The Savannah morning news., 1902-02-16

I
pipes for water, and bronze lamps of
many forms and beauty for light; but
a chimney-less crty--how could they
cook or keep warm? In the big marble
halls of the Vatican are small braziers
with charcoal to keep the attendants
hands warm; that is all the warmth
the Pompefans had so far as We
know, and if they made any other
kind of fire for cooking, why the smoke
had simply to go off in the air, for
there was no fiue to control its pas
sage.
But how shall be describe the houses
which We're their homes? 1t requires
some slight knowledge on the part of
the reader, some remembrance OF
forgotten picture which you have seen.
Few of them had a second story; but
two balconies have been discovered.
They were enpha tically houses on the
ground: but how could houses on the
ground floor be made both healthy
and beautiful? Conceive of a long rec
tangle raised few feet off the streets;
surround it with a wall and pave it
with colored mosaics; on 'Nnis let us
begin to build the apartments. In the
middle of the front wall make door
This was called fancies, the jaw or en-
trance; one one side a small room for
the concierge who closes the door with
an iron bar at night, the holes for
which are still visible. on the other
side of the entrance the chapel-the
home of the Lares and Penates, the
household gods. A pretty little Greek
temple is painted on the wall, with the
owner offering libations to his own
particular Penates, and the serpent,
the symbol of the Lares, craWls below.
Let us now cut off another section of
our rectangle-this time a square one;
run a colonnade around three sides,
cover them-but leave the open area
in the center with basin, large and
artistic; to receive the rain; veil can
be drawn over this open area when
needed; an artistic fountain is con-
nected with this impluvum, and a
marble table on winged griffins-evi
IDENTIFY a place where mine host may
take his ease, read or transact busi-
ness; this part of the house is the
Atrium, or public hall; here he receives
his clients, pays his employees, and the
rooms opening on it are rarely sleep
ing apartments. The room at the back
is the tabularium, record room, for his
books and papers, and in the corners
he places statues of his ancestors. If
we are his friend, perhaps we may re-
ceive an invitation into the heart of
his home; if so we pass through the
rear room into another large court
surrounded with a peristyle of col
urnns, into this colonnade open sleep
ing rooms, and the dining room, and
the library. Still further back is an
other court-this is the xystus or gar
den, it is filled with fountains and
flowers, marble statues of celebrated
Greek artists have been found every
where. All that we have described is
within the rectangle; around the out
side are the less ornamental, but more
f.sI ea,sf- Of hnV1 tbn
the bath, and servants quarters. Evil
IDENTIFY the home life was on the inside
of the house; everything was done to
make it beautiful for the inmates. All
rooms were painted and decorated with
frescoes-even the kitchen was in Pom
peian red with pictures of fish and
fruit; the other rooms most elaborate
ly In the dining room the mosaic on
the floor represented an unSWept
breakfast-bits of bread, fruit, leaves,
and even little mouse creeping up to
eat the crumbs. The Wall-SurfaceS were
made perfectly smooth, Their painted
black or red as a background, and on
it NEUROLOGICAL pictures, bordered as
frieze with exquisitely delicate fres-
Goes; / saw little Loves-Amorini--
most charming little chubby figures,
gathering grapes and making wine; in
another fresco they were going through
all the antics of bacchantes, in another
the different stages of working in met
al: in last one the little fellows were
driving reindeer, some coming to grief
with chariot upset, but all having a
most joyous time.
/ stood and gazed enchanted at these
frecoes and paintings, as bright as
when they were painted, and having
seen a dozen rooms in the great mu-
scum at Naples filled with these same
mural decorations taken from Pom
peii | realized what a wealth of art
still lay buried here. Now no more is
taken away from the city, but the
chief villas are restored and everything
placed in position where it originally
was, so that If Marcus Vettius-whose
house / have been describing-were to
return to this planet, he would ~ecog-
nize his former home Gf not from my
description) from seeing it as it used
to be. Even the flowers he loved and
painted on his walls are now growing
and blossoming in his garden. l
know he was a good man and loved
children and had a family of them
lust from those flowers and little loves
painted everywhere. and tumbling out
of their c5hariots as they drove the rein
deer So the children had a good time
in the inside courts with their flowers
and their statues and their paintings,
to tempt them out of doors.
The grown people had the daily ex-
citement and gossip of the baths. Sew
ersl large ones are distributed over the
city. but the Great Baths are only
about 400 yards from the Forum; the
immense size of the ruins reveals the
care bestowed upon their daily bath.
large central court for common
ground of meeting of men and wom-
en-: then the latter went to their apart
nents to the right, with tepid, frigid,
hot and plunge baths, with inches in
the wall TO hold the clothes; the zen
had the same varieties to the left; aft
er bathing and ointing they met in the
central area, witnessed the palestri-
netic exercises and passed the compli-
ments of the day. Thus w7s beguiled
the midday hours every day. The old
Pompeian life, with grand outlook on
mountain and bay, with the heats of
summer tempered from mountain and
sea must have passed very pleasantly.
And when 1t was over there were the
grand family tombs lining the road out
side the Hereulanean gate, for the
Romans always buried outside the city
gates along the roadways. There they
stand uncovered with urns In the
niches awaiting the ashes OF bodies
that never will be placed within them;
for Pompeii will ever be city of the
dead.
A half Of the city, as I have said,
lies uncovered. Above the remainder
grows the quiet garden. Day by day
the spade goes down into the soil, and
new treasures are disclosed. Each