West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1879-12-27

and the lead pipes that conducted the water
to them are found in good state Of prcscr.
vatiou. The streets are narrow. as I'm all
Italian cities, but, differing from many of
the present ones, are furnished with side
walks, but generally very narrow, and m
the middle of some of the streets nre flat
stones, several inches above the roadway,
which served for crossing when the rain
overlooked the streets The paving through
ont ~ with large pieces of volcanic stone,
aud the ritsmadc 10y the passage OF vehicles
are plainly visible on the main avenues
30 Tar no traces of stables have been found.
the skeletons of the horses discovered hav
ing been removed from the court-yards of
the houses some of the houses still have
upon the walls, in good state OF prcserva.
! ton, beautiful trCsCocs, while mosaic pave
mcnts or floors are quite numerous Many
OF the houses are partly built OF fine hard
b,iCk, and iiutcd columns, heavily coated
with plaster TO represent marble, are also
quite numerous. In fact, here, as I'm Rome.
brick. which ls thought 10y some To bc A
poor thing for buildings, appears to have
been tHvoritc material with the anoicnts.
They not only made good bricks, but, IN
laying them, good mortar was used, ana
they had no fear that building inspector
would condemn their work The remains
oi the theatres, now exposed To view, show
that the present ones, have not changed
much from those of Pompcii, particularly
IN Europe where the close boxes. with en-
frances tlom low ceiling nvcnu. \, prcdomi-
nato In fact, most OF the theatres ON this
side OF the sen are built TO keep out the air
ana make people AK uncomfortable AS pos
siolc, aud, | suppose the theatres of Pom
pen could not have been worse. one OF
the most int resting features of a visit To
Fompcll Is the pompcian Museum, in which
~ exhibited great number of curiositics
brought to light during the excavations
made, and duplicates of which Arc not
found IN the museum i'm Naples, which also
has varied and rare collection of Pom
peian cunosilics. In the museum of Pom
pcii you find an impression in plaster OF "A
door taken from one of the buildings, with
the lock and ancient iron work: also
models of twig basket much like those
now made here, wheel of chariot and "A
portion Of the ancient wall, with window
and small iron grating There arc also to
be seen shells bottles, cups, lamTs vases
money boxes almost identical with the
carthen boxes sold for chldren's saving
banks. But the most interesting OF all the
collection are the remains of men and wo.
men who lost their lives when the city wns
burned. One or two of these were females
WHO were found lying with their faces to
the ioor as II trying to escape the hot and
stilling fumes OF the ashes The arrange
lncnt oi the halr and the garments is still
visible. Adjoining these are to be found
human skulls, loaves OF bread, dried fruits.
lamps, bottles, egg shells, lrowcls, candle.
sticks scales, buckets, baskets and many
wine Jars, very similar To many seen i'm the
streets OF Naples. Skeletons OF rats, dogs.
chickens, and other animals. are also ex-
hibitcd The Temple OF Venus ia the
largest and evidently the most sumptuous
OF any in Ponpcii. Portions Of the columns
Of the DDric order, still remain but the
low paintings on the wall That were worth
preserving were removed to the Museum at
Naples. In the Temple OF Mercury there
sliIl stands IA beautiful marble altar, with
Oas-relicis representing sacrifice, in which
The priest makes libation, ASSISTED by the
ministers, while the bull which is to be
sacrificed is being led to the altar. There
are many temples and houses that contain
fine mosaic paintings on the walls, but to
tell Of them would DC but to repeat what
has 80 often been written about