The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1878-04-27
For The Cecil Wing
POMPEII.

| A little more than one -third OF the buried
city has been excavated. The unexcavated
portion of the city is covered with ashes
and lava to the depth of twenty to forty
feet. The excavted portion stands re-
vealed with its narrow streets and side
walks, and roofess houses and temples
The city was built upon slight elevation
and surrounded with strong wall. The
railroad station is located about an eighth
of a mile from the main entrance.
You enter gateway, pay two frances
for admission, have guide assigned you,
and commence your explorations. You
are first led to the main entrance. At this
point is shown the place where the Roman
soldier was stationed, and who stood there
during the frightful eruption from Mount
Vesuvius, keeping guard, and persisted in
the discharge Of his duty. His station was
just outside the walls of the city, and on
the left hand side of the entrance. His
remains were found upon excavating the
city, standing erect, and unt1inching, and
there he remained waiting certain death,
while the terrified citizens of Pompeii rush
ed past him, but he would not leave his
post. 1t would have been certain death
for him to have deserted his station, and if
he stayed, death was equally certain. But
the Roman soldier feared not death in the
discharge of his duty. His remains are
pointed out to visitors. The manner in
which the casts of persons are secured is
as follows: the inspectors, who 60 over the
buried city, can tell by the hollow sound
produced by striking upon the lava, when
they come upon some decayed body,
and then with small hammers they tap
upon the surface, and eventually puncture
a small hole through the surrounding
crust, and pour into it mixture of sulphur,
ground lava and some other material, which
readily hardens, and takes the form of the
object, and then letting the mixture cool
for two or three days, the outside crust is
then removed, and fair resemblance or
cast of the object is taken. These casts
are mostly removed to the museum in
Naples, but just inside of the walls several
human impressions are found, together
| VIII uIChSilo uoOu ny "PoIIoho, do "Cli
as the cast of dog, which apparently had
died in great fear and agony. Most of the
human remains do not show that they had
died with much fear. One of the casts 1
remember distinctly-that of young lady
who had persisted bearing upon her
countenance perfect resignation and con-
tentment.
The streets of Pompeii are narrow,
scarcely more than nine feet in width.
In the main street, can be seen the grooves
cut by the chariot wheels in the solid lava
pavement. The houses are built of
stone and appear to have been rough cast
on the outside. They are now entirely
rootless. In the business part of the city,
the houses are constructed in the following
manner: First you enter door way, and
enter upon an open court, where there re-
mains portion of a fountain. Here also,
the master of the house carried on his
trade. If he was a merchant, his commodi-
ties were oil, fruits, corn and wine.
The signs denoting the different trades
carried on within are curious to an Ameri-
cans eyes, thus: two men Juggling along a
huge jug represent wine shop; two men
fighting represented boxing school, a
=
man whipping lad mounted on the back
of another boy indicated school master;
and the houses of bad repute were indicated
by carved figure on the curb stone, very
indelcate and was probably displayed so
publicly in order that no one should enter
them without clear knowledge of their
character. The wine shops, which are very
numerous mostly have marble counters,
and small slit in them through which the
money could be dropped. Upon many of
the counters marks Of the glasses or cups
remain. They had square openings in the
tops of these counters, through which they
dipped up the wine, and they had also an
open space in the center in which the ven-
der stood when dealing out wine to his GUS
toners. The barber's shop was situated
on little by street. 1t consisted of one
room, and in the center of it was a marble
seat, resembling truncated cone. Here
the customer sat to be shaved. On the
right hand of the barber was small alcove
in the wall, where he placed his razor
The barber who last tenanted this shop ap-
pears to have left it rather suddenly-per-
haps on the day of the eruption-fOr his
razor was found in the alcove, opened, and
the other articles of his profession were
scattered around. | wonder if he paid his
rent before he left?
|
stone basin for the purpose of catching
water for drinking purposes. This basin
is about six feet in diameter, and the hands
of the drinkers have worn the rim of the
basin in two places some three inches deep.
1t appears that the water was supplied by
a small pipe, which emptied the water into
this basin; but the thirsty drinker would
rest his hands on the rim of the basin,
reach forward and place his mouth to the
running stream.
Now, Pompeii was destroyed by an erup
ton from Mount Vesuvius, on the after
noon of August Gath, in the year 70, and
if the basin was worn SO deep merely by
the hands of the workmen who came there
to quench their thirst, it would take bet
ter mathematician than l profess to be to
figure out how old that basin is. and cOnse-
quently how old is the city of Pompeii.
Near the Forum-or, as we would say,
the court house-of Pompeii there is an
angle or corner of a street. This corner is
made up by the open columns of the forum.
The hurrying Pompeiians used to walk
through this corner, rather than 60 around,
and they wore the marble tagging down
like many of the stone steps in our day.
The sleeping apartments of the POmpeii-
ans seem strange to us. Their rooms were
very small, and their beds were narrow,
about two feet wide and three feet high and
were built of stone I do not know what
covering they had or what sort of bed
ding was in use, but should think that
stone bed was anything but comfortable.
Undoubtedly the prettiest house that has
been discovered yet is the house of Sallust.
1t was, no doubt one of the prettiest and
most magnificent houses or private resi-
dences within the walls. In one of the
rooms were found the remains of a young
lady, supposed to have been one of the fair
ladies who was enshrined in this magnif-
cent retreat, with so much secrecy, privacy
and magnficence. Four rings were on her
fingers; gold bracelets encircled her wrists;
two ear rings and thirty, one pieces of silver
were around and about her. Three other
female remains were lying near her. sup
posed to have been her slaves.
The villa of Dionede is another splendid
ruin. This house was owned and occupied
by Diomede, who was supposed to have
been a rich banker. The house is quite
| large aud has Oh one side of it a yaulted