Red Wing sentinel., 1861-03-27
AN INCIDENT IN THE DAY OF
NAPLES.

AN INCIDENT IN TIE BAY OF
NAPLES.
The march OF civilization, with til,
wonderful discoveries of modern times
have given fatal blow to Superstition
One by enc, the extraordinary storic
our simple fathers SO implicitly believed
in, and handed down from gcncratio,
to generation, have been explained OF
natural grounds; and the huge super
structure of Ignorance prostratcd b.
the "sling and stonc'' of Science. The
Giants Of the lIartz Mountains hay,
disappeared forever; the rip Va,
Wrinkles have awokc from their sleel
Of centuries; Witches and Warlocks
no longer take their midnight acri:,
journeys on broomsticks in "Merrit
England" nor Ghouls haunt kirk-yard:
to "glower" at atfrightcd rustics il
''Bonnic Scotland" The "Good Peo
pie" too, ,havc fors AIKEN the "froths 'anC
secluded glcns of the Emerald Isle
and in their place, the ''schoolmastel
lis abroad" The armed hosts see,
lighting in the air by the ancients,witl
the relationships sailing on the
clouds, so much dreaded by the super
stitious mariner, are now fully account
ed for by simple science.
But though Superstition has received
it's death blow, and fingers fecbly in
the haunts of Ignorance, still there
are some things that have occurred
even in modern times, which cannot
be accounted for on natural grounds
and which possibly may never be re-
vealcd on this side of the grave, or till
the matured sciences Of after ages will
have made those things as plain to our
descendants as the errors Of our fore.
fathers in the superstitions arc palpa-
ble to us now. '.. .rgT.
The following narrative will be found
4 case i'll point; and, as it was attestc,l
TO by many witnesses, wo will relate
the incident as told us by an aged
relative many years ago, and leave the
reader to form his own conclusions as
to the cause.
At a time when Liberty is raising
her head in centuries oppressed Italy,
anything connected with shat Gland of
song and sunny skics'' will be read
with interest by the liberty loving pco-
pie ofthis vast continent; and hence a
few introductory remarks respecting
the ancient village of Sorrento. near
the scene of our adventure, may not
here he out Of place:
On the southern shore of the Bay of
Naples, lies the celebrated village of
Sorrento, renowned i'll classic lorc.-
Within its limits once stood the dwell
lings Of cmpcrors. Here the great
Caesar sought retirement from the
cares of state, and the bloody Nero
luxuriatcd III the warm springs which
arc yet called Nero's Baths. 1t was
here Calisula attempted to build his
ambitious bridge, and the vile Nero
had his own mothers life attempted.
1t is asserted that st. Paul landed here,
when he journeycd prisoner to Rome.
The small island fronting it is called
Nisida, where Marcus Brutus retired
after the deed at the foot Of Pompey's
statue, and from whence he and Cas-
sius embarked, to meet the shade of
the murdered Caesar at Philippi.-
Virgil, the father of Italian classics, is
said to repose here; and not far rcmov.
ed from Sorrento, les the buried city
OF Pompeii, which, in one night, by an
eruption Of Mount Vesuvius, was en-
tombcd for centuries, and whose sight
was, seventeen hundred years after,
revealed, by accident, to peasant,
who was til'ing the ground.
Some fifty years since, an English
merchant vessel, after discharging her
cargo in Naples, lay bccalmed in the
bay. The brcczcs which had waited
her to her destination had ceased to
blow, and not even gentle zephyr
rufllcd the placid waters, which lay
like sheet Of glass underneath, save
when some agile member Of the finnv
tribe caused a few eddics to move
around, i'll his attempt to catch the flies
that sportcd u few inches above tho
surface. The sun blazcd down with q
ticrcencss little removed from tho
tropics, which caused the sea to spar
Iklc, like precious gems, from the re-
Election Of his rays. Although some
miles distant from the burning noun
tain, scorir and ashes fell in showers
on the deck, and the air was hot anc
sutfocating in the extreme. And this
will not be wondered at, when we arc
assured that Vesuvius has thrown it,
ashes as far as Constantinople, Syria.
and Egypt, and that it hurled stones
eight pounds weight, to Pompeii, q
distance of six miles!
Day after day, the captain and crew
had been hoping that favorable
breeze would spring up, that they
night proceed on their homcwart1
voyage, and again behold those loved
ones from whom they had beop sc
long scaDartyl: l,,t d:;y af or 5,v ,vc,.,