Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1882-06-23
,,uncing that such and such u Ponpei.

ncuncing that such and such Pompei-
~ citizen is candidate for the votes of
his fellow-ci,izens. while upon street
corners are still visible. although almost
obliternted, names and numbers. In
the shops one can See the counters
where wine and oil were sold, with the
basin, To hold those fluids. now full of
rain-watcr. In the bakers shops are
still the ovens from which perfect
loaves Of bread. burnt black, were
taken only a few years ago. the same
loaveS that one can see now at the mu-
scum near the gate.
So close is one brought TO the every
day life of the old Pompeians among
these ruins, from whence it seems rs if
the owners had only just gone, that it
seems almost impairment to enter their
houses in their absence. The walls are
all standing. covered still with the gay
freScOS of flowers. fruits and figures
which in those days served the same
purpose rs our modern wall paper.
One may enter the little Kitchens and
see The cooking-tables where cooks were
busy ut work when the eruption came.
and where the food was found still,
when another race dug down among the
ashes, ages after.
One. may enter the dining rooms. and
all the tiny little windowlesS bedrooms.
the size OF steamer State-roOnS, and all
opening on roOlleSs court where Il
fountain played, rs was the custom in
that warm climate in those old DAYS.
In some Of the rooms stand Yet carved
morhIn ful,lns xxhi,b Dnn,n,iny
citizens may often have suppcd their
wine. and talked about social OF political
events.
In the course of years it became
gradually forgotten. that under the
black plain at the foot of NeS,lvius a
city was buried away. All the Latin
writings became unintclligible to tn,
people whose language was changing
from Latin 70 modern Italian, SO thai
not even the monks in the monastericS,
who were the only people who could
at all during what we call the Dark Ages
could read Pliny's account Of swallowed
Pompcii.
Perhaps you know that by the Dark
Ages are meant those centuries between
the fifth and the tenth or twelfth. wher
WIN Dsti bii istuS \SOtuc vi Wuoiii Wtlt
our own HcestOrs) swept down OF
civilized Italy. and destroyed that civil
ization, so that all the world became
scarcely less barbaric than the barba
rianS themselves.
During all these ages Pompcii was en-
tirely forgotten. Soil gathered year by
year over the ashcn plain. till it becam,
again fertile many, many feet above it,
former level. Ehen peasants titled th,
ground and raised yearly harvests. di
rectly over the tops of splendid build
ings and statues.
One day Il peasant began to dig :
well. Digging down in search of watel
he found ilistead-a statue! Digging
farther he found himself amid walls OF
sculptured marble. Making his dis
covery known to wealthy mobiles, the ex
cavations We're largely continued b.
them, and in 1748. seventeen centurie
after its burial. Pompeii once more saw
the light of day.
What changed world was this t
which it was unearthed: What strang'
peoples were these passing wonderinglv
through its streets. Its own languay'
was nowhere spoken on earth. Th,
dreaded barbarians were masters of tn,
world The proud Roman Empire. lie
licved by the Pompcians to be as tixe,
rs the eternal hills, was utterly dis
solved. A new world had been found
Margaret Bertha Wright, IN YOUTH
Companion.