note: transcription publicly contributed - please contact us with comments, errors or omisions

J. Fearon, Principal [top left corner]
School for the Deaf [centered, top of the page]
HALIFAX, N. S

Halifax went on as usual utterly oblivious of what was about to happen. The awful sufferings of the thousands of injured and homeless were intensified by the unprecedented weather that followed. The morning after the explosion opened with a snow storm and by the afternoon it was blowing a blinding blizzard. The following day the cold was intense, the mercury showing some degrees below zero. On the third day - Sunday- it turned mild with rain and the whole place was knee deep in what we call in Ireland snow-broth. Still the excavat ons [excavations] went on and scores of bodies were discovered each day under the burning and shattered ruins. In some cases babies were found alive and well, having seemingly suffered but little.

The residence and other buildings in the south end of the city suffered less and these were at once thrown open by the owners to the destitute and injured. Words fail to describe the generosity of the people of the United States, and the prompt relief that poured in from all sides. Train loads of provisions of all kinds, of food, clothing, glass timber &c given right of way, rushed across the border. Hundreds of doctors and nurses carrying ample hospital supplies poured in, together with artisans of all kinds. The cry from our [written in after typing] generous neighbour was "What can we do? All we have is yours! Tell us what you want?" Their magnificent generosity, sympathy and prompt relief will never be forgotten in Canada and will do more to bind together the two countries than anything that has happened in the last hundred years.

There remains much to be done for which Canada must be responsible. Thousands of people have to be furnished with homes and between two and three thousand people, young and old, who have lost their sight, must be