The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1880-08-26
LOST IN THE CATACOMBs.

LOST IN THE CATACOMBS.
One very bright spring morning set
out with party of friends to visit the
Catacomos of st. Calixtus. In Rome,
as in most other places, one has
choice of evils, and at the same time a
choice of catacombs. 1t is not to be in
ferred that catacombs are, as matter
OF necessity, an evil; but the Cata-
combs of St Calixtus assuredly were
very evil-to me. In this wise. We
had in our party q nice young lady,
with . passionate partiality for souve-
Mrs. Her name was not Smith; never.
theless, she would have cheerfully
Knocked the nose off the Apollo Belve-
dere, and carried it away as a relic.
Her trunks were gradually becoming
weightier at each stage of our journey.
At first it used to perplex me-the un-
paid courier of the party-to find this
young persons luggage weighing more
at Florence than it did at Genoa, more
at Siena than it did at Florence, more
at Rome than it did at Siena 1t was
always the same luggage; the number
OF pieces was unaltered. The young
person was not in the habit of making
purchases; but the weight of her lug
gage constantly increased. At the
Colosseum one day 1 discovered the
reason / missed the young person for
quarter of an hour. When she re-
joined us she was flushed, and she had
bundle under her shawl. That bundle
proved to be lump of marble about a
quarter of stone in weight, fragment
possibly of some Greek statue of the
days of Nero. Now we knew why
mademoiselle's luggage was always
getting weightier. Her trunks were
packed with huge pieces of marble, and
serpentina, and rosso antico, and trav-
ertine, collected here and there, and
carefully labeled, From the Colos-
scum. Verona" From the Campo
Santo. Pisa" From the Duomo,
Siena," and SO on.
1t was an inoffensive mania, so we
laughed at her little, and then agreed
10 assist hor, in moderation, in making
complete her collection of relics. In
compliance with her request, 1 under
took TO procure Q morsel of marble
from the catacombs during our coming
visit OF inspection. kept my promise,
but it cost me dear.
When we reached the opening which
led down to the catacombs we were
mustered in order by conductor, who
gave to each of US a small twist of WAX
light. The man then ran his eye over
the party, which was rather q large
one, and bidding us to follow him close
ly, descended into the bowels of the
earth. In very few minutes we were
following our conductor in a long single
file through the narrow grave-like cor
ridors cut out in the earth, each of us
holding up the little bit of wax-light
taper which the guide had given us,
the length of which was no doubt
economically proportioned by him to
the duration of time necessary for our
exploration. 1t was, of course, as dark
as the grave, and our little tapers col
lectively were just sufficient to light our
footsteps. and no more.
The usual sights were being shown to
us in due order-Christian emblems
sculptured on memorial stones, legible
remains of Latin inscriptions recording
the glories of long-forgotten Romans,
and so on-when recollected nv
promise, and began to look about for a
suitable bit of marble for souvenir.
was the last of the file, and rs we turn.
ed and twisted through the narrow cor
ridors, lined with empty. graves cut in
the earthly walls, / kept my eyes open,
and used all the light there was in max
ing search. At last saw a bit OF
broken white marble in one of the
graves, which though would suit the
purpose. and stretching forward, and
thrusting my little taper as far in as my
arm would reach, began to loosen the
coveted relic. It adhered much more
firmly to the clay than had expected;
and to get it out at all was compelled
to stick my taper in the wall, and use
both hands. then got the fragment
out, and rubbing off the clay, saw that
it was portable, and such 8 specimen
as would probably please our young
lady collector. 1 took up my taper,
and then made the tremendous dis
covery that my party were entirely out
of sight, that twas utterly alone in that
horrible place, with about an inch OF
wax light unconsumed, and that I was
lost IN the catacombs.
Ny first and most natural impulse
was to issue shout at the top of my
voice. Then the full terror of my stu.
alton broke in on me, for found that
the sound did not apparently travel
three yards. 1t came back on me dull
close and deadened. / am sufficiently
courageous to confess that my first
StuSatlOn, Oh TcallZlng Wnat nau nap
pened, was one of mortal fright. A
cold and then a hot perspiration broke
out all over my body; and for one mo-
ment-and dreadful moment it was
felt my senses failing, and q feeling
as Of fainting coming over me. BY /
violent mental and moral effort SHOOK
of this physical, weakness, and wei
perhaps was it that did so, for had
tainted 1 might have rued it. But Al
once a reaction set in, more quickly
than 1 could describe, and found my.
self coolly and quietly calculating my
chances. The wax light would burn
reckoned, about ten minutes, and dur
ing that time. 1 might find either the
way out, o. q path which would lead
from the narrow galleries into one Of
the more open subterranean spaces
such as we had already visited. In one
of these it would be less dreadful to be
left in darkness than in the corridor
where l then stood, which was moi
above two feet in width and six to sew.
en- in height, and was in fact terribly
like grave in every way. tried .
few more shouts, but perceived that
was only wasting time and strength
SO proceeded at once in search of any
thing that seemed like beaten track
In less than n minuto / found bv tbs