, 1890-04-17
Pen Portrait of Pictur-
esque Mount Etna.
MONARCH OF FURIES.
Peculiaritiec of the People
Uf Catania.
METHODS OF ExACTlNG TRIBUTE
Interesting Gossip and Useful In
Formation by the Reviews
Rambler Abroad.

q go fCoryright 1901
CATAHtA, Sicily, March l1.-One
Inns 10 resist the strongest possible
GeInptation to classic muslng Mt Gu
ai,hs. In the pagan and Christian
history ofthe eastern shore Of the
1slard of Sicily, or that portion ex-
tcn<iing ffom Messina at it's north
eastern extremity past Catania,
shout midway between, TO Syracuse,
In nearly llrect north-and-south
lific, ono can almost read the his
tory Of tho world. Exactly half
way hetwccn Messina and Syracuse,
zts summit about the same distance
from that part of the Ionian sea
known as the Strait of Messinn, as
Il li6s . trifie west Of north of Cata-
MIA, stands that origin of countless
mythplogic ftiries and incalculable
nctual destruction, the most naJes-
fio aud fearful volcano of all Europe,
Mt. Etna,
From any Of tho tiny lava peaks
IN the suburbs Of Catania, within
{ qneis range Of vision the fancy can
summon to their olden places the
1nyth-wrafths of Jove's most power
fAll helpers, frowning from Etna's
smoky crest; the wrath Of Empe-
docles wandering ON Etna's side,
efSttxd In purple and bearing u
IRiphic crown, five centuries before
Clirist; aof Dlonysius, tho elder, 200
years later. after destroying Naxcs
scaling tho walls Of little Mola
ak1ovo, like a ferocious beast TO
bdtcher it, defenders; of the silver
10ugviod. Alcibiades, down there In
4 the arppitheater, built between 400
and 800 years before Christ, which
you can to-day see beneath ages of
lava enthralllng the Catanians with
his loving speech, while the Athen-
ians were treachcrolsly entering the
city along tho shore; Of the demigod
warriors and philosophers flashing
like meteors within the scenes of the
Roman ainpitheater, scarcely less
majestic than the Coliseum, whose
fragments still exist beneath the
street OF Hleslchoros; of that old law
maker we ought to have at WASH
ington, Charondas, who decreed
that " gislators should only make, or
,inmnlSe, laws while standing with
halter around their necks before
tsie people, ready for hanging should
their propositions fail to prevail; of
81 Paul fervidly preaching
A SIMPLER FAITH
In simpler way than Christianity
now enforces Its unyielding and ag-
gressive crecds, down there among
the iowiy upon the Ionian shore;
away to the south the wraiths of
. countless hosts of invaders who per-
ishcd upon the Catanian plains,
once the granary of the world,
where Ceres, with her own divine
hands, sowed the first wheat and
taught men 10 till the soil, and be-
yond, skirting the Ionian blue,
those myriad wraiths of myths and
humans that knew the birth, acme,
decay, despair and destruction OF
that most magnificent of all Helle-
MIC cities, glorious, sad, Transcend
eut, pitiable Syracuse. For truly
all this and thousand-fold more
are seen with the eyes of sense and
thought, while the lightning flashes
of fancy course the realms of my
thology and history. There, at
Etna, Enceladus, bound be-
meath Jupiter's earthly throne,
turning upon his fiery bed
every century or so, shakes the
world with his earthquakes. Here,
at Cataliia, twenty centuries OF
storied treasure and art lie buried
beneath seas Of liquid fire. Beyond,
~ hA nj IN.
cence of Greek achievement IL
crumbling beReath centuries of filth.
The sea, the morasses with their
deadly miasma, and the ever threat
ming filrles of Etna, alone remain.
Resplendent civilizations are anni-
Inflated. Etua reared, the seas en-
gulfsd, the morasses swept hosts
away. That was $500 years ago.
We say of that time, superstition
was the mother of mythology. Let
Etna' roar, tidal wave engulf or a
sinking swamp breed a pestilence
TO girdle the earth, more sodden
superstition aud fatalism are here to
accept the old, and create new, bug
aboos to-day. What availed st.
Paurs austerity, st. Peters benig-
nancy or even that Christ was
born to such as these?
But how can you long continue
with the gods, when vile beggars
chase yon from one classic point TO
another, and abort and ycnturesome
tlaas, brave as another Italian whose
discoveries we are about 10 celebrate,
swarm over new worlds of conquest
upon your toothsome American
anaiony? 1t Is impossible. And
NO Sou geo CataDhi with eyes of to-
day. Those view two or three long,
handsome streets with white tacadesi
and towering doInes. Jiacl. TO the
lnly half.dcstroyed by lava, and in
the other direction, toward tiny
peaks i,nd luxtiriant wales, run mar
ROW lancs whose structures are low
and black These are all built oil
lava blocks. The streets are paved
with lava, fountains are carved
frOm lava, floob are tiled with lava
stiteriors ARE built from lava, the
very dishes one eats from are turned
out OF lava, and the bread one eets
y hard, shiny and tasteless
~ lava itselG You can never gel
away from a constant conscious,
moss Of the source OF destructivenes,
and rexkyifi0atton bowling Etna II
to Catal1Ia, TO It's near cities, thu
donsc population herding all abou
its bH8e, and even 10 smiling and ex
ultont nnture itself. Over eight,
efppltous Of Etna arc Of historf'
N gGc1Ftls II epcwe out rivers OF liutiit
X Hf(l uVery Eepenation or ~. The-.