The Portland daily press., 1886-07-07

these words 90 not pTOIlDlt luOldLry, Wudt
do they mean? And if these worshippers do
not break the second commandment what is
the significance of these services? We Won
der if these people think to ingratiate them
selves into the good graces of the old saints
by these outward forms of humiliation.
Did not Peter himself, even before he had
sloughed of his Jewish pride of birth, re-
buke Cornelius, a despised Gentle, for Of
fering him homage, with these unmistakable
words: "Stand mp, also am a MANI"
Why, We fear if this impetuous Apostle
could look from his heavenly home, where
he beholds his Lord face to face-his only fit
object of adoration-and see the innumera-
BILE hosts worshipping brazen likeness Of
his sinful humanity, he might yield to hi
natural yehemencc, and use forcible Ian
guage, such as is recorded of him on one oc-
casion in the Sacred Book.
We had hoped to visit Amalf, on bidding
goodbye to Pompeii, but the day was cold,
and the way long, so we were thankful at
dusk to pull up at Salerno. Not having been
posted as to hotels we found ourselves in
slipshod, windy old tavern; but any shelter
was acceptable such chilly night; and we
waited patiently for the morning, to take up
orr pilgrimage to Paestum, the ancient
Greek city Poseidonia.
PAEsTUM.
The slow Italian trains make days ex-
cursion of few hours ride 1t is very anus
ing when you are warm and at leisure, but
when you are in hurry it is exasperating,
every time the train halts. to see the crowd
collect on the platform, and hold long and
yociferous debate. After awhile somebody
will foot fish horn, the engineer will blow
the whistle, and next, another important
funetionary will pull string to ring a COW
bell With this last performance, after sew
eral experiences, hope eternal cheers you
with fair prospect of starting in the course
of the day. In the fullness of time, without
furry or immediate haste, a tea bell jingles,
the train trembles, and you are fully per-
suaded there is no humbug about it and you
are really off once more.
Paestum is full of interest, as it presents to
the eye the three finest and best preserved
specimens of early Greek art in existence.
| These edifces were built 600 B. c., and are
| several centuries older than anything at
Rome. AS the gate swung back beneath
lH6 duCiCllg dlCii, tllC LOU obJCNe pAUo S@uoho
| the eye was patriarchal shepherd, leaning
YEARLY upon his crook, and whistling to his
keen-scented dogs to bring back some stray
ger from his motley herd. About him,
browsing upon the tufts of yerdure and wild
flowers in the dilapidated walls, were few
shaggy cattle, goats of varied hues, a bellig-
erent old eve with her f1eecy twins, and the
grey swine which are always associated in
pictures with the prodigal son. Rosa Bon
heur, by following just such groups as these
over the pastures, studied their habits until
she made her canvass almost palpitate with
the breath peculiar to each creature.
The drifting sands of the sea and the wash
ings Of the hills have reduced this ancient
city to one unbroken level, which would new
er suggest to the careless observer posi-
bility that treasures were buried beneath its
surface.
We do not know of anything that has i'm
pressed us more than the utter desolatiOn of
this marshy plain, in which the temples of
Neptune and Ceres, and the broken walls of
t he ancient Basilica stand alone, just as
they have stood ever since the days of the
Caesars, who might have read the same les
sons from their unwritten stones that we
read that day. For nearly two thousand
years they have been monuments to perpet-
uate the memory of the citizens of once
populous and influential city.
Men are busy exhuming the streets of the
tombs, where have been found some rare
bits of carved marbles and mosaics. As we
went up the steps of the temple of Neptune
we tried to realize that we were treading in
the footprints of triumphal professions, in
which many sages and statesmen have taken
part, whose words of wisdom have been texts
for thought and maxims of morals and polit-
cal economy for the intervening centuries.
We leaned upon Neptune's altar, where the
people plead for mercy or offered sacrifices
and libations of thanksgiving The block is
left upon which the sacrifices were slain.
Paestum was a ruin when Rome was in
her glory. The same beautiful acanthus
which was carved upon the columns of all
their temples, woven into their tapestries,
and often sung in their verses, wreathed it.
self closely about the weather-beaten pillars.
1t must have been a charming city, open with
broad sweep on the south and west to the
Mediterranean, and hemmed in by semicir-
VIC VI ouOWy APpCulllnCo Ol blC uOl I'll
and east The city faced the sea, and the
first glimpse that a voyager would get of his
home and his long wished for haven would
be the figure of Neptune, rearing his lofty
head from the open celia of the temple.
Nowhere could we have more naturally in
dulged in sentiment and poetry than amid
these desolate ruins, had not the March
winds pierced us to the hearts core, and the
pangs of hunger seized upon our very vitals.
Leaving our hotel at Salermo, half famished,
we trusted to picking up relishing lunch at
the shops. After peering into one and an
other, to find nothing but sickly bread, sour
curds and sausages smitten with black meas
les, we were compelled to commit our wants
to the gods of ancient Paestum, or better still
to our own good angels to provide such vi
ands as they know worthy mortals have need
of. Alas for some good purpose, doubtless
our spiritual growth, which to our limited
perceptions, was quite subordinate to crea-
ture comforts en- bleak March day, they
did not deem it wise to work miracles in our
behalf, and we held absolute fast, excepting
one boiled egg for each without butter or
salt, until nine at night So much for art
and poetry at Paestum. 1t looked decidedly
better to us in the retrospect the next day
than in the actual experience. Thousands
of sheep and horses roam over these marshes,
and herds of buffaloes which the peasants
raise TO work their farms, for food, and for
their hides and horns. When we were told
the flesh of this coarse animal was staple
article Of diet, it settled a question which we
warmly discussed at breakfast, whether the
animal which furnished our chops belonged
to the carniyerous or herbivorous species.
The horns are very long and curving, such
as are often made into furniture. The hides
are exported, and also the natives sew them
into rough garments, with the hair outside,
which gives the shepherds the grotesque look
OF brigands and wild men.
NJ. C. p B.
PERSONAL AND pEeu.,~H
1t is expected that Miss Rose Elizabeth
Cleveland will arrive in Chicago within the
next two weeks to enter upon her duties as
editor of Literary Life.