The Saline County journal. [volume] (Salina, Kan.) 1871-1893, 1876-01-06
4 Visit TO Vast Background City OF the
Bead,


Bead.
Grace Greenwood writes from Paris
TO the New York Times "Our party
entered the catacombs at the old Bar
Ttere d Eafer, an entrance which seems
little like 4 reverse of proceedings.
AT this point each visitor, after being
provided with a candle, desccnds nearly
"a hundred steps of n dark winding
stairway to q narrow passage, damp,
and Of course utterly dark. From here
we walked through a perfect labyrinth
Of other narrow passages, all doubly
somber from the heavy coating OF can
dlesmoke on the rock overhead -
walked for nearly half an hour before
coming to the great depository of bones.
On each side, all the way through the
old quarries, opened other arcbcd pass
ages, leading off into awful distance
aud darkness ways barred by chains
or marked dangerous. We
passed caverns like drifts" in mines,
and once we came upon a railing sur
rounding pit whose gloomy depths
we vanly sought to sound with the
trembling light Of our candles. TO
those in the rear the effect OF the long
line Of lights fickoring, waving, pass
ing in and out Of the dark arches, wind
ing and doubling, was something
strangely weird and awful. All, | am
sure, except those brave young French
men, WHO kept up their courage with
cat-cals and cock-crowing, felt Cypress
ed by tho very darkness and silence
which We were so boldly in vading. For
our part, We were inclined to speak low,
and 10 watch anxlously each her bit OF
candle, no friendly echoes Of our voices
came back from the gloomy passages,
only a dull, warning roar and the
heavy nigat, beaten bacl: for a little
space by our tapers, seemed about To
rush upon and overwheim them and US.
Surely there is difference between the
darkness fever 30 somber Il spot, which
ut some time has known daylight and
hat Of place which no ray Of sunshine
has ever reached. The darkness here
was OF the kind which "can be felt"
something suilen, almost-a hopeless
blind night which never dreamed Of the
day. SO somber and solitary, 50 I'M
earthly, though oarlhv, was all this
weary, winding way, bordered with
gloom and mystery, that 1t was a
positive relief when we reached the
great ossuary. Hero n least, were the
reprcscp tatives Of what had once been
life; for in these long, wide galleries,
these subterraneaa streets and courts
arc gathered the bones of 3,000,000
human beings-the yellow harvest OF
Time, of pestilcnce, and OF revolution.
ia these dismal coulisSeS stand silent at
last the actors Of many a fearful tragedy
OF French history but ont of those
.eyecss sockets starcs snch a strange
look Of watching and waiting and fellow
ship that il almost seems As though they
AFRO ready to rush back On the stormy
scene and take up again tbe roles Of the
conspirator and the rcvoiutionist. This
gigantic Golgatha. This mighty magazine
of death, is arranged with frighiiul regu-
larity and system. 1t seems TO ne that
1t forms a sort Of ghastly complement to
she city overhead. The great passages
arc named after the streets and boale-
wards whose course they follow. and
suggest, by the contrasts Of stiffness,
darkness and immutabiity, the uproar,
the brightness, and the rush Of the busy
day above. They suggest, with more
olerpowcring force, the great, dread
mystery Of death which forever under
lies our life. Here, beneath beautiful
churches, fragrant with incense, gorgeous
with pictures and marbles, beneath
affairs bright with tapers, and cleaning
with golden vessels and crucitixes, are
chapel-likc chambers, cut in tho rock,
whose air is heavy with the odor OF
mortality, whose ceilings are darkly
frescoed with smoke, on whose rough
columns are solemn inscriptions IN black
lettering, whose walls bear crosses OF
skulls, set in mosaics Of bones. There
is even shown here a singular collection,
arranged by n celebrated surgeon, Of
diseased boncs-a sort Of osscous hos
pitlal. The catacorlbs were consecratod
as q burial place before tho first revolu-
ton, but the bones-brought from the
various cemeteries by night in funeral
ears, with religious rites - were shot
down shaft IN a mighty indistinguish
able heap. 1t was not till the time OF
Napoleon-the man of men 10 bring
order out of chaos and to discipline even
death-that the present system was
adopted and the mass of commingled
mortal remains ranged into ranks. Since
then inscriptions have been placed over
every new section, telling when and
from what cemetery they were rcmoveds
This is all the distinction now. Here
only is real equality and fraternity.
Here, side, by side, arc heads which
once toiled at the great problems of
science and humanity, and heads that
once plotted small theits and assassina-
tons; heads that once wore coronets,
heads that once fell under the knife of
the guillohne, heads once piliowod on
the breasts of princes, heads that have
lain on the black slab of the Morgue.
Here are skeleton hands that were once
soft and fair and glittering with jewels;
strong hands, once dripping with blood;
cunning hands of musicians, rude hands
of oxecutioners feet which marched
in all tho campaigns of Napoleon, feet
that trampled the weary ways of want,
feet that have danced at the Mabille.
Pompadour may here have mingled her
hanac with shnca ~ pnD,a ,optla CiStar