The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1893-11-18


south, east and west, bnrying deeper and
deeper in mammoth sepulchcr such as new
err before or since was Opeued-StabiP, Her
culaneum and pompeii-ashes ankle deep,
girdle deep, chin deep, ashes overhead.
Ont of the houses and temples and the
alters and into the streets and down to the
beach fed many of the frantic, but Others,
/ If not sulfucated by the ashes. were scalded
to death 10y the heated dcluge. AE'! then
came heavier destruction in rocks after
rocks, crushing in homes and temples and
theaters No wonder the sea recrded from
the beach as though In terror until much Of
the shipping was wrecked and no wonder
that when they lifted Pliny the elder from
the sailcoth on which he was resting un-
der the agitations of what he had seen he
suddenly expired.
! For three days the entombment proceed
ed Then the clouds lifted aud the cursiug
of that Apolyon Of mountains subsidized.
| For 100 years that city of Pompeii lay
buried and without anything to show its
| place Of doom. But after LOO years Of
| obliteratiou a work mans spade, digging
/ we'll. strikes some antiquities which lead
| To the elimination of the city. Now walk
! with me through some of the streets and
into some of the houses and amid the ruins
of Basilica aud temple and amphitheater.
From the moment the guide met us at
the gate on entering Pompeii that day in
November, 1889, until he left us at the gate
on our departure the emotion | felt was
Undesirable for elevation and solemnity
and sorrow and awe. Come and see the
petrified bodies of the dead found in the
city and now in the museums of Italy.
About $50 of those embalmed by that erup-
ton have been recovered. Mother and
child, noble and serf, merchant and beggar
are presentable and natural after /, 100
years of burial That woman was found
clutchng her adornments when the storm
of ashes and fire began, and for l, 700 years
she continued to clutch them.
There at the soldiers barracks are GA
skeletons of brave men, who faithfully
stood guard at their post when the tempest
of cinders began, and after 700 years were
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 the
chariots of the first century
NEsTIBULE OF PERDTTON
There over the doorways and in the porti-
cos are works of art immortalZing the de
hatchery of city which, notwithstanding
all its splendors. was vestibule of perdi-
the gladiators, who We're the prize fighters
of those ancient times, and it was sword
parrying sword until, with one skillful and
stout plunge of the sharp edge, the mauled
and gashed combatant reeled over dead, to
be carried out amid the huzZas of enrap-
tured spectators. We staid among those
suggestive scenes after the hour that visit
ors are usually allowed there and staid un-
, til there was not football to be heard with.
, in all that city except our own. Up this
silent street and down that silent street we
wandered. Into that windowless and roof
less home we went and came out again on
to the pavements that, now forsaken, were
, once thronged with life.
And can it be that all up and down these
solemn solitudes, hearts. more than SOC
years ago ached and rejoiced, and feet
shuflled with the gait of old aye or danced
with childish glee, and overtasked work
men carried their burdens and drunkards
staggered; On that mosaic floor did glow
ing youth clasp bands in marriage vow, and
across that threshold did pallbearers carry
the beloved dead, and gay groups once
mount these now skeletons of staircases?
While | walked and contemplated the
city seemed suddenly to be thronged with
, all the population that had ever inhabited
a it, and | heard its laughter and groan and
blasphemy and uncleanness and inferna
boast, as it was on the Odd of August, 20
: And Vesuvius, from the mild light with
which it flushed the sky that summer even
+, ing as l stood in disentombed Pompeii
seemed suddenly again to heave and flame
and rock with the lava and darkness and
: desolation and woe with which, more than
9 is centuries ago, it submerged Pompeii, as
:, with the liturgy of fire and storm, the
mountain proclaimed at the burial, Ashes
y to ashes, dust to dust"
n MORALS MORE IMPORTANT THAN ART.
My friends, | cannot tell what practical
. suggestion comes to your mind from this
, walk through uncovered Pompeii, but the
{ first thought 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
Pompeii was so exquisite that, while some
, is kept on the walls where it was first pen.
;, ciled, to be admired by those who 90 there
whole wagon loads and whole rooms full
, of it have been transferred to the MuseC
= Borbouico at Naples, to be admired by tn,
centuries.
=, Those POmpeiian artists mixed such du
: rability of colors that, though their paint
, ings were buried in ashes and scorie fo
LOO years, and since they were uncovered
. many of them have remained there exposed
9 to the rains and winds and winters ant
a summers of 100 years, the color is as fresl
:, and vivid and true as though yesterday j
y had passed from the easel. Which of on
modern paintings could stand all thati Ant
=, yet many of the specimens of Pompeiian ar
= show that the city was sunk to such dept
= of abomination that there was nothing deep
Err Sculptured and petriied and embalmet
!, abomination. There was IA state Of publ
!, morals worse than belongs to any city nov
:, standing under the sun.
Z Yet how many think that all that is nee
= essary is to cultivate the mind and advanc
=, the knowledge and improve the arts2 Hav
II you the impression that eloquence will d
!, the elevating work. Why, Pompeii ha,
;, Cicero half of every year for its citizen
Have you the idea that literature is all tina
is necessary to keep II city right Why
q Sallust, with pen that was the boast q
). Roman literature, had "a mansion in tina
> doomed city Do you think that sculptur
h and art are quite sufficient for the produC
o ton of good moralsi Then correct you
: delusion by examining the statues in tn
Il Temple of Mercury at Pompeii, or tn
a winged figures of its Parthenon and tn
# colonnades and arches of this house c
is Diomed.
"a BY all means have schools and Dusse
70 dOrt and Dore exhibitions and gallerie
% where the genius of all centuries can ban
O itself up in snowy sculpture, and all brio
h a-brac, and all pure art. But nothing, saw
the religion of Jesus Christ, can make
7 city moral In proportion AS churches an
nd ihpiG ION mi, linz,