The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1867-11-30
MISCELLANEOUS.
IN E.IHINED CITY.

| lhc! pronounce u foinIs ALWAYS had
iu IDEA that you went down into POinpcii with
torches. by the way Of damp, dark siairways.
just as you do in silver mines, and tnvers,sl
gloomy tunnels with lava overhead and something
un either hand like dilapdaled prisons. gongcd
uni Of the solid earth, that family rescmble,l
houses. But you do nothing Of the Kind Fully
unc'half Of the buried city, perhaps is completely
cAhuinrd anil thrown open freely To the light Of
day and there stands the long rows of solid
hni.i brick houses (rOofcss) jus, as they sioo,l
| eighteen hundred wears ago, hot with the flaming
sun and there lie their floors, clcan-swcpi, ~ud
| not bright fragment tarnishcd OF wanting ui
| the ,b0rci iIosacs that pictured them with the
| bca,ts, aud birds, aud flowers which We copy in
l"ri'hable carpets to-day and there arr the
N,nuscs, aud Bacchus, and Adoniscs making
love and getting drunk In many-hucd frescUes
| ON tie walls Of saloon and bcd.chamber aud
| ,hefr are the narrow streets and narrow side
walk paved with flags Of good hard lava, the
one deeply rutted with the chariot wheels, and
the other with the passing feet OF the Pomleians
| of by-gOuc centuries aud there are bake-shops.
the temples, the halls of Justice, the baths the
thcatrcs-all clean-scraI'ed and neat, and sug-
gesiing nothing Of the nature OF a silver mine
away down in the bowels oi the earth. The
broken pillars lying about the doOrlcss door.
WAYS and the crumbling tops Of the wilderness
Of walls was wonderfully suggestive of the burnt
district in one OF our cities, and II iherr had
been any charfcd ,imbers, shattered windows
heaps Of debris, and general blacknt and smoki
ness abou, the place, the resemblance would have
been Icrfcci. But nO-the sun shines as brightly
down on old Pompcii to-day as il did when Christ
was born in Bethlehem, and it, streets are cleaner
a hundred times than ever Pompeiian saw them
in hcr prime. know whereof ! spcak--lor in
the great. chief ihoToughfares Merchant street
aud the street oi FUrtuncl have not seen with
my own eyes how fer two hundred years, at
least, IL, paycnenis were not rcpaved ?-how
tuis five and even ten inches deep were worn into
tie thick nAg-siones by the chariot " heels OF
generations ~ swindled taxpayers ? And don {
know 10y these signs that the street Commits
sioncis Of POmleii never attended TO their busi-
mess, aud that y they never mended the pave
menis. ihcy never cleaned them And. besides.
isn't il the Unborn nature Of street Commissioners
10 shitk their duty whenever they get q chance
! only wish ! knew the name OF the last one that
held Office in pOmpei so that could give him n
blast speak with feeling on this subject, be-
cause caught my foot in one OF those ruis and
the sadness that came over me when ] saw the
first skeleton with ashes and lava sticking 10 IT,
was tempered By the reflection that may be that
party was tie street Commissioner.
No Pompcii is no longer buried city. II is a
city u hundreds and hundreds Of rooiiess houses
md a tangled maze Of streets where one could
easily get lost, without guide. and have TO sleep
ia some ghostly palace that had knOwn no living
tenant since that awful November night eighteen
centuries ago.
