An offshoot of the Seventh Day Adventists sprang into sudden prominence, proclaiming the end of the world.
"Confusion thrice confounded!" Ernest cried.

"How can we hope for solidarity with all these cross purposes and conflicts ?" And truly the religious revival assumed formidable proportions.

The people, what of their wretchedness, and of their disappointment in all things earthly, were ripe and eager for a heaven where industrial tyrants entered no more than camels passed through needle-eyes.
Wild-eyed itinerant preachers swarmed over the land; and despite the prohibition of the civil authorities, and the persecution for disobedience, the flames of religious frenzy were fanned by countless camp-meetings.
It was the last days, they claimed, the beginning of the end of the world.

The four winds had been loosed.

God had stirred the nations to strife.