Death had made a brave harvest, and, like Samson, by pulling down one roof, destroyed many a home.

None who saw it can have forgotten the aspect of the gable; here it was plastered, there papered, according to the rooms; here the kettle still stood on the hob, high overhead; and there a cheap picture of the Queen was pasted over the chimney.

So, by this disaster, you had a glimpse into the life of thirty families, all suddenly cut off from the revolving years.

The _land_ had fallen; and with the _land_ how much! Far in the country, people saw a gap in the city ranks, and the sun looked through between the chimneys in an unwonted place.

And all over the world, in London, in Canada, in New Zealand, fancy what a multitude of people could exclaim with truth: 'The house that I was born in fell last night!'.