes, in
his loud, boastin’, aggressive manner.
Yet he wuz a neighbor, and I felt that we must neighbor with him.
After I come into the room, he begun, I spoze out of politeness, to
sort o’ address himself to me in his remarks. And he seemed to be a
resoomin’ the conversation my comin’ in had interrupted.
And anon, he begun to went on about the colored people perfectly
shameful.
And as my mind roamed back and recalled the various things I had
heard of his doin’, I most imegiatly made up my mind that, neighbor
or not, if this thing kep’ on I should have to gin him a piece of my
mind.
 POOR WHITE.

And there Genieve sot, the good, pretty, patient creeter, a hearin’
her own people run down to the lowest notch. I felt as if I should
sink, but felt that before I did sink I should speak.
He went on to tell what a dretful state the country wuz in, and all a
owin’ to the colored race; and sez he:
“The niggers don’t take any interest in the welfare of the country.
What do they care what becomes of the nation if they can get their
pan of bacon and hominy?
“A mule stands up before their eyes higher than any idea of Justice
or Liberty.
“They are liars, they are thieves, they are lazy, they are hangers-on
to the skirts of civilization, they can never stand upright, they have
got to be carried all their days. And it is this mass of ignorance, and
superstition, and vice that you Northerners want to see ruling us
white men of the South.
“They can’t read nor write, nor understand an intelligible remark
hardly; and yet these are the men that you want to have vote and
get put in as rulers over us.
“Well, we will not submit to it, that is all there is about it; and if war
comes, the sooner the better, for we will die fighting for our
freedom. It is bad enough for us Southerners to be ruled by
Northern men, but when it comes to being ruled by beasts, animals
that are no higher than brutes, we will not submit.”
Sez I, for I would speak up, and I did:
“Hain’t there plenty of intelligent educated colored people now,
graduates of schools and colleges—lawyers, teachers, ministers, etc.,
etc.?”
“Oh, yes, a few,” he admitted reluctantly.
I knew there wuz a hundred thousand of ’em, if there wuz one.
And I sez, “Hain’t the condition of your poor whites here in the
South about as bad as the negroes, mentally and morally and
physically?”
“Well, yes,” he admitted that it wuz. “But,” sez he, “that don’t alter
the dangerous state of affairs. The interests of a community cannot
be placed in the hands of an ignorant, vicious rabble without terrible