The States and Union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1868-1872, 1869-08-04
AND, OHIO. WEDNESDAY MORNING, AUGUST 4. 1869:

on. Striding along behind him come
} man, either the owner of the cock O
the boys teacher, with long switcl
in his hand, from which there is plain
) ly no escape for the young thief.
In the last vase-room are many curl
Gus goblets; some with great eyes paint
ed on them some with s'Hail, drink p
which seems a good and friendly mot
to to set on the rim of glasses in hos
pitabes house. But now we have
J reached the ninth room, fullest O.
, wonders. To begin with, what is this;
4 small iron bedstead? Exactly that
and FdaEe say generations of single
Etrurians slept omit. Finally, itcame
to be the bier-bedstead for the last
long sleep of somebody /; and in his
tomb at Cervetri it was found. Mon
signore Regolini and General Galass
discovered this tomb, and it has ever
since been known by their names
Antiquaries believe it to be three thou
sand years old; so it is possible to
please ones self with the fancy thai
the great warrior or priest who was
buried in it died of having eaten toe
much peacock at the first supper Civ
en- to Eneas after his arrival in Italy
He must have been the best dressed
man at supper, if he Wore the magnifi
cent gold ornaments in which he was
buried. Here they are, outshinino
all the other gold and silver array in
the large glass case in the centre OF
the room-a broad gold breast-plate,
embossed with twelve bands of figures,
| sphinxes, goats, panthers, deer and
winged demons; another ornament for
the head. made of two large oval plates,
fastened together by a broad band,
embossed in the same way, with small
or plates and fringes to hang down be-
hind, bracelets several inches broad,
earrings several inches long, all match
ing the breastplate. No worker in
gold to day can equal the shaping and
chasing of these ornaments. In an in
ner room of this same tomb were
found also other bracelets, armlets,
wreathes, chains, earrings and breaches
all of the same exquisite workman
ship; and it is supposed that some
woman of high rank, possibly priest
ess, was buried there One wonders
whether it were honesty or supersti-
ton which kept tombs so safe in Etru-
ria, and involuntarily fancies the fate
of such treasures if buried in public
cemeteries to-day.
1t is hard to leave this room; but
at the end of day we should not have
seen AZ. On the walls hang rusty
metal mirrors, fans candelabras, shields
dGa4ecd Ia many nShts, Visors, axes,
javelins, cuirasses, speare, and all
shapes and sizes of armor. On shelves
are innumerable and inexplicable tools
and instruments-forks, and pins and
ladies', and strainers, and pals, and
jugs; in cases by the windows are
pounds and pounds of odds and ends
coins, and weights, and clasps, and
little metal bulls, and fishes, and cats,
and daggers, and chains, and bits Of
bone, looking for all the world as if
they had been emptied out of some
boy-giant's pocket. Here is n curious
stone bottle-an ink-bottle, they say
on which some idle scholar scratch.
ed off a bit of his primer, "Ba, Be, Bi,
Bo, Bu." in old Pelasgic letters. Go
ing to school must have been as STU
pid then rs now. Here is a PAIR of
clogs; yes, real Etruscan clogs, bronze,
filed in with light wood, No. AZ at
least, and much worn by some enter
prisiDg woman who went out in all
weathers in Veil Here is the brazier
by which she dried her feet when she
came home, and the shovel and tongs
and poker lying across the top, just as
she kept them. The tongs are on
wheels and end in snakes heads, the
shovel handle is a swans neck, and
the poker or rake finishes off with a
human hand.
Near these is an oval silver casket,
most exquisitely carved, found in
tomb at Vulci. The handle is made
of two swans, one bearing boy and
the other girl, holding on by their
arms round the swans necks. In this
were found little hand-mirror, two
broken bone combs GO unneat woman
Of Vulci y, two hair-pins, an ear-pick
and two small pots of rouge.
Three things more, and we have fin
ished our glance at this room Ro-
man war chariot, found ON the Appian
Way, and looking triumphant still: a
great arm and dolphin's tail, of bronze,
cast up by the sea at Civita Vecchia.
The next room is hung with paint
ings, exact copies of the painted walls
of the tombs of Tarquinii and Veil;
and the next and last is the ''Cham-
Der of the Tomb" long, narrow, low,
dark room, fitted up in imitation of
the common Etruscan tombstone
couches on three sides, bronze and pot
tery hanging on the walls and standing
about-an exact reproduction, they
say, of q real tomb. But it gives you
no thrill, probably makes you smile
and remember things you have seen in
panoramas. The real presences have
been in the other rooms.
We went out through the Gallery
of Inscriptions, which is one of the
solemn places. On the left hand the
tomb stones of the early Christians
On the right, those of their enemies.
1t is touching to read these records of
the first triumphs of Christianity's
first faith over the grave. ga sweet
soul, who sleeps in peace" is an in
scription constantly recurring. Among
the Pagan Inscriptions are no such
comforting words-only grief and gloom.
LETTER FROM HON. RALPH
LEETE TO GOVERNOR HAYES.