Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1896-02-03
EUROPEAN LETTER.
Naples, Italy, Jan. 10, 1896.
FOR THE MONITOR

|
and our tempers have been ruined;
Cook, the excursion fiend, has fallen
in our estimation and Vesuvius is SIM
ply beneath our notice. We went to
| the crater In rain that was suff1clent
| to have put out the volcano. We
have jolted miles in a springless wag-
on, we have ridden springless don
keys, waded in ashes to our ankles,
and all this in the interest of pleasure.
We left Naples about nine o'clock
in the morning under the supervision
of Cook and in one of Cooks wagons.
The morning was not altogether
promising, but 'hope springs eternaP'
and we thought the day would prob
ably be clear-Naples was just begin
ming to really wake up for the day,
for the dolce far nie,ate of the people
begins by lying in bed in the morning.
At last we reached the open country
and while the clouds gathered over
head our spirits were kept up by a
band of strolling musicians who walk
ed along by the carriage and sang
''Santa Lucia" and other delightful
italian songs, varying them OCCASION
ally with "Daisy Bell" in honor of
our nationality and seeming disap-
pointed when we failed to look ap-
preciative. We stopped at little
mountain inn where our honest driv-
er, who probably shared profits with
tbo toll nnu16
the best wine in all Italy. At the
next stop we left the carriage and
mounted donkeys to cross the lava
fields. At this moment natures feel
ings overcame her and as if in antici
patton of the fate that awaited US, be-
gan to weep. Every one commented
gleefully on the fact and we mounted
the diabolical beasts, as premier Oh
liver said when the French started to
Berlin with eight hearts, When we
reached that spot on our return, we
had seen Vesuvius but strange ST.
lence had fallen on all the party, and
those who found voice at all lifted it
in declaring that henceforth their
from the ascent of the volcano. An
incompatibility had sprung up be-
tween all the members of the compa-
ny and eyes that looked love at the
beginning of the trip were now sim
gularly Inexpensive behind straight
ened bangs, and under dripping hats.
Probably the donkeys were no
worse than other donkeys, but the
road they had to travel was but a
rough path, and it seemed to me that
any self respecting donkey would not
have taken advantage Of SO many
rocks in the road for the purpose of
stumbling as these Innocent looking
animals did, The saddles were not
fastened securely, and the guides, one
of whom accompanied each rider and
shouted dreadful threats to the DON
keys, were expected to hold the sad
dies on. When the donkey fell down,
the saddle slipped forward and cuffed
the animal on the head. When he
went up hill it settled insecurity on
his tail, and finally, when the guide
had grown tired of holding it on, it
tumbled off altogether.
The rain at last began to pour and
the wind rushed violently down the
mountain. IU was impossible to hold
umbrellas, and cold, wet and disheart
ened, the party reached the station
of the funiculaire road that leads up
the steep, yielding ashy cone to with
in few hundred yards Of the the era
ter of the volcano.
The only fire in the restaurant was
in the kitchen and the head waiter,
who speaks five languages and prob
ably gets about $40 month, invited
us to warm ourselves, an invitation
we gladly accepted. When the world
had assumed brighter hue through
the medium Of an Omlette and steak
we started up the mountain again.
The road is almost perpendicular and
one feels much more as if the ascent
were being made in an elevator than
on a rail track. Tt is called a funicu-
laire, but is really cable with double
tracks and the cars are balanced SO
they pass each other midway of the
distance. On either side are the great
fields of lava and ashes, the former
of course, now cooled and in the
most fantastic shapes, in which, as in
the clouds, one sees most clearly
what his fancy suggests. Perhaps it
was the influence of the donkey ride
and the waathop hut If Seonood tO ma
Dore's illustrations of Dante's elm
ferno" might have been photographs
of these formations.
At the top of the funiculaire we
not hr1 To- Of Loo