The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1893-10-10

expired. For three days the entOmbment
proceeded. Then the clouds lift
yon of mountains subsidized. Fol
seventeen hundred years that city of
iompeii lay buried and without anything
10 show It's place of doom. But after sew
ehtGen hundred years of obliteraton. Il
workmans spade, digging a 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 tbe
t nous9s ana amid the ruins of Basica and
temple and amptheater
From the moment the puido mot ns ot
me SaIe Oh entering pompeii that Jov in
->oFember, 1889. until he left MS ot tho
sue on our departure, the emotion | felt
WIS WIS 'liueScrlbable for elevation and socm-
NY an! sorrow and awe. Come and see
the petrlhed bodies of the dead found in
the city. and now in the museums of Ito}y
ABOUT tour hundred and fifty of those. en-
banned by that eruption have been re-
covered, Mother ana chill, noble aud scrf
,nrrrnaht ana besgar, arc preeentabIe and
'"'!ilai aTler l.tD years of
burial That woman was found clutching
her adornments when the storm of ashes
ana hre began, and for LOO years she
continued to clutch them. There ut the
soldiers barracks are sixty-four skeletons
of brave men. who faithfully stood guard
at their post when the tempest of cindelts
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 hero we
see the deep ruts in the basaltic pavemcntS
worn there by the wheels of the chariots
of the first century. There, over the door
ways and i'll the pOrticos. are works of
art immortaiizing the dcbauchery of
city, which, notwithstanding all its splcn-
doris. was n vestibule of pcr1ition. Those
cutters ran with the blood of the gladiators.
who were the prize fighters of those ancient
times, and it was sword parrylnG sword.
until. with one Skillful and stout plunge
Of the sharp edge. the maulcd and gashcd
combatant reecd over dead. to be carried
out amid the huZZas of cnrapturcd spec
tatOrS. We stayed among those suggestive
scenes after the hour that visitors are
usually allowed there, and stayed until there
was ntsF-~rotfall to be heard within all that
city. except our own. Up this silent street
and down that silent street we wandered.
Into that windowlcss and roofless 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 soitudes, hearts. more than eighteen
hundred years ago. achcd and reJolced,
and feet Shuilied with the gait of old age
or danced with childish glce. and overtasked
workmpn carried their burdens. and drunk
ards staggered? ON that mosaic moor ara
glowing Youth clasp hands in marriage VOW
and across that threshold did pallhe1rcrs
carry the beloved dead, and gay Sfounf
once mount those now skeletons OF star
eases? While / walked and contemplated;
thp city seemed suddenly to be thfoh%eu
With ali thc populati0n that had ever IN
Lohitnd IT, and ! heard It's laughter and
groan and blasphemy and unceAmneSS ana
Internal boast. as il was on the -od OF Az
rust. 30 And NesWius, from the mlla
light with which it flushed the sky mar
summer evening as ! stood III dlSehtolho'd
pounrji. seemed suddenly again to hcaye
and lame and rock with the lava ana DARK
ness AMI deSolation and woe, with Which,
more than eighteen centuries ago, II SUD
merged Pompeli, as, with the HluTEA oi
fire and storm. the mountain proclaimed
ut the burial Ashes to aSileS' "uS' ~
dust
Nv friends. I cannot tell what practical
suggestion comes to Your NINA from inns
walk through uncovered I0mpeli,. but me
first thought that abSOrhS me Is thAt, WhlIS
art and culture are important, they cannot
save The morals or The life of great town
Much of the painting ana sculpture OF rom
pei was SO exquisite that, Willc some Is
kept on the walls where it was first pen
ciied. to be admired by those who go there;
whole wagon loads and whole rooms tull
of it have been transferred TO the MuSeo
Borbonico at Naples, TO he admired by thc
centuries Those Pompciian artists mixed
such durability Of colors that though their
paintings were buried in ashes and scorlae
for 100 years, ana since theY
were uncovered many of them have
remained there exposed to the rams ana
winds and winters and summers of hun
bred and thirty years, the color Is as
fresh and vivid and true as though yeSter-
day it had passed from the easel Nhlch
of our modern paintings could stand al
that? And Vet many OF the specimens OF
Pompcian art show chat the city was sunk
to such II depth of abomination that there
was nothing deeper. Sculpturcd ana pctrl-
fed and cubaImcd abominarion. There
was Il state of public morals worse than