The times., 1899-02-12
A TOURIST IN POMPEII.
Sights to He Seen in the buried
city.

,
that travellers visit in Europe Nor Is this
remarkable when one considers that here is
a town that was buried by the lava and
ashes from volcano and laid in that con
dition practically undisturbed for more
than 1900 years. The antiquity of the
place, together with the unique experience
through which il passed. gives every one
a desire to see it. This feeling is espe-
cially strong in Americans-possibly iTJIl
the fact that we have so little TO remind
us OF the past.
Thus ii happened that when my friend
and reached Naples. writes a correspond
of the Detroit Free Press" we decided
that we must certainly see Pompeii. We
took the train at Naples and arrived az
the buried city at about O'Clock in III.
evening. The appearance OF the station
reminded me strongly OF some OF those
had seen in small towns In my native
State. There was no sidewalk so We had
to walk along sort OF COW path that ed
from the station to the town. The new.
town seemed TO consist of two hotels.
Since We did not know which was the bet
ter we shut our eyes and blindly chose
one. and happily never regretted our
choice.
| As II was late. We had dinner before in
dulging in any explorations. Having dis
posed OF that, our curiosity did not allow
us TO remain indoors. and we set out TO
see what could be seen in the dark IL
could hardly be called dark. however: all
the stars twinkled overhead and the moon
shone brighter than had ever before seen
it, BY its light the columns and walls of
the destroyed city stood out in great clear
ness. With characteristic American impu-
dence We should probably have climbed the
walls and explored the town in the moon
light II we had not heard that bloodhounds
were allowed to run loose in the streets at
night and that armed guards patroled up
and down.
In the distance, every little while. led
glare was visible for an instant and then
died away. This We easily recognized as
the light of Mount Vesuvius. Baedecker
! says that it is imposing, | believe but |
could not see it. II looked to me as If
someone mile or so away had suddenly
! flashed the red glass of a bulis-eye Ian
| tern After several hours spent in explor-
ing the outside of the town, we retired and
| slept the sleep of the truly weary.
| The next day proved to be one of the
| kind that is most common in Italy-cloud-
I less. We breakfasted early and started
, Immediately to do the town We paid a
/ franc apiece and were handed over to the
mercies OF a gentleman in the uniform OF
an Italian gendarme Happily our new
| friend could speak English, though hardly
with the ACCENT of StratfordAtte- Bow He
/ Immediately assumed command and led US
TO the little museum in which various Gu
| riosities taken from the ruins are kent
These proved to be quite interesting. There
| were bracelets and necklaces, bronze
/ swords and shields, spears. water Jars
wheels of chariots. coins and kitchen de-
bris such as egg shells. walnuts. etc Last.
but by no means least came the bodies of
! some OF those who were burned in the
ruins. They could not really be called
/ bodies after all. because in most cases only
certain OF the largest bones remained.
other portions having entirely disappeared.
I But the excavators had adopted an inge-
nious way of making casts of the bodies.
| Wherever they came across mound which
| looked as II it concealed a human figure
| they made a little hole and poured in plas-
ter of paris. In this way they secured
! casts which exactly resembled the VIC
Tins. Among them were those Of a mother
and daughter who had been overcome in
the effort to escape.
But the despair which seized upon them
at the time was not visible in their faces.
| They appeared quite calm and peaceful.
However, some of the victims did disclose
strong emotions in their faces. There was
one man, perhaps miser. who had been
overcome as he was fleeing with his hoard
He had money belt strapped around his
waist and he was gripping il strongly with
his right hand On his face grim determi-
nation was written in every line. Evidently
it was not from faintheartedness that he
perished. However. the ashes and lava
| were no respecters OF persons and today
he lies under glass case in the little mu-
scum to viewed by every passing tourist.
The old man who appears in the Illus
tration interested me greatly. He was
lying on bed Just as he was dug out He
| evidently laid down to sleep without a
thought of danger, and SO was asphyxiated
Rip Van Wrinkles record is nowhere. This
Pompeiian gentleman has been asleep for
more than eighteen hundred years and
| still shows no signs OF wakefuness. How
ever. as stood and looked at him | almost
expected TO see him turn over, yawn. and
finally open his eyes.
Coming out of the museum we had our
first daylight view OF the buried city. And
the term buried" does not seem to fl il
well at the present time. as fully one-half
of ii is exposed TO the air. The city con-
sists of a vast collection OF roofiess hous IS
with tall columns scattered here and there
among them The interiors of the houses
are filed with bricks and mortar, the de-
bris of broken walls and columns, among
| which hundreds OF little chameleons a.
seen running around summing themselves.
| The buildings of Pompeii were not con-
structed of anything like the same costly
material as those in Rome. They were con-
structed of bricks and mortar and volcanic
rock. The columns now standing are fut-
filed in near the base with plaster stUcco
painted red. The Pompeiians seem to have
been very fond OF red. as it is the prevail
ing color used in their decorations. The
houses are small-not more than three
stories in heisht-and are set close to-
gether.
The widest streets are not more than
! thirty feet in width and the smallest are
only fifteen. There is one curious thing
connected with them; in spite OF their mar
rowness they have (as can be seen in the
picturel placed. at short intervals to en-
able people to cross with ease, large step
ping stones. They are certainly too hign
and broad for horses to have stepped over
them, and there is very little room be-
| tween them Nevertheless, these same
streets that have the stones are deeply
marked with wheel ruts. Verify. driving
in Pompeii must have been an amusement
filled with danger for all concerned.
The people Of Rome OF wealth and re-
fnement used 10 pass their SUMMER in
| Pompeii consequently there were some
villas of great elegance. Some of the
houses that have been excavated are still
adorned with paintings OF great beauty. 1t
is really astonishing to see how fresh the
colors are. In some cases the pictures
are not even scratched. The subjects of
these pictures are usually taken from
Greek or Roman mythology, and common
| ly represent some scene in the life of the
"God-like' Menelaus. the Wise
Ulysses. The Pompeiians carried their
passion for mural decoration even into
their gardens and adorned the walls with
all manner OF birds ard beasts. But these
| have not the same artistic merit as those
found in the houses.
The painting i'll restaurants are naturally
crude and are intended to appeal more