Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1891-10-01
"HOME, SWEET HOME!'


had gone to visit the celebrated burn
ing mountain of ltaly-VesuEius, of which
every body has heard The weather was
excee dinghy hot, and | felt quite overcome
on reaching the edge Of the crater, which
is about 4,0C0 feet above the level of the
blue Mediterranean. Suddenly man near
me-I had taken him for visitor also
began shouting in an excited manner and
waving his aims above his head. He was
6Iessed in a sort Of blanket, something
like that the Arabs wear, and his feet were
encased in sandals. ! had not noticed this
before. He was Speaking in Latin, and,
although ! never knew much of that Ian
guage, | understood perfectly we'll what he
said. He was wiring ing his hands now,
and clying that tie learned sOothsayeIs,
after killing and disc mbowelling certain
animals and inspecting their entrails, and
after carefully watching the fight of birds,
had declared that in this ytar-he said
70, not 9l-urder the most powerful
Emperor Titus, who had taken and des-
royed The city of Jerusalem, the Italian
cities CT PCnreii ard H6rculaneum should
lie destroyed likewise by an earthquake
ard e1upticn of the Mount Vesuvius
Even as he SPOKE the sun was darkened
with a cloud of smoke, the earth began to
iIemble, and felt myself unable to stand.
/ was dizzy, ard my brain burned as
though it were filed with live Goals. !
could see river flowing towards ne, not
of water, but of liquid that resembled
burned parafnne, and | tried to lun away
but could not. Then, away down in the
citSt there, whittier was suddenly trans
ported, know not how, saw soldier
mounting guard. He. too, cried out in
Latin ana said that we should be de-
st-oyed, but he must obey orders and re-
main where he was. | admired his Cour-
age, and hoped we mi ght be turned to
stone, 10th Of US, so that COO years hence
they might find us and put US in a museum.
just then the turning lava completely
overwhelmed me, burning my flesh hor-
rlbly; there was a Tremendous explosion.
such as might be caused BY the detonat-
ing of household of dynamite, and with
a shrek | awoke | was in Rome, the
Eternal City, afCretime mistress CT the
world
was in the circus of Nero mo come
ton with Barnum), and Nero drove in IN
a beautiful gilded coach ard four, like the
one they have in the hippodrome in Paris
The coachmen and the two fooimen wore
three cornered hats and pigtails, knee
breeches, white silk stockings and buckled
shoes The footman let down the steps
Nero descended and took his seat IN his
imperial robes in the imperial tribune
And from thousands of Latin tbroats came
the cry, Ave imperator" Soon another
cry resounded-" Christianor ad leones "
which signifies: Give some christians to
the lions' and | saw several Of these
animals come into the arena, wagging
their tails and licking their lips. In a
few moments three or forr Christians
they seemed 10 be americans-were intro
duced, and the lions advanced toward
them. All on a sudden, however, the
beasts seemed struCt with terror They
put their tails between their respective
hind legs and howled piteously, and you
could see big tears rolling from their eyes.
The spectators applauded vigorously, and
one of the ladies-she must have been the
Empress | think-called an attendant
and had the most distinguished of
the Americans brought to the tribune
and saw her place a laurel branch about
his brow. lapplauded in Latin too, then,
Al felt very happy to see so much grit
rewarded, and American grit, you know.
felt so much moved that | was obliged
to wipe my eyes with my handkerchief
When | removed it the circus seemed 10
have changed into very fine church,
the Church Of St. Peter. Later on, as
4.
Lateran, which is the mother and head
of all churches of the city and Of the
world, taking precedence even of st.
Peter's-I saw a fight Of stone stairs
called the Scata Santa, They are said to
have been brought from the Pontius
Plate, and it is related that Christ walked
upon them. At present anyone who
wishes to ascend must do 50 upon his hands
and knees, Quite number of people
were going up in this way. | wandered
into the Vatican, too, and saw the Apollo
Belvidere, the LAGOON, Raphael's Trans
fguration and Madonna del FOligno, and
In the Sistine Chapel Michael Angeles
fresco of The Last Judgment. -"
about IL 900 rooms. Pictures more or less
confused, come to me of the capitol, the
dcolosseum-with room for 100000 specta-
tors-the pantheon, where the great paint
ers lie at rest, the catacombs and the
Forum Romanum. the scene of so many
memorable events In the childhood of the
world, | have vague recollection of d
great disturbance in the senate house Cat
Rome) many years ago, when crowd of
eonspirators fell upon a very worthy
gentleman named Caius Julius Caesar and
stabbed him to death. La Pisa | saw a
Mr.. Tor Signor) Calico make some curl
Gus experiments with cannon bali, which
he let fall from the top of the Campanie,
tower which is very much out of truth
Although about $50 feet high and a good
many feet out of the perpendicular it has
stood for many centuries, and does not
seem likely to fall yet awhile. Mr. Cali
leo showed me his latest invention, fly
ing machine, which certainly beats any
thing yet attempted in that line. | may
mention that ore of this gentleman for
bears was executed by fanatical mob for
making certain scientific discoveries pub
lie respecting the movement of the earth.
Well, took seat In the new flying appa-