The Lancaster ledger. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1852-1905, 1893-10-14

fcur skeletons Of brave men, who faithful
stood guard ct their post whep the tempest
still found standing guard. There is the
form OF gentle womanhood impressed upon
the hardened ashes. Pass along, and here
we see the deep ruts in the basaltic pave
ments worn there by the wheels Of tbs chari-
OTIS Of the first century There over the
dcorways and in the por;icoos are works OF
Art immortalizinC the debauchery OF city.
which. Notwithstanding all its splendors was
q veStibule'Nf perdition.
Those cutters ran with the blood OF the
gIaiiators, who wera prizefighters Of those
ancient times, and il was sword parrylns
sword, until with ono skilful and stout
plunge OF the sharp edge, the mauled and
gaShed combatant reeed over dead, TO be
carried out amid the huzzas Of enraptured
spectators. We staid among those suggestive
scenes after the hour that visitors are usually
allowed there and staid until there was not
fcotfall TO be- heard within all that city except
our own. Up this silent street and down that
silent streetwe wandered. Into that win
dcwlsss and roohess home We went aud came
out again onto the pavemepts that, now for
saken, we're once thron9ed with life
And can 1t oathat all up end down these
solemn solitudes, hearts more than 1900
wears ago ached and rejoiced, and feet shut
fed with the gait Of old age or danced with
childish Glee. and overtnsSed workmen car
ried their burdens, and drunkards staggered?
ON that mosaic floor did glowing youth clasp
hands in marriage vow, and cross that
threshold did pallbearers carry the beloved
dead, and gay Sroups once mount those now
skeletons Of staircases2
While walked and contemplated the city
seemed suddenly to be thronged with all the
population that had ever inhabited it. and
heard its Laughter and groan and unolean,
ness and ipteryul boast as 1t was on the 23d
Of August NTaN And vesuvius, from the mild
light with whibh IT flushed the sky that sum
mer evening a stood LII disentombed POM
peii, seemest suddenly again to hesYe and
dame and royr 9Th the lave and darkness
and desOlatS nd woe with which more
than etghted centuries ago it submerged
Pompeii, as fith the liturgy of fire and storm
the mountaa proclaimed at the burial,
Ashes to ashes, dust 10 dust"
My frenc.', 1 cannot tell what practical
suggestion Zones to your mind from this
walk through uncovered PomPei, but the
first though: that absorbs me Is that, while
art and culture are important, they cannot
save the morals or the life OF a great town.
Much OF the painting and sculpture Of Pom
peii was so exquisite that, while some Is kept
on the walls where it was first penCiled. 10 be
admired by those who 60 there, whole wagon
loads and whole rooms full OF it have been
transferred 70 the Museo Borbonico at Ma
pies, 10 he admired by the centuries.
Those PomRiian artiats mixed such dura-
bility OF colors that, though their paintings
were buried in ashes and scorin for 100
years, and since they were uncovered many
OF them have remained there exposed TO the
rains and winds and winters and summers
l3O years, the color is as fresh and vivid and
true as though Yesterday il had passed from
the easel. Which of our modern paintings
could stand all that? And yet many of the
specimens Of pCmpeiian art show that the
city was sunk to such depth of abomination
that there was nothing deeper Ssulptured
and petri1ed and embalmed abomination.
There was a state OF public morals worse
than belongs e any city now standing under
tho sun.
Yet how many think that all that is neces-
sary is 10 cultivate the mind and advance the
knowledge aud improve the arts Have you
the impression that eloquence will do the
elevating work. Why, Pompei had Cicero
half Of every year for its citizen. Have you
the idea that literature is all that Is neces-
sary TO keep city right2 Why, Sallust with
a pen that was the boast OF Roman litera-
tuIe, had mansion in that doomed city. Do
YOU think that sculpture and art are quite
sufficient for the production of fgood mornls2
Then correct your deluson by examining
the statues In the Iomple CfMerCury at Pom
peii, or the winged figures Of its Parthenon,
and the colonna1es and arches OF this house
Of Diomed.
BY all means have schools and Dusseldorf
and Dcro exhibitions and galleries whero
tho genius of all the centuries can bank II.
self up in snowy sculpture. and oil bric-r-
brac, and ali pure art, but nothing save tie
religion Of Jesus Christ can make Q city
moral. In proportion as churches and BIZ
bles and Christian printing presses ami re-
vivals OF religion abound is n city pure and
clean. What has Buddhism or Ccnfucianisrn
or Mohammedanism done in all the hun
dreds of years Of their progress for the ele-
vation Of society Absolutely nothing.
Peking and Madras and Cairo are Just
what they were ages ago, except az Christi
anity has modified their condition. What is
tho difference between our Brooklyn and
their Pompcu2 No difference, except that
which Christianity has wrought. Favor all
good art, hut take best care OF your
churches. and your Sabbath schools anl
your Bibles, and your family affairs.
Yea, SEQ in our walk through uncovered
Pompei what sin will do for city, We
oughtto be slow to assign the judgment OF
God. Cities are sometimes afflicted Just a.
good people are afflicted and the earthu uakc
and the cyclone, and the epidemic are no
sign in many cases that God IL angry with a
city but the distress Is sent for some good
and kind purpose whether we understar,,
II or not, The law that applies TO indiy.i-
uals may. apply 10 Christian cities as wCu,
All things work together for good TO those
that love God
But the greatest calamity Of history camo
upon Pompeii not to improve its future con-
dition, for it was completely obliterated ans
will never be rebuilt. II was so bad that
II neededto be buried 100 years before even
its ruins were ft 10 be uncovered. so Sodom
and Gomorrah were filed with such turpi-
tude that they were not only turned under,
but have for thousands OF years been kept
under. The two greatest cemeteries are the
cemetery in which the sunken ships are bur-
led all the way between Fire Island and
Fastnet Lighthouse. AM the other Cemetery
is the cemetery OF dead cities.
get down on my knees and read tho
epitapheology o. n long linz OF them. Here
lies Babylon once called 'the hammer OF
the whole earth Dead and buried under
piles OF bitumen AMI broken pottery and
vitreaed brick. And hear wolf howl and
reptile hiss ~ [ am reading this eptaph
isaiah xiii. 2N, "The wild beast OF the
desert shall SSthere. and their house shall
be -rSi lnIl OF diIto I creatures"
etory Of citia.S - Ninevah. Her winged lions
are down anN ths slabs OF alabaster have
crumbled, and Tho sculpture that representa- 1
her battles Is IA completely scattered as the
dust OF the heroes who fought them Per
haps put my knee into the dust OF her Sar-
danRpaus as J stoop 10 read her epitaph
(Zephanah H., 14,) Now is Nineveh desoja-
tion and dry like wilderness, and fiocks lie
down in the midst of her all rha boasts OF
the Nations, both the cormorant and the bit
tern, lodge in the upper Hntels OF H. And
while | read 1t l hear an owl hoOt and a
hyena laugh
The next entomhed city pass has monu-