The southern sentinel. (Winnfield, La.) 1883-1910, 1885-05-08
LAST DAYS OF POMPEII.
An Albany Clergyman's Sketch of
Two Buried Cities.
Rev. Charles Wood Visits HerculAneum
and Its Sister City-Vivid Glimpses
ut the Home Life OF
Centuries Ago.

Centuries Ago.
Through thick clouds of dust. and
between miles of tall houses and long
lines of maccaroni drying in the hot
sun. we drove along the Bay OF Naples
toward Herculaneum. Carriages
dashed by drawn by three horses fast
ened abreast, with bright jingling har-
ness, and filed usually either with
English. Americans or Germans bound
on the same errand. Carts mounted
on two large wheels, and packed even
out on the shafts with men, women and
children. were being dragged along at
no mean rate by long-haired ponies Of
the most diminutive sort. High walls
shut out of view the larger part OF the
way, but now and then, through the
opened doors of some of the larger
villas, we-could look down to the sen
We passed La Favorita, one of the
summer palaces of the King of Italy.
now occupied BY the deposed Pasha Of
Egypt and his seraglio; and very soon
we came to a most unpretending sign,
which announced the fact that Hercu-
laneum was just under our feet.
BY the Pickering light of torch we
descended q long flight OF stone steps
into the exhumed corridors of an i'm
mense theater. Herculaneum was not
destroyed like Pompeii by soft ashes,
but by lava as hard as molten iron.
Because of the difficulty of working
al &c. ho-
cause large town has been built over
the old city, very little comparatively
has been done toward its excavation.
Beside this theater. which is still large
" under lava, the work thus far has
been carried on only in one other place;
vet, in the few houses that have thus
been uncovered, number of the finest
bronze statues in existence were found.
No one can tell but that hundreds of
others as beautiful as the Sleeping
.Fawn and the Mercury in Repose now
lie under the cellars of these wretched
little Portician houses. Very near the
sign that marks the entrance to the
Theater of Herculaneum the road
makes sharp turn to the left up the
side of Vesuvius. Bands of little boys
and men wayla;d us here, half-entreat-
ing and half demanding that we should
accept of their services as guides.
Every spot worth seeing in Italy is in
tested with these creatures. They stick
like burrs, and to get rid of them is
such an unpleasant process that almost
any journey is begun by the average
tourist with very appreciable loss Of
temper.
The road rises gradually up the
mountain, guarded on each side by
thick walls Of lava. The houses of the
peasants are built of the same ma
terial. The little vineyards by which
nearly all these houses are surrounded,
are cultivated with great care, and
produce one Of the most highly priced
OF the Italian wines. Eacn moment
the view beneath us became wider and
moro beautiful. The city. and the
! Campagna. and the bay. with its towns
and villages, and its great islands Of
Capri and Ischi,, were under our feet
Above rs was the cone of the volcano
distinctly outlined against the sky,
sending out perpetually its soft cloud
of white smoke. Often the road ran
by the edge Of immense masses of lava,
4 1OOAs0k lac t0o kWa6tcQ Gull 81S 6OlQ
from some gigantic Prometheus i'm
prisoned In the mountain. The vegeta-
ton became less abundant The lava
was led around us to more stu
pcndOus height; everything except the
e. vision beneath rs was weird and
unreal Is would have been impossible
for the ancients not to have peopled
this place with mysterious beings. For
IL the gods were the only possible
o1p1anation Of all these wonders. Be
cause We know moro than they We felt
3cee No old Greek or Roman. could
hare gone on as calmly toward what
Re thought the entrance to tho ab0des
" his gods rs We toward what We
new Vas only the month Of vol
eono
Before We reached the observatory
~ clonds closed around m, and the
wind thnt had been strong Ill tie
mprning bccams almost . gale. Ny
1oompanion, though he had successfully
guided great company = lev months
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