I will set it down here as a maxim that the operations of the human intellect
are much accelerated by an earthquake. Usually I do not think rapidly--but I
did upon this occasion. I thought rapidly, vividly, and distinctly. With the
first shock of the five, I thought--"I recognize that motion--this is an
earthquake." With the second, I thought, "What a luxury this will
be for the morning papers." With the third shock, I thought, "Well
my boy, you had better be getting out of this." Each of these thoughts
was only the hundredth part of a second in passing through my mind. There is
no incentive to rapid reasoning like an earthquake. I then sidled out toward
the middle of the street- and I may say that I sidled out with some degree of
activity, too. There is nothing like an earthquake to hurry a man when he starts
to go anywhere.
- "The Great Earthquake in San Francisco," New York Weekly Review,
11/25/1865
Illustration
from first edition of ROUGHING IT
We know of nothing that will answer as a substitute for one of those convulsions--to
an unmarried man.
- "No Earthquake," San Francisco Daily
Morning Call, 8/23/1864
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