Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1890-03-29
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| hours there. 1 see the history on thiS
race, their wars, their heroes, their my
tnology. They are like the Egyptians in
many things, but they are not Egyptians,
nevertheless they have some of the art
spirit, too. Perhaps they lived in the
time before Atlantis was overwhelmed
perhaps they were antediluvians One
thing is certain, they had poets, histori.
ans, philosophers, in those days wish
/ could write down here a 1.-THE Of the
wit and wisdom that find on the gayly
painted walls of these ancients of so many
nges
The most wonderful chamber of all is
the hall to the north. That is the cham
Der of death and silence When first
entered this hall lighted all the gas jets.
Around the walls were high cases of
drawers, and on the front of each was q
portrait. l examined them for hours be-
fore felt any desire to do more. Among
them / observed a very beautiful face
that of young girl just entering woman
hood. This wonderful race possessed the
highest artistic skill and delicacy of ex-
preston. The face of this girl, except
that the colors had faded, might have
been the admired masterpiece of the
Paris Salon. / felt sudden interest in
the face, and caught the drawer handles
and pulled it out In the wide, deep
space into which looked lay, robed in
white, her hands folded, the form of the
girl whose picture was outside. How
beautiful she was She lay as IL only
asleep Then, slowly as / looked, the
! w kaI n,,I cd
away to pile of dust. Iclosed the shrine
and touched no more of them, but often
go and look at the faded painting and
think how lovely the girl was.
The paintings on the walls of this mu-
raj chamber show that the people had
two systems of disposing of their dead.
The great mass were consigned to the
river, but the bodies of all those who
were famous for beauty, wisdom or any
good quality were preserved by pro-
cess of embalming, which they evidently
thought would make them endure for
ages. There are probably 12, 900 separate
bodies here and they represent more than
twenty successive generations, if rightly
understand the system of family group
ing. If people lived as long as they do
now, there was an average of about
fifteen additions each year to this great
Westminster Abbey of the past. From
sort of a map painted on one of the walls
obtain the idea of many an thickly-
populated communities which used this
place as the sepulchre of their chosen few.
Evidently that was before volcanic
outburst made the channel of the river
| n col hrfI n fro
All along the course are towns marked,
groups of rock-hewn rooms on the cliffs,
populated lands on the river, promonto-
ries from whose sides fountains of light
seem to spring. Did thousands of peo-
pie once live and find happiness in these
vast vaults of death? Things must have
been very different then from now. They
must have had many reservoirs of nat
ural gas. The animal life in the river
must have been much more varied. In
deed, there are pictures in the hall Of
war, as have named it, that show two
things plainly-that there were thous-
ands of cavorns, extending over hun
dreds Of miles, and peopled by animals
with which the heroes fought, and that
the river was swarming with existence.
| Moreover, / find everywhere, chief of
the symbols Of life, in the most sacred
places, food-root like water-nut, from
which grew white leaves and seeds.
There must have been some electric
principle evolved here by the vast warm
lakes Of the river, lit with soft light ev-
erywhere at certain seasons For now
come to the strangest fact of all that
gather from the records Of the race
these people had two kinds of light ono
they found and lit--that they knew as
the lesser God of Life; the other, COM
ing from north to south, twice each year,
filled for many weeks the whole chan
mel of the river, from depth to dome,
making the very water translucent. The
Waterfront and its grain ripened and
were harvested in the last days of the
light Two crops year they gathered,
and held their Days of the Feasts of the
Greater God Of Life.
have tried to put together all can Of
their picture writings and their paint
ings, SO as to understand what sort of
men and women they were. ] confess
that ! have learned to admire them
greatly. They were strong, brave, low
ing, ana beautlful people. am sorry
they are all gone. l never cared half so
much about the dead Etruscans or Car
thaginians. The earliest chapter in their
history, so far as discover, is picture
of a line of men and women descending
into cave and dragon pursuing them.
This seems to point to former residence.
on the face of the earth, and to some
disaster-war, flood, pestilence, or some
fierce monster-which drove the sur
vivors into the depths of the Garth for
shelter
But all these thoughts are vain and
foolish have explored the cliffs of the
river and the walls of the mighty halls
which shelter me. have attempted to
cut tunnel upward past the waterfall.
using the ancient weapons which lie in
such numbers on the floor The bronze