Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1905-06-22

II. But Vesuvius about 5,OOO years ago
got 20 burning way down In Its bow
els, and the hre got beyond control.
and suppose now the fire is away
down In the center OF the earth. and
you know when you get down In tho
earth below the crust. on which We
live and raise potatoes. everything is
melted, like iron In q foundry. and
vesuvius Is the spigot through which
the fluid comes to the surface. You
see. don't you?
Just imagine that this earth Is a
barrel OF beer. which you can under
stand better than anything else. and
II is being shaken up by being hauled
around on wagons and cars, and Is
straining to get out. then bartender
drives a splgot into the bung. turns the
thumb piece, and the pent-up beer
comes out foaming and squirting, and
there you are.
Instead OF beer, Vesuvius Is loaded
with lava, that runs like molasses, and
when It is cold 1t is indigestible rs a
cold buckwheat cake, and you can
make II up into jewelry, that looks
like maple sugar and smells like q
fire In a garbage crematory. Besides
the lava there are stones as big rs q
house that are thrown up by the sea-
sickness OF the earth. as 1t heaves and
pants, and then the ashes that come
out Of the crater at times would make
you think that what they need there
Is to have a chimney sweep so down
and brush out the flues.
To get an idea Of what nuisance
the ashes from the crater are TO the
cities on the plain below, you remem-
Der the time you were out In your
back yard splitting boxes for kindlins
wood. and my chum and l threw d
pail OF ashes over the fence, and ac-
cidentally 1t went all over you, about
four inches thick. That time you got
mad and threw cucumbers at us. when
we ran down the alley. Keep that IN
your mind and you can understand
the destruction OF Pompeii, when We
suvius, thousands Of years ago.
coughed up hot ashes. and covered the
town 40 feet deep with hot stun, ana
killed every living thing, and petri-
fed and preserved the whole business,
and made a prairie on top OF town,
and everybody eventually forgot that
there had ever been town there, Tor
about 1000 years. II my chum and
had not run out Of ashes we would
have buried you so deep In your bach
yard that you would have been petri-
fed with your Ratchet, and when they
excavated the premises q thousand
years later they would have found your
remains and put you in a museum.
Well, a couple Of hundred years ago
q peasant was sinking a well down in
the ashes. and he struck a petrified
barroom. with bartender standing be-
hind the bar in the act OF serving
some whisky 1000 years old, and the
peasant located claim there, and the
authorities took possession OF the
prairie and have been digging the town
out ever since, looking for more OF
that -year-old whisky.
When I told dad about what they
were finding at the ruins Of Pompeii,
and how you were liable to find gold,
and diamonds, and petrified women
he wanted to go and dig in the ashes
as he said 1t would be more exciting
than raking over the dumping grounds
in Chicago for tin cans and Jumps oil
coal, and so We hired a hack and went
to the buried town. but dad insisted
on carrying an umbrella, so II Vesu'
vius belched any more ashes he could
protect himself. Gee. but from what
I have seen at that old ruin a man
would need an umbrella made of cor
rugated iron to keep from being bur-
led.
Well, when we got to Pompeii dad
was for going right where they were
digging, but I got him to look over