The Portland daily press., 1886-06-30
PObIPEII.

We chose the carriage drive by way of
Pompeii. rather than the railroad to Amalf
There is nothing attractive about these old
ruins; but there is strange fascination in
wandering to and fro, vainly looking for
the life and listening for its'echoes, which was
once astir in these silent streets. There was
Abondanza in the main thorougfare where
the people hustled up and down on that last
morning. intent as ever upon the days plans,
and wholly unconscious of their impending
doom. Here we observed the deep ruts which
the guides tell everybody were worn by
chariot wheels. We puzzled over this, as
the grooves did not run parallel, and the
stepping stones opposite the thresholds of
the doors are in the middle of the road and
fully two feet high, which must have entire
ly prevented horses passing along the streets.
Indeed this avenue is the only one wide
enough for any common vehicle. When at
Ostia, few days later, we understood the
arrangement much better. Among these
ruins there was found hand dray practi-
cally like our wheelbarrow, having one
wheel and two short legs ON which to sup
port it when at rest. By means of this hand
dray the slaves did vast amount of truck
ing at Ostia, which was decidedly CONNER
cial city. Since there have been but two or
three buildings excavated at Pompeii whic h
appear in the least like stables, it is probable
horses were not much used within the city
walls. As Ostia was in its glory long before
Leonardo da Vinci's birth, it does not seem
probable that he invented the wheelbarrow,
as his biographers have claimed. We visit
4 IL tt
entrance was an inscription, stating that it
was restored, after the earthquake, thirty
years before, by lad six years old. We
wondered much why this little one should
perform so great deed. Possibly he es-
capped death in the catastrophe in some
strange way, and his parents made this offer
ing of gratitude to the great god for his
miraculous Intervention to spare the life so
precious to them. They would be sure to
dedicate it in the child's name, to insure the
blessing of continued guardianship; for the
old pagans were more careful to secure the
favor and avert the wrath of their deities,
than to live peaceably with their fellow
men.
We called at Salust's house; we sat down
to rest in the home of Cornelius Rufus,
whose bust still surmounts his door; we adj
mired the mosaic fountains; and we found
our way to the shops, and looked into the
ovens where the baker put his last batch of
bread, with the same ambition to please his
customers that he had ever felt, little dream
ing that a strange people would take them
out seventeen hundred years hence. The
wine jas are still half buried in the sand,
and the public fountains show deep ridges
in the stone which were worn by the cords
in drawing water for many weary and thirs-
ty citizens. We strayed at last into the am
phitheater and the cells where the turbulent
gladiators were longing to be released. Here,
too, they ceased to feel the CALLING of their
shackles at the same time that their lords
and masters fell or fled from the awful
doom.
To complete the reality of these horrors,
we saw in the museum the bodies of men
and women burned and petrifed into I'M
slightly masses of stone. Excavations are
still going on, which will bring to light