The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1866-08-31

| Oh I1rG06f tkHvSks Iu9Y 4utG00e0 70
make for fhe coast, sure oE a dry
channel to the. opposite shore, and
hoping to reach some Of the great
continental towns before their store
Of diamonds should be utterly ex-
hausted. In the meantime, Panlett
was bent upon taking his boy
through the ruins Of London and
impressing upon him the memory of
the place and It's great events. So,
the next day, leaving Ellen and the
little Alice together, he and Charles
began their pilgrimage through the
mighty ruins. The event must have
occurred very many months ago, for
the ruins were perfectly cold and the
winds had toppled down the walls of
all the more fragile buildings, 80 that
the streets lny In confusion over one
another, and it was impossible, ex-
cept by other marks, to recognize the
localities. Paulett and Charles clam
bered over the fallen walls, and would
have been bewildered among the
heaps of masonry and houses shaken
from their base and bIackened by fire,
only that over the desolate prospect
they saw, and Paulett marked the
bearing of st. Paups, the chief part
OF whose dome rose high in the air,
though @ huge rent let the daylight
through it, and threatened speedy
fall There was here and there a
spire rising perfect over the ruins;
there were remains of Whitehall,
strong though blackened, seen over a
long view of prostrate streets; and in
the distance beyond, fragments of
in III IL
selves in the sunlight, though de-
faced and crumbled rs if the frame
had been too ancient to resist the fire.
Guided by these landmarks, Paulett
traced ont the plan Of the city, and
by degrees recognized where the
great streets had rum where the pa
laces had stood, where the river had
towed-and all was silent, all an alb
solute stiffness, where there had been
such ceaseless voices and sounds of
lite. The libraries were burned, the
statues calcined. the museums i'm
ashes; the mind Of man, which tri-
umphs the body, had here been sub
dued by matter, and left no trace of
itself.
"Oh! London, London! So much
talent, SO much glory and beauty;
such mighty hearts, such mighty
works, such ages of story-all buried
III one black mass! Piteous specta-
cle!' cried Paulett, striking his breast
and stretching forth his arms over
the skeleton Of what was once II sovc-
reign in the world.
He took his son by the hand and
led him over the confused masses,
telling him, as they went along, what
were the ruins by which they pissed.
''This great heap of buildings
which has fallen into the square must
be the palace of our kings. 1t is that
st. james, where they dwelt till no.
bier buildings rose with the improving
tunes. See here, Charles, there is
less ruin here. This open space was
park and garden; and time has been
that have heard the buzz of men
filing all this place, when the sove-
reigns came to hold their courts in
that building. think that this dread
ful fire must have taken place before
lie was quite extinct; for, see, there
are heaps Of stones here, as though
men had fled together to avoid it; and
1T either overlook them with long
tongues of fire, such as burning city
would send forth, or smothered them.
before they could escape. with its
smoke. Ha! I see almost a palace
there-a wonder of modern art. It
is the house I once saw, and only
once, for it was built during the years
of the great drought
''Who could build in those days.
father?" said Charles. 'I Ithoughtno
one had any heart for doing more
than we do, and that is but Just keep
ing ourselves alive"
Nay, it was very long l,et ore the
persuasion came that those were the
last days. We all believed that rain
would come again and restore the
earth to its old order, and whoever
possessed the means, builded and pro-
Jected still. lon may see this mag
nificent place suffered violence before
the fire, for its ornaments are torn
from the walls, and its statues mutt
lated by other means than the bare
fall 1t was the property of n man
called Jephcot, who, when the water
began to fail, contrived means to
bring it into London from great dis
tances. and thus to secure supply
when the ordinary means were use
less. He kept his contrivance secret,
and supplied the city when other
men s resources were exhausted, and
he grew aycpn1ip o1y ri.h l,,, tl,;. 80.