The Globe-republican. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1889-1910, 1893-10-13


than seven times heated. and ashes In
avalanche after avalanche. binding
and scalding and suffocating. descend,
north, south, east and west. burylng
deeper and deeper in mammoth sepul-
cher. such as never before or since was
opened, abia. Herculaneum and
Pompeii Ashes ankle deep, girdle
deep. chin deep. ashes overhead Out
of the houses and temples and theaters
and into the streets and down to the
beach fed many Of the frantic, but
others, if not suffocated of the
ashes. were scalded to death by
the heated deluge- And then
came heavier destruction in rocks
after rocks, crushing in homes and
! temples and theaters- For three days
the entombment proceeded Then the
| clouds lifted and the cursing of that
Apollyon OF mountains subsidized For
! 100 wears that city of Pompeii lay
| buried and without anything to show
its place of doom But after 1900 years
OF obliteration. a workman's spade, dig
cling a well, strikes some antiquities
which lead to the examination 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
al the gate on entering Pompeii that
day in November, 1889, until he left US
at the gate on our departure, the emo
ton | felt was indescriba bic for eleva-
ton and solemnity, and sorrow and
awe. Come and see the petritied bodies
of the dead found in the city. and now
| in the museums of Italy. About $50 OF
those em5almed by that eruption have
been recovered. Mother and child,
noble and serf. merchant and beggar.
are presenta BILE and natural after 100
wears OF burial. That woman was
found clutching her adornments when
the storm of ashes and fire began, and
for 1900 wears she continued to clutch
them There at the soldiers barracks
are sixty-four skeletons of brave
men, who faithfully stood guard
1T their post when the tempest
of cinders began, and after 100
wears were still found standing
guard. There is the form of gentle
womanhood impressed upon the hard
ened ashes Pass along and here we
see the deep rutS in the baSaltlc pave
ments worn there by the wheels of the
chariots of the first century. There,
over the doorways and in the porticos.
are works of art immortalizing the de-
bauchery of city. which, notwith-
standing all its splendors was vesti-
bule of perdition. We staid among
those suggestive scenes after the hour
that visitors are usually allowed there,
and staid until there was not a football
to be heard within all that city, except
our own. Up this silent street and
down that silent street we wandered
Into that windowless and roofiess home
we went and came out again on to the
pavements that. now forsaken, We're
once thronged with life.
My friends, l cannot tell what prac-
teal suggestion comes to your mind
from this walk through uncovered
Pompeii, but the first thought that alb
serbs 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 penciled. to be admired by those
who go there, whole wagonloads and
whole rooms full of it have been trans
ferred to the Museo Borbonico at Ma
pies. to be admired by the centuries.
Those Pompeiian artists mixed such
durability of colors that though their
paintings We're buried in ashes and
scoriee for 100 years. and since they
We're uncovered many of them have
remained there exposed to the
rains and winds and winters and sum-
mers of 100 years, the color is as
fresh and vivid and true as though yes
terday it had passed from the easel
And yet many of the specimens of Pom
peiian art show that the city was sunk
to sucn a depth of abomination that
there was nothing deeper Sculptured
and petrified and embalmed abomina-
ton There was a state of public NOR
ais worse than belongs to any city ROW
standing under the sun. Yet how
many think that all that is necessary
is to cultivate the mind and advance
, the knowledge and improve the arts
Have you the impression that eloquence
will do the elevating work? Why,
Pompeii had Cicero half of every year
for its citizen. Have you the idea that
literature is all that is necessary to
keep a city right? Why. Sallust, with
a pen that was the boast of Roman lit
erature. had a 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 by
examining the statutes in the
Temple of Mercury at Pompeii. or the
winged figures of its Parth enon. and
. the colonnades and arches of this house
, of Diomed. BY all means have schools
: and Dusseldorf and Dore exhibitions,
and galleries where the genius of all
the centuries can bank itself up in
snowy sculpture. and all bric-a-brac,
and all pure art, but nothing. save the
religion of Jesus Christ, can make a
city moral In proportion as churches
and Bibles and Christian printing
presses and revivals of religion abound
| is city clean and pure What has