The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-10-12
VESUVIUS IN ERUPTION.
How the Volcano Vesuvius Belches Forth
her Lava.
Philadelphia Times.
her Lava.


after the noisy streets Of this big city
were stilled in slumber, sound like
a monster clap Of thunder was heard
from end to end of the town. Then all
was still again. When people awoke
this morning they told each other OF
the noise as they would speak Of an
ill.remembered dream. But it was no
dream. 1t was old Vesuvius beating
her reveille, and to-day the eyes OF
Neapolitans are fixed intently on the
smoke-capped peak Of the great
volcano. AS often as middle-aged
msn have seen the great mountain in
eruption, there is always the fascina-
tion Of novelty in the sight, for no
man knows at what instant the appre-
hension Of danger might not be real
ICED.
The present angry humor Of the
ancient giant may safely be regarded
as one Of the mighty eruptions that
generally occur about once in every
ten years. Perhaps this one, too,
may continue for week or so and
then end without doing any great
damage, but there is always the pos
sibility that at any moment the mon
ster forces at work within the noun
tain may break asunder and hurl death
and destruction on all sides, like the
hot avalanche that overwhelmed Pom
peii thirty-fve years after the death
Of Christ. There are towns to-day
even more in the dangerous path OF
the lava and sands than were Pompeii
and Herculaneum in the ancient
times, and these are the first thoughts
that occur to all dwellers along the
Bay Of Naples when the danger signal
is aioft on the mountain, as it is this
a.l
morning.
1t should not be supposed, however,
that, outside Of these periodical erup.
tions, the volcano is inactive. AS q
matter Of fact, it is always interruption,
just as it has been for nearly 2,OOt
years.
The picture Of Vesuvius that If
familiar to thousands Of Americans
who have never crossed the ocear
shows the tall mountain nesting OF
the edge Of the blue bay Of Naples
whilerisiDgfro its crater and stretch
ing to great height is awhite column
cf smoke. This is just as it appears
By daylight on ordinary occasions t
every person who looks toward it from
all sides within a radius Of sixty miles
I AT night a red glow tints the smoke
and every few minutes bunch o.
fame climbs up the white ladder to
ward the sky. These are proofs t.
the distant beholder that there is NJ
time when the seething blazes are no
atwork in the bowels Of the mountain
If for one short hour BY day tn
crown of smoke disappears entirely
or one failed TO see at night the inter
mittent glare, 100000 souls in Naples
would be thrown into CONSERVATION
and there would be such anothe'
scampering away from the menacins
spectre as occurred that fatal time I
when the tboughtless people Of tn
: towns nearby were buried as they raj
IN galloping graves Of sand.
is tradition all along this horse
shoe gulf that when the smoke and tn
fame cease men must fly, for it vii
mean that the great leviathan is in
haling a mighty breath that shall soor
burst as resistleBs torrent over th'
earth.
No living mar, however, has eve
seen such moment Of tranquility OF
J Vesuyius, and perhaps no man shall
inside Of another 1000 years. Like
the condemned souls, the great rocl
is ever burning, yet never consumed
All the wide slope on the sides Of tn
mountain is as dense in its sulphurou'
consistency as it has been for ages
It's coating Of lava never seems to los
an iota in intensity. To the ventu
rous one who stands on the egg-shel
edge Of the crater and looks below
into the blazing mass, there is th
same violent culver Of the earth to-da.
as was felt fifty years ago; the sam
rumble and roar greet his ears; tn
same mighty masses Of molten stone
are hurled upwards, and the sam
fierce red flames still shoot out Of eth
chimney Of hell, as the people here
abouts call the blazing mountain.
To-day the lofty peaks present
much changed aspect. In place 0
the curling haze that ordinarily hang
above the summit there is this morn