The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-10-12
VESUVIUS In ERUPTION.
How the V oIc:ano y c$llvil,s I5elchcs Forth
her Lava.
Hhiiudciphu Times.

after the noisy streets OF this big city
were stillcd in slumbrr. sound like
a monster clap of thunder was heard
from end to end Of the town. Then all
was still again. When people awokc
this morning they told each other Of
the noise as they would speak Of an
i'll remembered dream But it was no
dream. 1t was old Vcsuvius beating
her revcilic, and to-day the eyes Of
Ncapolitans are fixed intently on the
slnokecappcd peak of the great
volcano. AS often as mddlc-aged
men 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 apprc
hension of danger might not be real
lied
The present angry humor Of the
ancient giant may safely be regarded
as one of the mighty cruptions that
generally occur about once in every
ten years. Perhaps this one, too,
may continue FOR week or so and
tier end witho.. 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 Pompcii
and Herculancum in the ancient
times, and these are the first thoughts
that occur to all dwcllers along the
Bay of Naples VIXEN the danger signal
is aloft on the mountain, as it is this
morning.
1t should not be supposed, however,
that, outside Of these periodical crup-
tions, the volcano is inactive. As a
matter of fact, it is always interruption,
just as it has been for nearly 1000
years.
The picture Of Vesuvius that is
familiar to thousands Of Americans
who have never crossed the ocean
shows the tall mountain nesting on
the edge of the blue bay of Naples,
while rising from its crater and stretch
ing to great height is a white column
of smoke. This is just as it appears
by daylight on ordinary occasions to
every person who looks toward it from
all sides within radius of sixty miles.
At night red glow tints the smoke,
and every few minutes a bunch of
fame climbs up the white ladder to-
ward the sky. These are proofs to
the distant beholder that there is no
time when the seething blazes are not
at work in the bowels Of the mountain.
If for one short hour by day the
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 another
scampering away from the menaoing
spectre as occurred that fatal time
when the thoughtless people Of the
towns nearby were buried as they ran
in galloping graves of sand.
4 IS tradition all along this horse
shoe gulf that when the smoke and the
fame case men must fly, for it will
mean tat the great leviathan is in
haling mighty breath that shall soon
burst as resistless torrent over the
earth.
No living man, however, has ever
seer such moment of tranquility on
Vesuvius, and perhaps no man shall
inside of another 1900 years. Like
the condemned souls, the great rock
is ever burning, yet never consumed.
All the wide slope on the sides of tho
mountain is as dense in its sulphurous
consistency as j. has been for ages.
It's coating Of lava never seems to lose
an iota in intensity. To the ventu-
rous one vino stands on the egg.sheil
edge Of the crater and looks below
into the blazing mass, there is the
same violent culver of the earth to-day
as was felt fifty years ago; the same
rumble and roar greet his ears; the
same mighty masses Of molten stones
are hurled upwards, and the same
fierce red flames still shoot out Of "the
chimney Of hell, as the people here
abouts call the blazing mountain.
To-day the lofty peaks present a
much changed aspect. In place Of
the curling haze that ordinarily hangs
above the summit there is this morn
ing high wide curtain Of flame that
,,,ven The bright sunlight fails to pale.