Thibodaux minerva. [volume] (Thibodaux, La.) 18??-1858, 1854-12-16
A Touching Relic of Pompeii:

| A Touching Relic of Pompeii.
In digging out the ruins of Pompeii every
turn of the spade brings up some relic of
the ancient life, some witness of imperial
| luxury, for far the greater part OF the relics
have merely curious interest: they belong
to archaeology, and find appropriate resting
places in historical museums
But there are some exceptions. Here, tor
instance, the excavator drops an unlnvlted
guest upon banquet, there he unexpec-
teddy obtrudes himself into tomb. In one
place he finds miser covering on his
heap. another shows him bones of dancing
girls and broken instruments of music lying
on the marble floor, in the midst of the
painted chambers baths, halls, columns;
fountains. Among the splendid evidences
of material wealth he sometimes stumbles
OH a simple incident, touching human
story. such as strikes the imagination and
suggests the mournful interest of the great
disaster, as the sudden sight of wounded
soldier conjures up the horrors of a field of
battle.
Such to our mind is the latest discovery
of the excavators in this melancholy field,
1t is a gronp of skeletons in the act of flight,
accompanied by dog. There are three
human beings, one of them young girl,
with gold rings and jewels still on her
fingers The fugltives had bag of gold
and silver with them, snatched up, no
doubt, in haste and darkness. But the fiery
flood was on their track, and vain their
wealth, their fight-the age of one, the
youth of the other. The burning lava rolled
above them and beyond and the faithful
dog turned back to share the fortunes of his
mistress, dying at her feet.
Seen by the light of such an incident, how
wildly that night of horrors looms upon the
senses! Does not the imagination picture
the little group in their own house, by the
side of their evening fountain langudly
chattering over the days events and the
unusual heat? Does it not hear with them
the troubled swell of the waters in the bay?
see, as they do: how the night comes down
in sudden strangeness, how the sky opens
overhead and flames break out, while cora,
sand, and melten rocks come pouring
down? What movements, what emotions,
what surprise! The scene grows darker
every instant, the hollow monotony of the
bay is lifted into yells, shrieks the air grows
thick and hot with flames, and at the noun
| tain's foot is heard the roll of the liquid
| lava.
Jewels, household goods, gold and silver
coins are snatched up on the instant No
time to say farewell. Darkness in front and
| fire behind, they rush into the streets, streets
checked with falling houses and flying citi-
Zens. How find the way through passages
which have no longer outlets? Confusion,
danger. darkness, uproar every where, the
shouts of parted friends, the agony Of men
struck down by falling columns, fear, mad
ness, and despair unclaimed. Here: penury
cutching gold it cannot keep, there, glut-
tony feeding on its final meal and phrenzy
striking in the dark to forestall death.
Through all fancy hears the young girls
screams. the fire is on her lewelled hand.
No time for thought. no pause the food
rolls on, and wisdom, beauty, age, and
youth, with all the stories of their love,
their hopes, their rank, wealth and great
ness all the once atf1uent life, are gone
| forever.
| When unearthed after many years, the
nameless group has no other Importance to
mankind than as it may -" serve to point
moral or adorn tale"
THE World TO CoME.-The following
we're the meditations of the celebrated John
Foster on the death of his wife.-.-They will
seem to many as a transcript of their own
thoughts under similar bereavements:
eCan it below is it-what is it-that
we are now not inhabitants of the same
world-that each has to think of the other
as in perfectly different economy of ex-
istence? Whittier is she gone-in what
manner does she consciously realize to her.
self the astonishing change-how does she
look at herself as no longer inhabiting a
mortal tabernacle-how does she look at
herself as no longer inhabiting a mortal
tabernacle-n what manner does she
recolect her stale as only few weeks
since-in what manner does she think, and
feel, and act, and communicate with other
spiritual beings-what manner of vision has
she Of God and the Saviour of the world
how does she review and estimate the course
of discipline through which she had been
prepared for the happy state where she
finds herself-in what manner does she
look back on death. which she has so re-
Gently passed through-and does she plainly
understand the nature of phenomenon so
awtully mysterious to the view of mortals?
How does she remember and feel respect
ing us, respecting me? Is she associated
with the spirits Of her departed son and our
two CHI 1ren who died in infancy2 Does
she inuuIge with delight a confident anti
cipation that we shall. after awhile, be
added to her society? If she should think
of it as with respect to some of us) many
years, possibly, before such an event. does
that appear long time in prospect, or has
she begun to account of duration according
to the great laws Of eternity9 Earnest i'm.
aginings and questionings like these arise
without end; and still, still, there is no
answer, no revelation. The mind comes
again and again up close to the thick black
veil; but there is no perforation, no
glimpse. She that loved me, and trust
loves me still, will not, cannot, must not
answer me. 1 can only imagine her to say,
"Come and see; serve our God so that you
shall come and share at no distant time"
The SANDWICH IsLANDs.-The New York
Journal of Commerce does not favor the
annexation of the Sandwich Islands. II