Page:Aunt Jo's Scrap-Bag, Volume 2.djvu/183

Rh In the Ghetto the disaster was truly terrible, for the flood came so suddenly that the whole quarter was under water in an hour. The scene was pitiful; for here the Jews live, packed like sardines in a box, and, being washed out with no warning, were utterly destitute. In one street a man and woman were seen wading up to their waists in water, pushing an old mattress before them, on which were three little children, all they bad saved.

Later in the day, as boats of provisions came along, women and children swarmed at the windows, crying, "Bread! bread!" and their wants could not be supplied in spite of the care of the city authorities. One old woman who had lost every thing besought the rescuers to bring her a little snuff for the love of heaven; which was very characteristic of the race. One poor man, in trying to save a sick wife and his little ones in a cart, upset them, and the babies were drowned at their own door. Comedy and tragedy side by side.

Outside the city, houses were carried off, people lost, and bridges swept away, so sudden and violent was the flood. The heavy rains and warm winds melted the snow on the mountains, and