Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1893-10-20

] say to you, standing on this wall, as
the sister Of Pliuy said to him, the
/ Roman cssayist and naval commander,
on the day Of which | speak. as she
pointed him in the direction in which
point you. There Is peculiar cloud
on the sl1y--a spotted cloud, now
white. now black. 1t is Eesuvius in
awful and unparalleled eruption. Now
the smoke and fire and steam Of that
! black monster throat rise and spread,
as, by my gester, | now describe it.
1t rises. a great column Of fiery dark
ness. higher and higher, and then
spreads out like the branches of a tree
with nidnirhts intcrwraDped in its
foliage. wider and wider. Now the
sun goes out and showers Of puinice
stone and water from furnaces more
than seven times heated, and ashes in
avalanche after avalanche binding
and ocaldiug anG sutfocating descend.
north, south, east and west, 5nrying
deeper and deeper in mammoth sepul-
cher, such as never before OF since was
opened. stabin IIerculancum and
pompcii. Ashes ankle deep. girdIe
deep. chin deep. ashes overhead. Out
Of the houses and temples ard theatcrs
and into the streets aud down to
t4e beach fed many IF the
frantic, but others. If not suffo-
Gated Of the ashes, were scalded
to death by the heated dsiuge.
And then came heavier destruction in
rocks after rocks. crushing in homes
and temples and theaters. No wonder
+ no j,l
though in terror. until much Of the
shipping was wrecked. and no wonder
that. when they lifted Pliny. the elder.
from thc sail cloth on which ne was
resting under the agitationS Of what
he had seen lac suddenly expired For
three days the enrichment proceeded
Then the clouds lifted and the cursing
of that Apoliyon of mountains sub
sided. For eventcen hundred years
that city Of Pompeii lay buried and
without anything to show it, place OF
doom Eut after seventeen hundred
years of obliteration. Il workman !,
spade, digging Il well. strikes some
antiquities which lead to the exhuma-
ton of the city. Now walk with me
through some Of the streets and into
some of the houses and amid the ruins
of Ba>llici, and temple and amphi-
theatcr.
From the moment the guide met us
at the gate on catering Pompci that
day in November, 1851, until lie left rs
at the gate on our departure. the emo
ton felt was indescriba BILE for ,leya-
ton and Solemnity. and sorro " and
awe. Tome ard see the petriied bodies
Of the dead found in the city. and now
in the museums Of Italy. About fol.
hundred and fifty of those crnbnImed
by that eruption have been recovered
Mother and child, noble and serf mer-
chant and beggar, are presentable and
natural after seventeen hundred years
of burial. That woman was found
clutching her adornmentS when the
storm Of ashes and fire began. and
for seventeen hundred years she con
tinued to clutch them. There at the
soldiers, barracks are siXty-four skele-
tons Of brave men, who faithfully stood
guard at their post when the te mptest
Of cinders began, and after seventeen
hundred years We're still found stand
ing guard. There is the form of gentle
womanhood impressed upon the hard
cned ashes. Pass along and here we
see the deep rutS in the basaltlc pave
mentS worn there by the wheels of the
chariOts of the first century There
over the doorwayS and in the portcos.
are works of art immortalizing the de-
bauchery of Il city, which notwith-
standing all it's splendors, was a vesti-
bule of perdition. Those cutters ran
with the blood of the gladiators who
were the prize fighters of those ancient
times, and it was sword parrying
sword, until with one sllillful and
stout plunge of the sharp edge, the
mauled and gashed combatant reeled
over dead, to be carried out amid the
huzzaS of enraptGred spectators. We
staid among those suggestive scenes
after the hour that visitors are usually
allowed there, ard stad until there
was not football to be heard within
all that city. except our own. Up this
silent street and down that silent street
we wandered Into that windowleSs
IL j rootie>s home we went and came
out again on the pavcmentS that. now
forsalen, were once thronmcd with
life
And can it be that ali up and down
tn csc solemn SolitudeS. hearts. more
than eighteen hundred wears ago.
ached and rejoiced, and feet shutfied
with the gait of old age or danced
with childish glee, and overtasl1ed
workmen carried their burdens. and
drunlardS staggered? On that mosaic
fiber did glowing youth clasp hands in
marriage VOW. and across that thresh-
old did pallbearers carry the beloved
dead, and gay groups once mount those
now skeletons of staircrses? While
l walked and contemplated the citv
seemed suddenly to be thronged with
all the population that had ever in
habited it, and | heard its laughter
and groan and blaSphemy and un-
cleanliness, and Internal boast, as it
was on the Esd of August 20 And
NesuviuS. from the mild light with
which it flushed the sky that summer
evening as stood in disenIom bed Pom
pen. seemed suddenly again to heave
and flame and rock with the lava and
darkness and deSolation and woe, with
which, more than eighteen centuries
ago, It submerged Pompeii as with the
liturgy of fire and storm. the mountain
proclaimed at the burial: ashes to
ashes. dust to dust"
My friends, I can not tell what prac-
teal suggestion comes to your mind
from this walk through uncovered
Pompeii, but the first thought that b
serbs me is that, while art and culture
are important, they can not save the