Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1888-07-27
A VISIT TO POMPEn.
First Impressions of the Place-Unearth-
ing a Co~rpse-Frescoes.

ut was a long drive through Portici,
and not a pretty one-flth and beggars
all the way. We stopped at an inn to
order luncheon. and while it was prepar-
ing we drove to the Pompeian amphi-
theatre, which stands alone at present, on
the outskirts of what was Pompeii-the
greater part of which is still buried under
volcanic ashes. And there stands the
arena-not circular, as l had fancied, but
elliptical-most of the stone seats still
standing n above another in long tiers.
The dens of the animals, the waiting
room of the gladiators, might have been
occupied yesterday! To a reader of
Bulwer, how specially interesting the
empty look of the place so often filed by
eager thousands; the awful contrast be-
tween the stiffness now and the mingled
roars of beasts, and men worse than
beasts, that rose into the great sky thou
sands of years ago! Then there are the
very seats, in the best part larger and
more c~ommodious, in which the aris-
tocracy sat. Separate boxes for the
ladies at the top (the women never sat
with the mem were broken and grass
grown, but all so nearly complete that a
very little would restore the amphitheatre
to its original condition.
"As we drove to it we passed on the
side of the road what appeared to be a
cluster of mud novels; very small, dirty
and drabby, ~roofless and miserable, with
out a vestige of color, or column, or
statue; and a modern shed with new red
tiles here and there, put apparently to
protect something. I looked. / heard
the courier, whom everybody here treats
with great respect and calls Signor Cor
riere, say: 'Dere you hat Pompeii, sir!'
well, of all the sells in the world we
all exclaimed; and very foolish we were
to be SO rashly guided by first impress
sions, for the r~oofless, colorless place
that Pompeii certainly seems at 4 dis
lance resolves itself, or nearer approach,
into the most wonderful little city in the
world; but it seems built for pigmies.
The streets are eleven feet wide at their
widest; the houses were never more than
n story high, and they were all built
on the same plan; but the frescoes and
other decorations are very varied and
beautiful.
''Our guide through the ruins was q
Neapolitan soldier; and what with his
comical French, and his still more COM
ical manners, he kept us highly amused.
He seemed to think what he had to de-
scribe ought to interest as much as if he
were showing the gates of heaven; and
the way in which he said in English (the
only words be could speak in that Ian
guage) by and by, sare, by and by
when we attempted to anticipate his mar
rative, was Undesirable. He called me
'Mosseu' at every word, and was alto
gether inimitable in look, manner and
everything. / was surprised to find that
not more han a third Of the little CITY is
uncovered; and the excavations are now
going on with great vigor. Discoveries
of deep interest are made every day, and
as we wandered about we could see the
workmen as busy as bees pickaxing away
the lava and ashes, like a lot of English
navvies. a friend of our conductors
said something to him that made him
start; and he left us only to return run
ming and g%esticulating like a mailman.
'Mosseau. on a trouvay oone cadavre.'
The deuce they have, thought 1; that
will be something to see.
Fancy the thrilling interest with
which l approached the excavations, and
saw the men kneeling and carefully pick
ing away the volcanic matter from the
body of a woman so perfect that you could
not only distinguish her sex, but YOU felt
sure that she had been beautiful. Any
thing more pathetic could not be con-
ceived-a young mother with little chill
dren huddled about her; one hand
covered her face, and with the other she
had tried to protect a child from the
pitiless shower of %sulphurous ashes and
boiling water that overwhelmed them in
thai awful time. She conveyed to me, as
she lay there, the struggle size had made
to escape, through darkness so dense
according to Pliny, who was in it-that
people could not see each other, though
they might be touching; and at last in
despair had thrown herself down to
die, and be concealed under the fatal
ashes for eighteen centuries; then to be
uncovered before the eyes of the present
writer. | only saw the upper part of the
body down TO a little below the waist
brought to light, the excavators telling
us they We're obliged to be so tender with
their work that it might be many hours
before the whole figure was revealed.
The wonderful freshness of the Pom
peian houses, as they are laid open to the
light of day, is astonishing; and the
things they find! On a plate were some
%walnuts, some cracked and opened, some
whole; a bunch of grapes; three or four
olives in a dish, one cut in half, and the
knife lying by. AS to the frescoes and
inscriptions, they looked as if they had
just been executed. FIRTH.