Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1893-10-13

| There At the soldiers barracks are siNt,
'our skeletons OF brave men. who faithful
stood guard at their post when the tempes
81 rinderS began. and after 100 wears wer
sun found standing guard There IL tn
i"rm OF gentle womanhoOd impressed upo
the hardened ashes. Pass along, and her
We see the ueep RUS IN the basaittc nave
m"nis worn there by the wheels OF the char
ITS OF the Hrst century. There. over IN
| doorways and In the porti Goes are works o
ART immortHlizing the debauchery OF a CITY
which. notwithstanding all its splendors wa
yestihule Of perdition.
Those cutters ran with the blood OF III,
E'Hdiator7. VINO were prizehghters OF thos,
ancient times. and IT was sword parryIn,
! sword, until, with one skilful and stou
| plunge OF the sharp edge, the maulad An,
HaShed cOmbatant resed over dead. 70 h,
carried ont amid the huzzas OF enraptured
| spectators. We staid among those suggestIy,
| scenes after the hour that visitors are usually
| allowed there and staid until there WAS not y
football to he heard within all that city except
| our own. Up this silent street and down tina,
| silent street we wandered Into that win.
| dOwIosS and rooless home we went and came
| out again onto the pavements that now for
| snken, We're once thronged with life.
And can II BE- that all up and down these
| solemn solitudes, hearts more than 1900
| years ago ached and rejoiced, and feet shut
| He'd with the gait OF old aga or danced with
| childish glec, and Overtasked workmen ear
ri"d their burdens, and drunkards staggered
! ON that mosaic floor did glowing youth clasp
| hands in marriage vow, and cross that
| threshold did palbearcrs carry the beloved
| drhi, ana gay groups once mount those now
| skeletons Of staircases?
While | walked and contemplated the CITY
seemed suddenly to be thronged with all the
population that had ever inhabited II. and [
heard Its laughter and grOan and unclean-
ness and internal boast az 1t was on the 29d
OF August, 70. And Vesuvius, from the mild
light with which II flushed the sky that sum
m'r evening as | stood in disentombed Pom
petl, seemed suddenly again to heavo and
flame and rock with the lava and darkness
hni deSolatlon and Woe with which more
thhn eighteen centuries ago it submerged
l'"mp"ii, rs with the liturgy OF tlrs and storm
the mountain proclaimed at the burial
Ashes to ashes. dust to dust"
My friends. | cannot tell what practical
SUGGESTION comes TO your mind from this
Walk through uncovered Pompcii, but the
nrst thought that ahsorhs mo IL that while
art and rutur" are important, they cannot
Snv" the morals or tho Lille of "A great town
hu n OF the painting and sculpture of Pom
pen was 50 exquisite that. while some Is kept
ON the walls where it was first penciIed, to he
admired by those who go there, whole wagon
Iudis and whole rooms full of 1t have been
transferred 10 the Museo BorbOnico at Ma
pies, to Ice admired 10y the centuries
Those iomPclian artists mixed such dura-
nlIity OF rolors that, though their paintings
were buried in ashes and scoriR for 100
years and since they were uncovered many
of them have remained there EXPOSED to the
rains AMI winds AMI winters and summers
Itu years, tn" color Is AS fresh and vivid and
true a. though yesterday ii had passed from
the easel. Witch of our modern paintings
could stand all that? AMI vet many Of the
specimens OF Pompeiiun art show that the
'lty was sunk to such adepth OF abomlnatiOn
that there was nothing deeper Scuiptured
and pctrliied and embalned abomination
There was II state OF public morals worse
tHah belongs to any city now standing under
the sun
ret how many think that all that Is neces-
sarE Is 10 cultivate the mind and adyaucetho
knowledge and improve the arts Have YOU
tho Impression that eloquencs will do the
eI"TAting work? Why, PompeIi had Cicero
halt OF every year for its citizen. Have YOU
tho idea that literature Ia all that Is neces-
sarv TO keep a city right Why, Sallust, with
a pen that was the boast Of Roman htera
tur", had mansion in that doomed city Do
You think that sculpture and art are quite
sufficient for the production OF good morals,
Then correct your delusiOn hy examining
III" statues In the Temple of Mercury at Pom.
