The Portland daily press., 1886-07-28

the pastime of antiquarian picnicS and aqua
tic excursions with the Charon of the nine
teenth century. Charon was not a grim
and surly boatman, Like his spectral proto-
iype-who picked out from the crowds on
the strand certain passengers, and rowed
them. whether they would or no, to dismal
shores, and left multitudes weeping and
wailing for no fault oftheirs, but for the neg
lect of friends to bestow upon them decent
burial and funereal rites-but he was cour-
teous, cosmopolitan man, who would take
anybody in his little skiff and row him across
the black river to abodeS of bliss, never pre-
Stunning to ask if he was ticketed through.
1t marks the onward progress Of civiliza-
tion toward the happy day when all nations
of the earth shall be as one people, to see In
this place the flags from many chimes, and
among them the stars and stripes, floating
from the prows of the boats. Here we re-
freShed the inner man with delicious fresh
oysters and fish from the deadly Styx, before
we should venture to enter ,'the very jaws of
Tartarus." This place looks to-day as it did
to Virgil; and he must have closed his eyes
to the peasants and vine dressers, busy with
their domestic avocations, that his magma
ton could more easily people its dark shad-
ows and wooded glades with wild bears and
deer. We also tried to shut out the sight of
mems abodes, and living human actors upon
the scene, that we might keep our fellowship
with Kneas, as the sybil led him along the
very path we were travelling. Soon we
caught glimpse of the river Lethe, and
crossed the fiOwery meads of the Elysian
fields We gathered wild mustard blooms on
the very spot where we fancied the vain and
egotistic Kneas embraced old Anchises and
all his illustrious ancestors; here, too, we
recalled his unexpected meeting with Dido,
who snubbed him as he deserved and con-
temptuously spurned his whining piety and
sham penitence.
We enjoyed brushing the cobWebS from
our memories and recalling the pleasant
school days when all these characters took
prominent place in our life, Here we bid
goodbye to visionary or at least traditional
characters, and drove on to our next hating
place, the Piscina Mirabilis, one of Rome's
browning wonders of architecture. This
vast reservoir, geo feet long and nearly 100
feet high. contains forty-eight massive col
ullllo, etllu oIduQo DIV Cllu VI bll6 Oulldl
aqueduct, which formerly held the supply of
water for the great amphitheatre at Puteoli
and all the cities on the shore. 1t is empty
and useless, except as monument of the
Romans ambition, and of their indefatigable
perseverance in removing all obstacles and
accomplishing that to which they aspired.
We had entered with a personal interest
into all these thrilling incidents of the past,
as we passed over the scenes, until we were
almost as weary as if they had been to us
actual experiences and we were glad to shake
off the companionship of the shades of the
departed great and settle ourselves into our
cushions for a quiet drive back to Naples
around the Bay of Baia, or ancient Bauli
Here we found new village of enterprising
citizens and the usual number of peasants
who dwell in the patched up tombs CT the
long-forgotten patrician fathers.
The aggressive sea has swallowed most of
the early magnifcence, but one solitary tenn
pie of Diana which is left to the owl and the
cormorant. The ripping waves Tapped the
pebbles on the beach with the self-same
song of the one that has, in ages long ago.
lulled to sleep tired sentinels, dreamers, and
the scheming, whirling brains of potentates
and tyrants. The peasants children flocked
about us to sell relics and flowers raised in the
Caesars gardens, which have since been en-
riched by the crumbling mortality of genera
tiens of lordly Romans. Our friend urged
US not to buy or give aims as the govern
ment is strenuously working to put down all
forms of beggary. Driving through the
Grottn PoSi1innO q tuDna1 thrOu oh thn moun-
tain, by which we entered the city, we fin
ished our tramp with Eneas by straining
our eyes to see Virgips tomb on the over
hanging cliff, where it is nearly hidden from
sight by the luxuriant acanthus plants that
have overgrown the whole enclosure.
M. c. P. B.