The Arkansaw traveler., 1884-07-26
EXCAVATIONS IN poMpErr.
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 h two recently excavated houses the paintings on the walis are as fresh as if just put on. and the halls are rich with decorations. Some of the marble tables are still standing; the fountains in the atrium and peEistyle, with their pretty little statues and mosaics, look as if they might begin to play at any moment; the kitcheu-hearths, built like ranges. seem ready for their pots and kettles; a few aoweE-poes are still set in the gardens in the storc-fooms are some oil-jars and wine jzEs; it IS as if one might begin Housekeeping tomorrow, and invite one's friends to dinner the day aftex.
 One thing is difficult to conceive with out seeing it, and that is the gorgeous ness of the interiors of the private houses. The colers are now faded; the columns are broken; the rnosaics of the hoors are geaeraiiy nearly destroyed; the fountains do not play; the dower-beds arc desti- tute of fowers; yet, even as it is, one is continually amazed by the brilliant effect of the interior vistas. h one house the view from triclinium across two courts, both surrounded by gaily decorated Cor inthian columns standing before walls painted from top to bottom in a variety of colors. is really dazzling to the eyes. The old Pompeians lived in a rainbow atmosphere.
 Another striking thing is the absolute cleanliness. You may say that the dir has all been taken away by the Italian government. That is true, but i, is quite evident that in the old times i, never was there. Our modern houses are not made to be clean. as were the Pompeian resi- dences. The walls, the floors, every corner of their homes were finished with the most admirable workmanship.
 In their rooms no plaster ever tell, for It was of such excellen. material, and so we'll pu. on that i, soon became like marble. They had no wooden walls, no cracks where dus, could penetrate. Water for cleansing was found in every part of the house, and ran of through perfect drains. All the tables and bedsteads were of marble or brcze; even the well-curbs and the borders of the fower-beds were of hewn stone. Hygiene mus. have come to the old pompeian he evidently had no chance to se, a y- Phoidal attack the only class of diseases he could nc. provide against were the eruptive, and one of these carried him of at last.
 The excavations are going on steadily. and are admirably maxaged. It is de- light to see one room after another re- vealed to the ligh. of day. The authori- ties are now beginning to replace the timbers of the roofs with new ones. In this way some second story balconies are kep, in place, instead of be- ing allowed to fail down as formely. Over some of the most richly decorated houses the roofs are restored exactly as they were, with tiles made after the ancient patterns.
 You would be as,onished at the size of some of the Pompeian houses, and of the rooms and spaces they enclose They look small because they are so empty, but when you measure them you find them very spacious. Houses of thirty and forty rooms in the first story are no, The great space was the atrium, often shirty.five to forty feet long. having an opening for light in the centre of the roof, and just under this marble lined basin, raised above the floor into which the rain fell, and on the margin of which were placed bronzes and vases. Out of this opened bedrooms, and at lhe end a reception-,oom and dining room.
 Beyond these was peristyle or court, by from eight to twenty cell amns, thus making broad corridor run- hing all around Some of the peristyles were eighty or one hundred feet square, with great variety of rooms opening nto them. Beyond the peris,yle was the garden, sometimes I5o feet square, or nore, with all sorts of arrangements for plants and fountains. A good many of he elaborate niche-shaped fountains are 'tiil perfect. The street entrances to tome of the'houses are ten or fifteen fee, n width, and had quadruple or four eaved doors In fact, so spacious are hese dwellings on the ground floor that | is generally believed that the upper 'tory rooms were rented out.
 The floors of the first and second | tories were of cement in white patterns ! 'f mosaic or tessela;ed work were laid. | Many of these floors are uninlured.
 The houses were admirably planned | o save space; and the decorations, mural and otherwise, were far beyond ,ur conceptions of the art of ornamenta- ion. The workmanship, especially the | plaster and stucco. was much better than | am be produced by our modern crafts nen.
 h examining Pompeii it is necessary to | emember that il was a small provincial | :ity, bearing abou, the same relation 10 Rome that AubaFu or Utica does to New fork. This qsnsffases our wonder in valking through is veil-paved streets, or Is richly adorned houses, or about its heatres and temples and squares, or in tudying the thousands and thousands of | rt objects Tn terra cotta, bronze, silver, | old, alabaster, marble and glass, which | ave been discovered within its walls ven with less than half the city excavated.
 
 The Mongoo.e.
 tLondos Field.
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