Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-05-01
LAST DAYS OF POMPEH.
An Albany Clergyman's Sketch Of
Two Buried Cities.
Rev. Charles Wood Visits Herculaneum
and Its Sister City-vivid Glimpses
at tho Home Life of
Centuries Ago.

between miles of tall houses and long
lines of m%accaroni 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 filled 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 NEAR 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 sea.
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 a torch we
descended a long fight Of stone steps
into the exhumed corridors of an i'm
anense theater. Herculaneum was not
destroyed like Pompeii by soft ashes,
but by lava as hard as molten iron.
Because of the difficulty of working.
such a material, and still more be-
cause a 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
1y under lava, the work thus far has
been carried on onlyin one other place;
yet, in the few houses that have thus
been uncovered, a 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 neal the
sign hat marks the entrance to the
Thcater of Herculaneum the road
makes a sharp turn to the left up the
side of Vesuvius. Bands of little boys
and men waylaid 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 a very appreciate 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
aproduce one Of the most highly priced
of the Italian wines. Each moment
the view beneath us became wider and
more beautiful. The city, and the
Campagna, and the bay, with it's towns
and villages, and its great islands of
Capri and Ischia, were under our feet.
Above lis was the con 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,
looking Ike the twisted entrails torn
from some gigantic Prometheus inn
prisoned in the mountain. The vegeta-
sion became less abundant. The lava
was piled around us to a more STU
pendoas height; everything except the
ia l. vision beneath US was weird and
unreal. 1t would have been impossible
for the ancients not to have peopled
this place with mysterious beings. For
them the gods were the only possible
explanation of all these wonders. Be-
cause we know more than they we felt
less. No old Greek or Roman could
have gone on as calmly toward what
he thought the entrance to the abodes
of his gods as We toward what we
knew was only the mouth of a vol
cano.
! Before we reached the observatory
ahe clouds closed around us, and the
wind that had been strong all the
morning became almost a gale. My
companion, though lie had successfully
guided great company a few months
ago through some very tempestuous
weather, concluded, as his broad chest
would offer such g fair surface of at
tack to the wind, and, as the view from
the top would be on such a day OK
.ceedingly circumscribed. that the as
cent would scarcely be worth the
trouble SO we spent IN hour Or more
in ey.n,ir1np the tury delicate instru-