Spirit of the times. [volume] (Ironton, Ohio) 1853-1858, 1854-05-23
A Touching Relic of. PompeIl.

every turn Of the spade brings up some
relic Of the ancient life, some witness Of
imperial luxury. For fsr the greater
part, the relics have a merely curious
interest; they belong 10 archsology,and
find appropriate resting places in lis.
torical museums. .-f t,s,.t4 t
But there are exceptions. Here, for
instance, the excavator drops ION unin.
vited gusst) upon banquet; there he
unexpectedly obtrudes himself into q
tomb. In one place he finds miser
covering on bis heap; another shows
him bones Of dancing girls and broken
instruments Of music lying on the mar.
bic floor. In the midst Of the painted
chambers, baths, halls, columns, loun.
tain--among the splendid sdiGces ofma.
terial wealth. he sometimes stumbles on
simple incident, touching human s,o.
ry, such as strikes thel Imagination and
suggests the mournful interest Of the
great disaster--as the su lden sight Of
the wounded soldier conjures up the hor.
rcrs OF the battle field.
Such, TO our mind, is the latest dis.
covery of the excavators in this melan.
choly field. ltis group Of skeletons
in The act Of flight, accompanied by q
dog. There are three human beings one
Of them q young girl with gold rings and
jewoIs still on her fingers. The fugitives
had bag ofgold and silver with them
---snatched up no doubt, in haste and
darkness. But the fiery food was on
their track, their Aighl-the age Of one,
the youth Of the other. The burning Ia.
va rolled above them and beyond, and
the faithful dog turned back to share
the fortune Of his mistress, dying at her
feet. t
Seen by the light Of such an incident,
how vividIy that night Of horrors looms
upon the sense! Does not the in,agina'
tion picture the little group in their own
house, by the side Of their evening foun'
tnin, languidly chanering over the days
events and Of tho unusual heat? DOES
it not bear with them the troubled swell
Of the waters in the bay! See as they
do, how the night comes down in sud
den strangeness-how the sky opens ov
er head, and flames break out, while
scoriG, sand and molten rocks came
pouring downi What movements, what
emotion, what surprise! The scene
grows dark every instant. the hollow
monotone Of tho bay is lifted into yell'
and shrieks-the air grows thick and ho
with fames-anJ at the mountains
foot is heard the roll Of liquid lava
Jewels, household goods, gold and sill
yer coins are snatchcd up on the instant
| No time to say farewell; the darkness il
front and the fire behind, the rush int
tho streets-choked with falling house
and flying citizens. How find the wa,
f through passages which have no longe
outlets? Confusion, danger, darkness
uproar, everywhere; the shouts Of par,e
friends-the agony Of men struck dow
by falling columns-fear, madness an
despair unchanea-hese perjury clutch
ling gold it canrIP keep-,here. glutton
Il feeding On its hpal meal, aud frenz
strikingin the dark TO foresta!l dead
Through all, fancy hears the young girl
scrcam-.:- .:-the fire is on her jewelel hand
No time for ahousht-no pause-th
/ food rolls on, shd wisdom, beauty, ag
> and Soqth, with all the stories Of the
. love, their hopes, their rank, veal,
greatness--all the once pfliuent life al
!. gone forever.
d When unhesr,hed after many year
!, the nameless group has no other impor
ance to mankind as It may serve
point moral OF adorn a tale 7t