Milford chronicle., 1893-10-13


+ culaneum and Pompeii-ashes ankle deer
girdle deep, chin deep, ashes overhead.
Out of the houses and temples and the
aters and into the streets and down to th
beach fed many Of the frantic. but Others
> If not suffocated by the ashes, wereaealde,
d to death by the heated deluge. And thei
/. came heavier destruction in rocks afte
rocks, crushing in homes and temples an,
e theaters No wonder the sea receded from
:. the beach as though in terror until much o
Il the shipping was wrecked and no wonder
e that when they lifted Pliny the elder from
+ the sailcloth on which he was resting un
s der the agitations of what he had seen h,
suddenly expired
For three days the entombment proceed
ed. Then the clouds lifted and the cursina
r Of that Apollyon Of mountains subsidized
For 100 years that city of Pompeii lay
buried and without anything to show its
2 place Of doom. But after !, 200 years of
{ obliteration a workman's spade. digging a
well, strikes some antiquities which lead
to the eXhumation of the city Now walk
with me through some of the streets and
into some of the houses and amid the ruins
of Basilica and temple and amphitheater.
From the moment the guide met us at
the gate on entering PompSi that day in
November, 1889, until he left us at the gate
on our departure the emotion / felt was
indescribable for elevation and solemnitv
and sorrow and awe Come and see the
petrifed bodies Of the dead found in the
city and now in the museums Of Italy.
About $50 of those embalmed by that erup-
tiOn have been recovered. Mother and
child, noble and serf, merchant and beggar
are presentable and natural after 200
years of burial. That woman was found
clutching her adornments when the storm
of ashes and fire began, and for 200 years
she continued to clutch them.
There at the soldiers barracks are g.
skeletons of brave men, who faithfully
stood guard at their post when the tempest
of cinders began, and after 200 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
A VEsTIBULE OF PERDITION
There over the doorways and in the porti- /
/ cos are works of art immortalizing the de /
/ bauchery of q city which, Notwithstanding I
all its splendors, was a vestibule of perdi- /
tion. Those cutters ran with the blood of /
the gladiators, who were the prize fighters /
of those ancient times, and it was sword /
parTying sword until. with one skillful and /
stout plunge of the sharp edge, the mauled l
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 a 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 windOwlessand 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 500
years ago, ached and reioiced, and feet
shuflled with the gait of old age or danced
with childish glee, and overtasked work
men carried their burdens and drunkards
staggered? On that mosaic floor did glow
ing youth clasp hands in marriage vow, and
across that threshold did pallbearers carry
the beloved dead, and gay groups once
mount these now skeletons of staircases?
While l walked and contemplated the
city seemed suddenly to be thronged with !
all the population that had ever inhabited !
it, and I heard its laughter and groan and !
blasphemy and uncleanness and internal
boast, as it was on the 23d of August. 20
And Vesuvius, from the mild light with
which it flushed the sky that summer even
ing as / stood in disent0mbed Pompeii. =
seemed suddenly again to heave and flame /,
and rock with the lava and darkness and =
desolation and woe with which, more than :,
Is centuries ago, it submerged Pompei, as, y
with the liturgy Of fire and storm, the =
proclaimed at the burial, "Ashes i
10 ashes, dust to dust" 4
MORALS MORE IMPORTANT THAN ART.
My friends, 1 cannot tell what practical
Hfr,vn AZ
walk through uncovered Pompeii but the ~
irst thought that absorbs me is that while y,
lrt and culture are important they cannot II
ave the morals or the life of great town. | II
Much of the painting and sculpture of p.
9ompeii was so exquisite that, while some | IA,
S kept on the walls where it was first pen ~,
lied, to be admired by those who 20 there. | A
Whole wagon loads and whole rooms full st
# it have been transferred to the Museo II,
3orbonico at Naples, to be admired by the a,
~
Those Pompeiian artists mixed such du- 81
ability Of colors that, though their paint oy
ngs were buried in ashes and scorie for dl
200 years, and since they were uncovered ~
lany Of them have remained there exposed bl
D the rains and winds and winters and
ummers of $50 years, the color is as fresh to
nd vivid and true as though yesterday it ~.
ad passed from the easel. Which of our ~
lodern paintings could stand all thatg And ~.
ct many Of the specimens of Pompeiian art ~,
how that tie city was sunk to such a depth -
fabOmination that there was nothing deep -
?. Sculptured and petriiied and embalmed ~,
domination. There was a state of public 30,
lorals worse than belongs to any city now NJ
anding under the sun. sid
Yet how many think that all that is nee ~
sary is to cultivate the mind and advance ~
le knowledge and improve the arts? Have for
1u the impression that eloquence will dc mir
le elevating work2 Why, Pompeii had am
icero half of every year for its citizen ora
ave you the idea that literature is all that eit+
necessary to keep a city right? Why, am,
lllust, with a pen that was the boast of ma
oman literature, had a mansion in that Cit
,omed city. Do you think that sculpture ems
ID art are quite sufficient for the produc- DIV
1n of good morals? Then correct your fac
lusion by examining the statues in the hea
,mple Of Mercury at Pompeii, or the i'm
nged figures Of its Parthenon and the onf
lonnades and arches of this house of ed
omed. q
BY all means have schools and Dussel- of !
IF and DOre exhibitions and galleries me
lere the genius of all centuries can bank con
elf no in SNOWY sculDture. aud all L-in No,
lrac and all pure art. But nothing, save ~
z loiislIH u Jesus CnIlsu' can Llahe d VIII
Y moral. In proportion as churches and o,,a
bles and Christian printing presses and vii
rivals of religion abound is a city clean st-e
d pure. What has Buddhism or Confu- s,oo
nism or Mohammedanism done in all seiv
e hundreds Of years Of their progress for are
9 elevation Of society? Absolutely moth Ttal
2. Peking and Madras and Cairo are just lem
lat they were ages ago, except as Chris I bs
nifty has modified their condition.
What is the difference between our Gid
ooklyn ana thelr fomPenf no aiiier- arm
e, sAcegy unao Wllel CnIlsIllnity mas let
oughv. naV9r ali gooa afO' out taSe nest Gile
e o. your cnurGne, Ji5, ana your 9aooaIh gosI
,oois' anu your olDies' anu your laiilliy ged'
afs. vvor,