The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1864-11-18

Now we can see the city as it was. The
careful preservation of fragments, noting
positions in which found, and obser-
Ing minutest particulars, enables Signor
Fiorelli to restore the entire house instead
OF leaving it in delapidated ruin as
heretofore. But the most remarkable
discovery of Signor Fiorelli is to be men
toned. In the eruption which DESTROYED
the city the ashes fell in some places
with considerable quantities of water,
forming, in fact, mud or paste which
hardened over many objects. This fact
had been noticed 10 one or two instances
and the great show article of the museum
had been the impression of female breast
in the hardened mould.
But Fiorelli has gone farther, and OBJ
tailed casts of the entire body in several
instances. He has found the moulds where
the mud formed around the bodies of the
dying Pompeiians, and pouring plaster into
the hollow he obtained fac Simis statue
o! the man or woman, just as he or she
yielded to the terrible catastrophe. The
eiequence OF these statues surpasses all de-
scription. There were four bodies found
in one street. Among them were evidently
This latter portion is built of brick, sup
ported by timbers, and the evidence thus
gained shows that the narrow streets of the
city were shaded from the sunshine "a ORR
entail cities now are. This gives us q new
idea of Roman city. Pompeii was here.
tofore little more than a plan. Streets
with ruined walls of houses on either side.
q mother and daughter. The mother died
calmly, lying on her side, perhaps suffo-
Gated. The daughter yielded not SO easily.
She was not sixteen years old Her limbs,
restored on the plaster cast, are in an atti-
tude of pain, her small fingers clenched in
the agony of the death struggle. She had
thrown veil over her face, and bowed
her head in her arms, to shield her face
from the blast of the fiery storm. The
very fashion of her dress is perfectly shown
n the cast, and there is q startling pecu-
liarity in the exhibition of the smooth skin
and rounded flesh where there are rents in
her garments. There can be no criticism
of such statues as these. They are the re-
production out Of the distant past of the
very agony of death coming on the Roman
mother and her child. There is no failure
on the copy. There it is-as the. storm of
ashes both caused and preserved tin
solid mould, the human anguish that the
casting now reveals. Looking at it, one
hears the very moan of the young girl as
she buries her face in her arms, and
yields to the terror of that awful night on
Pompeii.
The other two of the four above mem
toned are thus described by writer in the
Edin6urg Reoiew:: . .
At some distance from this group lay third
twenty-five years Of age, and to have belonged
to better class than the other two. On one
Of her fingers were two silver rings, and her
garments were of a finer texture. Her linen
head-dress. falling over her shoulders like that
of matrOn in Roman statue, can still be
distinguished. She had fallen on her side,
overcome by the heat and gases; but ter
rible struggle seems to have preceded her lat
agony. One arm is raised in despair; the
hands are clenched convulsively. Her gar
ments are gathered up on one side leaving eY.
posed limb of beautiful shape So perfect
mould of 1t has been formed by the soft and
yielding mud, that the cast would seem to be
taken from an equisite work of Greek art She
had fled with her little treasure, which lay scat
tered around her-tw0 silver cups, few jew
els and some dozen silver COINS Nor had she,
like good housewife, forgotten her keys,
after having probably locked up her stores be-
fore seeking to escape. They were found by
her side.
The fourth cast is that of man of the peo-
pie, perhaps common soldier. He is of almost
colossal size. He lies on his back, his arms
extended by his sides, and this feet stretched
out as If, finding escape impossible, he had
lain himself down to meet death like brave
man. His dress consists of short coat or
jerkin and tight-6tting breeches, of some
coarse stuff perhaps leather. Heavy sandals,
soles studded with nails are laced tightly around
his ankles. On one finger is seen his iron ring.
His features are strongly marked; the mouth
open as in death. Some of the teeth still re-
main. and even part of the mustsche adheres
to the plaster.