The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-10-13
LOOKING At VESUV|US
Thousands of Anglo-Saxon
Tourists, With kodaks.
DIRE PROPHECIES ABOUND
That the Present Eruption
May Prove a WorId-Splitter
DIRE PROPHECIES ABOUND

Philadelphia Oct. 12.-The Record hai
tie following correspondence relating Il
the present eruption of Vesuvius:
Hotel del Diomede, Outside Pomper
Sept. 1s.-An American army, fortified by
British allies, has invaded ali this peace
fuI country. and as write can see from
my window the active. energetic ranks OF
-Anglo-Saxons drawn in impenetrable
Ines around the dead city across the rus
tic highway. They have swarmed hIther
within the last week. armed cap-a-pie-
with koda.ks Their eyes and their weap-
ons are trained steadily on the towering
fortress that rears its angry head beyond
The city that was entombed one August
night nearly two centuries ago. The as
pect Of war is further heightened by the
dense curtain Of smoke that swings in the
air above Vesuvius, and By the incessant
roar and rum5ling that attends the fierce
cannonading Of nature on the top of the
- Gngry volcano.
Two unusual sights impress the visitor
n this locality these days. The man who
comes from afar stands entranced as he
Fazes skyward a the head and shoulders
of the blazing monster To the Neapol-
tan, however, wslo has run over here
20 ran hour or so to look at the eruption
from a nearby vantage point, the inter-
nlttent flames, the thunderous rever5era-
tons, and the on-creeping sea Of lava
are things less ctrious than the motley
Essemblage Of foreigners w-ho have mas
tened here to watch the weird writings
uf the mighty giant in mis- commissions.
TOURISTS IN ERUPTION.
Both spectacles possess great interest
for those onlookers VINO chance 10 be
opOlitans, for the interest excited bv
each Of the rival shows is unique in its
way. One is a performance by a troop
OF speciality artists, whose name is HUI
'nanity. while the other is an entertain
ment with Nature as the stage manager.
Not excepting even a tribe Of eccen-
trIcally accoutred savages from an I'M
known land, a collection Of EMBELLISHMENTS
Ing tourists in Europe. gathered together
ny the roll call OF curiosity. is about the
most singular thing that the ethnologist
ever gets a chance to feast his eyes or
ears upon. These regions today furnish
an unprecedented symposium Of human
oddities. As I look out upon them this
morning, threading themselves; in and
out among themselves; bimping distant
edges OF the Anglo-Saxon universe to-
gether; balancing corners that never
catch the sun on the same day: plating
themselves into ribbons Of marvellous het-
erogeneous hue; or jumbling their num-
bers into bewildering mass like the
splinters OF glass in a Kaleidoscope. my
eyes go askew with the varegated vision.
my ears stagger from the mixture of so
many accents in a single language. and
what is left Of my bewildered mind I'M
consciously initiates Vesuvius. and has
o troublesome eruption of its own.
No. naturally al the tourists that are
gathered hereabouts today are not Amer
Fans or Britishers. There are specimens.
l suppose, from nearly all the travelling
races Of the earth; but the others are
Is lost drops compared TO the men and
women wha are assembled about the base
e the burning mountain today, express
ing their astonishment-and other things
in myriad varieties of English as she
Is spoke
went among them about an hour ago.
observing their peculiarities from close
contact. Sitting mere now and looking
out upon them, I enjoy that agreeable
sense that comes as reward for kind
ness done. and am elate with the con-
Eciousness that I am no longer standing
IN the way OF thirty-two men. seventeen
women. nine girls and two boys. whose
snapshots at Vesuvius were spoilt by Diff
ferent portions of my restless anatomy.
/ cannot restrain the satisfaction I feel.
however. a having once constituted even
an Insignificant fraction of that indom-
table aggregation. 1t was. moreover. a
potent object lesson that mas made me IN
derstand better than ever before why the
o. SuIuuISeQ 6IpldvI ere suoxBS-oI9uv
own me earth.
There goes an old fellow now. a burly
Yorkshireman. who has already put so diff
ferent aspects OF the volcanoes dripping
paysiognomy into his camera and is bound
10 catch as many more phases as he has
unused films in his kodak. Even King