Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser., 1886-09-24
Volume KILLING. Is.

some great festival was being held.
The personal details of dress aud
ornament move US strangely, and bind
us by strong links of sympathy and
pity with the sufferers in CALAMITY
which to most of us, is too far off to
supply that touch of nature (which
makes the whole world kim" Here
are the sandals which ouce bound the
light feet Of Pompeian girls as they
moved IN the dance, or fed IRON the
fiery rain which turned their Joy into
mourning. their life into death. Here
are the skull aud arm of a girl found
buried in side stream of lava, upon
which the impression Of her rounded,
youthful figure still remains, though
that graceful form has long been num-
bered with the dead. Perhaps she
was on her way to the theatre, with
ohe OF. those quantity devised tickets
in her hand which attract cur attslie
ton in q neighboring Tiny
ivory violins to designate the orches-
ira, ivory pigeons with outspread
wings for the gallery. little tablets
with red numerical figures for the re-
served seats of the patricians. How
suggestive they are of that past life OF
pleasure, with its amusements, its fol-
lies, and its sins, so similar to those OF
later times-a fact brought before us
By the number Of dice, many of them
loaded. which were found in the hon-
ses, showing that the chicanrries of
! the gambler were we'll known in Pom
peii.
In the rooms which contains the
charred bread from the public ovens
already mentioned, are some bronze
dishes of fruit set out exactly in the
order in which they were found
dates, figs. walnuts, nuts and plums,
burned perfectly black, but retaining
their shape unmistaksbly. 1t looks -
though the guests had fled from the
table on which the dessert was set
out. The contents of pantrf stand
near-a jar half full Of oil; q bottle of
-four, partly used a string net hang
ing up, full of eggs, looking like
lamps of chalk or lime, piece Of
roasted meat, fallen from an oven.
These things make bridge over the
gulf of Time which separates Us from
Pompeisn life, no doubt vividly de-
scribed in the Thousand, Of chsr1
and nndeciphersals rsrchment
posed to represent the stats do
D,r eretnrs aud poetrs Old.
Mn SiyA- 1afents t0o. nlsss
.,asx Uzies Of drapery and clothing
all burned to uniform blackness,
and scarcely Jiatinguishable as to col
or any texture, though gold threads
glittering here aud there suggest ross.
of state or fective garments laid aside
in chest and Golfer, but reached by
the devouring heat, if not by actual
fire.
Pliny the Elder, who at the time OF
the destruction of the two cities was
in command Of the fleet at Misenum.
on the opposite side Of the Bay OF
Naples, watched the gradual darkening
of the thick cloud over Vesuvius, and
tells us that the smoke spread out
ward and upward until it resembled
a gigantic pine tree stretching across
the heavens, while loud subtsrranean
thunders were heard, and a fountain
of fire dashed up into the skv. Then
the great crimson lava food burst
forth and rushed down the mountain
side in river of liquid fire, to bury
Herculaneum; and the clouds OF ashes,
cinders and sparks poured down by
tons on Pompeii, the waters Of the bay
leaping up to meet the Kissing ire
which fell into the waves. engulfing
many of the boats which were bearing
fugitives away from the life terrible
scene. Pliny himself lost his life from
venturing in boat too near to the
flaming town. Earth, air and water
each had its share in this awful con-
vulsion of the elements; the thunder
of the mountain Knocked the thunder
of the waves upon the shore. One
moment the 6ery stream lighted up
the crimson lava-fo0d aud the pale
terrified faces of those who fled shrek
ing from their doom; another moment,
aud all was ingulfed in pitchy dark.
ness. Then the rain Of fire and the
choking ashes buried palace. and tenn.
pie, and tomb, turning each and all
into living grave. When silence
fell upon the scene, Pompeii with i's
, revels and roses lay fatholns deep in
shroud of ashes, to sleep the sleep
of death through the silent centuries,
until eighteen hundred years were
told. when the spell of mystery was
broken, aud as by an enchanter's g
wand, the secret Of its past was laid
bare, and the veil lifted upon the old
, I;ea time so snddanlv arrested