The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1888-03-03
A VISIT TO POMPEII.

1t was on a bright sunny day that /
drove from Vesuvius to Pompeii. The
city, it will be remembered, was buried
beneath twenty feet of volcanic ashes and
pumice stone, just eighteen hundred
years ago. About the middle of the last
century it was rediscovered, and ever
since its excavation has been prosecuted
with vary ing energy. A larger part has
now been disinterred, and the result is a
revelation of the conditions of old Roman
life, such as is exhibited nowhere else.
The houses of course, are roofess, the
woodwork having been ignited by the
red hot ashes and scoria. But their in
ternal arrangements, their painting, and
their contents are preserved. 1t induces
a strange sensation to walk the narrow
streets of this long buried city-they vary
from fourteen to twenty feet wide =
to observe the ruts made by the cart
wheels eighteen centuries ago, and to see
the stepping stones across the streets,
with the marks of horses boots. On
either side are small shops, just like those
Of Naples to-day, for the sale Of bread,
meat, oil, wine, drugs and other articles.
The signs of the storekeepers can, in
places be seen, and even the stains Of the
wine-cups on the marble counters. A
barber shop, soap factory, tapnery.
fulIer's shop, bakery, with eighty loaves
of bread in the oven, and several mills,
have also been found. At street corners are
stone fountains, worn smooth by length
ned use. The dwelling houses have a yes
thule opening on the street, sometimes
with the word "Salve," Welcome" or
the figure of dog in Mosaic on the floor,
with the words, "Cave canem,"" Beware
of the dog" Within was an open court
surrounded by bedrooms, kitchen, tri-
clinium, or dining etc. The walls
and columns are beautifully painted in
bright colors, chiefly red and yellow, and
adorned with beautiful frescoes of scenes
in the history of the pagan gods and god
desses, landscapes, etc..
In public places will be read the cleo
ton placards and wall scribblings OF idle
schoolboys. Opposite one shop is the
warning, in Latin, "This is no place for
lounginR; idler, depart" The public TO-
rum, the basilica, or court of justice,
with its cells for prisoners; the temples
of the gods, with their shrines and i'm
ages, their affairs stain ed with incense
smoke, and the chambers of the priests;
the the eaters, with stage. corridors, rows
of marble seats-one will hold 5000, an
other 10000 persons; the public baths,
with inches for holding the clothes and
toilet articles, marble basins for hot and
cold water, etc.; the street of tombs,
lined with the monuments of the dead,
and the ancient city walls and gates. may
all be seen almost as they were when the
wrath Of heaven descended on the guilty
city.
About two thousand persons are sup
posed to have persisted in it's ruins. In
the house OF Diomedes the bodies of
seventeen women and children were
found crowded together. At the garden
gate was discovered the skeleton of the
proprietor, with the key in his hand, and
near him slave with money and jewels.
In the gladiator's barracks were fond
sixty-three skeletons, three of them in
prison, with iron stocks on their feet. In
the museum are preserved several casts
of the Inflated inhabitants in the attitude
of flight, and in the very death struggle.
Among these are young girl with a ring
on her finger, man lying on his side,
with remarkably well preserved features,
and others. The very texture of the
dress may be seen. The sight of this
dead city, called forth from it's grave of
centuries made the old Roman life more
vivid and real to me than all the classic
reading 1 have ever done.-Pleasant
Hours.