With the wild chanting, the madness of the multitude increased. Many men
and women--ay, and little children, too--all dropped to their knees,
heedless of being trodden underfoot by the unfallen frenzied, and thus
crept the length of the earthen floor to the foot of the rude altar.
Here, before the pulpit of rough-hewn logs, great heaps of straw were
strewn thick and broadcast. On these straw heaps men and women fell
prostrate side by side, and lay as if they were dead. Others, both men
and women, were suddenly seized with the unnatural, convulsive jerking
which gave this mysterious visitation its best-known name. Under this
dreadful tremor the long hair of delicate ladies poured unnoticed over
the most modest shoulders and flew back and forth with the sound of a
whip; for those so wildly wrought upon were not solely of the humble and
the ignorant. The highest and the most refined of the whole country were
there. The earth was strewn with costly raiment. Gentlemen rent the fine
ruffles from their wrists and their bosoms; gentlewomen cast their
richest ornaments to the winds.
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