Prii, or the winged figures oi Its Parthenon,
and III" rolonnades and arches Of this house
OF Doomed
BY all means have schools and Dusseldorf
AMI Doro exhibitions and galleries where
the genius of all the centuries eau bank IL
SELF up in snowy sculpture, and all brie-a-
hrhr. AMI all pure art, but nothing save the .
religion OF Jesus Christ can make eItv
moral In proportion H. churches and 81
bl,s and Christian printing presses ami re-
vlyal- VI religion abound is city pure and !
clean. What has Buddhism or Confuclanism |
or Muhamm"danism done In all the hun |
dr"ls OF years OF their progress for tho ele-
walton of society Absolutely nothing
Peking and Madras and Cairo are lust |
what they were ages ago, except ~ Christi.
anlty has modified their condition. What is |
the difference between our Brooklyn and
their Pompcli No difference. except that
which Christianity has wrought. Favor all
good art, but take best care OF your
and your Sabbath schools. and
your Bibles and your family altar5.
Yea, see in our walk through uncovered
PompeiI what sin will do for n city We
uughttO be slow to assign the Judgment of
God, Cities are sometimes afflicted lust as
70 ID people are afflicted, and the earthquake.
and the cyclone, and the epidemic are no
sign Ia many cases that God Is angry with a
.llN, bul lHS llSlTtSS IL sent IOT some gOOt
lni kind purpose, whether We understand
It or not. Tn law that applies to indyid-
laIs may apply to Christian cities Ms we'll,
AN things work together for good to those
hat love God"
But the greatest calamity Of history came
upon POmpeii not 10 improve its future con
litlon, for 1t was completely obliteratci and
will never be rebuilt 1t WAS 50 bad that
/ neededto he buried 100 years before even
Is ruins waro tit to be uncovered. SO Soiom
ind Gomorrah were filled with such turpi
ude that they were not only turned under
Jut have for thOusan Is OF years been kept
Indcr. The two greatest cemeteries ar" the
IN which the sunk"n ships are bur
ed all the WAY between Fire island and
Fastnet Lighthouse. an the other cemetery
5 the cemetery of dead cities
| get down ON my knees AM read the
Of long lin" Of them. Her,
les Babylon, once called the hammer Of
he whole earth Dead and buried under
,iles of bitumnn and broken pottery and ,
'itrefied brick. And hear IA wolf howl and ,
reptile hiss rs | am reading this epitaph
Isaiah Kill ~, The wild beast Of tho ,
lesert shall be there, and their house shall
% full of doleful creatures"
The next tomb kneel before In this GEM
tery Of cities is Nncveh Her wingei lions :
IRE down, AMI the slabs of Hlabaster have
ruhOled, anu the sculpture that represented
Ter battles Is as completely scattered US the {
lust OF the heroes who fought them. Per- l
laps put my knee into the dust OF her Sar- I
ianapaIus rs | stoop to real her epitaph
Lephanlah H., 40 Now is Nneveh desoa- q
ion and dry like Il wilderness, and no ks lie
lown IN the midst of her all the beasts Of .
he Nations, both the cormorant and the bit
ern lodge in the upper lintels of it, And
while read 1t | hear an owl boot and a :
lyena laugh. :
The next entombed city pass has monu
nent OF nifty PROSTATE columns OF gray anJ
'd granite, ana IT ID Tyre. Inc next Sc I !
uleher Of great capital is covered with :
catered columns and defaced sphinxes and !
lie sands Of the desert and It is Thehes IA 4
pass on | find the resting place of MycenR
nitu Of III inh Harunr - ~