History of the great fire in Saint John, June 20 and 21, 1877 . costly residences, were lost in the general ruin ; and,for a long time after the heat had so far subsided asto permit passage, it was difficult to find the cornersof streets, or tell without measurement just whereany certain house had stood. Such buildings as theVictoria Hotel, Orphan Asylum, and schoolhouses —grand even in ruin — were soon recognized ; and, withthem as landmarks, the bewildered citizens groped tothe hearthstones they had so hopefully left for thestore or the shop on the previous day. Ruin, ruin, everywhere! All t
History of the great fire in Saint John, June 20 and 21, 1877 . costly residences, were lost in the general ruin ; and,for a long time after the heat had so far subsided asto permit passage, it was difficult to find the cornersof streets, or tell without measurement just whereany certain house had stood. Such buildings as theVictoria Hotel, Orphan Asylum, and schoolhouses —grand even in ruin — were soon recognized ; and, withthem as landmarks, the bewildered citizens groped tothe hearthstones they had so hopefully left for thestore or the shop on the previous day. Ruin, ruin, everywhere! All that was valuablewas gone. As if in derision, the fire had left lucifermatches unburned in smoking heaps of ashes; andhuge supplies of coal in cargoes of hundreds of tonswere untouched, while the hotel or church they werepurchased to warm was beyond the need of any moreheat. The whole peninsula was left in all its nat-ural deformity, save where the rocks had been hewnand blasted to make passable streets. A city mustbe founded anew upon these barren AFTER THE FIRE. Ill It was a sad sight. Even tlie stranger shed asilent tear as he wandered over unrecognizablemasses of dehris^ and realized in a vague manner howthe owners of those remains must feel. It was likelooking upon the face of an unknown corpse. Therewas the evidence of past life, the certainty of therehaving been a death-struggle, and the probabilitythat the dead had loving friends somewhere, whowere weeping for him, and would not be comforted. Like veterans which singly have escaped the terrificconflicts of battle, the Hazen House, the court-houseand jail, and the engine-house stood, scarred, be-grimed, and alone; living reminders of the rage anddestruction which had passed by them, leaving all hutthem prostrate and ghastly in unsightly distortion. The collection of furniture, merchandise, crockery,glass-ware, carpets, trunks, and clothing, which hadbeen hastily deposited in Kings Square and the oldburying-gr
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