"Behold the loving-kindness of our God! Had the explosion taken
place a little while later, our vessel would have been on her way
instead of standing still waiting off Moville for the mails.
"Most of the children" were on deck, basking in the lovely sunshine
of that afternoon. We were all busy finishing our letters, and I
intended to write one more, and then go and spend an hour in the
children's steerage, when presently there was a terrible sound, as of
a cannon, followed by a deathly stillness for two minutes; I rushed
on deck and beheld a man jet black with soot, his halt burnt off,
issuing from a gangway near; then one of my own boys came,
exclaiming, 'Oh, Miss! I prayed to Jesus, and He saved me.' Then the
deck became a fearful scene of confusion, poor foreigners weeping,
and oh! the mutilated men and women, ghastly with fright, some of
their faces entirely skinned.
"My first care was for the little ones. They clustered round me, as
the two young men, (former boys of 1870, who had been home to see
their friends), gathered them out of the crowd. Mr. Merry gave me the
list, and they dried their tears, and answered to their names when
called.
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