The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1872-11-01

From Scnbner.

From Scr1bnsr.
The Parisians are allowed to peep at
the Oatacombs from time to TINA, and
strangers generally acc Dmpany the men
who work in those sombre reg ons. AID
who make q weekly descent. tits quite
An undertaking t. visit the chambers
where the m st inters sting relics are
stored. Some morning you find your
self waiting, with three or four hundred
others, ut the great entrance in the Rae
D'Enfer. Throngs Of old women with
the "full and complete History of the
Catacombs," din the excellence of their
wares in your ears. They also offer you
something which you must take-a tin
candlestick and one or two cani,es-to
Light your way, and possibly an OIL
cloth cloak to protect you from the
damp. Alta given moment the uni
formed functionary of tne Government
appears, orders the entrance to be
cleared, and dcscends few steps. He
cries out to the men below to count the
''ladies and gentlemen as they GO
down, and they will be counted again
while they are ON their way back. 1t
would be comparatively easy to lose one
or two Of them. That would reflect
discredit on the Administration.
Now you begin the descent-down a
long flight of solid stone steps which
wind around pillar. From time to
time the lugubrious procession panses,
to allow some one to recover from diz-
illness, or because some lady cries out
that q wretch is dropping candle-wax
on her garments. At last the bottom is
reached, and one finds himself I'D long,
narrow passage, slightly vaulted above.
A pale face CLEANS out from niche on
the side of the passage. 1t is that of
one OF the workmen. His lips move
he is counting the visitors once more.
The passage is not very high, and one is
compelled to walk in a STOPPING posture.
Gradually, however, it widens, and We
arrive at the Ossuary, and read, over
our heads, Memorial NGjorum.
1t is estimated that at least seven
millions of skeletons have been placed
in the Catacombs since they were first
really invaded by the moderns. The
Ossuary, which the guides now light up
with glaring torches, contains all the
skeletons and scattered bones which
have been collected in old cemeteries,
churches and monasteries since 1855.
An epoch long and grandiose-that
from the time of the Caesars until 1851
is represented in this vast vault. The
Merovingian kings lie cheek by jowl
with those who persisted in the Place
de Greve in La Revolution, and beggar
and prince have given their skulls to
make a monument. Twelve masons are
employed every day in the year in this
vault in arranging and sorting the
bones. The walls are made entirely of
skulls, vertebra, knee-joints and arm
bones. The polished skulls grin horri-
bly, at one as he passes, and one can al
most fancy them endowed with life.
During the greatrevolution cart-loads
of bodies were shot dswn in the Cata-
combs nightly, while priests chanted
hasty mas es over them, and the bodies
vera then decomposed by chemical
a. enc es, thu. one might get at the
bones as speedily as possible. Look
here is aao.her inscrip. ion, very pretti-
ly done in bones, ".SicM undo dicSnOs-
ti Jlurernat." Stone tablets at every
DIVISION in the vault show the section
of Paris from which the bones were
taken. In this vault great pillars have
leen placed to prop up the falling roof,
as once or twice the inhabitants above
have be- n hcrrified by an ominous sink
ing of tie earth. If the roof shout give
way now.
But it does not, AMI we turn to see,
tarther on, the bones of the Victims
of the Combat at the Chateau of the
Tuller.es, August 10, 1892" and farther
on those irJm the 81 onbat of the Place
de Grove, August % and %, 1881
So we IS on from chamber 70 cham
Der, leovng pa sages on either hand
whI h have been chained up, lest our
cur osity to explore them prove fatal to
us. Ag Tin We are all counted, and after
We have been shown, literally, miles OF
bores, We ara ushered into the open air
by Laundering mp flight of steps, and
ind Ourselves in another quarter of the
c.ty-surroun1 led by old women who
persist in following US, and taking our
candles.icks away from us. There is a
feeling as if one had been buried alive.