The ground shivered, the windows rattled, the birds fell
close to the ground and could not fly, the stove-pipes fell to
the floor, the thick walls cracked and finally, the earth rocked
to and fro like some huge thing trying to get its balance.
It was in the afternoon. My sister and I were sitting with our
needle-work in the living-room. Little Harry was on the floor,
occupied with some toys. I was paralyzed with fear; my sister did
not move. We sat gazing at each other, scarce daring to breathe,
expecting every instant the heavy walls to crumble about our
heads. The earth rocked and rocked, and rocked again, then swayed
and swayed and finally was still. My sister caught Harry in her
arms, and then Jack and Willie came breathlessly in. "Did you
feel it?" said Jack.
"Did we feel it!" said I, scornfully.
Sarah was silent, and I looked so reproachfully at Jack, that he
dropped his light tone, and said: "It was pretty awful. We were
in the Goldwaters' store, when suddenly it grew dark and the
lamps above our heads began to rattle and swing, and we all
rushed out into the middle of the street and stood, rather
dazed, for we scarcely knew what had happened; then we hurried
home.
