The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1874-12-31

as when last viewed oy their architects,
stand unmarried by the hand of destroy
ing time.
These houses are built of black basalt,
aard as iron and hewn in large slabs or
square blocks, which are laid one upon
another-no lime OF cement being used.
They are often five feet thick and in
their massiveness have stood firm for ages.
The roofs are formed of the same stone
in large slabs regularly and closely
ointed together, and where the room be-
meath is of large proportions an arch
gives helping support. These slabs
often measure twelve feet in length,
eighteen inches in width and six inches
in thickness. The ends rest on plain
stone cornice, which projects about a
foot from each sidewall. The doors are
solid blocks of stone four feet wide. four
and a half high and eight inches through,
and hang upon "pivots formed of pro-
iecting parts of the slab, which work in
sockets in the Intel and threshold"
-gSSough they are ponderous they open
with ease and can be fastened with stone
bolts.
In these houses are several rooms; and
often, passing from one to another, a
fight of stairs will lead you to one more
lofty and grand in its proportions
twenty five feet square and twenty high.
In this room the doors are of finer work
manship, and even the window blinds,
which everywhere are fashioned like
them, and swing open on stone hinges,
also are graced with carvings. These
large apartments must have been ban
qGet-halls; and through their doorways,
many of which would easily admit
camel, have passed the colossal guests.
What voices must have rung through
these Chambers-laughte that would al
most have made these strong walls trem
Bile! The dwellings are only story
high; and in their courts are fountains
and reservoirs that might still well serve
the purposes for which they were built
Arabian, Greek and Roman, and the
enormous Enim, have each in their turn
been master over these habitations, and,
departing, left behind them character
istics of their tastes and art.
y Roman temple rises by the side of
the simple but massive stone dwellings
of the first inhabitants-the latter unal-
/ tered by decay, the former shattered, and
in its grand beauty all but fallen to
earth. ihe Roman power passing away,
the Greek conquers the land, and, dedi-
eating the temple to St George, over a
1 ptdubil ui SUI ItLItu way CdINts Ill
stone the record of that deed.
Again Islaim takes possession and
writes in glowing letters on the temples
wall: There is no God but God, and
MOhammed is the Prophet of God"
Spacious Roman arches form the gate
ways through the solid walls reared by
giant labor, and give unmoested ac-
cess now where entrance once was
haughtily denied all strangers. Five cen
turtles have passed since the last jewellers
in these walled towns vanished, and
since that time no human being has
made within them his home. Through
all these ages the stony streets, the indie
structible houses and the temples have
slept in solitude and silence.
She that hath made the strength of towers her
trust
Wcrp- by her dead, supremacy desolate
Long streets, with vacant dwellings on
either side, and only the shadows of a
majestic past abiding in them. And a
silence over all, where once echoed the
mighty footsteps-a silence broken only
| 10y the wing beat of lone bird, of the
| proving step of fox and jackal, as they
walk up the wellpaved streets into the
very heart of the cities
Homes well built, that would accom-
! hoddte many thousands OF people, wait {:
! but only the brambles festoon their walls
and enter into their doorways; only a
| bough bends out through the open
| window. And the wild vines clasp grace
| full columns and illuminate in emerald
! jraClngs the carvings of GrcCian artists.
! Lichens, green and gray, wander in
| blindness over Latin inscriptions-seek
! ing, by the sense of touch To read the
/ eloquent words of language that is
/ now like the walls on which il is written,
only the monument of olden glories.
Now and then flying Bedouins seek
! shelter and rest for the night in these
/ stony mansions; but with the morning
| they are gone, and foxes. in their place,
! hungrily seek for some morSel they may
| have left
Here every prospect plcases, and only
man is wanting 10 bring life and action
/ into these habitations.
! But curse rests on the land, and forti-
! fed towns and colossal architecture are
! unused and uninjurcd through the swift
| flight of many centuries. And about
/ stand as witnesses
! The everlasting mountains who seem to say.
| am and shall never pass away.
-" r. ". r." In CHirtgo Tribune.