218 RIVER LIFE. 



bridges when it gave way, some of whom jumped into the wa« 

 ter to save themselves, but none were lost. A raft passed down 

 the Kenduskeag with three or four boys upon it, and they were 

 seen floating into the vortex of the jam, but the raft passed near 

 enough to a store for them to leap from it to a platform, and thus 

 they saved their lives. A boat also was crossing the river when 

 the jam started, and the river was rushing in a torrent, but they 

 also got safe to land. Many such hazards occurred, but without 

 the loss of a single life. 



" I have thus given you a very hasty and unstudied narrative 

 of this severe calamity, as I have gathered it before any account 

 has been published. I have no time or space for reflections. 

 There are, no doubt, many wise and good designs to be accom- 

 plished by such an event, which will readily suggest themselves 

 to every Christian mind. The present state of our churches be- 

 fore this, I think, was highly promising, and the presence of God's 

 Holy Spirit manifest. I most earnestly pray that a serious, prac- 

 tical, and real reformation may ensue. 



" The individual losses are very great. Some have lost their 

 all, and many from five to fifty thousand dollars each ; yet the 

 aggregate will be swelled, by a first estimate, far beyond its real 

 amount. From what I have already seen, I think there is no 

 reason whatever for the friends of Bangor abroad to entertain any 

 distrust respecting its recovery and progressive prosperity. Such 

 a buoyant and elastic spirit I never saw in man, as is apparent 

 to-day, at the very moment when men usually most despond. 

 There is no such thing as depression. Despair is a word which 

 the active and laborious merchants of this city do not know the 

 definition of; and as soon as time can enable man to restore 

 the city to its former prosperity, it will be done. My prayer is 

 that its future prosperity may be tempered by a more sanctified 

 spirit — that the hand of God may be more recognized — the in- 

 stitutions of religion more generally sustained — the uncertainty 



