Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1888-04-22
IN FAR-OFF SICILY.
VII cARLsrON TRAVELLING OVER
GROUNDS OF PAST GLORY.
, c,,Dsy Of Mysisris-A WsrdRids Over Iuys-
bls R,aas-fsmpls Two thousand Years
Old-COaIsRt Of a Remark
able StuetnrG
lsnaclal Corrlspondence.l

haan killed anu DurieO Oy thas iuuIucIcf-
..v,oa-Tme. 1t Is mostly one grand OBJ
r;,srsted cemetery, with Grecian city for
corpse, and ancient temple-ruins as mOn-
rmsnts. Arriving there late one Saturday
NIGHT, ard having slowed my ladies saiely
.Eay in rickety but well-roOfsd old car
,;,gs mounted the box with the driver,
and we all drove of through the dark into
a e,untry Of mysteries. Up hill and down
dale We plunged IS fast as my brigand-like
CINNAMON could urge his horses. He had
Iony black hair and beard, and his eyes
,SsFs If anything, darker than the night
;,self and so far IS natural makeup was
r,neerned, be would have constituted an
excellent bandit.
There was nothing to see upon this weird
ride over invisible roads except now and
then q little stone cottage, and once huge
structure which Of first thougdt was our
hotel, but which turned out to be mon
a.isry. o. and on We went, for what
seemed an hour, though less; and all this
while we were passing through open eoun-
try which used TO be the well crowded
streets Of Agrigentum and the home of Eve
hundred thousand people.
We male a short ruu, crept up slight
hill aud bsheId one OF the greatest euriosi-
ties ever found in Italy. IL was q first
rlrs h)tei. The manager was urbaue, at
tsntiye and fair. The walters had learned
10 do ST the waiting. The view next
,,ornins from our rooms was that climax
and choru5 of scenery-tbe azure Med
iterrausan Sazsd at from q Sicilian hill
TOP. with Sicilian valley.
Tse famous temple ruins doomed all day
in lull sight, sending us sly invitations to
braak our iron-ciad golden rule-neyer to
40 nav sightseeing on the Sabbath. In
travelling il is noticeable that Sunday
does not get broken very often without re-
turning the compliment, 1t u not nc
ton, bat fact that tourists who cannot
snare the Sacred Day of their trips are gen.
erally given an opportunity, sooner or
later. to keepa few week days instead-in
the thOrny sick-bsd of some wayside hotel.
Monday morning, bright, bat not early,
the brigand with the long black Whiskers
drove Us TO the temples What refresh
ment for the eye, after viewing and trying
10 compass the intricacies OF q thousand
Gothic churches! These grand D1ric col
umns are az stately as trees and as simple
as 4 child Toejr massive roofs look as
handsome in their proportions a. they were
two thousand years ago, when people
Dedicated them to such gods rs they
then had with oil the affection and rever-
snca Of devout worshippsrs. Fires, and
storms and armies, and earthquakes
.,F aaph 20 kerhk
tbsse splendid csthedrals of heathendom.
Tneir beautiful marble image statues have
psrishcd or the spot, or been carted away
10 the MUSEUMS, for people to admire, and
worship c3diy if st all. Even the marble
plating has been torn away from their ex-
tsriors, and left to view the yeliowish-
cllored shell-ro,k Of which they were
mainly composed. They are 50 nearly the
hoe of c rk that Sicilian Yankees whittle
out MODELS OF them from that kind of
wogd, and these almost exactly resemble
the or g nals-pot only in shape and pro-
portion, but in color "a well.
Poor Zsus. and HeIa, and Hercules, and
all the rest Of them They are at most
decided discount, nowadays; nobody can
tell With absolute certainty which OF these
temples was dedicated 20 whom, The saints
have driven out the gods; those deities
that once had millions of dsyoteeS have
been entirely deserted by this planet, and
must look elsewhere 10 the stsllar universe
for their wo:Shippers-
We Left these gland hsadstone5 Of de-
ceased regioo, drove 20 the little old-mod-
ern town OF Girgenti, and wandered, or
rather climbed, awhile through its streets
Il Is 90 o hillside, aud as dense and
thrcnged as il there were not leagues Of
open country all about it. Crowdipg to
sether is 3 habit Of the Sicilians, acquired
when every city had to be fortress.
We were driven 20 tho station by the
bTigaad, who turned out 10 be an honest,
lazy sort OF fellow, with an unquenchable
thirs. for strong drink, add an unconquer-
able bus not unaccOuntAble aversion to his
near ho;se. 10 few hours we had, within
the hArd-.hrust needle of our railroad
train, threaded = great many valleys,
crossed great many mountain rivers, and
broken into and ont Of several tunnel
prisons and toward evening found our
selves in this capital OF Sicily-Palermo-
which claims nearly quarter million oil
people.
II is not, upon the whole, very inter
esting city, alIhpogh what We in America
eIlla very smart one. Tits slowly drawing
the hfs-blOOd from Messina, on the other
cad of the north coast. Ii has the average
number OF churches, with their costly
spiritual fdJniture; it has handsome views
from the hills that nearly surround it; 1t
has a museum, containing some OF the
stone fragments OF ancient Greece and
Rome; but By far its greatest and most
unique curiosity is its Museum OF Death
1t is situated near one Of the edges OF the
toga, and is called the Clpuchin Csss-
comb / saii in my letter from Syracuse
that cItaeO1sbs were generally dull AFFAIRS
bat this Is most startling exception. do
not believe there is any one place in the
world that is 50 full Of sensational horror.
You enter plain ball hung with null
titude Of small paintings. These are pic
torial tragedies, telling the form in which
Death came TO those within. One pictures
duel; another the frightened stampede
OF a horss-ths victim crushed under his
heels; another the poor victims fall
from hOuss-tOp; another the fatal bite oil
serpent; still smother portrays q death IN
the shock of battle. Many are pictured
dying quietly in their beds; some Is float
ing away from themselves into the regions
OF eternal bliss used to wonder st the
Italian in America who came to the stone
cutter aud want Il him to eDgrave upon MS
little boys t0mb9tonea picture Of the load
Of hay from which he fell to his death; but
here was the same thing, only it was Siei'
Ian hay, and done in oil instead Of marble.
But this was only the anteroom to the
great assembly-roOm Of death. A mild,
innocent barsfoOted monk led rs into
corridor, with strong shelves upon each
side-arrsnged not unlike the berths OF
steamer, only there were i've or six Of
them in tier. Upon these shelves lay IN
full view the skeletons of the departed
many ofthem clothed as if they were still
living. Some Of them had white kid
gloves on their hands; one woman was
dressed in pink satin, and the poor grim
ming skull wore q white lace cap surrounded
by wreath of pink artificial roses. Two