Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1893-10-09


avalanche after avalanche. binding and
scalding and suffocatlng, descend north,
south, east and west, burying deeper and
deeper In mammoth scpulcher suM as nov
err before or since was oponed-Stabi9, Her
culaneum and Pompeii--oshes ankle deep,
girile deep, chin deep, ashes overhead.
Out OF the houses and temples aud the
AteFs and into tho streets and down to the
beach fed many OF the frantic, but Others,
II not suifocated by 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. No wonder the sea reoeded from
the beach MS though in terroruntll much Of
the shipping was wrecked, and no wonder
that when they lifted Pliny the elder from
the sailcloth on which he was resting I'M
der the agitations Of what he had seen he
suddenly expired,
For three days the entonbment proceed
cd. Then the clouds lifted and the cursiug
Of that Apollyon Of mountelns subsidized
For LOO years that city Of Pompei lay
buried and without anything to show It's
place Of doom. But after 1,100 years Of
obliteration workman's spade, digging II
we'll, strikes some antiquities which lead
To the exhuuation 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 aud amphitheater,
From the moment the guide met us at
the gate on entering Pompeii that day ia
November, 1880, until he left us ut the gate
on our departure the emotion felt was
indeserlbable for elevation and solemnity
and sorrow aud awe. Come and see tho
petrifed bodies Of the dead found in the
city and now in the museums OF Italy.
A a - q H.. Ill. - 49,.
ton have been recovered Mother and
child, noble and serf, merchant and beggar
are presentable and natural after 1900
years of burial. That woman WIS found
clutching her adornments when the storm
Of ashes and Gre began, and for LOO years
she continued to clutch them.
There Mt the soldiers barracks are o.
skeletons Of brave men, who faithfully
stood guard at their post when the tempest
Of cinders began, and after 1, 700 years were
still found standing guard. There Is the
form Of gentle womanhocd 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
ohariots Of the first century
A YEsT1BuLE OF PERDITIoN.
There over the doorways and In the porti-
cos are works Of nrt immortalizing the de
bauchery Of city which, Notwithstanding
all its splendors, was vestibule Of perdi-
ton. Those CUTTERS ran with the blood Of
the gladiators, who were 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 gashod combatant reeled over dead, to
be carried out amid the huzEas OF enrap-
tured spectators. We staid among those
suggestive scenes afterthe hour that visit.
ors are usually allowed there and staid UNI
ill 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 II be that all up and down these
solemn solitudes, hearts, more than !, 500
years ago, ached and rejoiced, md feet
shuflied with the gait Of old age or danced
with childish glee, and oyertasked 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 pnllbearers carry
| the beloved dead, and gay groups once
mount these now skeletons Of staircasesH
While l walked and contemplated the
city seemed suddenly to be throngcd with
| all the population that had ever inhabited
| it, and heard It's laughter aud groan aud
| blasphemy and uncleHnness and internal
| boast, as II was on the 23d Of August 40.
| And Vesuvius, from the mild light with
| which it flushed the sky that summer even
| ing Us l stood in disentombed Pompeii,
seemed suddenly again TO heaye and fame
and rock with the lava and darkness and
desolation and woe with which, more than
is centuries ago, 1t submerged Pompeii, as,
with the liturgy OF fire and storm, the
mountain proclaimed AT the burial, "Ashes
TO ashes, dust TO dust"
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 great town.
Much Of the painting and sculpture of
| Pompeii was so exquisite that, while some
| is kept on the walls where 1t was first pen.
ciled, to be admired by those who 90 there,
whole wagon loads and whole rooms full
| Of 1t have been transferred to the Museo
Borbonico at Naples, 20 be admired by the
centuries.
Those Pompeiian artists mixed such du-
| rability OF colors that, though their paint
ings were buried in ashes and ecoria for
LOO years, and since they were uncovered
many of them have remained there exposed
to the rains and winds and winters and
summers of 100 years, the color is as fresh
and vivid and true as though yesterday It
had passed from the easel. Which Of our
modern paintings could stand all that' Aud
| yet many Of the specimens OF Pompoiian art
show that the city was sunk TO such depth
| ofabomination that there was nothing deep
er. sculpturcd and petrifed and embalmed
abomination. There was a state Of public
morals worse than belongs to any city now
standing under the sun
Yet how many think that all that Is nee
essary is TO cultivate the mind and advance
the knowledge and improve the artist Have
you the impression that eloquenoe win do
the eevating work. Why, Pompeii had
Cicero half Of every year for It's citizen.
Have you the idea that literature is all that
Is necessary to keep city right Why,
Sallust, with pen that was the boast Of
Roman literature, had a mansion In that
doomed city. Do you think that sculpture
and art are quite sufficient for the produc-
i FT1l..