We have said enough of this ghastly tragedy elsewhere, but
may repeat here that givers of entertainments must avoid these vast collections, unless they can find officers to govern the children's movements. There was no special fault, except in collecting such numbers without discipline or division. The notion that a crowd of children cannot suffer, because of their lightness and mobility, is entirely illusory. Collectively, they weigh tons, and in descending a staircase in a stream it is their collective weight which crushes. Their want of strength forbids them to keep back the crowd, and they are specially liable, from want of height, to the sudden fainting which in such scenes precedes death. " We fell asleep on the staircase," said one little girl, who fainted, but being near the top, was recovered; and that sudden fainting was probably the fate of most. A few, however, had fought desperately for life, but not one got out of the heap, which grew momently higher and higher. Every pos- sible consideration has been shown to the survivors and their relatives ; the town made arrangements for the burials, and a large subscription was raised at once to defray expenses. The grief of the parents was, of course, frightful, and it was at last necessary to summon soldiers to prevent the crowds of excited men and women from causing a second catastrophe.
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