We lounged through many AMI many a sump-
iuous private mansion which could not have
entered without formal invitation in incom-
lrchcnsible Latin in the old time when ihe own
cfs lived there and we probably wouldn't have
got i, Thrsr people built their houses good
deal alike. The floors wrr laid in fanciiul
figure wrought in mosaics Of many coorc,l
a.. lAfl E.lI
Latin s,nirnrr of welcome, sometimes, or a pic
turc Of a do with the legend "beware Of the
dog, aud sometimes picture ofa bear or afaun
with M inscription AT all Then you enter sort
Of v,siihnlr. where they used To keep the hatraek
| sapi'osc ucxia room with large marble ha.in
in the milsi tte catch the rain water aud the
IiIcs Of u fountain on either side are bedrooms
beyond the fountain arc rcception.room. then
Little garden, dining room, aud 50 foyih aud so
| on. The floors were all mosaic, the walls were
stuccocd, or frcscOc,l, or Otnanented with bas.
rcleis anl here aud there we're statues of spark
ling water that sprang from secret places in the
colunade Of handsome pillars that surrounded the
court and kept the flower-beds fresh AMI the air
cool. Thosc POmpeiians were very lnxurious in
their tastes aud habits. The most exquisite
brOnns We have sen in Europe by far, came
from the rxhuned cities Of llerculaneum and
pomIrii aud also the hncsi caineos, aud the most
delicate engrhVings ON precious stones, their pic
turcg, eighieen or nineteen centuries ED, are of-
ten much mote pleasing than the celebrated rub
bish Of the old masters of three centuries ago.
/ They were high up in art. From ihese works 81
the first up 10 the eleventh century, ar, srcIiIs
hardly 10 have exsied at al at least no remnants
Of il are lefi-and IL was curious to sre how far
these old time pagans cxcrllrd the remote genera
| iions Of masters that came after them IN these
matters The pride Of the world in sculpture
are the LAGOON and the Dying Gladiator In Rome
| They are M old as Pompcii, were dug from the
earth like Pompeii but their exact age or who
made them eau only be- conjeciufcl. Hut worn,
/ aud cracked, without history, and with the bile.
mishing stains ofnumberless centuries upon them
they still muicly mock at all efforts TO rival iheii
periections.
Il was quaint aud curious pasl-t,mc, wander
ing through this old aud silent city of the dead
lonnging thro utterly deserted streets where .
hundred thousand human beings once bongh
and sold aud walked and rode, and made ih'
place resound with the nolse and confusion o
rniilo aud pleasure. They weFe no, lazy. The;
hurried IN those days. had evidence of that
There was a temple on one corner, and II was
shorter cut to go between the columns " tina
temple from one street TO the other than 10 -
round-and behold that pathway had been wori
dtep into the heavy nag-stOne floor of the build
ing by generations OF tine-saving feet The,
wouldn 20 round whsn Il was quicker To u
through. We do that way In our cities.
Everywhere you see things that make you won
der how old these old houses were before th
night Of destruction came-thngs, too whicl
bring back those long dead inhabitants and plac
them living before your eyes. For instance TIL
steps two feet thck--lava blocksl that lead "a
oui ~ the dress circle Of the principal theatre
almost worn through For ages the boys hurtie
out Of that school aud for ages their parents hui
ricd into that theatre, and the nervous feet iha
have been dust aud ashes Tor eighteen centuIis
have len their record for rs 10 read to-day.
, imagine could sec crowds VI gcnilemen an
ladies ihrOngng into the theatre, with tickets Il
secured seats In their hands, and on the wall,
plainly a. eycr ! read anything In my life, rea
the Imaginary placard, IN ,alanOus grAinme
Positively No Free Lists Except Members Of u
} Press - Lounging abou, the doorway wei
siouchy POmpeiian strert.boys altering Slang al
profanity. aud keeping an eye op~n for checks.
. entered the theatre, aud sat down Ia 0nc
the long rows of stone benches In the dress. 81
Gle and looked at the place for he orchestra. al
the ruined stage, aud around u, the wide swea
= of empty boxes, aud thought TO myself" "Tt
house won pay ! tried 10 imagine the mus
In full blast the leader " the orchestra bealit
!. time. and the versatile S0.apd 40 who hs
+. ''jusl returned FROM n must successful tout
l. the provinces 10 pay his last aud farewell engag
meni ~ positively slA nights ouly, In PonTse
pr,vions ~ his departure Tor lIerculanenm, G
votling around The stage aud Plling the aso'