Omaha daily bee., 1896-06-13

that moved them; ragged nests Of birds In
cornices and hooks. faces full OF conster-
nation in the tilted wagons that came tear
Ing past, their frightened teams ringing out
a warning which the thunder drowned; har-
rows and plows left out in fields; miles
upon miles Of hedge-divided country, with
the distant fringe of trees as obvious as
the scare-crow in the bean field close at
hand; in a trembling, vivid, Pickering in
slant, everything was clear and plain; then
| came a flush OF red into the yellow light;
a change to blue; a brightness so intense
that there was nothing else but light, and
then the deepest and profoundest dark
ness"
LAST DAYS OF PoMPEII."
BY far the grandest description OF any
| natural convulsion to be found in any book,
written in any language. is that contained
in Bulwer-Lytton's Last Days of Pompeii."
Shortly after this calamity Pliny gave an
account of 1t which, for simple picturesque
ness, is marvellous, but clad In the superb
rhetoric of the great novelist, the scene be-
comes sublime. There was everything to
make 1t so; a cloud so dense as to bring on
the darkness OF midnight, the gloom relieved
only by an occasional lurid glare from the
volcano, serving only to make the darkness
more intense, terrific thunder, a rain Of
ashes and molten lava, and an earthquake
that rent the stoutest buildings and cum
bered the streets with the walls and roofs
of the city.
lit tlOuu, ult a SCdlltItu 81 uttp
a murkiness over the day, had now settled
into a solid and impenetrable mass. 1t re-
sembled less even the thickest gloom of a
night in the open air than the close and
blind darkness of some narrow room. But
in proportion as the blackness gathered did
the lightnings around Vesuvius increase in
their vivid and scorching glare. Nor was
their horrible beauty confined to the usual
hues Of fire; no rainbow ever rivaled their
varying and p~rodigal dyes. Now brightly
blue as the most azure depth Of a southern
sky-now of a livid and snakelike green,
darting restlessly to and fro as the folds of
an enormous serpent-now Of a lurid and
intolerable crimson, gushing forth through
the columns of smoke, far and wide, and
lighting up the whole city from arch to
arch-then suddenly dying into a sickly
paleness, like the ghost of their own life!
"In the pauses of the showers you heard
the rumbling of the earth beneath, and the
grooming waves of the tortured sea; or,
lower still, and audible but to the watch of
intensest fear, the grinding and kissing
murmur of the escaping gases through the
chasms of the distant mountain. Some
times the cloud appeared to break from it's
solid mass, and, by the lightning, to assume
quaint and vast mimicries of human or of
monster shapes, striding across the gloom,
hurting one upon another and vanishing
swiftly into the turbulent abyss of shade;
so that, to the eyes and fancies Of the af-
frighted wanderers the unsubstantial vapors
were as the bodily forms of gigantic foes
the agents of terror and of death.
9TH ashes in many places were already
knee deep; and the boiling showers which
came from the steaming breadth of the vol
cano forced their way into the houses, bear
ing with them a strong and sufocating
vapor. In some places immense fragments
of rock, hurled upon the house roofs, bore
down along the streets masses of confused
ruin which yet more and more, with every
hour, INSTRUCTED the way; and as the day
advanced the motion of the earth was more
sensibly felt-the footing seemed to slide
and creep-nor could chariot or litter be
kept steady, even on the most level ground.
THE SHOWER OF STONES.
Sometimes the huger stones, striking
against each other as they fell, broke into
countless fragments, emitting sparks of fire
which caught whatever was combustible
within their reach; and along the plains
beyond the city the darkness was now terri
bly, relieved; for several houses and even
VINEYARDS had been set in flames, and at
various intervals the fires rose sullenly and
fercely against the solid gloom. To add to
| this partial relief of the darkness, the citi-
zens had, here and there, in the more public
| places, such as the p~orticos of temples and
the entrances to the forum, endeavored to
| place rows of torches; but these rarely con-
| tinued long, the showers and the winds eX-
tinguished them, and the sudden darkness
| into which their ftful light was converted
had something in it doubly terrible and
doubly impressive on the impotence OF hui
man hopes, the lesson of despair.
Frequently, by the momentary light OF
| these torches. parties of fugitives encoun-
| tered each other, some hnrrying toward the
sea, others flying from the sea back 10 the
land; for the ocean had retreated rapidly
from the shore-and utter darkness lay over
it, and, upon its grooming and tossing waves,
the storm of cinders and rocks fell without
| the protection which the streets and roofs
| afforded to the land. Wild-haggard-
| CHASTITY with supernatural fears, these
| groups encountered each other, but without
the leisure to speak, to consult, to advise;
for the showers fell now frequently, though
not continuously, extinguishing the lights
which showed to each band the deathlike
faces of the other, and hurrying all to seek
refuge beneath the nearest shelter' Inc
whole elements of civilization were broken
up. Ever and anon, by the Pickering lights,
YOU saw the thief fastening by the most
solemn authorities of the law, laden with
and f~earfully chuckling over the produce OF
his sudden gains. II in the darkness wire
was separated from husband, or parent from
child. vain was the hope of reunion. Each
hurried blindly and confusedly on, nothing
in all the various and complicated machinery
of social life was left save the primal law OF
self-preseryation!'
LION AND GLADIATOR.
1t has often been noticed that In the
midst of great tempeStS OF eaTtnquahes
wild beasts lose their ierceness and become
tanned by terror. and a striking illustration
of this is utilized by Bulwer In the progress
of his description Of the scene of destruc-
ton. Glaucus and lone had sought for
shelter In the portico of the Temple of For
tune.
"'Who is there?' said the trembling and
hollow voice of one who had preceded them
In their place of refuge. Yet, what mat
tiers 1.-THE crush of the ruined world forbids
to us friends or foes lone turned at the
sound of the voice, and with a faint shrek
covered again beneath the arms of Glau-
Gus: and he. looking in the direction of the
voice. beheld the cause of her alarm.
Through the darkness glared forth two
burning eyes-the lightning flashed and lin
gered athwart the temple-and Glaucus,
with a shudder, perceived the lion to which
he had been doomed crouched beneath the
pillars; and, close beside 1t, unwilling of
the vicinity, lay the giant form OF him who
had accosted them-the wounded gladiator,
Niger. That lightning had revealed to each
other the form of beast and man; yet the
instinct of both was quelled. Nay, the lion
crept near and nearer to the gladiator as
for companionship; and the gladiator did
not recede or tremble. The revolution of
Nature had dissolved her lighter terrors as
we'll as her wonted ties"
THE NAZARENES.
1854 a. --- 49, III --s-I