The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-01-09
121 10 127
S. PENNSYLVANIA ST.

persons who ventured too near the crater.
He begins with the sad tale Of the Brazilian
boy who was bending over the edge OF the
crater one day in 1886 trying TO see bottom
when he lost his balance and fell in; then
he dishes up the story of the poor trench-
man who was driven mad by the aWesonhe
surroundings and jumped into the cavity,
and if these incidents don't suffice to make
the visitor wish he was back in Naples or
New York he has other horrors 10 relate.
But Sarah certainly rs<ed good deal
more than her eyebrows when she looked
over into that crater. NeSuV1uS IS usudlly
very well behaved but she's not to be
trusted. Sometimes she gives ample warn
ing that there going to be an eruption,
and sometimes she utterly fails 10 give any
body minutes time to get out of the helSh-
borhood. Suppose the old mountain had pc
gun to fire thirty or forty-ton rocks mo
the air while Sarah was looking over the
edge. 1t would have been the greatest
tragedy she ever took Part in, and she would
have been part of the eruption herself.
Sarah seems TO have had thought or
danger or discomfort. She was simply IN
spired by the wonderful surroundings. WITH
curl consumed and smoking eyebrows she
says: i felt in my innermOst being the
grandeur OF the earth and the littleness OF
man when face to face with the forces or
nature That isn't the way the top or
NeSUViuS impresSeS most people, and 1t
shows Bernhardt rising superior to even the
forces of nature. In the first place the or
binary sightseer doesn't think but positively
knows that it smells horribly up there near
the crater The mountain always smokes.
and il is the most eVil-smeling smok 3
magma Die. sulphur Tunes cnOke you dnR
very likely you are enveloped in a bitter.
singing cloud till some kindly breeze drives
ii away. Y on are like a woman on her first
sea voyage, who imagines that a good, fair
wind is a bowling tempest. The guide, after
soaring you half to death with his yarns,
treasures you with the remark that the
volcano is perfectly quiescent now. You
don't believe him, for you suddenly hear an
unearthly below, followed by a long, rum
bling roar and you expect that the noun
tain wild with internal agony, is going TO
tear things to pieces in just about a mill
ute. Your knees are trembling with excite
meur. They had been trembling earlier with
fatigue, for even with the aid of stumbling
ponies over the jagged sweep of lava, and
the railroad ride part of the way, the ascent
is a warm and tiresome affair, And, while
you are gasping for breath wiping your
smarting eyes and trying in vain to see
something. the guide faces you about and
starts you down the hill. You have done
Vesuvius and you won't think it necessary
to repeat the feat
But perhaps I'll go up again. Sarah
says that her feet left prints in the lava.
and if the tracks solidify they may give
Vesuvius a new phase of Interest till she
covers them up with a fresh lava flow. 1t $
safe to say the actress didn't suffer from
cold feet while making footprints in the
lava. | walked over lava myself that was
as hot as kitchen stove and gave a bis
tering heat to the air, and | didn't leave
any footprints either Bernhard may if
she likes it, but I'd rather be excused